Tiny Desktop wont boot up - Advice please

mummybear3

My mum let my three year old batter around on her old computor but now we want to transfer her stuff to her new computor we cant get it to come on. Lesson learnt about doing that again!!
When you switch it on you get the following message
Windows will not start normally - then gives 5 options
Safe mode
safe mode with network
safe modewith command promst
Last known good confiriration
Start normally

We have tried all of these with no joy, we've put it on and off so are hoping that someone her might be able to help
Thanks in advance
m

clarkz

might be worth searching on here: http://support.microsoft.com/search/default.aspx?mode=r&query=fail+to+boot+xp&catalog=LCID%3D2057&2057comm=1&spid=global

BenL

If you have no luck, unplug the hard drive from the old comp and add it into the new one.

You can do this either direct to the motherboard and have it set as a slave or by using a IDE to USB connector/caddy.

You will then be able to browse for the files through an explorer window on your new machine like any other drive.

mummybear3

Thanks for you replies - will try
m

mummybear3

Had no joy yet but I'm not giving up -yet! So if anyone has any other suggestions I'm listening. BenL I'm a completly unknowledgeable with computors - how do i do that?
Thanks for your help
m

BenL

The USB solution involves a device like

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-5-IDE-to-USB-2-0-Aluminum-Silver-Enclosure-Caddy_W0QQitemZ370055271949QQihZ024QQcategoryZ86758QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I use one of these with an older hard drive as an external backup system. I usually have a spare hard drive or 2 lying around so its more MSE than a pre packaged system for backing up.

This is the simplest way but costs.

You can get them cheaper than this as well on offers every now and again from online stores.

The other way is

1) Remove the old drive from the old pc, this should have a ribbon cable and a power cable - just pull them out - but carefully.

2) In the new pc, on the same cable that goes from the pc motherboard to the current harddisk there should be a spare connector - usually 1/2 way up.

3) Check the old hard drive has its settings to "slave". On the back there will be jumper settings - this is just a plastic connector that goes between 2 pins and somewhere on the harddrive there should be a diagram of how to do it. Tweezers come in handy at this point.

4) Plug the old hard drive into the connector 1/2 way up and connect a power supply. There should be spare ones in the case, if not you can use the dvd drive one for now.

5) Switch on the pc, in "my computer" the new drive should hopefully be showing without hassle.

This is the straight forward version that would hopefully work. If it doesn't so it straight off there maybe a few more tweaks to make to the pc so it recognises the new h/d but if this is the case post back and I will see if I can direct you further.

foreversomeday

Is it XP?

A lot of people have noted that the new Service Pack 3 (which automatically downloads itself for most people from Windows Update) has been having an effect like this. There is a thread lower down this board (On the second page now) with solutions for this, so try that first before you take the machine apart!

mummybear3

foreversomeday wrote: »

Is it XP?

A lot of people have noted that the new Service Pack 3 (which automatically downloads itself for most people from Windows Update) has been having an effect like this. There is a thread lower down this board (On the second page now) with solutions for this, so try that first before you take the machine apart!

Yes it is! Will do
m

chunter

Have you an XP disk?