boot issues with xp home

[huntclan]

I left my computer on the other night and the next morning it was
running a scandisk. It found a few errors and fixed them... then, it
restarted the computer. It went to a black screen that said something
like,
"Windows was not shut down properly... blah... blah... and gave me the
option to
1)restart in safe-mode
2)safe-mode (networking)
3)Using Last Windows configuration
3)Use normal windows
I tried safe-mode, and it just listed a bunch of files in dos then
stopped. So I restarted the computer. It went straight to this black
screen again. I tried, "using last configuration" and it had the
Windows xp start-up screen, then went to scan disk. It didn't find any
errors... but restarted itself after the scandisk was complete. AGain,
brought me to the black screen. This time, I selected normal windows.
Same thing... scandisk, no errors, restart, black screen.

I got out my Windows xp disk and put it in the CD Rom. I went to the
BIOS and changed the settings so it would boot from the CD. Turned off
the computer... turned it back on - same thing. It doesn't even look
like it is reading from the CD. The light comes on the drive at the
beginning (when turning the computer on)... but, that is it.

I called tech support (Dell)... I don't think they even understood my
problem.

Any suggestions would be GREAT! The big problem is that I was having
some backup issues right before this happened and didn't get my stuff
backed up - YIKES. At the very least, is there anyway I can move those
files to a floppy outside of windows? Can I get to a dos prompt when
the computer starts up??

Thanks so much!!!
Jenni

 

[Rob Elder, MVP-Networking]

Boot to safe mode. The list you described is normal, just be patient.

Once in safe mode, you can copy your data. But that isn't going to fix the
problem.

Have you recently made any changes to your system?

 

[Guest]

Try checking the boot paths when in "safe mode with networking" . Once in safe mode go>start\run and type in msconfig and the click the boot.ini tab and then the check all boot paths button. This may find a corrupt boot and ask if you want to write a new one or fix the existing one. Try that. You can also put the disk in the drive and then try holding down F6 to load failsafe defaults or F7 to load defaults. This may or may not work. If you can ever get it to boot from your CD then you can get into the recovery console and do a chkdsk or write a new master boot record with the fixmbr command. Good luck

 

[huntclan]

Hi Rob,
The list freezes and doesn't go anywhere... I've waited.
I haven't made any changes to the system - just working on html, psd,
and doc files. It was running fine the night before... and I had left
it on (with the modem off).

I'm thinking I can get a boot disk from bootdisk.com for Windows98
which will allow me to copy in dos, right? I will be trying this this
afternoon. Please correct me if I am wrong... Thanks.
Jenni

 

[Walter Clayton]

DOS can't read NTFS.

If safe mode is failing then something has screwed up royally (and yes
that's a technical term .

Two issues to address. First off, if this is current OEM hardware (implied
by Dell running XP) then you'll have to hit one of the function keys
(displayed during BIOS post although in some instances only after a hard
power on rather than reset) to boot the CD. However in this instance, you
probably don't want that since most OEMs provide restore images only so
you'll wind up blowing your data away.

Second issue is the heart of the matter. Addressing that's going to be
tricky. Try safe mode command prompt. If that will come up then change
directory to windows\system32\restore and run rstrui. See if you can restore
back to when the fault occurred.

--
Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org

 

[huntclan]

Well, I have downloaded from bootdisk the boot floppies for xp. When
it gets to disk three it says the pci.sys file is corrupt. I don't
know whether it is talking about on my system or the floppy... I've
re-downloaded the boot disks over and over and keep getting the error.
I finally had the idea to reformat some different floppies and try
again with those. That is the next thing I'm going to do.

I was able to get to the dos prompt and copy a bunch of my files to
floppies... so I'm not so concerned about losing files (other than the
big pain to reload all my software, etc.). I don't even know how to
start-over and reformat my HD... how would I get windows going again
since it won't boot from a CD OR the Floppies.

Any ideas?
Thanks so much!
Jenni

 

[huntclan]

Okay, I tried restore (as you mentioned - from safe-mode command
prompt) - and it says the program cannot be run in dos mode.

Here is the latest on my problem...
I downloaded a bootdisk for xp to 6 floppies - that seemed successful.
It went through the disks and asked if I wanted to run windows set up
or repair. I selected run windows set up (should I have done the
latter?). Then I got a blue screen and this is what it said:

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
If this is the first stop error screen, restart your computer. IF it
happens again, check for new hardware or software. If continues,
disable/remove any newly installed hardware or software (there hasn't
been anything installed recently at all!). Disable BIOS memory options
such as caching or shadowing. If need safe mode to remove or disable
components, restart and press F8 for advanced startup options. Select
safe mode.

Technical Information:
STOP:0x00000050 (OXC3880000,0x00000000,0x8081B123,0X00000000)

Any thoughts? I restarted my computer and it puts me back where I
started - black screen with advanced starting options. Only it is
warning me to start in command prompt only because I have corrupt
config files. It suggests running SCANREG - when I try, it says bad
command or file name. It is also saying that it cannot find win.com.

Love suggestions... thanks!
Jenni

 

[Walter Clayton]

Do you have SP1 installed? I can launch system restore from safe mode
command prompt without any problems. :-/

Your problem is either a faulty driver or bad memory.

--
Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org