Windows (XP) Won't Boot Up

[TheSutterDynasty]

I was watching a show on my desktop when it stopped responding. I could move the mouse around and click programs, but nothing would open (not even task manager).

I restarted the computer and was prompted with the screen where it tells you that windows shut down unexpectedly and asks you if you want to run windows normally, run it on settings it last worked, or start safe mode.

It doesn't matter which of these options I pick, the computer begins the windows boot up screen and then restarts.

This is Windows XP. Any ideas?

[Hack&Lube]

It's proably either nasty virus/malware (which caused your desktop to freeze), or bad/damaged sectors on your harddisk caused by the hard reset leading to booting problems. Personally I think it's the harddrive issue.

Common advice is to find your WinXP CD and get into recovery console and run chkdsk /r

Then if that doesn't work then use the WinXP CD to do a repair install.

Personally I prefer to put the harddrive into another computer (or just have another operating system installed on another harddrive or paritition of the current computer) and boot into that. From there I run antivirus/antimalware on the bad drive and just use the error checking application (goto the drive in My Computer, properties, tools) on the bad harddrive to detect and repair bad sectors.

[Traditional_Ale]

Does the Repair Install mess up any dl'd windows updates?

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

Does the Repair Install mess up any dl'd windows updates?

Yes. It will put Windows back to whatever service pack level the install CD is at. You should run Windows Update after a repair install to bring it back up to date.

[Hack&Lube]

You can usually fix whatever the problem is without resorting to a repair though. Fix harddrive errors, deal with viruses/malware, then do a system restore.

[rbochan]

It might be a tumor.

[TheSutterDynasty]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

It's proably either nasty virus/malware (which caused your desktop to freeze), or bad/damaged sectors on your harddisk caused by the hard reset leading to booting problems. Personally I think it's the harddrive issue.

Common advice is to find your WinXP CD and get into recovery console and run chkdsk /r

Then if that doesn't work then use the WinXP CD to do a repair install.

Personally I prefer to put the harddrive into another computer (or just have another operating system installed on another harddrive or paritition of the current computer) and boot into that. From there I run antivirus/antimalware on the bad drive and just use the error checking application (goto the drive in My Computer, properties, tools) on the bad harddrive to detect and repair bad sectors.

Professional help is on the way but I figured I'd try a few things in the mean time.

I'm running a chkdsk /r now. What are the consequences of performing a repair install if the chkdsk /r yields nothing?

[TheSutterDynasty]

Chkdsk, as probably expected, did not fix the problem.

[llama64]

Originally Posted by rbochan

It might be a tumor.

I had this exact problem - computer hung unexpectedly and then refused to load windows (logo just keep loading). Happened 3 times to be exact... turned out to be a run of crappy Seagate hard drives that I stupidly kept buying.

The portions containing a lot of core system files got corrupted. I'd preform a repair option and it would fix it for about a day before the problem continued.

I'd try the repair option and hope the issues go away... but you'll want to grab any and all data as soon as you can because it sounds like your hard drive might be on the way out.