Cannot boot PC in safe, last good, or normal mode

[Guest]

I was unarchiving several files using WinRAR. During the process, an error
came up and my system beeped. I clicked OK to close the error, and all my
desktop icons and the taskbar disappeared for several minutes. They
reappeared, and I thought things were fine.

Then, the system went to a BSOD. Because I haven't turned off the reboot, I
cannot read the specific error. When the system finished rebooting, I tried
a normal start, and the system again hit BSOD and rebooted. I tried last
known good and safe mode, both of those also are BSOD.

I attempted to use my Windows XP Pro CD to recover. It is full, not update,
version. It is also a legal copy and I still have all the packaging that
came with it. I first tried to use the recovery console suspecting my
boot.ini file had become damaged. However, that actually also goes to a BSOD
as soon as I attempt any command that access the hard drive.

So, I attempted the setup - repair route. I click ENTER to go to the setup,
hit F8 to agree to the EULA, and then I get a message saying Setup cannot
find a previous version of Windows on the computer and needs to see a valid
Windows CD before continuing.

First, this is not an upgrade version of the Windows CD I'm booting off of.
It's the complete version. Next, it apparently isn't even seeing the copy of
Windows installed already on the computer.

So, I need help. I'd like to e-mail Microsoft support about this, but I
need my product ID instead of the product key, and the only way to get that
is being able to boot the system. Anyone have any ideas on how I can get
this system to boot, or at least be able to read data on the hard drive (NTFS
format) so I can backup the files that are not before starting over?

 

[Detlev Dreyer]

I was unarchiving several files using WinRAR. During the process,
an error came up and my system beeped.

These beeps are firmware/hardware driven (hardware failure,
overheating).

Then, the system went to a BSOD. Because I haven't turned off the
reboot, I cannot read the specific error. When the system finished
rebooting, I tried a normal start, and the system again hit BSOD and
rebooted. I tried last known good and safe mode, both of those also
are BSOD.

Take the computer to a technician / repair shop.

 

[Rock]

I was unarchiving several files using WinRAR. During the process, an error
came up and my system beeped. I clicked OK to close the error, and all my
desktop icons and the taskbar disappeared for several minutes. They
reappeared, and I thought things were fine.

Then, the system went to a BSOD. Because I haven't turned off the reboot, I
cannot read the specific error. When the system finished rebooting, I tried
a normal start, and the system again hit BSOD and rebooted. I tried last
known good and safe mode, both of those also are BSOD.

I attempted to use my Windows XP Pro CD to recover. It is full, not update,
version. It is also a legal copy and I still have all the packaging that
came with it. I first tried to use the recovery console suspecting my
boot.ini file had become damaged. However, that actually also goes to a BSOD
as soon as I attempt any command that access the hard drive.

So, I attempted the setup - repair route. I click ENTER to go to the setup,
hit F8 to agree to the EULA, and then I get a message saying Setup cannot
find a previous version of Windows on the computer and needs to see a valid
Windows CD before continuing.

First, this is not an upgrade version of the Windows CD I'm booting off of.
It's the complete version. Next, it apparently isn't even seeing the copy of
Windows installed already on the computer.

So, I need help. I'd like to e-mail Microsoft support about this, but I
need my product ID instead of the product key, and the only way to get that
is being able to boot the system. Anyone have any ideas on how I can get
this system to boot, or at least be able to read data on the hard drive (NTFS
format) so I can backup the files that are not before starting over?

To recover you data install the drive as a slave drive in another XP or
Win2k computer and copy the important data. See this link:

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=308421