Cannot start Windows XP

Duiske

Hi Guys. My sis-in-law is having a serious problem with her Dell Inspiron Laptop, running Windows XP. On booting up, everything seems normal for about 10-15 secs, then a blue screen flashes (too fast too read message), and the boot up restarts. This cycle keeps repeating. I have tried starting in all variations of Safe Mode, but the outcome is the same. It just starts the boot cycle again. Any ideas ? Please be aware that my computer savvy is probably on a par with Homer Simpsons. !!

Karoma

Disconnect any additional hardware (including RAM that may have been installed a while back..) and try booting.
If it's still not working: restore BIOS default and boot (still, nothing attached)
If this fails: reinstall (or repair) the OS [Data may be lost]

AnCapaillMor

A BSOD flash and reboot and reloop is a boot device 90% of time. Try fidgeting with the HD, did she add anything new as of late?

Hal1

Duiske_Lad wrote:

Hi Guys. My sis-in-law is having a serious problem with her Dell Inspiron Laptop, running Windows XP. On booting up, everything seems normal for about 10-15 secs, then a blue screen flashes (too fast too read message), and the boot up restarts. This cycle keeps repeating. I have tried starting in all variations of Safe Mode, but the outcome is the same. It just starts the boot cycle again. Any ideas ? Please be aware that my computer savvy is probably on a par with Homer Simpsons. !!

Have you tried to boot from cd?

When you see the black screen with the white text that shows the hardware installed on the laptop, it will give you an option to enter the bios the 'f2' or 'delete' option will appear to enter bios.

Once inside the bios you can change devices to boot FIRST from, go through each tab until you find the 'boot menu' (each bios differs as to where these options are located in the bios) select the CDROM option for FIRST boot device.

It will restart once you exit the bios so put in your Windows XP into the laptops cdrom drive and start it up again...

Try entering safe mode then. And see what programs are set to load at startup it could be the windowsXP does not have enough free resources to run itself.

So try running the usual virus & spyware scans. Its too early to say what else it could be until you try the above. Hope this advise is of assistance.:cool:

Duiske

Thanks for the quick replies guys. Will work through advice you have given and let ye know how I get on. Thanks again.

Karoma

I'm the realist/pessimist here,I guess. I based my post on your comments about possibly lacking abilities, and personal experience with lots of this issue.
By all means, try the other posters' suggestions (Don't give up if the data is important) - I'll be happy to help,and will try to be more helpful from here on:)

Kazujo

You could also try running chkdsk /r from the Recovery console option when you boot off the windows XP cd. This can resolve a number of blue scvreen issues with XP without data loss.

If your still having trouble if you select to install Windows from the CD and select the partition that Windows is currently installed on it should give you an option to repair the install. This basically re installs windows but all your apps and your files should be intact

Duiske

Success. Thanks for all the help guys. Ended up having to re-install windows. My own XP disc would not work, but borrowed copy of XP Pro Corp, and it did the job. This probably seemed simple to you guys, but it seemed pretty daunting when I started. Anyway, thanks again.