XP won't start, Can't use CD drive HeLp!! PLEASE!

[Guest]

Last night i was on my sony Vaio desktop and my I.E froze up, I tied to close
it and it wouldn't close so I tried control, Alt, Delete... that didn't work
either so I manually shut the computer off. A couple of hours later I came
back upstairs to check my email and restarted the computer...

Instead of restarting it goes to the windows logo screen for about 4
seconds, the to a black screen, then to the sony Vaio scree, then to a black
screen then to a screen that says

"We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfuly.
A recent hardware or software change might have caused this.

I'f your computer stopped responding, restarted unexpectedly, or was
automatically shut down to protect your files and folders, choose Last Known
Good Configuration to revert to the most recent settings tht worked.

If a previous startup attempt was interrupted due to a power failure or
becasue the power or Reset button was pressed, or if you aren't sure what
caused the problem choose Start Windows Normally.

Safe Mode
Safe mode with networking
Safe mode with command prompt

Last known good configuration (your most recent settings that worked)

Start Windows Normaly

Use the up and down arrow keys to move the highlight to your choice.
Seconds until windows starts: 30"

Sometimes it will count down the 30 sec and some times it just sits there
forever. I have tried each of these options and always I am sent back to this
same screen, None of them work.

I read some of the other posts and articles in the hep section. I do not
have the windows XP disk for this computer, but I have another windows XP
disk... I have tried putting that in BOTH of my CD rom drives and nothing
happens it acts like there is no disk in them... no matter what I push
(enter, F8, R, any key... anything) nothing happens. It said in the help file
to configure your comp to read the cd in the cd drive but I can't very well
do that if I can't even get into windows in safe mode at the very least!

I can't replace any files or fix any files if I can't get into anything... I
am completely horrified that this has happened.

I called Best Buy and was told that just to check it into the shop was going
to be $200.00 and that didn't count them looking at it for assesment of them
fixing it. My husband is in the military and I can't afford a 200.00+ comp
bill. I am so upset because we had just loaded our wedding and his deployment
hotos onto the comp and feeling that they were safe on there we deleted them
from the cards as well as al of our honeymoon photos. I feel like I just want
to CRY! I don't see how this can be happening that my comp has completely
locked me out of it...

Is there anyway I can ever gain access to the files on that HD for UNDER
$100.00 I could find some way to afford that if I saved for a while...???
What if the HD was installed in another computer as a slave drive? would I be
able to access it or would I still be locked out of it completely? I really
need help and while I've seen someone else post something similar to this the
answer they received did not help me...

Thank you so much for you time it is GREATLY appreciated

Jennifer Kerr

 

[Ronaldo]

Sometimes it will count down the 30 sec and some times it just sits there
forever. I have tried each of these options and always I am sent back to
this same screen, None of them work.

When this happens as you try to logon in safe mode, you may have to press
ctrl+alt+del a few times before the bootup continues.

I read some of the other posts and articles in the hep section. I do not
have the windows XP disk for this computer, but I have another windows XP
disk... I have tried putting that in BOTH of my CD rom drives and nothing
happens it acts like there is no disk in them... no matter what I push
(enter, F8, R, any key... anything) nothing happens.

Strange because either CD-ROM should run when you insert the XP CD.
Some times electronic circuits are damaged when you shut the computer
manually specially if it has inadequate power surge protection. Also in such
circumstances the BIOS can be caused to have trouble recognizing drives

It said in the help file to configure your comp to read the cd in the
cd drive but I can't very well do that if I can't even get into
windows in safe mode at the very least!

It means you need to access the BIOS and configure it to recognize the
CD-ROMs and set either to run before other drives in order to start the
installation of Windows XP. If after setting the BIOS to recognize the
optical drives, neither of them runs, you may have to disconnect them from
the power and digital cables because one of them or even both may be damaged
and may be causing the problem. After disconnecting both drives see if the
system starts up in normal mode, if not, try the Last Known Good
Configuration (press F8 and hold pressed at startup until the different
logon modes appear on the screen), if that doesn't work either, try the
Safe Mode option.. If none of these options works, your files can be
rescued installing the drive in slave mode.

I feel like I just want to CRY! I don't see how this can be happening that
my comp has completely locked me out of it...
Is there anyway I can ever gain access to the files on that HD for UNDER
$100.00 I could find some way to afford that if I saved for a while...???
What if the HD was installed in another computer as a slave drive? would I
be able to access it or would I still be locked out of it completely?

As long as you have the XP CD and a working CD-ROM there is always a way to
get in... you can regain access to your computer for $0.00 if you know how
to,
and in the worst of scenarios, you can recover your files through another
computer installing the HD as a slave drive, it may appear that you're
locked out
but you can take ownership of the drive and gain access as if it were just
another partition. Also while the drive is connected to another computer,
the system may be repaired with the XP CD in a "Repair" installation, but
once reinstalled on your computer it may have to be started with a bootdisk
containing the NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and Boot.ini files.
But for best results the way to do the repair installation is with a
normally functioning CD-ROM installed in your computer. So maybe you can
have your CD-ROMs tested or one replaced with a new or borrowed one so you
can do a Repair Installation of WXP.



How to access/enter the BIOS
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

BIOS (Basic Input Output System)
Basic Input/Output System. A set of instructions stored on a ROM chip which
handles all input-output functions. The BIOS communicates between the
operating system and the computer's hardware. This is a part of the computer
firmware (computer dedicated software). The BIOS is responsible for testing
and cold booting of the operating system. Provides fundamental services
required for the operation of a computer. These routines are generally
stored in Read Only Memory (ROM). They control basic hardware operations
such as interactions with hard disk drives, CD ROM drives, keyboard, etc.

-------------------------------------

 

[SingaporeWebDesign]

Hello,

We need to know the error code that displays before your compute restarts.
In most cases, there should be a flash of blue screen before the computer
restarts.

Select 'Start Windows Normally' and *quickly* hit F8.

If you got the timing right, you should see another menu. If there is only
one option in that menu, hit F8 again.

In this menu select 'disable automatic restart on system failure', Enter,
Enter and you should be able to view the full blue screen error.

Post the message here and we will be able to help you better.


--
Singapore Website Design
http://www.bootstrike.com/Webdesign/
Singapore Web Hosting
http://www.bootstrike.com/WinXP/faq.html
Windows XP FAQ

 

[I_cannot_say]

On Sat, 12 May 2007 20:21:00 -0700, jennifer Kerr <jennifer

Last night i was on my sony Vaio desktop and my I.E froze up, I tied to close
it and it wouldn't close so I tried control, Alt, Delete... that didn't work
either so I manually shut the computer off. A couple of hours later I came
back upstairs to check my email and restarted the computer...

Instead of restarting it goes to the windows logo screen for about 4
seconds, the to a black screen, then to the sony Vaio scree, then to a black
screen then to a screen that says

"We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfuly.
A recent hardware or software change might have caused this.

I'f your computer stopped responding, restarted unexpectedly, or was
automatically shut down to protect your files and folders, choose Last Known
Good Configuration to revert to the most recent settings tht worked.

If a previous startup attempt was interrupted due to a power failure or
becasue the power or Reset button was pressed, or if you aren't sure what
caused the problem choose Start Windows Normally.

Safe Mode
Safe mode with networking
Safe mode with command prompt

Last known good configuration (your most recent settings that worked)

Start Windows Normaly

Use the up and down arrow keys to move the highlight to your choice.
Seconds until windows starts: 30"

Sometimes it will count down the 30 sec and some times it just sits there
forever. I have tried each of these options and always I am sent back to this
same screen, None of them work.

I read some of the other posts and articles in the hep section. I do not
have the windows XP disk for this computer, but I have another windows XP
disk... I have tried putting that in BOTH of my CD rom drives and nothing
happens it acts like there is no disk in them... no matter what I push
(enter, F8, R, any key... anything) nothing happens. It said in the help file
to configure your comp to read the cd in the cd drive but I can't very well
do that if I can't even get into windows in safe mode at the very least!

I can't replace any files or fix any files if I can't get into anything... I
am completely horrified that this has happened.

I called Best Buy and was told that just to check it into the shop was going
to be $200.00 and that didn't count them looking at it for assesment of them
fixing it. My husband is in the military and I can't afford a 200.00+ comp
bill. I am so upset because we had just loaded our wedding and his deployment
hotos onto the comp and feeling that they were safe on there we deleted them
from the cards as well as al of our honeymoon photos. I feel like I just want
to CRY! I don't see how this can be happening that my comp has completely
locked me out of it...

Is there anyway I can ever gain access to the files on that HD for UNDER
$100.00 I could find some way to afford that if I saved for a while...???
What if the HD was installed in another computer as a slave drive? would I be
able to access it or would I still be locked out of it completely? I really
need help and while I've seen someone else post something similar to this the
answer they received did not help me...

Thank you so much for you time it is GREATLY appreciated

Jennifer Kerr

The problem you're having could be as simple as a loose plug or memory
stick or as serious as a bad hard drive. From what you've said though,
there's a very good chance that your pictures are recoverable. If you
want to have it repaired for a more reasonable cost then stay away from
Best Buy or CompUSA or any other large chain store - especially if you
ever want to see your pictures again. Find a local computer store and
have it checked out there. You'll get faster, more personalized service
and won't have to pay an arm and a leg. I charge $85 to diagnosis a
problem and that includes the first hour of service - and you'll know
what is wrong and exactly how much it will cost within 48 hours, not 48
days. In addition, data recovery is always my number one priority when I
look at a customer's computer (unless they tell me not to worry about
it). At a chain store, their number one priority is figuring out how to
get the maximum number of $$$ from each customer.

Good luck,
NRJ

 

[Anna]

Last night i was on my sony Vaio desktop and my I.E froze up, I tied to
close
it and it wouldn't close so I tried control, Alt, Delete... that didn't
work
either so I manually shut the computer off. A couple of hours later I came
back upstairs to check my email and restarted the computer...

Instead of restarting it goes to the windows logo screen for about 4
seconds, the to a black screen, then to the sony Vaio scree, then to a
black
screen then to a screen that says

"We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start
successfuly.
A recent hardware or software change might have caused this.

I'f your computer stopped responding, restarted unexpectedly, or was
automatically shut down to protect your files and folders, choose Last
Known
Good Configuration to revert to the most recent settings tht worked.

If a previous startup attempt was interrupted due to a power failure or
becasue the power or Reset button was pressed, or if you aren't sure what
caused the problem choose Start Windows Normally.

Safe Mode
Safe mode with networking
Safe mode with command prompt

Last known good configuration (your most recent settings that worked)

Start Windows Normaly

Use the up and down arrow keys to move the highlight to your choice.
Seconds until windows starts: 30"

Sometimes it will count down the 30 sec and some times it just sits there
forever. I have tried each of these options and always I am sent back to
this
same screen, None of them work.

I read some of the other posts and articles in the hep section. I do not
have the windows XP disk for this computer, but I have another windows XP
disk... I have tried putting that in BOTH of my CD rom drives and nothing
happens it acts like there is no disk in them... no matter what I push
(enter, F8, R, any key... anything) nothing happens. It said in the help
file
to configure your comp to read the cd in the cd drive but I can't very
well
do that if I can't even get into windows in safe mode at the very least!

I can't replace any files or fix any files if I can't get into anything...
I
am completely horrified that this has happened.

I called Best Buy and was told that just to check it into the shop was
going
to be $200.00 and that didn't count them looking at it for assesment of
them
fixing it. My husband is in the military and I can't afford a 200.00+ comp
bill. I am so upset because we had just loaded our wedding and his
deployment
hotos onto the comp and feeling that they were safe on there we deleted
them
from the cards as well as al of our honeymoon photos. I feel like I just
want
to CRY! I don't see how this can be happening that my comp has completely
locked me out of it...

Is there anyway I can ever gain access to the files on that HD for UNDER
$100.00 I could find some way to afford that if I saved for a while...???
What if the HD was installed in another computer as a slave drive? would I
be
able to access it or would I still be locked out of it completely? I
really
need help and while I've seen someone else post something similar to this
the
answer they received did not help me...

Thank you so much for you time it is GREATLY appreciated

Jennifer Kerr

Jennifer:
First things first...

I take it at this point that the most important thing about the problem
you're experiencing is to save that precious data currently residing on your
HDD. Assuming that is so, your own suggestion that the drive be connected as
a secondary HDD on a working system is a good one. I think that would be the
way to go at this point-in-time. Hopefully the HDD itself is not defective
and all (or most) of the data on it can be accessed and saved to some other
media, e.g., one or more CD-Rs.

I'm assuming you have the competence to transfer the HDD to another machine
and install it as a secondary HDD. It's not a particularly hard or
complicated process but like everything else in this PC world you have to
know what you're doing so as not to create more problems for yourself.
Perhaps you have a knowledgeable friend to help you along.

Additionally, if at all possible, should you (or someone) has a disk
imaging/disk cloning program and knows how to use such, it would be a good
idea to "clone" the contents of your HDD to another HDD so that at the least
you'll have another copy of the drive should things go awry.

Ronaldo's response to you mentions this possibility of transferring the HDD
to another PC and accessing the data this way. (He label's it as a "worst
case scenario" but in my view this would be the wisest course at this point
assuming I correctly understand your primary objective). Anyway, he does
mention the possibility that you may have to "take ownership" of the files
following this transfer to a different machine using the info in the
Microsoft KB article he cites. This probably won't be necessary but you
should be aware of it as a possiblility.

Anyway, assuming you go this route and you can successfully access and copy
the data you need, we can then discuss getting your system back to a working
order.
Anna

 

[db]

in my opinion it seems that
when the machine froze the stall
was likely due to ie, maybe it
was trying to make space for temp
files or your connection stalled or
it was trying to increase your virtual
memory at the same time it was trying
to increase your temp directory. however
these are only a few of many possibilities
but you get the idea.

then when you forced a shutdown,
the disk suffered some file corruption,
likely it was the registry hive.

so what you should do is simply
run the recovery console
via your windows cd
and run the following commands:
chkdsk
fixboot
fixmbr

but now the issue is that you
cannot boot via the cd.

so what you should do is simply
reset the boot order.

to do this you will need to access your
cmos/bios menu and set the
cd to be the boot device instead
of the disk.


Last night i was on my sony Vaio desktop and my I.E froze up, I tied to close
it and it wouldn't close so I tried control, Alt, Delete... that didn't work
either so I manually shut the computer off. A couple of hours later I came
back upstairs to check my email and restarted the computer...

Instead of restarting it goes to the windows logo screen for about 4
seconds, the to a black screen, then to the sony Vaio scree, then to a black
screen then to a screen that says

"We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfuly.
A recent hardware or software change might have caused this.

I'f your computer stopped responding, restarted unexpectedly, or was
automatically shut down to protect your files and folders, choose Last Known
Good Configuration to revert to the most recent settings tht worked.

If a previous startup attempt was interrupted due to a power failure or
becasue the power or Reset button was pressed, or if you aren't sure what
caused the problem choose Start Windows Normally.

Safe Mode
Safe mode with networking
Safe mode with command prompt

Last known good configuration (your most recent settings that worked)

Start Windows Normaly

Use the up and down arrow keys to move the highlight to your choice.
Seconds until windows starts: 30"

Sometimes it will count down the 30 sec and some times it just sits there
forever. I have tried each of these options and always I am sent back to this
same screen, None of them work.

I read some of the other posts and articles in the hep section. I do not
have the windows XP disk for this computer, but I have another windows XP
disk... I have tried putting that in BOTH of my CD rom drives and nothing
happens it acts like there is no disk in them... no matter what I push
(enter, F8, R, any key... anything) nothing happens. It said in the help file
to configure your comp to read the cd in the cd drive but I can't very well
do that if I can't even get into windows in safe mode at the very least!

I can't replace any files or fix any files if I can't get into anything... I
am completely horrified that this has happened.

I called Best Buy and was told that just to check it into the shop was going
to be $200.00 and that didn't count them looking at it for assesment of them
fixing it. My husband is in the military and I can't afford a 200.00+ comp
bill. I am so upset because we had just loaded our wedding and his deployment
hotos onto the comp and feeling that they were safe on there we deleted them
from the cards as well as al of our honeymoon photos. I feel like I just want
to CRY! I don't see how this can be happening that my comp has completely
locked me out of it...

Is there anyway I can ever gain access to the files on that HD for UNDER
$100.00 I could find some way to afford that if I saved for a while...???
What if the HD was installed in another computer as a slave drive? would I be
able to access it or would I still be locked out of it completely? I really
need help and while I've seen someone else post something similar to this the
answer they received did not help me...

Thank you so much for you time it is GREATLY appreciated

Jennifer Kerr

 

[Guest]

Thank you all SOOOOO much I really appreciate it! I will try as many of these
suggestions as I need to. My husband's pictures are my number one priority
yes... If the computer never works again then it never works again you know?
As long as I get my ictures back. THANKS!

 

[Ronaldo]

"Anna" worte:

Ronaldo's response to you mentions this possibility of transferring the
HDD to another PC and accessing the data this way. (He label's it as a
"worst case scenario" but in my view this would be the wisest course
at this point assuming I correctly understand your primary objective).

You're right Anna; but maybe I did not express myself correctly, I meant to
say; that recovering the files from a slave installation may be the most
difficult way to go about for someone that has no knowledge about computers,
has never opened one, and can't afford to pay for the service; because it
involves opening the box, removing the HD, opening the guest computer,
installing the HD with the right jumper configuration, then removing it
again and re-installing the HD on the original computer, and that's not
considering that some computers are more difficult than others to open and
to remove the HD. Recovering the files would be the least difficult to do,
But then again files that can never be replaced are obviously more important
than the trouble taken to do the recovery.

About taking ownership of files and folders, I guess it would depend on the
file system used on both computers and if the security was modified. I have
had to take ownership of several drives to recover files as access was
denied, but that doesn't necessarily have to be the case for Jennifer.

----------------------------------------------

 

[Anna]

(SNIP)


Ronaldo:
As a general proposition I agree with you in that I would not ordinarily
recommend that course of action for someone who's had zero experience in
working with PC hardware unless he or she fully understood that this was not
a trivial process and understood the implications involved and was willing
to accept the risk involved. Even then I would be apprehensive in
recommending that course of action.

However in this case Jennifer herself raised the possibility by pointingly
asking in her original post whether installing the problem HDD as a slave in
another machine to gain access to the data was, in effect, a viable option.
So at least there was *some* indication that she had *some* familiarity with
this type of operation. And, in any event, included in my response to her
was the caveat, to wit, "I'm assuming you have the competence to transfer
the HDD to another machine and install it as a secondary HDD". And I also
recommended that, if possible, she also consult a knowledgeable friend who
might help her along.
Anna

 

[Guest]

Another way to access your files, if you can not get your OS repaired, is to
purchase a USB harddrive enclosure. If you get one with a harddrive in it,
you can swap your old harddrive with the new one, do a clean install of your
OS on the new harddrive installed in your computer and plug and play your old
harddrive in the USB enclosure. Just pay attention to the size of the
enclosure, some have 2.5" some have 3.5" drives in them. BEEN THERE DONE THAT
...... sucks!

 

[Guest]

Another way to access your files, if you can not get your OS repaired, is to
purchase a USB harddrive enclosure. If you get one with a harddrive in it,
you can swap your old harddrive with the new one, do a clean install of your
OS on the new harddrive installed in your computer and plug and play your old
harddrive in the USB enclosure. Just pay attention to the size of the
enclosure, some have 2.5" some have 3.5" drives in them. BEEN THERE DONE THAT
...... sucks!