[yw37]

I'm sorry about such a long post, but this is quite a serious problem for me since after updating windows, I can't seem to start up my computer OS (Microsoft Windows XP Professional) anymore, and it just keeps rebooting over and over again.

ok, so my computer has not had Windows Update for quite awhile since I bought it more than 3 years ago. now I'm in college, our University requires us to install windows update, so I went to the microsoft website and checked my system. after that, it kept installing stuff every time I turned on the computer, and asked me to reboot the system every single time... this happened more than 5 times or so, and each time my computer was ok.

however, when I tried to install Windows Service Pack 1, there was an unknown error, and I was not able to install it for some reason. but after that, everything was running fine, apart from when I was updating my iPod software and I pulled out the port, and it changed to the blue screen and I had to reboot my computer. but things were fine after that.
the next day I switched on my computer, it was doing one of those automatic downloads again, and this time, after I rebooted the computer, it started to download and install Windows Service Pack 2.

downloading and installing windows SP2 was fine, except I guess that it was starting to take too much space?? anyway it said that I didn't have enough harddisk space, so I used Cleanup! Software to clean up all the temporary internet/windows files from my C:/drive (which is my only harddrive), and that cleaned out more than 500mb's of space. after that, the installation went perfectly well, and I was asked to reboot my computer again.

NOW THIS IS WHERE THE PROBLEM IS: after that, when the computer started up, it would run fine until the Windows XP screen appears, (which I guess means that XP is about to start), and then later on it goes black (which is normal), but after that the whole computer system stopps moving and it re-starts the computer. this happens over and over again. I tried to switch off the computer by pressing on the "power" button, and restarted it a few minutes afterwards, but the same thing just kept happening over and over again.

I own a laptop by the way, and now I'm using a university pc to search for help... cos I have lots of work saved on that computer, and I have a paper due in tomorrow, so you can say that I'm in a very desperate state, so any help is deeply appreciated.
thanks in advance!!!!!!

Edited by yw37, 29 September 2005 - 05:08 AM.

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[b] How to Start the System Restore tool at a command prompt

1. Restart your computer, and then press F8 during the initial startup to start your computer in Safe Mode with a command prompt.

2. Log on to your computer with an administrator account or with an account that has administrator credentials.

3. Type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

4. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to restore your computer to an earlier state.

For additional information about the Safe mode with a command prompt, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

A description of the Safe mode boot options in Windows XP

http://support.micro....com/kb/315222/

OR

Try here

http://www.geekstogo...ws-XP-t138.html

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

After running either, you will need to re-install all Windows updates

[Retired Tech]

[b] How to Start the System Restore tool at a command prompt

1. Restart your computer, and then press F8 during the initial startup to start your computer in Safe Mode with a command prompt.

2. Log on to your computer with an administrator account or with an account that has administrator credentials.

3. Type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

4. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to restore your computer to an earlier state.

For additional information about the Safe mode with a command prompt, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

A description of the Safe mode boot options in Windows XP

http://support.micro....com/kb/315222/

OR

Try here

http://www.geekstogo...ws-XP-t138.html

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

After running either, you will need to re-install all Windows updates

[yw37]

thanks for your help!!!

however, I had tried starting up my OS in safe mode, but the same thing happened (computer starts to reboot again and again) after all the Safe Mode programs were loaded..

does this mean that I need to do the Windows XP repair option? I was hoping that I didn't have to, 'cos I don't have a CD-Rom at hand... but I guess I'll probably have to go buy one now...? or is it possible to repair my computer with a borrowed Windows XP CD-Rom from the univeristy or such?

Edited by yw37, 29 September 2005 - 05:24 AM.

[Retired Tech]

If you boot the PC and it won't go to safe mode with command prompt, worth trying as it is slightly different to safe mode, then you will need to get an XP CD, which will be best long term

[yw37]

hi, thanks for the help, I've tried starting up in safemode with command options and that did not work either.
then after clicking f8 at another restart, I tried the option that disables system restart when an error occurs, then it changed to those blue screen things that said:

stop: c0000135 Unkown Hard Error
Unknown Hard Error

does this mean that there is something wrong with my hardware, and that even if I used the CD-Rom to repair windows XP my problems may not be solved still?

Edited by yw37, 29 September 2005 - 08:35 AM.

[Retired Tech]

In a word, yes

It is most likely you will need an XP CD to repair this, once you get it to load to the desktop you can check everything else, you are not likely to be able to do this without the system files

You could move the hard drive to another PC as a slave drive to get the data off it then clear the drive and clean install