M
MOTU
I'm a pretty experienced computer user but this one has me stumped.
My parent's computer was running fine up until Tuesday evening. Apparently
it was running very slowly so the computer was rebooted when they went to
bed for the night. In the morning, the computer was at the XP loading screen
"Windows is starting up".. stuck there.
Rebooting results in the computer showing the black 'XP loading' screen,
then the monitor clicks and (as though it is changing mode) and goes totally
black then after about 15 seconds clicks back on and goes to the blue
"starting up" screen, and it stays there.
Attempts to get into Safe Mode result in the 'Safe Mode' text at all 4
corners on a black screen (looks promising), but then it wipes into the blue
"Windows is starting up screen", and stays there. Same in Use VGA mode..
Use Last Known Good settings and there is no change.
Have similarly tried all the boot/startup debugging options, Recovery
Console (used the DISABLE command to unload any video services).
** Ran a chkdsk and it found 1 error which is corrected. **
Still no go!
Tried Repairing Windows from Windows CD. It stays at 39 minutes to go.
The computer does not freeze (mouse works and the 'progress' graphic is
active) but no HD activity.
Removed RAM, swapped RAM sticks, reset BIOS to Optimal Settings, all no go.
Ok, I figured I'd pop in a startup floppy and take a look at the drive for
more/any errors.
Floppy Drive is accessed on startup, checks for a boot-floppy, seems to be
working... but then the black 'XP loading' screen comes up. I've tried 3
different floppies, Anti-virus rescue disks, Partition Magic rescue disks --
SAME DEAL -- it ignores the fact that they're boot-floppies.
The only thing I can think of is that the board now has a boot virus??
Any other obvious things to try or do?
My parent's computer was running fine up until Tuesday evening. Apparently
it was running very slowly so the computer was rebooted when they went to
bed for the night. In the morning, the computer was at the XP loading screen
"Windows is starting up".. stuck there.
Rebooting results in the computer showing the black 'XP loading' screen,
then the monitor clicks and (as though it is changing mode) and goes totally
black then after about 15 seconds clicks back on and goes to the blue
"starting up" screen, and it stays there.
Attempts to get into Safe Mode result in the 'Safe Mode' text at all 4
corners on a black screen (looks promising), but then it wipes into the blue
"Windows is starting up screen", and stays there. Same in Use VGA mode..
Use Last Known Good settings and there is no change.
Have similarly tried all the boot/startup debugging options, Recovery
Console (used the DISABLE command to unload any video services).
** Ran a chkdsk and it found 1 error which is corrected. **
Still no go!
Tried Repairing Windows from Windows CD. It stays at 39 minutes to go.
The computer does not freeze (mouse works and the 'progress' graphic is
active) but no HD activity.
Removed RAM, swapped RAM sticks, reset BIOS to Optimal Settings, all no go.
Ok, I figured I'd pop in a startup floppy and take a look at the drive for
more/any errors.
Floppy Drive is accessed on startup, checks for a boot-floppy, seems to be
working... but then the black 'XP loading' screen comes up. I've tried 3
different floppies, Anti-virus rescue disks, Partition Magic rescue disks --
SAME DEAL -- it ignores the fact that they're boot-floppies.
The only thing I can think of is that the board now has a boot virus??
Any other obvious things to try or do?