M$ Screwed Me Again! Need Help... - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Scorponok · 11-15-2009, 01:15 AM

I decided to update my Windows XP earlier tonight. Big mistake!

After switching on auto updates and letting it do it's thing, now my computer will not even restart in safe mode. It would ask what mode I want to start it in, (safe mode, safe mode with networknig, etc.) I would choose one, and then the Windows XP loading screen would come up. It would then give me a blue screen of death for about half a second and then reboot itself, performing the same loop over.

I have most of my important data backed up onto an external HD, but that was a month ago. I still need this data, and don't want to wipe everything out.

My question: Is there a way to reinstall the older version of Windows XP without wiping out all the data?

If not, what would my next best option be? I was thinking maybe I should buy a new hard drive, install Windows XP on that one, and get it to access the old hard drive.

cal_guy · 11-15-2009, 01:50 AM

Do you have an Windows XP install disk? If so try an repair of the installation by booting with the Disk. You can also remove the hard drive from the computer and place it in another computer(or place in an external hard drive enclosure) and copy the data from there.

SteveToms · 11-15-2009, 01:56 AM

What type of computer do you have?

This happened to me earlier this month. but I was unable to return to the old settings.

Scorponok · 11-15-2009, 02:06 AM

It's a custom one by Memory Express. They generally build good computers. Too bad the operating system is such garbage.

ricosuave · 11-15-2009, 10:00 AM

did you try booting 'last good configuration' under the safe mode (f8) menu?

its very likely a driver that doesnt play nice, my guess would be a video driver...

Scorponok · 11-15-2009, 01:59 PM

^ Yeah I tried safe mode. It dumps a bunch of text on me in DOS, then restarts again.

How would I disable the video driver? I just want Windows XP to boot again so I can go into control panel and get rid of Service Pack 3.

Hack&Lube · 11-15-2009, 02:59 PM

I'm sure this is just a driver that installed incorrectly or some error in the registry due to a crash or unexpected operation, the blue screen probably is an IRQ not less or equal error.

You can try to boot into VGA mode (press F8 when booting, when you get the boot menu, VGA mode is an option).

Personally I love Windows XP and it works as long as you know how to take care of it and accept that sometimes it will go fubar but all is not lost. I had this exact same thing happen to me a few days ago. For myself I had the windows partition backed up on a separate drive so I just did a raw copy of the partition over but I understand this isn't feasible for most users. I would recommend doing a windows XP repair operation if you have the original disk.

Here's the best guide to that:
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operat...txprepair1.htm

That should repair your windows installation and leave all your files and settings and installed programs perfectly intact. Remember to run windows update again yourself because you'll likely need to get service packs and fixes for security vulnerabilities but I always turn off automatic updates. I do it manually from www.windowsupdate.com

Fire · 11-15-2009, 05:07 PM

Download a linux distro you can run from a CD. Use it to backup all your necessary files to your external HD.

Unless you play a lot of games on your PC I would recommend going to linux permanently.

Scorponok · 11-15-2009, 10:25 PM

Hello again.

I did a repair install from the XP disk, and still no go.

It won't even boot in VGA mode, and I have tried all the modes. When I start it in any of those modes, I get the blue screen, (see below) but when I try to start it in safe mode, I get a bunch of text (see below) that keeps scrolling down, then a restart.

Should I get moar and better RAM? I already bought a 1TB hard drive and a SATA to USB device, but I'd like to know if it really is the HD problem before I proceed to rip the computer's guts out.
__________________

Rathji · 11-16-2009, 05:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fire

Download a linux distro you can run from a CD. Use it to backup all your necessary files to your external HD.

Unless you play a lot of games on your PC I would recommend going to linux permanently.

This is your solution to recovering your files. Info on this can be found here for Ubuntu , here for Fedora, or if you would rather set up booting from a USB key, check here.

After that, do an fresh install and go from there.

Honestly though, if you don't play games that much, then try installing Ubuntu and giving it a whirl. Only thing you lose is a couple hours playing around with it if you are wiping your system anyway. You can still play some games with Wine, or I have heard good things about Crossover. Ubuntu is so much like Windows in terms of look and feel that my mother can use it without issue.

Sluggo · 11-16-2009, 06:12 AM

I had the same problem about a few months ago when my PC crashed while installing SP2 for Vista. After around a hour trying to fix it I just said eff this and did a reinstall from scratch. Later I went to Memx and purchased another 500 gb hd and flash the working OS drive to it every couple of months its better than having to deal with that again and it was only 60ish bucks.

Hack&Lube · 11-16-2009, 04:57 PM

Try this as I've just went through a lot of trouble manually repairing my own windows.

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showpos...5&postcount=10

There is no reason that you should need any ram to fix your problem unless your own ram is damaged or there is some other hardware failure causing windows to crash before it gets into windows. I'm still pretty certain that it's a driver IRQ conflict or a registry corruption, in which case you can do a manual system restore like I did.

Personally this is much easier to me than going through recovery console because you can clearly see all your files and the modify dates and security information but if you want to use the recovery console (another option on the windows CD), you can do this through the command line:

http://forums.cclonline.com/showthread.php?t=1183

Since you've already bought a second harddrive (no need to use the SATA to USB device as you can't even get into an OS right?) just install that drive and go into your motherboard bios and set that device to boot first (but not before the optical drive as you will need that to either run recovery console or to install windows onto your new drive). Install Windows on the new drive and then through that install you should be able to access all the files on your old drive (except for the ones that are hidden system folders and which you have no permissions to get into but I addressed that in the first link).

Flacker · 11-17-2009, 01:34 PM

Last known good configuration will work from the Safe Mode menu I suspect. It is a bad driver which will roll back with last know good. This is not the same thing as Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking etc.

Flacker · 11-17-2009, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scorponok

I decided to update my Windows XP earlier tonight. Big mistake!

After switching on auto updates and letting it do it's thing, now my computer will not even restart in safe mode. It would ask what mode I want to start it in, (safe mode, safe mode with networknig, etc.) I would choose one, and then the Windows XP loading screen would come up. It would then give me a blue screen of death for about half a second and then reboot itself, performing the same loop over.

I have most of my important data backed up onto an external HD, but that was a month ago. I still need this data, and don't want to wipe everything out.

My question: Is there a way to reinstall the older version of Windows XP without wiping out all the data?

If not, what would my next best option be? I was thinking maybe I should buy a new hard drive, install Windows XP on that one, and get it to access the old hard drive.

To say that M$ screwed you probably isn't accurate. As an IT professional I use MS Update on a daily basis both standalone and using WSUS (Windows Software Updates Server). I have never had a blue screen following Windows Updates.

I suspect you applied an OPTIONAL hardware (driver) update that has cratered critical hardware (most likely your video driver).

I see it everyday that users make errors in judgement and quickly blame the vendor.

rbochan · 11-18-2009, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scorponok

^ Yeah I tried safe mode. It dumps a bunch of text on me in DOS, then restarts again.

How would I disable the video driver? I just want Windows XP to boot again so I can go into control panel and get rid of Service Pack 3.

AMD processor? If so, check this out...