[LSUTigersTJ2007]

*Sorry if this is in the wrong section(9/10 chance it is x.x)*

One day my sister finally decided to turn their computer off to reboot it. Well when she did so, it wouldn't boot back up pass the blue screen "Windows is starting up." I've tried many things and I'm completely stomped. It won't boot up in safe mode even. I hear a noise which sounds like it is coming from the power supply. Basically my question is -
Would the power supply being bad cause this?

Like I said, it boots all the way up to where it would start loading system processes("Windows XP - Windows is starting up" screen).

I would like to do whatever possible to restore this or at least get some of the stuff off the harddrive. She JUST recently cleaned her digital camera off and put it all on the PC. Didn't even have time to put them on disks. This is nothing but pictures of my godchild's first 4 years.


Appreciate any help I receive. Thanks and Merry Christmas!

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Have you tried Safe mode or Last Known Good Configuration That Worked?
While booting up and on second post screen 9Black Screen) start tapping F8 to get to the Advance Boot Menu
There chose Safe Mode and let us know does it work?
If that doesn't work then repeat and this time try Last Known Good COnfiguration That Worked

[rshaffer61]

Have you tried Safe mode or Last Known Good Configuration That Worked?
While booting up and on second post screen 9Black Screen) start tapping F8 to get to the Advance Boot Menu
There chose Safe Mode and let us know does it work?
If that doesn't work then repeat and this time try Last Known Good COnfiguration That Worked

[LSUTigersTJ2007]

As mentioned in my post above, it won't boot up in safe mode even. I also tried last known good connection. Same thing.

[rshaffer61]

OK then the next step is to test the HD and try to get your data backed up. We can do this by using a Linux Live Cd

Get Puppy Linux from my signature below...Get puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso download it and burn it to cd
..
if you don't have a burning program that will burn .ISO files get Burncdcc from my signature...it is a small FAST no frills iso burning program...

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you
1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ....in this case its memtest86.iso
3. Select the ISO file
4. click on Start

make sure in the bios the cd drive is the first boot device....

put the cd in the cd drive..boot your computer....puppy will boot and run totally in ram...if your hardware is is good working order you will know...
after you get it running and your at the desktop...you take the puppy linux cd out and then you can use the burner to copy all your data to cd/dvds
you can also use it to backup your data to a external usb harddrive..just have it hooked to the computer when you boot up with puppy...

==========================
quick guide for saving data...music..files on a system that will not boot using puppy Linux..


after you get to puppy desktop..
click on the drives icon...looks like a flash drive...top row..it will list all the drives connected to

your computer...

click on the red icon for the drive you want to mount...in this case its a flash drive ...puppy will

mount the drive..the drive icon turns green when its mounted...
minimize the drives mounter window..you will need it again in a few minutes..
drag the right edge of it sideways to shrink it to its narrowest size...about half the width of the screen...then drag the window to the right edge of the screen...

now click on the icon that looks like a filing cabinet (kind of yellow) on the main drive...it should
already be green..
you will see a list of all the folders on the main drive Usually your C: drive..shrink that window to
the narrowest you can..about half the width of the screen...drag that window to the left side of the screen...
at this point you should have 2 windows open on your desktop..the flash drive on the right side..
go back to the folders on the C: drive...click on the documents and settings folder...then your user
name or all users..find the folders that has your data..
drag and drop the folder with the data you want to make copies of to the flash drive window...

your options are to move ..copy ect...JUST COPY..if its to big you will have to open the folder and
drag and drop individual files until the flash drive is full...(I have a 120 GB external USB drive for
big data recovery jobs and a 4 GB flash drive for the smaller jobs)..after you get the files copied to
the flash drive...
Click on the drives mounter you minimized earlier
UNMOUNT THE FLASH DRIVE by clicking on the green icon..you will once in awhile get error messages when
unmouting the drive..ignore them..when the flash drive icon turns red again its safe to remove the
flash drive..trot on over (stroll if you want to look cool) to another computer and plug in the flash

drive and copy all the data files ( I drag and drop) to the other computer..
make sure the other computer can read them...

now delete the data on the flash drive...take it back to the misbehaving computer and plug it in

again..click on the drives icon again and repeat until you have all your data transferred to the working
system..

Thanks to happyrock

[LSUTigersTJ2007]

Thank you SO much. I was able to get on the computer through puppy linux and saved all the pictures.

I was still wondering though, what could be causing the computer to not want to boot up even in safe mode. Also if that noise I'm hearing in the Power Supply has anything to do with it. I know the power supply will need to be changed in the near future. My step right now though is just getting the computer itself working again.

[rshaffer61]

The power supply could be going bad and the noise you are hearing could be the fan inside of it getting ready to stop.
Now as far as the system it could be a bad usernit file that is stopping it from loading. Let's try some test and see what we can find.


Run hard drive diagnostics: http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287
Make sure, you select tool, which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create bootable floppy, or bootable CD.
If downloaded file is of .iso type, use ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ to burn .iso file to a CD (select "Write image file to disc" option), and make the CD bootable.

NOTE. If your hard drive is made by Toshiba, unfortunately, you're out of luck, because Toshiba doesn't provide any diagnostic tool.

Thanks to Broni for the instructions


If after running this and nothing shows up bad then move on tot he next test.



If you have more than one RAM module installed, try starting computer with one RAM stick at a time.

NOTE Keep in mind, the manual check listed above is always superior to the software check, listed below. DO NOT proceed with memtest, if you can go with option A

B. If you have only one RAM stick installed...
...run memtest...

1. Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)
2. Unzip downloaded memtest86+-2.11.iso.zip file.
3. Inside, you'll find memtest86+-2.11.iso file.
4. Download, and install ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/
5. Insert blank CD into your CD drive.
6. Open ImgBurn, and click on Write image file to disc
7. Click on Browse for a file... icon:



8. Locate memtest86+-2.11.iso file, and click Open button.
9. Click on ImgBurn green arrow to start burning bootable memtest86 CD:



10. Once the CD is created, boot from it, and memtest will automatically start to run.

The running program will look something like this depending on the size and number of ram modules installed:




It's recommended to run 5-6 passes. Each pass contains very same 8 tests.

This will show the progress of the test. It can take a while. Be patient, or leave it running overnight.



The following image is the test results area:



The most important item here is the “errors” line. If you see ANY errors, even one, most likely, you have bad RAM.

[LSUTigersTJ2007]

Ok so -

I created the bootable disk as told to do. Ran it first in quick test just to see, then ran the extended test. Both tests came back OK. Had NO errors. I then moved on to the next suggested thing.

I have 2 512mb sticks of RAM so I went with option A. I removed the first stick, tried to boot up around 3-4 different times(Waiting around 10 minutes in between boots to see if it would boot up pass the Starting up screen). Then I continued on and did the same with the other stick in by itself. Just for safe measures I tried different slots and then tried once more with both sticks back in. The system still would not boot up pass the starting up screen.

[rshaffer61]

Then at this point we need ot work on the OS itself.

Repair Installation Instructions

· Insert your Windows XP CD in your CD-ROM and then Restart your computer.
· At the first post screen start tapping the Del key to enter System Bios
· Find the Advance Options or Boot Sequence screen.
· You will need to change the boot sequence so that the CDrom is first and the HD is second.
· Press F10 to Save and Exit and then press Enter to accept.
· The system will now reboot
· When the "Press any key to boot from CD" message is displayed on your screen, press a key to start your computer from the Windows XP CD.
· When you see the following message displayed on the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER
· To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.
· At this point an option to press R to enter the Recovery Console is displayed. DO NOT SELECT THIS OPTION.

· On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen, press F8 to agree to the license agreement.
· Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP is selected and highlighted in the box, and then press the R key to repair Windows XP.
· Follow the instructions on the screen to complete Setup.

You can also go HERE
to read a step by step tutorial with screenshots.

[LSUTigersTJ2007]

The one problem with that -

My sister ordered this computer from Dell and I dug through the book of CDs that they actually sent with it. They didn't include a Windows XP disk. That's basically the whole problem I'm facing right now. I would have just reformatted first thing when I got the pictures off if I had it.

[rshaffer61]

That tells me then you must have a recovery partition on the hd. If you didn't get a recovery disk then the partition would be the next option.
This will reload the system back to factory settings by doing the full recovery option. If you have the non destructive option then this might fix the issue without wiping the drive.

The key combination is CRTL + F11 pushing the keys at the same time at the the dell screen during post. Once you push them then you want to release them.
It should go into the recovery partition so you can do a system restore.

[LSUTigersTJ2007]

That's also not an option. That was one of the first things I looked for. She keeps all her stuff together so if there was a disk it would have been there. I'm completely stumped on this one really.

[rshaffer61]

Then you will need to purchase the Recovery Cd from Dell so that we can proceed or borrow a XP of the same type that is currently loaded on the system. Home or Pro

[LSUTigersTJ2007]

That's where I'm having the problem atm. If I get the same type and need to reformat, can I use the CD Key that's on the sticker on the PC? Or will it require a new key?

This conversation will probably end here as I can pretty much handle that process. I just was unsure if that was the only option so I figured I'd ask here before taking drastic measures.

Thanks for you help. Appreciate the fast responses and for at least trying.

Edited by LSUTigersTJ2007, 27 December 2009 - 01:51 AM.

[rshaffer61]

As long as you get the recovery cd from Dell it will be the same version of XP that is on the sticker. It will contain all drivers also that came originally with your system.
You shouldbe able to use the key thats on the side of your system then.

[LSUTigersTJ2007]

As long as you get the recovery cd from Dell it will be the same version of XP that is on the sticker. It will contain all drivers also that came originally with your system.
You shouldbe able to use the key thats on the side of your system then.

Just wanted to thank you again. You got the main thing we wanted done(Recover pictures. Can't replace memories )
We have went and gotten Windows 7 Ultimate to put on there rather than waiting. Liking what I am seeing so far.

Again, thanks and really appreciate your efforts. You can close this thread now.