Windows XP Professional continuously reboots

[johnnychua]

Our school's computer won't finish the loading of the OS. Everytime I open
it, the booting process will start but will end to the page asking for a
selection from various options including: Start in Safe Mode, etc.

I have tried all these options but each one will return to the same selection
page. Any solution that will preserve our teachers' data in there? Thank
you.

 

[Malke]

Our school's computer won't finish the loading of the OS. Everytime I
open it, the booting process will start but will end to the page asking
for a selection from various options including: Start in Safe Mode, etc.

I have tried all these options but each one will return to the same
selection
page. Any solution that will preserve our teachers' data in there? Thank
you.

Your first step in solving the problem is to retrieve the data. Then you
need to test the hardware to determine whether your solution is to replace
components or to clean-install Windows. Then when all the dust has settled,
you need to make and implement a backup and disaster recovery strategy.

Here is my standard data recovery cut/paste (lengthy). Not everything in it
may be applicable to you. If you have questions, please do post back.

*IMPORTANT* - If there is any question that the drive is at fault - it's
making noises for instance - and the data is crucial DO NOTHING FURTHER ON
THE DRIVE. Every time you spin that drive up you may be destroying data. If
this is the case, send the drive to a professional data recovery company
like Drive Savers (my preference) or Seagate Data Recovery. General prices
run from $500USD on up. Drive Savers recovered all the data on a failed
laptop drive for one of my clients and it cost $2,700. He thought it was
worth the money; only you know what your data is worth. I understand that
some insurance companies are now covering data recovery charges under "Loss
of Intellectual Property" so check with yours.

Drive Savers - http://www.drivesavers.com
Seagate Data Recovery Services - https://www.seagatedatarecovery.com/

*IMPORTANT* - If you think the drive is physically healthy, it may be
possible to retrieve the data by software methods. DO NOTHING FURTHER ON
THE DRIVE. The data is still on the hard drive but if you overwrite it, it
will be extremely difficult or impossible to recover it. If you use data
recovery software, install it on another machine and either use it from
that operating system or create a bootable cd/floppy and work with that. If
you don't have the skill and/or equipment to do these procedures and the
data is crucial, take the machine to a professional computer repair shop
that has experience in doing data recovery. This will not be your local
version of BigStoreUSA. In-shop data recovery is usually not exactly cheap
(for ex., my charges are generally $150-350USD), but it normally costs less
than sending the drive to a company like Drive Savers. You need to make the
determination of the value of your data and decide what to do.

So, here are some things to try to recover your data:

1. Pull the drive and slave it in a computer running a working install of
XP. Depending on the target drive's characteristics, you may need a drive
adapter; i.e., laptop-to-IDE or a SATA controller card, etc. A usb/firewire
external drive enclosure works very well, too. Use the working Windows
Explorer to copy the data to the rescue system's hard drive and then burn
the data to cd or dvd.

2. Often XP will not boot with a slaved drive that has a damaged file
system. In that case, boot the target computer with either a Bart's PE or a
Linux live cd such as Knoppix and retrieve the data that way. Here is
general information on using Knoppix for this:

You will need a computer with two cd drives, one of which is a cd/dvd-rw OR
a usb thumb drive with enough capacity to hold your data OR an external
usb/firewire hard drive formatted FAT32 (not NTFS). To get Knoppix, you
need a computer with a fast Internet connection and third-party burning
software. Download the Knoppix .iso and create your bootable cd. Then boot
with it and it will be able to see the Windows files. If you are using the
usb thumb drive or the external hard drive, right-click on its icon (on the
Desktop) to get its properties and uncheck the box that says "Read Only".
Then click on it to open it. Note that the default mouse action in the
window manager used by Knoppix (KDE) is a single click to open instead of
the traditional MS Windows' double-click. Otherwise, use the K3b burning
program to burn the files to cd/dvd-r's.

http://www.knoppix.net
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ - Bart's PE Builder

3. If a Bart's PE or Knoppix won't work, you can try using data recovery
software. Here are some links to various programs. I use Easy Recovery Pro,
but it is expensive. People whom I respect have recommended R-Studio and
Restoration. YMMV.

http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html
PCInspector File Recovery -
http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/welcome.htm
Executive Software “Undelete†-
http://www.execsoft.com/undelete/undelete.asp
R-Studio - http://www.r-tt.com/
File Scavenger - http://www.quetek.com/prod02.htm
Ontrack's EasyRecovery - http://www.ontrack.com/software/

Malke

 

[Guest]

If you have the XP Cd, you can attempt a repair of the OS which will restore
all the critical system files while retaining personal data and settings.

1. Boot the computer from the CD and it will begin the setup.
2. Read the screen carefully during this process.
3. When asked to select repair (recovery console) just contiue setup, don't
do a recovery console process. Continue with normal setup.
4. Next screen, you should be asked again concerning OS repair already
installed (this would be the one that won't boot for you).
5. Choose to repair the installed OS if one exists.

If you don't have the XP CD, there are some other methods. Good Luck.

Tim

 

[Paul Johnson]

Our school's computer won't finish the loading of the OS. Everytime I
open it, the booting process will start but will end to the page asking
for a selection from various options including: Start in Safe Mode, etc.

Ouch, someone should resign or get fired for making that decision and
wasting public money like that. Microsoft Windows is not intended for
school use. Multnomah County Education Service District's operating
system, K12LTSP is. You can get it for free at http://www.k12ltsp.org/

I have tried all these options but each one will return to the same
selection page.

If none of those options work, it's probably time for that machine to get
formatted and reinstalled.

Any solution that will preserve our teachers' data in there?

Go grab a knoppix disc for free from http://www.knoppix.net/ and boot from
that disc once it's burned. Make sure you have a network share or a USB
drive or something handy to stash your files on. Things should be self
evident from there as Knoppix boots to a GUI desktop.