[Stranded]

I can start the system in Safe Mode, but cannot start regularly. I've used my recovery disk to run chkdsk /r to no avail. I've run chkdsk three times hoping maybe it will work. When in Safe Mode, it seems I'm unable to go online and cannot copy files to CD. The system says there's no disc in d drive. I ran a full virus scan and nothing was found (2006 Norton Antivirus).

When starting the system, the blue Windows starting screen will come up and then there are a few clicks and the system will reboot. It's a never ending loop. To stop it, I have to turn it off manually.

My main concern is trying to get data off the system. I'll be getting a new computer soon. Any ideas??

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When you are in safe mode, open the System page in the Control Panel. Go to Advanced tab, and click the settings button of section 'Startup and Recovery'
Uncheck 'Automatically Restart'
Clic OK and come back in Advanced Tab.

Restart your computer

When you get the blue screen, you could probably get the information about type of error (error code and/or error description).

With this will we be able (or probably somebody from the Staff) to try to help you...

Best regards,

[Krizniak]

When you are in safe mode, open the System page in the Control Panel. Go to Advanced tab, and click the settings button of section 'Startup and Recovery'
Uncheck 'Automatically Restart'
Clic OK and come back in Advanced Tab.

Restart your computer

When you get the blue screen, you could probably get the information about type of error (error code and/or error description).

With this will we be able (or probably somebody from the Staff) to try to help you...

Best regards,

[Stranded]

Thanks for your response!! This is the message that comes up....

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to be sure you have adequate disk space. If a driver is identified in the Stop message, disable the driver or check with the manufacturer for driver updates. Try changing video adapters.

Check with your hardware vendor for any BIOS updates. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F* to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.

Technical information:

*** STOP: 0x0000008E (0xC0000005, 0x9056E2A2, 0xFAF45988, 0x00000000)

Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete.
Contact your systems administrator or technical support group for further assistance.

``````````

I did restart and this screen came up again. I know there isn't a problem regarding memory. It's 80GB and only like 60% is used. RAM is 256M

I haven't seen anything regarding a driver problem. I recently renewed the Norton antivirus program. I uninstalled the last version and reinstalled the new one. Ever since then, the system has been slower than usual. I have ADAware Spyware - the free version on the system, and Zone Alarm again the free version. I don't know if somehow the antivirus interfered with these programs???

How to I check for BIOS updates - if that's the route I must go.

[gerryf]

Sounds like bad ram...how many sticks of ram are in this machine?

This is an old machine that worked up until recently? What happened just before this started? Did you install hardware?

[Stranded]

Yes - this machine is about 5 years old and ready for the junkyard. As far as sticks of ram - not really sure what you're referring to. All I know is that it's 256. Nothing has been added. The chip is an AMD Athelon in HP Pavillion.

The only thing done recently is the renewal Norton Antivirus. Previous version was uninstalled before we reinstalled the new version. System did slow down - it was already pretty slow. The 2006 version has spyware scan built in. I have the free version of ADAware Spyware that has to be run manually, which I do periodically.

We were just reading emails when the system froze. Couldn't even ALT CTRL DEL. Turned it off manually and then never would boot windows. Just an endless reboot loop happened.

We haven't added any new hardware in a while. The only thing we have hooked up is a desk jet printer. We have a laptop as well as the aforemention desktop. They're both hooked into a router. We download pics from a Sony camera through a standard USB - we don't have a flash drive.

Hope this helps...

[gerryf]

well....

still seems like memory. Normally, I'd guess that adding the extra program pushed Windows into using memory that had previously sat unused, but the fact that you have so little would make that unlikely since with 256mb it is all being used

It could be norton 2006, since it integrated so deeply into the operating system, but I can find no mention of this anywhere

Therefore, I'm leaning toward it's more ready for the junkyard than we know.

This is what i would do:

In safe mode, uninstall norton 2006, or, use safemode with networking and check for norton updates

I would run a windows repair, using the windows xp cd. This will install a fresh copy of windows system files, setting you back to the time of the disk (rtm, sp1 or service pack 2)

If that failed, I would swap in a new memory stick, or at least test the one that is there using something like memtest86


http://www.memtest.org/