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XP System in constant reboot loop


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#1
GregMiller

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When I boot my computer and it shows me the screen saying that the last time windows was shut down it was done incorrrectly, then gives you 5 options:

safe mode
safe mode with networking
safe mode with command promptnd

last known good confirguration

start windows normally

etc.

No matter what option I chose it returns me to that black screen and gives me the options again.

Windows XP SP2
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#2
wmerideth

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First thing I would do is to try and boot from your Windows XP CD.

If you put in your CD and it just passes over it like its not loading anything from the CD drive, you need to go into your BIOS and make sure the settings are set so you can boot from your CD drive.

Once that's done, you should get a prompt when you reboot asking you to press a key to boot from CD (or something similar)....press a key and it should start booting from the CD.

Once you get into the "Welcome to Setup" screen, press r to get into the recover console.

If you are prompted, type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.

At the command prompt, type in chkdsk /r. Let it run completly.

When it is completely finished and you get a prompt again, type exit and type enter. This should reboot your system and hopefully get you back into Windows.
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#3
GregMiller

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The CD was put into the drive and on reboot the CD light lights up so I'm thinking the CD is being read.

Then it does the same loop.

When I hit the F2 to go to setup so that I could get to the r or at least to CD command prompt I get a red box asking for my mpassword - or select any key- So I push the enter key and it wont't let me into the setup and it won;t let me leave the screen so I have to reboot and back we go into the loop.

I have no data to loose so should I maybe try taking the motherboard back to the factory settings by removing the CMOS battery and then reformatting the hard drive, reinstalling XP and go from there? Would that work?
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#4
wmerideth

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OK....after you put the CD in and reboot your system, do you get any kind of message that states to press any key to boot from CD?

If you get to that point, and you press a key, you should get to a blue screen that starts loading files. After that you should get a screen that says Windows Setup....at that point you should be able to hit the r to get into the recovery console.

Have you been able to go through all of these steps?
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#5
GregMiller

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No I don't get any screens asking that. Once I reboot with the disc in the light goes on but I'd guess then that there is no read of the CD ROM but I can see that the drive is listed as the primary in the EIDE list at the boot.
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#6
wmerideth

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OK....so that means your system isn't set up to boot with a CD. When you first reboot, and you get all that info flashing up about Primary, Secondary, etc... you should get a message stating to press a key to get into setup (probably F2 or delete key).

When you press this key to get into setup, is that when you get that red box asking for your password?
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#7
GregMiller

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Yes, that is when I get the red box (it's a bit of a DOS look) to the 2-column list that is behind the red box.

I don't even think there is a password since I've gotten past this point before without one.
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#8
wmerideth

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There might be a way for us to reset your password. When you start up your computer, it should say what kind of BIOS it is and which version.

If I have that, I can look up and see what we need to do to reset it. You really need to be able to get into your PC setup so we can get it to boot from a CD. You need it to do that so we can try these fixes and if they don't work, you need it in order to be able to re-install Windows (but just as a last resort).
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#9
wmerideth

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OK....Is there anything you can do to get past the red box so you can change the info in the setup?
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#10
GregMiller

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No, I'm stuck in that respect- that's why I'm thinking I have to start from stratch. This is a second computer- I'm commujnicating on my laptop. It's no big deal to restart but should that be how I go about it-- take the board back to the factory settings and then reformat the drive?
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#11
wmerideth

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Yeah, if you can't get past the password box, the only way is to "reset" the board to clear the CMOS to factory settings. There are usually two ways to do this.....you can take out the CMOS batter for about 10 minutes and then put it back in. This usually clears it. If it doesn't, you might have to take it out longer (like an hour or more).

The other option is that there is usually a jumper on the board that you can use to reset the BIOS. It should be in your Motherboard manual and it should tell you what you need to do in order to engage the jumper.

Once you get the BIOS cleared, you should be able to get in there and change the settings to boot from the CD. I would then try the fix I posted earlier about going into the recovery console. If that works, you won't have to re-install. If it doesn't then you can just go back into the setup menu and re-install if you want.
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#12
GregMiller

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It's getting a bit late tonight to start that. I'll try it first thing tomorrow night.

Thanks for your help and answering this string almost real-time!!!!

I'll try this when I'm not so wiped out. This was a long day so daylight savings time, it's really an hour later - body time!

Thanks. Maybe you'll look in when I reply that I've been successful or not.
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#13
wmerideth

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Yeah, I hear you on the daylight savings time....I keep getting messed up on what time it really is. lol

Good luck on getting your system up and running. I will definetely check back in, so if you have any more questions, just post.
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#14
GregMiller

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I got, it back to reading the CD and I'm reinstalling Windows.

Looks like everything is fine.

Thanks for your help.
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#15
wmerideth

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Great to hear it :whistling:

So what was the final solution to get it back to reading CD's?
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