[Cindy Pryt]

Hi I turned the computer on this morning it was fine shut it down . Went to go on this afternoon and it gets stuck on the windows start screen '. And it won't restart in safe mode. What can I do I don't want to loose any thing

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Run chkdsk, see if corrects any file system problems.

You are going to have to get into BIOS Setup on your computer to set the CD/DVD drive as the first bootable device, so you can then boot your XP CD, unless it provides the ability to press a Fn key at boot time to bring up the boot selection menu. If it does, use that.

How you do this varies with each manufacturer. Normally you press F1, F2, F10 or Del when you see the manufacturers logo. Often there is a clue somewhere on the screen when you boot normally telling you what key to press. Some computers (most newer ones) have a key you can press (often F12) to bring up the Boot Menu from where you can select the CD/DVD drive to boot from.

If you don't have an XP CD, download and run ARCDC by Artellos. It will download the required files from the Microsoft Web site and create a .iso file. It will also offer to burn the iso image to a CD for you. If you don't do it then, there is a good freeware burner called ImgBurn which will do it at a later time. If you're unsure how to do this, you can follow the tutorial here: How to Burn an ISO File. This can be done from any computer.

Boot the CD and at the first opportunity, enter R to start the Recovery Console.

Next, choose which XP installation you want to login to. Normally this will be 1.
Lastly you will be asked for the Administrator password. Just press the Enter key as the Administrator does not have a password (unless you gave it one, then you would enter it).

From the command prompt, enter: chkdsk /r
Allow it to complete undisturbed. It can take an hour or more depending on the size of the hard drive.

Remove the CD, type exit and the computer will reboot. Hopefully that will have fixed the problem (corrupted file system).

[Ztruker]

Run chkdsk, see if corrects any file system problems.

You are going to have to get into BIOS Setup on your computer to set the CD/DVD drive as the first bootable device, so you can then boot your XP CD, unless it provides the ability to press a Fn key at boot time to bring up the boot selection menu. If it does, use that.

How you do this varies with each manufacturer. Normally you press F1, F2, F10 or Del when you see the manufacturers logo. Often there is a clue somewhere on the screen when you boot normally telling you what key to press. Some computers (most newer ones) have a key you can press (often F12) to bring up the Boot Menu from where you can select the CD/DVD drive to boot from.

If you don't have an XP CD, download and run ARCDC by Artellos. It will download the required files from the Microsoft Web site and create a .iso file. It will also offer to burn the iso image to a CD for you. If you don't do it then, there is a good freeware burner called ImgBurn which will do it at a later time. If you're unsure how to do this, you can follow the tutorial here: How to Burn an ISO File. This can be done from any computer.

Boot the CD and at the first opportunity, enter R to start the Recovery Console.

Next, choose which XP installation you want to login to. Normally this will be 1.
Lastly you will be asked for the Administrator password. Just press the Enter key as the Administrator does not have a password (unless you gave it one, then you would enter it).

From the command prompt, enter: chkdsk /r
Allow it to complete undisturbed. It can take an hour or more depending on the size of the hard drive.

Remove the CD, type exit and the computer will reboot. Hopefully that will have fixed the problem (corrupted file system).

[Cindy Pryt]

When i put disk in it wants to install windows ? And won't let me select repair

[Ztruker]

You have to boot the CD, not run it from XP. To boot the CD, put the CD in the drive then restart your computer. If it has the ability to go to the Boot menu, then press that Fn key, usually F11 or F12. If not, you will have to go into BIOS Setup and make the CD/DVD drive the first device in the BOOT sequence/priority.

Then when you boot, you should see a message that says to "Press any key to boot from CD", so press the Enter key. Then follow the rest of the directions I gave you previously.

[Cindy Pryt]

it stopped at stage 4 22% restarted got to stage 4 again ?? hand i restarted and it came on its a new hdrive would it be my mother board playing up or sending all my stuff to go wacky ;0 .. also if i got a new Mothere board will i lose any of my stuff on my hard drive??

[Ztruker]

Let's make sure it's not a defective hard drive. Check the hard drive with the manufacturer's diagnostic tools.

Bootable Hard Drive Diagnostics

[Cindy Pryt]

tried but keeps saying cannot use this media ??

[Ztruker]

What says "cannot use this media"? What exactly did you download and how did you create the bootable CD?

[Cindy Pryt]

i out drive info ST500DM002-1BD142 and downloaded the burning software that i followed and right clicked burn to cd and i put my disc in and that when it says cannot use this media . ill get new diss Tuesday and see what happens

[Cindy Pryt]

I managed to burn it I did the test restarted and it's doing the same thing, booted from windows disc did a repair but it stopped?

[Ztruker]

What was the result of the HD test? It doesn't fix anything, just tells you if there is a problem or not.

[Cindy Pryt]

I couldn't get to the file that it put . I'll try run the test again tomorrow

[Cindy Pryt]

hi i did the test it said hard drive has failed a important diagnostic test Bad sector .. i couldn't get to the log file so i had to do it again and it came back no errors ??

[Ztruker]

That's strange. Doesn't give me much confidence in the hard drive.

I'd suggest running the long test (if that option is available) and see if it finds anything. Otherwise run the test again.

[Cindy Pryt]

yes that was the long test i did a chk dsk and and a scannow it took 3hours and so far . its back on ill do another test tonight and see whats going on