My computer running XP has gone into perpetual reboot !

[lesleyd]

I need help quickly. I normally use a laptop running XP. I download a lot
of Windows Updates (as I was instructed to do by a message) and it took
nearly all Ssaturday afternoon to download and install some 102 which
included Internet Explorer 7. Some 18 or so showed an install failure. I
had around 14 gig of spare memory on my computer. When I did as I was told
and rebooted the computer would not run - it brought up the Windows XP Home
edition Logo screen, turned a sort of dull dark blue, then went black and
repeated the process, again and again.

Unless I manually switch off it continues to try to do this, even when the
laptop is closed! What can I do to get the computer running again ? I tried
using F8, booting into safe mode, debugging mode and going back to a previous
configuration. Nothing has worked !

Worse still, in trying to get an answer to my problem, I now discover that
my old version8 of QuickBooks will not cohabit with Internet Explorer 7, and
neither will it run on a new laptop running Vista which I am using today to
contact you- so a resolution is crucial or my ability to run my business is
affected. (I do have backups of my Quicken program data, but without the
program I am scuppered!)

Please tell me:
1) How do I get back into my laptop Windows
2) How do I correct the errors and can I do this without affecting other data
3) Can I revert to Internet Explorer 6 (assuming it has been replaced with IE7




Help me please !
Lesley Dickinson

 

[Tony]

I need help quickly. I normally use a laptop running XP. I download a lot
of Windows Updates (as I was instructed to do by a message) and it took
nearly all Ssaturday afternoon to download and install some 102 which
included Internet Explorer 7. Some 18 or so showed an install failure. I
had around 14 gig of spare memory on my computer. When I did as I was told
and rebooted the computer would not run - it brought up the Windows XP Home
edition Logo screen, turned a sort of dull dark blue, then went black and
repeated the process, again and again.

Unless I manually switch off it continues to try to do this, even when the
laptop is closed! What can I do to get the computer running again ? I tried
using F8, booting into safe mode, debugging mode and going back to a previous
configuration. Nothing has worked !

Worse still, in trying to get an answer to my problem, I now discover that
my old version8 of QuickBooks will not cohabit with Internet Explorer 7, and
neither will it run on a new laptop running Vista which I am using today to
contact you- so a resolution is crucial or my ability to run my business is
affected. (I do have backups of my Quicken program data, but without the
program I am scuppered!)

Please tell me:
1) How do I get back into my laptop Windows
2) How do I correct the errors and can I do this without affecting other data
3) Can I revert to Internet Explorer 6 (assuming it has been replaced with IE7




Help me please !
Lesley Dickinson

wehn you say memory you mean storage space? i am not an expert on this
but these symptoms are sometimes a sign that you computer is about to
fail physically? It may not be the case but if a computer overheats
because the temperature is not controlled inside the case this damages
some of the capacitors on the motherboard (capacitors store a charge)
and this may cause the computer to reboot over and over again - i read
this a while back on a forum. Is your computer new and still under
warranty ?

i didnt have a second fan inside the case and eventually dust and heat
destroyed my old computer. mind you it was an old celeron 1.3 chip.

 

[lesleyd]

--
life is simple but never easy!

wehn you say memory you mean storage space? i am not an expert on this
but these symptoms are sometimes a sign that you computer is about to
fail physically? It may not be the case but if a computer overheats
because the temperature is not controlled inside the case this damages
some of the capacitors on the motherboard (capacitors store a charge)
and this may cause the computer to reboot over and over again - i read
this a while back on a forum. Is your computer new and still under
warranty ?

i didnt have a second fan inside the case and eventually dust and heat
destroyed my old computer. mind you it was an old celeron 1.3 chip.

Hello Tony - Thank you for your thoughts, but I do not think that is my
problem. Yes I did mean 'storage' I guess I don't speak the lingo, but 14gig
of ram would be an interesting concept!

My computer is still running after a fashion - I now have an XP disk on loan
and have moved on to trying to get into BIOS so I can change to boot from CD,
which it won't at the moment. I looked up appropriate function keys for this
on the Toshiba web site and can now bring up a request for a password,
however I do not know the administrator password so I am still hung up ! I
found ‘Windows XP Crashed? Here’s Help’ by Charlie White. For anyone that is
interested its at
http://webcast.broadcastnewsroom.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=8658 They
are a bit verbose, but that is quite reassuring to a novice user and I think
I can understand them fairly well. There is a helpful correction to errors
in these instructions by Iconoclast at
http://forums.digitalmedianet.com/c...gi?forum=dmn_techniques&post=070116202208.htm which should be read before proceeding.

Next step - the password ! so I'm still open to suggestions !
Lesley

 

[Tony]

lesleyd wrote:

do you mean the password for windows xp or the bios - if its the bios
you could have some problems - why anyone would set a password for a
bios i dont know!

tony

 

[lesleyd]

I meant the password for BIOS Tony. Actually with the help of my brother I
managed to guess at it and I can now change the boot disk at will.
Unfortunately, the instructions I mentioned above let me into DOS just once,
accepting a blank 'return' on yet another password, but did not get me back
into Windows when it should have. I wanted to undo the changes I made, but I
can no longer get back into DOS the same way as before, as the system is now
insisting on this other password, which is not the same as the one for the
BIOS ! I think there are live little gremlins in there ! I made a MS-DOS
boot disk, but although that takes takes me into DOS at the A prompt, no
commands seem to work !