Windows XP boot-up fail - any IT gurus here? Update..

[RadNomad]

Hi, i have a 10 year old Compaq laptop running XP in which the hard drive was replaced with a new, larger capacity drive and more RAM added about 5 years ago and it's been working great. The hard drive has never been shocked or dropped since installation.

Suddenly it wont boot up anymore. I get the following three screens in this order and it just goes around in a loop failing everytime and going back to the first screen. I've tried the various options on the first screen but ultimately i end up back at the beginning again.

I found the following article online which seems to be a similar problem to mine:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... 7103265f64

I have not tried that advice yet, i thought i'd try on here first in case anyone has better knowledge or can point me to a useful web community for tips.
Prio1 is data recovery, Prio2 would be to fix it if possible.
Maybe a crazy Q for a cycling forum but perhaps someone knows...?
Thanks very much!

 

[The History Man]

Re: Windows XP boot-up fail - any IT gurus here?

Ok hit safe mode and pull off everything you can onto other media e.g external hard drive or flash drives. then I'll tell you what to do next. Had the same thing a couple of weeks ago and ended up with a new laptop. data first like you say..

Edit: that link is pretty much it. have you got recovery discs? dont try it until you've got your data as it may involved partitioning or reformatting your drive. If youre runing XP it's not supported by MS much longer anyway. this was what caused me to make the jump and but a windows 8 machine (now 8.1) once you realise the old stylie desktop can be found it's not too bad.

best of luck

ended up with this viewtopic.php?f=8&t=283078&hilit=+computer

 

[RadNomad]

Re: Windows XP boot-up fail - any IT gurus here?

Thanks!... but safe mode takes me back to the start as well :?
I don't get as far as a desktop or whatever to select flash drives etc. The link i posted mentioned removing the harddisk and accessing it via another computer (like the one i'm typing on now for example). Maybe i should do that then? I feel capable to try that but can't do it right now, will have to do it later when i get a bit of free time..

 

[The History Man]

Re: Windows XP boot-up fail - any IT gurus here?

Not sure, that's where my knowledge ends. Managed to recover data then junked it.

 

[Neil]

Re: Windows XP boot-up fail - any IT gurus here?

Safe mode won't recover from a registry hive file being missing - and that in itself is probably symptomatic of some other problem with your system drive / filesystem.

Is there any data on there that's important?

 

[RadNomad]

Re: Windows XP boot-up fail - any IT gurus here?

I'm the original owner so yes i will have the discs kicking around somewhere if i can find them. However the CD drive stopped working several years ago! I know the thing is on borrowed time but it just kept on going so i've been using it as an internet / music slave. If i can get the data out then scrap the laptop that would be OK. I will try accessing the harddrive via another machine then just to recover data... thanks HM..
Bragging rights / geek points for anyone who can make it run again!

 

[RadNomad]

Re: Windows XP boot-up fail - any IT gurus here?

Is there any data on there that's important?

Only some music collected from friends and people in various countries over the years, a mix of tracks in foreign languages which i'd never be able to assemble again. It would be nice to save them as it's been a part of my life as an expat and brings back floods of good memories. But no top secrets or serious data.

 

[ajm]

Re: Windows XP boot-up fail - any IT gurus here?

I'd be probably 80 or 90% sure it'll be the hard disk to blame. If it'll boot from USB (you said the optical drive is bust?) you could use a Linux distro like porteus to copy the stuff you need onto an external hard disk, if not you'll need the services of someone else who can take the drive out and hook it up to another machine to do the same.

 

[RadNomad]

Re: Windows XP boot-up fail - any IT gurus here?

I'd be probably 80 or 90% sure it'll be the hard disk to blame. If it'll boot from USB (you said the optical drive is bust?) you could use a Linux distro like porteus to copy the stuff you need onto an external hard disk, if not you'll need the services of someone else who can take the drive out and hook it up to another machine to do the same.

Thanks! I didn't understand the "Linux distro porteus" bit (i'll webbrowse it later tho) but i can do the physical extraction of the harddisc and pop it into an external casing for interrogation. I'll try that first i reckon. Thanks for all your suggestions. Gotta sleep now, midnight fast approaching over here zzzz..z z

 

[Neil]

Re: Windows XP boot-up fail - any IT gurus here?

I'd be probably 80 or 90% sure it'll be the hard disk to blame. If it'll boot from USB (you said the optical drive is bust?) you could use a Linux distro like porteus to copy the stuff you need onto an external hard disk, if not you'll need the services of someone else who can take the drive out and hook it up to another machine to do the same.

Thanks! I didn't understand the "Linux distro porteus" bit (i'll webbrowse it later tho) but i can do the physical extraction of the harddisc and pop it into an external casing for interrogation. I'll try that first i reckon. Thanks for all your suggestions. Gotta sleep now, midnight fast approaching over here zzzz..z z

That's probably as good as any approach.

The filesystem may well get resolved by soft means, but I'd not rely on it, if it is.

A cheap hard drive and a USB CDROM drive may well see it usable again (so you could reinstall the OS), but probably not worth spending loads to reuse it.