Power Outage Recovery

[Randy]

I occasionally lose power at my house, and have no backup
UPS to rely on. I'm using Windows XP Pro, and when the
machine is reset after a power outage, I get an Error
message that says either you have a corrupt PCI.sys or
ISAPNP.sys file. I keep trying to reboot, but continue
running into the same message. Even pressing F8, and
running in safe mode doesn't work. I tried pressing "r"
when told to do so with my XP disk in the CD, but it
doesn't bring up a recovery screen to fix the files. For
some odd reason, after completely powering down the system
and starting the computer, it will recover after 3 to 6
tries. Is there something I can do to easily power up
after a power outage? It is very frustrating.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

It would be wise to invest in a good UPS if power outages
are common. Eventually, your computer will become irreparable.
You can spend less than $100 for a good UPS now, or you can
spend about $1500 later for a new PC when your current PC ceases to function.

UPS Selector
http://www.apc.com/template/size/apc/index.cfm

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Michael Stevens]

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

-----------------------------------------------------------------------


|I occasionally lose power at my house, and have no backup
| UPS to rely on. I'm using Windows XP Pro, and when the
| machine is reset after a power outage, I get an Error
| message that says either you have a corrupt PCI.sys or
| ISAPNP.sys file. I keep trying to reboot, but continue
| running into the same message. Even pressing F8, and
| running in safe mode doesn't work. I tried pressing "r"
| when told to do so with my XP disk in the CD, but it
| doesn't bring up a recovery screen to fix the files. For
| some odd reason, after completely powering down the system
| and starting the computer, it will recover after 3 to 6
| tries. Is there something I can do to easily power up
| after a power outage? It is very frustrating.

 

[Rocket J. Squirrel]

Well, Randy, the number one thing to do is to buy a UPS. For as little as
they cost, and as much as a computer costs, it's foolish not to have one.
Sorry for being so blunt.

A power outage or spike can be the kiss of death for a computer. You should
consider yourself lucky that you were able to get your computer up and
running again, and you should thanks the girls and boys in Redmond for make
XP the most 'self-healing' Windows yet. Sometimes XP can right itself with
several reboots

To directly answer your question, there is nothing you can do to "easily
power up after a power outage." You need a UPS, especially if you
occasionally lose power at your house. Many UPSes come with software that
will save all your work and shut down your computer in an orderly fashion
should the power go out.

There are several companies that manufacture UPSes. Perhaps the largest one
is American Power Corporation. You can find them at www.apcc.com.

Rocky

 

[Testy]

Your best bet is to spend a few dollars and get a UPS.

testy

 

[Randy]

Rocky, thanks for the reply, but I have a search protector
and have never used a UPS in all my computing years. What
I'm trying to figure out, is why windows is causing the
error messages, and what I need to do to get a smooth
reboot. Right now, I have to reboot several times to try
and get the XP startup bar to show up without an error
message. I never use to have problems with rebooting on a
power failure in Win 3.1, 95, 98, or NT. XP is a very
good stable system, but I can't determine how to overcome
this error message when power is lost with Windows running.

any suggestions would be great!

thanks,
Randy

 

[Rocket J. Squirrel]

Windows is not causing the error messages - your power problem did that.
Windows is just trying to cope with the damage caused by the power outage.
If you can't solve the error messages, backup and reinstall Windows. If your
hardware wasn't damaged by the power outage, that may solve your problem.
But don't expect much love as long as you don't have a UPS. It's like
walking around without underwear.

Rocky