[burnsryan]

hi people...here's a tricky one for ya'll!!!!

my HP laptop with XP SP1 on it recently lay down and refused to do anymore work.

in fact it wont even boot up. and i cant log in to safe mode to see if there any virus/hardware/software problems etc. when i select safe mode, it starts to load up and then blue screens and resets. this blue screen appears and disappears so quickly that i cant read the error message

i can do a hard disk test via the BIOS and this comes up clean.

i done a CHKDSK via DOS.....everything ok.

i've tried to repair the installation using the XP disc, but when i select option 1 on the menu, nothing happens.

could this problem have arisen due to me adding an external USB hard drive? i'm thinking possible conflicts.

let me know your thoughts. a clean install is a possible solution, but only as a last resort.

thanks people

ryan

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Disconnect the external USB drive then try again..

[GrantG]

Disconnect the external USB drive then try again..

[burnsryan]

yeah tried that, by the way, the hard drive worked well for 2 weeks or more.

[wannabe1]

Hi burnsryan...

Have you tried booting to the Safe Mode options and trying the "Last known configuration" option?

wannabe1

[burnsryan]

yes. tried all options in that menu. it blue screens at them all, then resets itself

[System101]

in fact it wont even boot up. and i cant log in to safe mode to see if there any virus/hardware/software problems etc. when i select safe mode, it starts to load up and then blue screens and resets. this blue screen appears and disappears so quickly that i cant read the error message

Try to use some type of camra (digi is best) to try and capture the error message. I had to do this with a friends Cpu a few months ago. He had a video card problem, but I dont that is what is wrong with your laptop.

I'm thinking HD failure, or a CMOS problem. plus a few other things as i sit here staring at the screen.



Are you able to boot using the cd drive or floppy?

If so, do you have a bootable disk that will allow you to run windows? This could also help in finding the problem.

Edited by System101, 22 October 2006 - 08:44 AM.

[burnsryan]

i can boot using my XP cd.

i dont have a bootable disc that will alllow me to run windows.

i'll try and take a pic of the message

[Troy]

yes. tried all options in that menu. it blue screens at them all, then resets itself

If you have to "last resort" (Complete re-install of xp):



I had this happen to my desktop a few months ago... I never figured out what the problem was, but I just swapped my hdd's around and installed xp onto my second hdd, no problems with it. Once it was all finished, I swapped them back again and everything was normal, like it never happened. It was weird, just like it had a temper tantrum or something... (come to think of it, it was a hot day). No problems before or after, though.



Not sure if this helps, especially as you have a notebook, but at least me doing it this way ensured that I wouldn't have lost any data if I had to do a complete re-install of xp.

[valis]

you can do a reinstall with an xp install disk and not lose any data that wasn't in your 'my documents' folder. You just need to know where to go. It will simply create a new profile for you, and then you can copy over all your stuff from your old profile.

When you tried the chkdsk, did you use any switches, such as /r?

[burnsryan]

didn't use any switches......should i have?

can u recommend anymore switches that may help?

i like the sound of 'you can do a reinstall with an xp install disk and not lose any data that wasn't in your 'my documents' folder'.

can u supply some tips on how to go about this?

thanks guys

ryan

[valis]

with the xp install disk, go through the steps to install xp. When it comes to the licenses, hit f8. It should ask you which partition you want to put it on, choose the current one, the next screen should ask you to format or keep the current file structure. That may not be exact, but it's pretty close. I've done it dozens of times here. There are a few things to watch out for:

1. All your specialized drivers are toast. You will need to d/l new nic, sound, video, etc drivers
2. If you are running any funky proprietary software that was a pain to get installed in teh first place, chances are it's not going to work right and you'll have to reinstall it. Here at work, we've got a lot of engineering apps that various engineers have written in dos over the past 20 years, and every time I have to recreate a profile, I get to go through and figure out what they were thinking back in 1986, when they first wrote this dang thing.

But that should do it. If you get to a screen that doesn'st look good, just cancel out and start over. You can do no harm by cancelling out. If I find a link on the exact steps, I'll post it here.

v

[valis]

here's a good link for it.

http://web.mit.edu/i...epair-deep.html