[pucchini]

Dear All

I need some urgent support.

I have a Dell Laptop (Latitude D510) which came with an installed version of Windows XP Pro. I earlier used this laptop in my office environment too, and then it was hooked onto a network. I never unhooked it from that network, even though I have been using this laptop for my personal use for sometime now.

As a part of unhooking it from the earlier network, I just decided to re-install the windows XP Pro with the CD provided along with the Dell laptop. Unfortunately, I did not backup my data before doing this.

After re-installing, here is the problem I am facing:

The computer starts up and then reaches the black screen and asks me to pick one of these options:

Safe Mode, Safe mode with networking, Safe mode with command promt, Last known configuration or Start normally.

Irrespective of which option I pick, it just shuts itself down and again starts up and asks me to pick one of the above options all over again. This keeps happening in a loop - again and again.

The only other information is, when I choose that windows should start in the safe mode; then it shows me the list of individual drivers that it is loading. It then stops for a bit when it is loading: "d346bus.sys"

That's when it stops and goes back to the loop again.

I am mortally scared of losing 80 GB worth of personal data on my laptop, collected over 6 years.

Any help on what I can do - and I would be immensly greatful.

Many thanks
Rajiv

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Does it have Daemon Tools installed

Which way did you reinstall XP

[Retired Tech]

Does it have Daemon Tools installed

Which way did you reinstall XP

[fozziebear]

here some reading material

this came from deamon tools support

f you press ESC that is the way to cancel loading of bus driver, so if it still crashes if you press ESC, obviously it's not caused by Daemon Tools.

[Retired Tech]

As long as you are using safe mode you can press esc to skip loading a driver

[pucchini]

I installed using the WinXP CD which came with the Dell system, when I bought my laptop. I did have Daemon tools installed, but did not use them to install windows XP.

Even when I press ESC, the computer still shuts down and goes back to the same loop again.

[Retired Tech]

Did you do it this way?

You can use this guide to repair XP

Possibly, you will need to press the power button and keep tapping the delete key, (possibly F2) until the PC enters set up. Change the boot order to CD ROM Drive then hard drive, press F10 then press enter, load the XP CD then type Y then press enter, as it reboots, look for press any key to load from CD, press enter

You will need your XP product key to complete this

The XP Product Key is a 25 character alpha numerical code, which does not include the sequence OEM

If you have audio / video files which are subject to DRM you should check with the provider for known issues with performing an XP repair install

Click this to view the XP Repair Install Guide

Windows XP repair feature won't delete your data, installed programs, personal information, or settings. It just repairs the operating system

The XP repair install will look and run as a normal install, however, you must not see a request to format the drive

After running XP Repair you will need to install all Windows Updates

Microsoft Update

[pucchini]

Sorry Keith - I am not sure I understood your question.

Is your question, if I did the way you described it in your post - then no. I had a running version of Windows XP, and I popped in the CD and started installing.

And then I reinstalled by first booting from the CD - but I didn't have to do much complicated things.


If it is your suggestion, that I should do it this way - I will try; but I am doubtful it will work. I have re-installed windows XP a couple of times now (by booting it from the CD) but it comes back to the same problem.

Many thanks for staying with me on this one

[Retired Tech]

When you loaded the CD and clicked install, did it say windows is already here or did you use a leave system files intact option

As long as the repair goes exactly as per the guide, you can run that

[pucchini]

It said, Windows is already installed.

So the next step is to try and install it the way you described it in the previous post, right?

Rajiv

[pucchini]

Hi Keith,

I did exactly what you suggested and re-installed Windows XP using the steps you had suggested. It does not change much. After installing Windows XP, the problem of coming back to the same window recurs.