Extremely Urgent Problem - Pc will boot past POST but restarts loading windows

LegacyUser

Hi all,

Writing this from my old p2 500mhz, 64mb ram piece of ****.

My pc has a major problem. I left it downloading last night and it was perfect at 5am when i went to bed. And then i woke up at 12pm and it was restarting constantly. it loads past post but just when win xp starts to load it restarts. I tried formatting and it wont allow me. I tried re-installing windows and it wont let me. Just keeps restarting. Its insane. Any ideas?

Thanks all in advance.

LegacyUser

PS: I tried starting in safe mode, use last known configuration and all the other options windows gives me when u press f8 but it still restarts jsut loading windows.

BloodBath

-edit-Sorry just re-read that. Full system specs please.



BloodBath

PowerHouseDan

that happened to me about 2 weeks a go its a cun* i jsut reinstalled xp over the old version booted from cd,handy thing all my stuff was kept

LegacyUser

Originally posted by BloodBath
-edit-Sorry just re-read that. Full system specs please.



BloodBath

custom build

MSI 648 max motherboard
p4 2.54ghz
radeon 9800 pro --> 9800 xt with zalman heatsink and optional fan(did this a month ago and no problems at all)
160 gig samsung 8mb cach hard drive
40gig seagate barracuda
zalman heatsink and fan installed for cpu installed(7000cu)
em thats it i think? Oh ye 1 gig of pc2700 twinmos ddr ram.

think thats everything.

Powerhousedan your a lucky guy, i cant even re-install windows. When i go to the recovery console and click on any option, it just restarts.

Why do pc's have to be so gay?

LegacyUser

oh ye, when i try to re-install windows or even do a fresh install, i get a blue screen telling me windows has been shut down to prevent damage to ur computer. ntfs.sys is where the problem is it says. It tells me to run chkdisk /f, but how can i if i cant boot the thing up?


Is there a way i can access dos or something from startup? WIN XP is acting seriously bent!!!!!

bizmark

Wonder do you have that new virus that shuts down your pc after 30 or so seconds....Your pc being fine before you started Downloading = virus in my book tbh

CivilServant

Sounds like it could be the sasser virus
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=158166&highlight=sasser

PowerHouseDan

you cud alrite make a dos floppy run that format your hardrive,or even install win98 on its (if ya have importany stuff on it) and then install xp after that awkward but works

PowerHouseDan

why dont you take out the hard drive put it into the old one run as slave,do a scan disk for virus cos it is a virus cos i had it dont know what it called?

Mutant_Fruit

If you overclocked, go back to stock speeds.

If it's restarting when he's trying to reinstall windows, its very unlikely to be a virus. Unless of course the virus managed to implant itself on his Windows install CD.

EDIT: Very bad grammer...

PowerHouseDan

well i didnt overclock mine i had a the prob so did another 2 ppl i no,i turned off my firewall to dl something and it happened,the same thing happened to me when i tried to do recovery con,see will win 98 install

Mutant_Fruit

Can't...resist...oppertunity...to....bitch.... (don't take this as an insult)

Never, never, never, never turn off your firewall, unless you absolutely (life or death situation) have to. It takes less than 2 minutes to catch a virus if you dont ahve the latest security patches etc, and even still, you can be gotten.

PowerHouseDan

ya i know i was usin windows firewall and it really slowed my downloads but i got one now that lets me pick what to firewall i knew the risk when i turned it off:)

hostyle

Probably a silly answer, but your dowload didn't happen to full up all free space? Maybe Windows cant start cause it cant create / enlarge its swap file?

Actually the more I think about it - its not this, but I'll post anyway.

PowerHouseDan

didnt with me anyway when i tried to repair win xp it was a reg error,corrupt,and when i tried to fix it,it restart and back to the start

Gonzo

i had another similar problem recently where my pc would suddenly come to a halt because processes would shoot up to 100% for no reason at all and then i would get a blue screen telling me that windows has been shut down to prevent damage to my computer, this happened numourous times even when my computer was left idle, i t wouldnt start up for ages and after the 10th try i eventually got it back up running and went back to last restore point and the problem hasnt happened since, i would love to know what was causing it tho.

aaf

Originally posted by cheesedude
Hi all,

Writing this from my old p2 500mhz, 64mb ram piece of ****.

My pc has a major problem. I left it downloading last night and it was perfect at 5am when i went to bed. And then i woke up at 12pm and it was restarting constantly. it loads past post but just when win xp starts to load it restarts. I tried formatting and it wont allow me. I tried re-installing windows and it wont let me. Just keeps restarting. Its insane. Any ideas?

Thanks all in advance.

Sounds like the Sasser Worm to me. Read this and get the patch. You can get the removal tool from microsoft site or I use http://www.symantec.com.

LegacyUser

aaf would you please read my post properly? I cant boot into windows, reinstall windows or anything to do with windows. It wont let me access it. I am 120% sure it is not the sasser virus. As i have it on this p2 500mhz piece of **** and i got it within 10 seconds of connecting to the net. But that is because I have no firewall/antivirus installed. Im just using it for the net and when it shuts down i just boot up again. Annoying but i just want to fix my good pc. My pc which has the problem has all the latest patches, firewall, antivirus etc...everything!

Powerhousedan i tried this:

why dont you take out the hard drive put it into the old one run as slave,do a scan disk for virus cos it is a virus cos i had it dont know what it called?

but i get the same problem even when it is on slave. I keep getting the same hassle. Should I just rma this hard drive? Theres some porn on it and warez so will i get in trouble for that? :ninja:

Any suggestions people? My next step is to try with win xp boot disks. Anyone think they will work?

dregin

I've never used it myself but you could try downloading and booting into, RecoverIsPossible(RIP), a mini linux system. It has system recovery tools. I'm not sure if it's of any help, and I have absolutely no clue what tools are in it, but a Linux boot might be of help to you. I know you said it won't boot from the windows CD but ya might have some luck with Linux........yes I'm a no0nb

here's a link for the ISO:

http://www.tux.org/pub/people/kent-robotti/looplinux/rip/

M@lice

Stab in the dark but maybe the power supply gave up on you that night. You havn't wat you using but try swappin it with a diff 1 if you can. You never know!

ressem

My first recovery attempt would be to use

http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/
seagate diagnostics program to check out the HDD with a sector read test.
Can you download this and make a bootable floppy or CD using your P2?


Then , assuming it passes use the winXp install disk. Choose the repair option, then recovery console.

But you already said

When i go to the recovery console and click on any option, it just restarts.

I might be missing something but it's a CLI, what's there to click? Or are you referring to the Reinstall page that leads to the console? Even working with bad disks before under win2Ksvr, never had a machine crash at that stage.

LegacyUser

This is my problem in a nutshell. Apparently, my pc must have shut down illegally ie it crashed badly and damaged the ntfs.sys file causing irregular startup.

http://www.techspot.com/vb/showthread/t-5352.html

MrKobies advice is what i am trying right now. I will keep you posted. It is definitely not a physical component such as a power supply or ram or anything. This is just gay ass XP being uber annoying!!!

If that does nto work, im using this linux iso thing. Check it out: http://www.retosphere.de/tipsandtricks/ntfserror.php?menu_id=24&

LegacyUser

ok well i cant sort it out anymore. my head is wrecked. Im just going to buy a brand new motherboard and rma the samsung 160gig hard drive even though it passes all the tests. Im too pissed off to bother anymore.

SickBoy

I'm not sure if you've tried this already but try to somehow get access to the drive by either using the linux RecoveryIsPossible CD or stick it into the system you're currently using as the slave and replace the ntfs.sys file with a known good one.
RMAing the drive and buying a new motherboard is a little bit much for this problem.

aaf

Any suggestions people? My next step is to try with win xp boot disks. Anyone think they will work?

If you wanna try that route, go to Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 1 Utility: Setup Disks for Floppy Boot Install. If not, can you get a hold of a Win 98 or similar startup/boot disk? That's how I got into DOS to flash my BIOS before I installed XP on my machine.

LegacyUser

Just figured it all out this minute. www.madboot.com saved me rma'ing a harddrive!

They have the most amazing startup/boot disk with a host of utilities on it. Amazing stuff. Solved my problem by allowing me to go into it and format the drive. Something I could not do previously. Im well chuffed with that!

I recommend this to EVERYONE!

How come you boards.ie people didnt recommend this to me? You let me down.