XP repair install to disable automatic restart?

[ZenMasta]

My sisters laptop wont just keeps rebooting after a brief bsod. I have only
ever tried repair installation once and it hosed my system so I'm concerned
about doing the same thing because they don't have ANY backups of their
data. I'm pretty confident that if I can at least disable the automatic
restart on system failure that I can fix whatever the problem is.

Is this possible?

 

[peter]

maybe
that setting is under computer/properties/advanced/startup&recovery
peter

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was 2/12/2008 8:48 AM, and on a whim, ZenMasta pounded
out on the keyboard:

My sisters laptop wont just keeps rebooting after a brief bsod. I have only
ever tried repair installation once and it hosed my system so I'm concerned
about doing the same thing because they don't have ANY backups of their
data. I'm pretty confident that if I can at least disable the automatic
restart on system failure that I can fix whatever the problem is.

Is this possible?

Start by pressing F8 continuously after a reboot and choose Safe Mode.
If you can boot into Safe Mode, backup the data and see if you can find
out the problem from there.

--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
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Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

My sisters laptop wont just keeps rebooting after a brief bsod. I have
only ever tried repair installation once and it hosed my system so I'm
concerned about doing the same thing because they don't have ANY backups
of their data. I'm pretty confident that if I can at least disable the
automatic restart on system failure that I can fix whatever the problem
is.

Is this possible?

If they don't have any backups and value the data, do the prudent thing and
back it up before performing any repairs. This is easy to do with an
inexpensive external drive case or adapter. For laptop drives, these can
be under $20. They come for SATA and IDE drives, so be sure you get the
right version.

Remove the drive from the laptop, attach it to the case, connect that to
another XP system, and copy the data off. Be sure you get all the data.

Now you're safe and even if you have to start over with a wiped drive, the
data is preserved.

You might also want to remove these two files from the root: pagefile.sys
and hiberfil.sys. Removing these can sometimes fix that reboot problem.

HTH
-pk

 

[ZenMasta]

I tried safe mode but the problem occurs in safemode too so I can't get in
at all.

I was already looking for a laptop to ide converter cable but I didn't know
they had a nice external box like that. Can you recommend a place to buy or
should I just search? Thanks for the tip.

 

[RA]

My sisters laptop wont just keeps rebooting after a brief bsod. I
have only ever tried repair installation once and it hosed my system
so I'm concerned about doing the same thing because they don't have
ANY backups of their data. I'm pretty confident that if I can at
least disable the automatic restart on system failure that I can fix
whatever the problem is.
Is this possible?

Right click on My Computer, select Properties, Advanced and click the
Settings button in the Startup and Recovery area. Uncheck the box in front
of Automatically restart.

 

[ZenMasta]

again, I can't even log in via safe mode because it reboots before logging
into windows.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I tried safe mode but the problem occurs in safemode too so I can't get in
at all.

I was already looking for a laptop to ide converter cable but I didn't
know they had a nice external box like that. Can you recommend a place to
buy or should I just search? Thanks for the tip.

It depends where you are.. .I'm in a city where there are hundreds of
smaller shops that sell things like that. They tend to be more expensive
at big-box stores.

You may also find that ultimately you need to take ownership of some folders
to gain access. Google Take Ownership XP and you'll find the details
quickly.

HTH
-pk

 

[RA]

again, I can't even log in via safe mode because it reboots before
logging into windows.

Sorry, I didn't catch that the first time I read it.