Cannot start windowsXP

[Richard]

A friend of mine has windows XP. I don't think he has an antivirus program
or a firewall, although maybe some of these things are built in XP.

Yesterday whilst listening to streaming audio and I think writing an email,
a friends laptop froze or crashed. He had to unplug his laptop and
reboot.

Today, whilst on the internet, again laptop crashed, whatever. But what
happens now is this: He gets a black screen with writing that gives him
some start up options, such a safe mode. He apparantly selects safe mode
but after a short while he gets the same black screen again. So, he never
gets beyond that black screen withstart up options. (Just hope he is
actually selecting an option).

Can any one tell me what I should tell him to do next? All I can think of,
is to boot up from floppy and run some diagnostic from the floppy. I think
his laptop came pre-installed and he has disks. I wonder if he ought to have
a rescue disk or something, or can he (or I for that matter with my PC
running windows 98) create one.

TIA.

 

[Scott M.]

One of the options on that screen should be "Last Known Good Startup" or
something to that effect. Have your friend try that.

If that doesn't work, a "Repair Installation" may be in order, which will
require the WindowsXP CD to be placed into the drive and the machine
rebooted, so that it can boot from the CD. When the installation screen
comes up, follow instructions for a Repair Installation.

 

[Alex Nichol]

If that doesn't work, a "Repair Installation" may be in order, which will
require the WindowsXP CD to be placed into the drive and the machine
rebooted, so that it can boot from the CD. When the installation screen
comes up, follow instructions for a Repair Installation.

And just to add. Once done, the very first thing must be to get the XP
Firewall in place before ever connecting to the internet. At Control
Panel - Network Connections, right click on the connection icon that is
relevant and take Properties. On the Advanced page check the top box
and click Apply. Without that the chance is it will get infected again
within five minutes - before he can get any of the updates and security
patches.

 

[Richard]

And just to add. Once done, the very first thing must be to get the XP
Firewall in place before ever connecting to the internet. At Control
Panel - Network Connections, right click on the connection icon that is
relevant and take Properties. On the Advanced page check the top box
and click Apply. Without that the chance is it will get infected again
within five minutes - before he can get any of the updates and security
patches.

I was thinking about his laptop being infected. I tell him to be aware of PC
protection, but he is careless about it. It does not seem to have
registered with him yet that he has to think about this issue. To make sure
in other words that his PC is protected and to keep his eye on this
possible infection. Such as making sure he dowloads patches, etc etc.

Looks like he might have to have learned the hard way. :c)

I'll see what disks he has got to see whether he is in a position to do a
recovery.