windows won't start

[Austin]

our family computer with windows XP is not starting. it goes to the screen
where you can choose the start up mode, and anything we select leads to a
glimpse of the windows logo like normal, and then the computer restarts.
something we've read says this may be due to a full hard drive, which is very
possible. We've tried booting up with the disk and setting up windows that
way, but it says the partition is full. we have a usb hard drive but we
unplugged it. would plugging it back in and freeing up space on the
computer's hard drive solve the problem? if so, how do we do that, since we
can't get into windows? maybe we could set up windows on the external hard
drive and get in to windows that way - any suggestions?

 

[Malke]

our family computer with windows XP is not starting. it goes to the screen
where you can choose the start up mode, and anything we select leads to a
glimpse of the windows logo like normal, and then the computer restarts.
something we've read says this may be due to a full hard drive, which is
very possible. We've tried booting up with the disk and setting up windows
that way, but it says the partition is full. we have a usb hard drive but
we unplugged it. would plugging it back in and freeing up space on the
computer's hard drive solve the problem? if so, how do we do that, since
we can't get into windows? maybe we could set up windows on the external
hard drive and get in to windows that way - any suggestions?

Pull the drive and attach it to a working XP machine. If the issue is that
you filled your drive up, copy the data over to another hard drive from
within the working XP install and delete from the original drive. The USB
hard drive is not going to be useful to you except as a place to store the
data if your working XP box doesn't have a big enough hard drive.

Please be aware that there are many reasons for Windows not starting and
although you are assuming that the full hard drive is the reason, that may
very well not be so (or it may be one of several factors).

Standard disclaimer: I can't see and test your computer myself, so these are
just suggestions based on many years of being a professional computer tech;
suggestions based on what you've written. You should not take my
suggestions as a definitive diagnosis. If you can't do the work yourself
(and there is no shame in admitting this isn't your cup of tea), take the
machine to a professional computer repair shop (not your local equivalent
of BigComputerStore/GeekSquad).

Malke