Problem with Windows XP

evil-monkey · 09-07-2008 9:14am #1

Hi all,

Have a problem with Windows XP, one I haven't seen before.

My cousin gave me her laptop the other day, said she had a problem that needed fixing.

So, I hit the power switch and watched what happened. Right after the Dell logo, the system would blue screen. Tried it several times, and every time before Windows was about the start I got a BSOD...not always at the exact same time mind you...

So, I tried the usual, safe mode, command prompt, system repair, bla bla bla, but still couldn't get Windows to boot. No matter what I tried, Windows wasn't booting...

Anyway, my cousin said it was OK to wipe the hard drive, and just do a clean install, an easy fix. But, when at the first stage of the install, when XP Setup in formatting the partition, it stalls at 2% - 2% everytime?? I had at first thought that this was a virus (she's young, uses PHP, and isn't exactly up on the perils of executing a suspicious download!!) but the fact that I can't format the partition would lead me to believe it's something else.

Any ideas what this could be and how to fix??

Thanks in advance.

DonkeyStyle \o/ · 09-07-2008 9:38am

Could be a borked harddrive... windows might have been bsod'ing due to file corruption.
You might try booting from a stand-alone CD operating system like knoppix or ubuntu... fart around for a while and see if the system is otherwise stable.
It's times like this that having lots of spare bits 'n pieces comes in handy... like if you can test with another harddrive.

aidan_walsh · 09-07-2008 9:39am

Moved from Computers & Technology.

vodkadub · 09-07-2008 9:41am

I could be possible to recover the disk, try booting up with the original windows installation cd and go to the recovery console and then type this chkdsk /r

evil-monkey · 09-07-2008 10:07am

DonkeyStyle \o/ wrote: »

Could be a borked harddrive... windows might have been bsod'ing due to file corruption.
You might try booting from a stand-alone CD operating system like knoppix or ubuntu... fart around for a while and see if the system is otherwise stable.
It's times like this that having lots of spare bits 'n pieces comes in handy... like if you can test with another harddrive.

i'm thinking it could be hardware myself. will try booting from knoppix...failing that then I'll know that the hard drive is goosed...

evil-monkey · 09-07-2008 10:08am

vodkadub wrote: »

I could be possible to recover the disk, try booting up with the original windows installation cd and go to the recovery console and then type this chkdsk /r

but would the fact it won't format suggest that it's hardware? i tried everything i could think of to recover but nothing...

vodkadub · 09-07-2008 10:10am

Have you tried what I suggested, I've had many a BSOD only to have my computer's hard drive recovered by chkdsk, it's brilliant!

evil-monkey · 09-07-2008 10:14am

vodkadub wrote: »

Have you tried what I suggested, I've had many a BSOD only to have my computer's hard drive recovered by chkdsk, it's brilliant!

as far as i can remember the chkdsk didn't throw up any errors...it was the second thing i tried...

td2008 · 09-07-2008 10:18am

Definitely a hardware problem, I'd a similar problem before (bsod, windows freezing when installing) and it turned out the memory was the cause of it. Could be bad sectors on the hard disk either. Have you deleted the partitions using the windows cd and then tried to format?

evil-monkey · 09-07-2008 11:43am

td2008 wrote: »

Definitely a hardware problem, I'd a similar problem before (bsod, windows freezing when installing) and it turned out the memory was the cause of it. Could be bad sectors on the hard disk either. Have you deleted the partitions using the windows cd and then tried to format?

Ya that's when I get the freezing at 2% issue. Could be a bad sector. Just burning a copy of Knoppix there and and will try to boot from that when I get home.

Is there any diagnostic software anyone would recommend to run to check all of the hardware??

td2008 · 09-07-2008 3:40pm

Try deleting the partitions on the hard disk but don't format, just reset the computer and see what happens, should just hang saying insert boot disk, if it's still resetting its not the hard disk.
You can get software from the hard disk manufacturer to check the status of the disk, find out who the disk is made buy and go to their website and look for diagnostic software, this will have to be put on a boot cd

evil-monkey · 10-07-2008 9:42am

Right. So I went home yesterday evening, took out my knoppix cd, and was going to boot.

Thing is, now it won't even get that far. It goes past the Dell screen, but after that, when it should say "Press any key to boot from CD" you get "Error loading operating system"...

So...what's happened now??

Jonathan · 10-07-2008 9:59am

evil-monkey wrote: »

she's young, uses PHP, and isn't exactly up on the perils of executing a suspicious download

Most people that code PHP would be well up to speed on computers and viruses, so i suspect you mean P2P

DonkeyStyle \o/ · 10-07-2008 10:22am

evil-monkey wrote: »

So...what's happened now??

Is the CD bootable in other PCs?

evil-monkey · 10-07-2008 10:35am

DonkeyStyle \o/ wrote: »

Is the CD bootable in other PCs?

It doesn't even get to that point. Whether there is a Windows CD, a Knoppix CD, no CD, that is the error that is thrown up...

evil-monkey · 10-07-2008 10:36am

jmccrohan wrote: »

Most people that code PHP would be well up to speed on computers and viruses, so i suspect you mean P2P

lol. typo there.

if she was up on PHP at her age she'd be doing well alright!!

evil-monkey · 14-07-2008 2:16pm

so any ideas what is causing that most recent error??

td2008 · 14-07-2008 2:20pm

Have you set the cdrom as the first boot device in the bios?

evil-monkey · 15-07-2008 7:48am

Yes. And at the point where it would usually prompt you to press any key to boot from CD, it displays that error. This happens, regardless of the boot order in the BIOS, i tested it booting from both the CD and HDD...same issue both ways...

Ghost Train · 15-07-2008 8:19am

if you you pres f11 or one of the other function keys does it give you a boot menu to select cd

td2008 · 15-07-2008 8:56am

Must say i've never come across this problem before, a quick search of google finds a lot of similar stories. Seems that your master boot record is corrupt. Here's two links i came across to explain:
http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic19073.html

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/debian-linux-help/123551-error-loading-operating-system.html

Also try disabling raid and quick boot in the bios.
Maybe the hard disk will end up being useless anyway though and you should price replacements.

Problem with Windows XP

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