X
Xipetotec
Hello,
Today I have had the unfortunate luck of running into this much hated error
message at computer start up; "Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or
software change might be the cause." This happened after my computer crashed
big time. I'm talking about the type of crash where the only thing you can
do is physically unplug the machine's power supply from the wall and plug it
back into restart it. I have tried pretty much every option given at the
error screen, Start in Safe Mode, Start in Safe Mode with Networking, Start
in Safe Mode with Command Prompt, Restart using your latest settings that
worked, Start Windows normally. Nothing works. The last two choices,
Restart using your latest settings that worked and Start Windows normally try
and boot the OS and get to the XP loading screen but instead of initializing
the OS the screen goes black for a second and then starts booting from
scratch, eventually returning to the error screen. The first three options
show a listing of files but do not actually start in any of the modes after
the files are listed off the screen goes black for a second just like for the
last two choices and the system boots again returning to the error screen.
After trying all of these options I went into Bios to make sure that my PC
was trying to load of off its internal drive and not my external because it
has tried to do that before after crashing while running programs off of my
external. The Boot menu confirmed my fear that, yes my PC was booting off of
its internal drive.
I have searched the internet for about an hour and pretty much everything I
found on this matter was for systems running Vista, which would advise the
owners to use the Vista Startup Repair. However, that is not an option for
me as my computer is running Windows XP. I only have the options listed in
the first paragraph, none of which are a Startup Repair. I also do not have
access to a installation disc and if I did it would do me no good because my
cd-drive is dead.
My PC is a four year old Gateway machine of the series 5310 running Windows
XP with service pack 3. I have had minor problems with this machine in the
past but nothing like this and I can't really complain because it lasted me
through college. But now I am attending graduate school so I ask you, please
help me, starting graduate school without a working computer will be a
nightmare. At this point the only thing that I could think of is that my
internal hard-drive has died. But that usually is obvious because it makes
noise if something is up with the disk. Nothing sounds wrong with my system
and so I ask humbly for your help.
Today I have had the unfortunate luck of running into this much hated error
message at computer start up; "Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or
software change might be the cause." This happened after my computer crashed
big time. I'm talking about the type of crash where the only thing you can
do is physically unplug the machine's power supply from the wall and plug it
back into restart it. I have tried pretty much every option given at the
error screen, Start in Safe Mode, Start in Safe Mode with Networking, Start
in Safe Mode with Command Prompt, Restart using your latest settings that
worked, Start Windows normally. Nothing works. The last two choices,
Restart using your latest settings that worked and Start Windows normally try
and boot the OS and get to the XP loading screen but instead of initializing
the OS the screen goes black for a second and then starts booting from
scratch, eventually returning to the error screen. The first three options
show a listing of files but do not actually start in any of the modes after
the files are listed off the screen goes black for a second just like for the
last two choices and the system boots again returning to the error screen.
After trying all of these options I went into Bios to make sure that my PC
was trying to load of off its internal drive and not my external because it
has tried to do that before after crashing while running programs off of my
external. The Boot menu confirmed my fear that, yes my PC was booting off of
its internal drive.
I have searched the internet for about an hour and pretty much everything I
found on this matter was for systems running Vista, which would advise the
owners to use the Vista Startup Repair. However, that is not an option for
me as my computer is running Windows XP. I only have the options listed in
the first paragraph, none of which are a Startup Repair. I also do not have
access to a installation disc and if I did it would do me no good because my
cd-drive is dead.
My PC is a four year old Gateway machine of the series 5310 running Windows
XP with service pack 3. I have had minor problems with this machine in the
past but nothing like this and I can't really complain because it lasted me
through college. But now I am attending graduate school so I ask you, please
help me, starting graduate school without a working computer will be a
nightmare. At this point the only thing that I could think of is that my
internal hard-drive has died. But that usually is obvious because it makes
noise if something is up with the disk. Nothing sounds wrong with my system
and so I ask humbly for your help.