Windows won't boot properly

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

Well, it looks like I've sabotaged my own computer.

I was running MSCONFIG and trying to eliminate some memory hogs from my
Start-up menu and when I restarted my system to accept the changes, I get a
screen telling me that Windows did not start successfully.

I then get 4 choices:

1. Safe Mode
2. Safe Mode with Command Prompt
3. Safe Mode with Networking
4. Start Windows normally

I've tried to boot the computer in all 4 of the above modes but Windows
fails to load and I end up at the same screen asking me what mode I want to
boot in.

DAMMIT!

I'm running Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2 on a Gateway PC with
a 2.0Ghz Pentium 4, and 768MB of RAM.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I would hate to do a complete
reinstall and risk losing everything on my hard drive.

Thanks!
 
OK...let's work through this.

First, you're probably not going lose any data. If you end up reinstalling
Windows over itself (what's known as a repair install), only the Windows
installation is affected. The My Documents folder isn't touched by a repair
install. You may have to 'take ownership' of My Documents, but that's a
simple procedure. And if a repair install doesn't solve the problem, and you
have to do a clean install, you're still OK. Just mount your hard disk as
the second disk in another XP computer. Once you take ownership of My
Documents, you can easily transfer all your files to the first hard disk.

Obviously it's a little more complicated than that, but my point is: You
most probably aren't going to lose your data.

By way of getting back up and running, try this first:

"How to start your computer by using the Last Known Good Configuration
feature in Windows XP"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307852/en-us

As your computer is restarting, copy any error messages you see. That will
help with further diagnosis (if necessary).

I could give you a lecture about backing up your system partition, but I
don't think I need to.
 
Use System Restore to undo all the changes by go back to a restore point
that is earlier than the first change you made.

http://bertk.mvps.org/

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
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