Windows wont Boot unexpectedly!

[BJ]

My computer has been running perfectly fine for some time now and just today
when I got home and tried to turn it on my computer seemed to stop booting
up. I bought this computer from dell a few years ago and it is now off
warranty and they wont help me unless I pay them which is something I can't
afford at the moment. This problem was very VERY unexpected.

Heres what happens:
I turn on my PC and the DELL logo screen with the loading bar at the bottom
shows up and looks like its loaded about 20-25% and then freezes and doesn't
move from then on.

I've waited around 30 minutes to see if anything would happen and NOTHING at
all changes.
I am completely unable to do anything to boot up my computer in safe mode or
from the last known good configuration.

Last changes to my computer and the possible problem causer:
Yesterday while starting my computer for the first time that day I got a
message saying "Windows has recovered from a serious error" which I normally
don't get this message. I looked into it and said this was possibly caused by
my videocard drivers not being up to date and was instructed to do a windows
update and install the new driver. I did this and installed the drivers on
windows update for my video card "NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2" and during this
installation I got an error message saying there was a problem and the
installation had to end and I pushed "end now" and the dialog box went away
BUT the installation process for this new driver was still running and then
completed and prompted me to restart my computer. I did this and it seemed to
have worked fine.

Now today after my computer was shut down for the night. My computer does
what I mentioned above.

I need any help or ideas anyone can give.
Thanks.

 

[DL]

Do you have an actual winxp cd or only a Dell recovery cd?

 

[BJ]

yes i do have an offical windows xp pro cd

Do you have an actual winxp cd or only a Dell recovery cd?

 

[Daave]

Follow the instructions on this page:

"How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from
starting"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

It's tedious, but it should work. For Step 3 in Part Four, choose a
restore point that was made *before* the time you saw the first error
message you mentioned below.

 

[BJ]

Thank you for your reply. and I would really like to try this but when my
computer is stuck at the Dell logo loading screen when I first push the power
button for my computer my keyboard seems completely useless because any
button I push does not work and I can't do anything at all...

 

[Daave]

Are you able to boot off the CD-ROM drive? You need to do that in order
to boot off your XP Pro installation CD. That's the first step in Part
One of the instructions from that Microsoft page. It's glossed over, but
it is important you boot off the CD!

Are you able to pop in the CD when the Dell splash screen comes on? If
not, you should be able to stick a paper clip in the small hole to pop
open the CD tray (even if the PC is off). Once the CD is in the drive,
try booting up again. Make sure you press the correct F-key (F12 maybe?)
to either get the menu for boot options or the correct F-key (might be
F2 or DEL) to get into the BIOS to alter your boot order. I don't know
which F-keys these are, but you should get a brief screen offering you
the choice before that splash screen comes up. What is the model and
model number of this Dell? For more info on entering the BIOS, see:

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

Once you have successfully booted off the CD, follow Step 2:

When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the
Recovery Console.

Keep on following the instructions; you should be fine.

 

[Pauli Taglia]

Are you able to boot off the CD-ROM drive? You need to do that in order
to boot off your XP Pro installation CD. That's the first step in Part
One of the instructions from that Microsoft page. It's glossed over, but
it is important you boot off the CD!

THE KEYBOARD DOES NOT RESPOND!!

 

[Daave]

THE KEYBOARD DOES NOT RESPOND!!

To the untrained eye, it would appear that way, Shouting Pauli.

To BJ:

I assumed you were pressing your keyboard keys too late. If you can't
even enter the BIOS, then you should try another keyboard.

 

[Peter Foldes]

BJ

Open your CD or DVD ROM and put your Windows XP CD in there. Shut down your computer
with the XP disc inside and then open the computer with the XP disk in your
CD\DVD-ROM. What happens???

Then Follow the instructions by Daave on what he posted concerning the MS KB on a
corrupted Registry

 

[BJ]

thanks again to everyone who replied and is trying to help.
I have tried repeatedly to push f11 and then f12 the next attempt to open a
boot options menu but neither work. and I am 100% positive that it was one of
these keys because I have looked at it everyday my computer has been booted
up for the past 3 years or so even tho I don't remember which of the 2. My CD
drive opens just fine and I have the Official windows XP Pro disk inside of
my drive and from there I can't do anything to boot from it.

Here is a picture I took of what my screen looks like. The loading bar only
goes that far and then completely stops. In the top right hand corner of the
screen should be 2 options one for pushing F11 to open something and one for
F12 to open something else. These 2 options usually appear a few second later
in the loading screen which is why they are not appearing in this picture.
Despite these two options now showing up I have tried pushing them anyway to
see if I can get them to work and still nothing. I have tried 2 different
keyboards and no luck their either.

<a
href="http://s285.photobucket.com/albums/ll48/BJ1254/?action=view&current=photo-1.jpg"
target="_blank"><img
src="http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll48/BJ1254/photo-1.jpg" border="0"
alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[Daave]

thanks again to everyone who replied and is trying to help.
I have tried repeatedly to push f11 and then f12 the next attempt to
open a
boot options menu but neither work. and I am 100% positive that it was
one of
these keys because I have looked at it everyday my computer has been
booted
up for the past 3 years or so even tho I don't remember which of the
2.

I have tried 2 different keyboards and no luck their either.

On Dells that have a hidden recovery partition, the keyboard combination
Control + F11 is used to access it. F12, I'm pretty sure, is normally
used to choose a boot option in real time. To access the BIOS, it's one
of the following: F1, F2, F3, F12, or DEL.

Accodring to the Michael Stevens site, F12 is only for the Dell 4400.
What is the model and model number of your Dell?

If all the keyboards you have tried so far were all USB, you might be in
luck. Try a PS/2 keyboard; that might do the trick. If still no joy, you
have another hardware issue. Could be a bad motherboard. I know that
some Optiplex models had bulging capacitors. Or maybe your RAM is shot.

Sorry, BJ, but that's all I got. If you want to read up more on hardware
troubleshooting techniques, this page is helpful:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Tshoot

Good luck.

 

[BJ]

thanks for your input Davve.
I tried all of these buttons and button combinations with no luck at all.
the screen still sits and does nothing as in the picture I posted. I think I
am about to just suck it up and call Dell..although I am very reluctant to do
so. and I am not sure what I should say to them..because I dont' really have
the money to pay for a new motherboard if needed...or really any other parts.
I'm not sure what could have caused this problem but i've had a bad hard
drive shipped to me in this built computer before and had to have that
replaced within a year of having this computer. so ill be quite angry if its
another bad part especially because I am now out of warranty.

thanks everyone for their help and input.
BJ

 

[Daave]

You're welcome, BJ. I just want to confirm one thing: Was *every*
keyboard you tried a USB keyboard? If so, trying a PS/2 keyboard might
be the answer. If you can't even get a PS/2 keyboard to work, it's
probably hardware failure. The only other possibility I can see is a
corrupted BIOS. (I suppose replacing the motherboard battery can be
tried as well; I'd do that first. And when you are looking at the board,
see if you can see any evidence of bulging capacitors.)

Good luck, again.

 

[BJ]

i'm not to sure exactly what a PS/2 keyboard is but I am assuming that its
the standard connection for a keyboard. both of the keyboards I tried were
not a USB keyboard though.

When this problem first happened I tried to replace the battery on the
motherboard but I couldn't get it out because its in such a tight spot but I
will try that again until I get it this time, its worth a shot and much much
cheaper then buying new hardware if it works. thanks again Daave

 

[Daave]

i'm not to sure exactly what a PS/2 keyboard is but I am assuming that
its
the standard connection for a keyboard. both of the keyboards I tried
were
not a USB keyboard though.

Yes, that's what I was referring to.

When this problem first happened I tried to replace the battery on the
motherboard but I couldn't get it out because its in such a tight spot
but I
will try that again until I get it this time, its worth a shot and
much much
cheaper then buying new hardware if it works. thanks again Daave

Yes, definitely, replace the battery! I hope that's all it needs.

 

[BJ]

I went out and bought a brand new 2 pack of batteries and replaced the one on
my motherboard with one of them and then rehooked my computer and turned it
on and this time there was a change...but nothing significant. The only
change was that the LEDs on my case changed back to the default color. I
still otherwise have the same exact problem as before.

I'm not sure what else to try. I was really hoping that replacing the
battery would have worked but I guess i'll have to see about calling dell.

If anyone has anymore ideas i'm all ears. but thank you again everyone for
giving me your time and effort I appreciate it.

BJ

 

[Daave]

I went out and bought a brand new 2 pack of batteries and replaced the
one on
my motherboard with one of them and then rehooked my computer and
turned it
on and this time there was a change...but nothing significant. The
only
change was that the LEDs on my case changed back to the default color.
I
still otherwise have the same exact problem as before.

I'm not sure what else to try. I was really hoping that replacing the
battery would have worked but I guess i'll have to see about calling
dell.

If anyone has anymore ideas i'm all ears. but thank you again everyone
for
giving me your time and effort I appreciate it.

All I can think is to post to a nwesgroup like alt.sys.pc-clone.dell.
GL.

 

[BJ]

ok I was FINALLY able to get my computer to work and get to the
desktop...oddly enough I had to unplug my USB mouse and Ethernet cable from
my computer and then it boot up just fine...This seemed kind of weird to me
so I tested this a few times and thats exactly what I have to do. then once
it get passed the initial loading screen that I posted a picture of earlier I
can then plug everything back in and then they work just fine...I am
currently in the process of backing up all of my files and then i'm probably
going to wipe my computer. Do you think that it will a good idea to wipe my
computer or just a waste of time? Im not sure if this will fix the problem
but its worth a shot...and sense everything seems to work once I plug them
back in does it really look like a hardware problem? any ideas or anything is
always appreciated thanks


BJ

 

[Daave]

ok I was FINALLY able to get my computer to work and get to the
desktop...oddly enough I had to unplug my USB mouse and Ethernet cable
from
my computer and then it boot up just fine...

Way to go!

My guess is that it wasn't *both* the mouse and the Ethernet cable.
Probably just one of these things. Were you plugged into a router or
modem? Or was the cord dangling? Whatever it was, it's good to hear you
could boot up!

This seemed kind of weird to me
so I tested this a few times and thats exactly what I have to do. then
once
it get passed the initial loading screen that I posted a picture of
earlier I
can then plug everything back in and then they work just fine...I am
currently in the process of backing up all of my files and then i'm
probably
going to wipe my computer.

Good to hear you are backing up your files. Make sure that becomes a
habit if it isn't one aleady. Down the road (hopefully soon), you should
look into regularly imaging your hard drive. That way if you ever run
into a big problem again, you can just simply restore the most
up-to-date image and you're back in business.

Do you think that it will a good idea to wipe my
computer or just a waste of time?

There are some instances when it is wise to perform a clean install (if
you have multiple infections and suspect your PC is compromised). Or if
nothing else works. Otherwise, it's probably not necessary. Did you have
any issues with your PC prior to this recent episode?

Im not sure if this will fix the problem
but its worth a shot...and sense everything seems to work once I plug
them
back in does it really look like a hardware problem? any ideas or
anything is
always appreciated thanks

Is your problem that your PC won't boot unless you disconnect both the
USB mouse and Ethernet cable? If so, only disconnect one and see what
happens. That is, try to isolate the cause. Perhaps try another mouse.
Also, many (most?) Dells come with a diagnostic partition or disk. See
what information that gives you. What is the model and model number?
BIOS version? Check BIOS settings, too, for anything that seems
incorrect.