[GreatLakes]

Accidentally installed SP3. When I went to restart my computer the XP screen showed and it seemed like it was going to start but went right to the Safe Mode screen. No matter what I pick (last known good config, etc) it just keeps going from the XP screen to Safe Mode screen in an endless loop. Don't know much about computers, but I saw some posts here that talked about using an XP CD to repair this problem. Unfortunately, I have an old Dell that didn't come with an XP CD. On a friend's computer I made the set of 6 diskettes for XP using the Microsoft website. Can I use the diskettes to fix the boot loop? Most of all I'm worried about losing my files because there are things I really need on my computer.

Not sure what else you need to know but I'm running Windows XP Pro, service pak 2 had been installed, the processor is an Intel Pentium III. I don't know if this computer has an OEM version of XP or not. It was already installed when I bought it. Thanks for any help!

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If you boot purposely into Safe Mode, will the computer stay up.

[Broni]

If you boot purposely into Safe Mode, will the computer stay up.

[GreatLakes]

The first screen that comes up when I turn on the computer is We apologize for the inconvenience..., then it goes to the Dell logo screen, then to the We apologize screen, etc. If I try to choose Safe mode it looks like its going into Safe Mode, but then will show the Windows XP screen and look like its loading, flash the blue screen quickly, then back to the We apologize screen. It won't let me go into Safe mode or anything else. Today I picked up Fix It Utilities 9 and tried to restore to a date before the SP3 installation and it looked like it worked but after I took the Fix It Utilities CD out it went right back into the same loop.

[Broni]

How do you try to access Safe Mode?
Do you keep tapping F8 key after computer restarts?

[GreatLakes]

Tried tapping F8 but when I did it kept giving me a Keyboard failure message and then went back into the loop. I thought the Safe mode screen was the same as the screen that says We apologize for the inconvenience...

[mkau]

That happened to me before... AFAIK it lost the boot files. You need to recover your PC.

[Broni]

Download Windows Recovery Console: http://www.thecomput...om/files/rc.iso
Download, and install free Imgburn: http://www.imgburn.c...hp?act=download
Using Imgburn, burn rc.iso to a CD.
Boot to the CD...let it finish loading.
When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.
Then, follow the steps from here: http://icrontic.com/...pair_windows_xp, starting below this picture on page 1:

[GreatLakes]

Please understand that I don't know much about computers. Does this mean those 6 XP diskettes I made are useless in my situation? If so, then do I need to find a computer to use that can burn CDs and then make a CD from each of the two links you posted? Thanks.

[Broni]

Yes, you need another, working computer.
Download Recovery Console .iso file from the first link.
Download, and install ImgBurn program from the second link.
Using ImgBurn, burn .iso file to CD.

[GreatLakes]

Guess that means this will have to wait until tomorrow. Thanks for all the help!

[Broni]

No problem

[GreatLakes]

Borrowed a friends laptop with a DVD burner. On the laptop I downloaded the Windows Repair Console and the the img burner. It appeared to burn a disc with Windows Repair Console on it, but when I put the disc in my own computer it does nothing at all. Tried burning another disc and again it did nothing when I put it in my computer. The BIOS is set to boot to the CD first and it ran the Fix It Utilities disc right away. Any thoughts?

A friend just called to say he found the original Windows XP Home CD. I'm running XP Pro so will his Home CD work? Thanks again

[GreatLakes]

Borrowed a friends laptop with a DVD burner. On the laptop I downloaded the Windows Repair Console and then the img burner. It appeared to burn a disc with Windows Repair Console on it, but when I put the disc in my own computer it does nothing at all. Tried burning another disc and again it did nothing when I put it in my computer. The BIOS is set to boot to the CD first and it ran the Fix It Utilities disc right away. Any thoughts?

A friend just called to say he found the original Windows XP Home CD. I'm running XP Pro so will his Home CD work? Thanks again

[Broni]

Unfortunately, Home won't work with Pro.

As for CD problem, try another brand. Sometimes, optical drives are picky.