Computer Problem

[Lucky]

Ok I am pretty handy with computers and such.  But when my wife started up the comp the other day a black screen appeared.  You know the one.  Safe mode, safe mode with networking.  Start normally.  No matter what you choose it goes through the process.  It will go to the windows XP screen the loading bar will move like it is supposed to.  When the screen is supposed to appear to select either my account or hers the screen goes black and a no signal screen appears and the computer restarts.  No matter what you select it will just restart.

Any help.  I am guessing it is a boot sector problem.  But having a computer that is a "brand" I only have a reboot disc that wipes the drive and restores back to the way it was when I bought it.  There is no way to get a copy of the kernal32 file to see if that is the corrupted file.

Any help would be great.
Thanks

[frostillicus123]

don't have a windows XP cd.... do you torrent? if so download an ISO and burn it to CD, borrow a friends, what ever it don't matter.....

than boot off the CD in to recovery console, once in recovery console preform a chkdsk /p and than a chkdsk /r
this will fix any corruption on the disk......

at the windows advanced boot menu you should get an option saying stop automatic reboot upon error or something like that...... we need to see the error code........ you might be looking at a format clean install........

if you can send me pics or something of the errors, i might be able to assist you better.
curtis_w_frost@hotmail.com

PS: i was an OSR2( the guy that people on the frontline would call with for help) with Wibndows XP and Windows Vista now I work frontline Office....

[Lucky]

Just a reply before I get pics and all.  There is no error code but off the top of my head it says something along the lines of if your computer restarted unexpectedly, power outage.
But I will send ya some pics.

[frostillicus123]

Get an XP CD and do a Chkdsk /p and htna a chkdsk /r in recovery console. that should eliminate the disk errors.... other than that right now i can't think of what else to try.

[VFRWolf]

Sounds like a possible bad video card, doesn't affect it in safe mode, once the drivers are loaded in regular mode, black screen.  I would try uninstalling the video drivers in safe mode, then boot in regular mode, see if you still have the black screen.  If it works, update your video driver.  Also, remove hardware one piece at a time, and boot it up.  Remove one memory stick boot up, if it still does it, put it back and remove the other, and so on.  Do that with every card you can remove and still use your computer.   Might eliminate any hard ware failure.  After that I would look at spyware.  Download hijack this and see what it says.  (be very careful, it doesn't just show malware)  I've also had luck with spybotS&D and adaware used together. 

[Alexander215]

Switch to ubuntu linux

[Tyler]

If you get to a point that you need to reinstall windows, use Knoppix, a linux distribution that boots off a CD to recover your files prior to the restore.  It's a life saver!  http://www.knoppix.net/

[frostillicus123]

Once you have the Windows XP disk

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=/servicedesks/webcasts/en/wc062502/wct062502.asp

follow the steps to boot into recovery console (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovery_Console)

in recovery console do this

Chkdsk The /p switch runs Chkdsk even if the drive is not flagged as dirty. The /r switch locates bad sectors and recovers readable information. This switch implies /p. Chkdsk requires Autochk. Chkdsk automatically looks for Autochk.exe in the startup folder. If Chkdsk cannot find the file in the startup folder, it looks for the Windows 2000 Setup CD-ROM. If Chkdsk cannot find the installation CD-ROM, Chkdsk prompts the user for the location of Autochk.exe.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654.

I orginally thought he had issues with video card driver however he said no matter what mode I boot into I get the same issue. That eliminates anything along that lines. It would be nice if it gave a system hive is missing or corrupt, follow MS KB article 307545.

[Glenr]

I agree with Frosty

[VFRWolf]

Safe mode, safe mode with networking.  Start normally.  No matter what you choose it goes through the process.  It will go to the windows XP screen the loading bar will move like it is supposed to.  When the screen is supposed to appear to select either my account or hers the screen goes black and a no signal screen appears and the computer restarts.

I must have misread this, I understood safe mode started normally.  I would eliminate hard ware, and run the chkdsks like suggested, but if hardware is eliminated then your looking at a reload IMO.  Get an extra hard drive, reload it, slave the original one to copy your data off.  I have seen bad hardware cause a reboot like this, as well as spyware also.

[Lucky]

When my wife called me at work to get help with this I am nice only a vid card.  But then I got home and looked at the situation myself and was like oh man.  Looks like a boot sector or something.

I do appreciate the help guys.  Will let everyone know what happens this week end.

[frostillicus123]

curtis_w_frost@hotmail.com
v_2curtf@hotmail.com

my two messengers if you need help i'll be around.

[Alexander215]

Might also want to do a memtest on your ram. you can find a suitable app on www.majorgeeks.com

[Lucky]

Tyler,
After my other options failed me I copied Knoppix onto a CD and booted that way.  Any help on getting files to burn onto a CD or DVD with out errors. 

Every time I try to burn a CD or a DVD I get errors.  Wont even begin to write.  Any help?

[Tyler]

Tyler,
After my other options failed me I copied Knoppix onto a CD and booted that way.  Any help on getting files to burn onto a CD or DVD with out errors. 

Every time I try to burn a CD or a DVD I get errors.  Wont even begin to write.  Any help?

First off, are you able to run Knoppix?

If so:

If you're going to run Knoppix off of a CD or DVD, then you will need to have two different CD or DVD drives.  Then use your spare drive as the one to run Knoppix off of, and your CD Writer or DVD Writer to burn to DVD.  Though, it would be much easier if you could just move the files to a external hard disk that attaches to your computer via USB.