Computer hangs during System Restart

[ME]

I don't know whether or not I am in the correct forum, if not please excuse
me.

Dell Inspiron 5160, Windows XP SP2, Lavasoft AVG Anti-Virus 7.1, Microsoft
Firewall, Microsoft AntiSpyware.

An acquaintance was surfing the web when his Dell Inspiron 5160 laptop
computer froze. He had to remove the power cord and battery to close the
computer for the night. Next morning when he switched on, the computer
began the "System Restart" procedure (i.e. progress bar moving from left to
right across the screen). However, the process froze at 3/4 of the progress
bar indication. Restarting the process again he tried pressing F8 during
the System Restart and the computer again froze, as it did when pressing F2
or F12 during the "System Restart".

On my normal healthy laptop computer if F8 is pressed during the "System
Restart" process, two options are given "Continue with System Restart" or
"Delete restoration data and proceed to System Boot menu".

Can anyone please advice how we can resolve this problem on his problem
laptop computer?

Derek

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I don't know whether or not I am in the correct forum, if not please excuse
me.

Dell Inspiron 5160, Windows XP SP2, Lavasoft AVG Anti-Virus 7.1, Microsoft
Firewall, Microsoft AntiSpyware.

An acquaintance was surfing the web when his Dell Inspiron 5160 laptop
computer froze. He had to remove the power cord and battery to close the
computer for the night. Next morning when he switched on, the computer
began the "System Restart" procedure (i.e. progress bar moving from left to
right across the screen). However, the process froze at 3/4 of the progress
bar indication. Restarting the process again he tried pressing F8 during
the System Restart and the computer again froze, as it did when pressing F2
or F12 during the "System Restart".

On my normal healthy laptop computer if F8 is pressed during the "System
Restart" process, two options are given "Continue with System Restart" or
"Delete restoration data and proceed to System Boot menu".

Can anyone please advice how we can resolve this problem on his problem
laptop computer?

Derek

Press F8 repeatedly during the boot sequence, then try "Last Known
Good Configuration" or "Safe Mode".

 

[ME]

Pegasus,
We have tried rapidly pressing F8, the System Restart freezes as soon as we
press F8 or F2 or F12.
Derek

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

AFAIK, neither F2 nor F12 are Windows function keys
at startup time. However, they could be meaningful for
the particular laptop you have. This makes me suspect
that you have a hardware problem. As a last resort I
would attempt to boot the machine with a WinXP
installation CD. To do this you have to instruct the laptop's
BIOS to make the CD drive its first boot device.

If this fails then you should take the machine to your
friendly laptop dealer for a detailed examination. If it
works then you can get into the Recovery Console
and issue these commands to repair your boot environment:
fixboot
fixmbr
bootcfg /rebuild