Constant reboots - help!!!!!

[John]

A friend rang me to ask for my help but I'm a bit stuck for ideas so I'm
hoping someone out there can help him.

He switches on his computer and it POST's OK (I think). It then comes to a
screen where it says that Windows wasn't closed down properly and gives a
choice of startup options, something along the lines of:

1) Start Windows normally
2) Start in Safe Mode
3) Safe Mode with command prompt etc., etc., etc

It doesn't matter which choice he makes, it then reboots and it never goes
any further, just going in this loop over and over again.

Any ideas please? (WinXP Pro, 40Gb HDD, 256Mb DDR II RAM)

Cheers,

John.

 

[Ron Martell]

A friend rang me to ask for my help but I'm a bit stuck for ideas so I'm
hoping someone out there can help him.

He switches on his computer and it POST's OK (I think). It then comes to a
screen where it says that Windows wasn't closed down properly and gives a
choice of startup options, something along the lines of:

1) Start Windows normally
2) Start in Safe Mode
3) Safe Mode with command prompt etc., etc., etc

It doesn't matter which choice he makes, it then reboots and it never goes
any further, just going in this loop over and over again.

Any ideas please? (WinXP Pro, 40Gb HDD, 256Mb DDR II RAM)

A Repair Install as suggested by Brian A. is one good way of
recovering from this type of problem in most instances. Here is
another reference that has more explicit instructions on how to do
this: http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.html

However there are a couple of other things that could/should be tried
before resorting to this fairly drastic procedure. Also if the
Windows XP is an OEM version on a "system recovery" disk or in a
hidden "system recovery" hard drive partition then a Repair Install
will not be possible.

1. Go to the hard drive manufacturer's web site and download their
diagnostic software and run that to check out the drive for possible
hardware problems.

2. The single most common cause (although by no means the only cause)
of this type of problem is a damaged data structure on the hard drive,
resulting in an UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME or possibly an
NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM error while Windows is loading. With these specific
errors the system is almost always fixable by running CHKDSK /R. Boot
the computer to the Windows XP Recovery Console and when it stops at
the Command Prompt enter the following command:

CHKDSK C: /R

To boot Windows XP to the Recovery Console you can:
a: Boot from a Windows XP Installation CD and choose the "Repair
(Recovery Console)" option from the first menu.
b: If the computer has a 3.5 diskette drive you can download a set of
bootable diskette images from http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=310994
Boot the problem computer with these diskettes and when it has
finished booting run the above command.
c: Create a bootable CD using Bart's PE Builder from
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ and boot the problem computer with this
CD then open a Command Prompt window and enter the above command.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2008)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[John]

A Repair Install as suggested by Brian A. is one good way of
recovering from this type of problem in most instances. Here is
another reference that has more explicit instructions on how to do
this: http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.html

However there are a couple of other things that could/should be tried
before resorting to this fairly drastic procedure. Also if the
Windows XP is an OEM version on a "system recovery" disk or in a
hidden "system recovery" hard drive partition then a Repair Install
will not be possible.

1. Go to the hard drive manufacturer's web site and download their
diagnostic software and run that to check out the drive for possible
hardware problems.

2. The single most common cause (although by no means the only cause)
of this type of problem is a damaged data structure on the hard drive,
resulting in an UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME or possibly an
NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM error while Windows is loading. With these specific
errors the system is almost always fixable by running CHKDSK /R. Boot
the computer to the Windows XP Recovery Console and when it stops at
the Command Prompt enter the following command:

CHKDSK C: /R

To boot Windows XP to the Recovery Console you can:
a: Boot from a Windows XP Installation CD and choose the "Repair
(Recovery Console)" option from the first menu.
b: If the computer has a 3.5 diskette drive you can download a set of
bootable diskette images from http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=310994
Boot the problem computer with these diskettes and when it has
finished booting run the above command.
c: Create a bootable CD using Bart's PE Builder from
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ and boot the problem computer with this
CD then open a Command Prompt window and enter the above command.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada

Hi Ron,

For some reason or other I can't see Brian A's posting (I'll have a look at
Google Groups later) on my ISPs news server (feed provided by Giganews) but
my thanks to both you and him for the info - I'll give it a try tonight.

John