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| Thread ID: 77043 | 2007-02-25 02:36:00 | PC won't complete boot - just re-boots | John H (8) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 527915 | 2007-02-25 02:36:00 | Hi folks PC (XP Pro; 1Gb RAM) was running fine last night, shut down for the night, and it won't boot this am. It gets to 'Verifying DMI Pool Data' then stops and reboots - endless recycling after that. I can't get far enough into the sequence to boot into safe mode. I can get the Windows XP Pro installation CD to load, but I don't want to re-install Windows etc unless absolutely necessary. Have opened the case and checked connections to the hard drive (not sure why - just a thought though!) and no obvious issues there. Both hard drives are seen in the boot sequence and in CMOS. I don't recall doing anything yesterday that could have caused this; and all that has been installed in the past few days is that stupid Windows GAT, but there have been shutdowns and re-boots since then so I don't think that could be the problem. I may have run CCleaner yesterday - I am not sure when I did that but it could have been Fri or Sat. CCleaner has never caused problems before. Do you have any suggestions about what may have caused this behaviour? And a way around this? Thanks anyone. John |
John H (8) | ||
| 527916 | 2007-02-25 02:46:00 | Have a look @ some of these (www.google.co.nz boots&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a) Some of them say to replace the hdd, some say to go into the BIOS and reset the configuration data or something, or the boot block on it is corrupted. I would also check to see if the virus option in the BIOS is disabled. |
Speedy Gonzales (78) | ||
| 527917 | 2007-02-25 02:55:00 | Boot off the Win CD. Go inot Recovery Console and try fixing MBR etc. Failing that do a Repair Install, that will leave your stuff intact. Any previous symptoms with a suspect HDD? |
pctek (84) | ||
| 527918 | 2007-02-25 04:14:00 | Thank you both of you. SG - thanks for the truly scary references... A success story would have been good! I cannot find a virus option in BIOS. pctek - thanks as well. Well, I did try fixing the MBR, and it said a new one had been written to disk, but this didn't change things I am afraid. I then booted off the WinXP Pro CD, and tried to do a Repair Install. I recall doing that a couple of years ago without a problem, using this very disk - it is genuine and all that. However, I got a message this time saying that it could not detect a Windows installation, and when I tried to get it to install it asked me to provide another CD - I tried again with the same CD and it stated it was not genuine. Duh! I have the papers to prove it IS genuine. pctek - there have been no symptoms of disk problems to my knowledge, and the boot drive itself is a Seagate which is only a year or so old. I think I may quit whilst I am ahead and take this box into PC hospital in the morning. I think I may have proved the Peter Principle - being promoted beyond my level of competence, or I have a real serious problem. It is probably best that I don't mess around too much and muddy the waters - taking my cue from the experiences of the people in one of SG's references! Thanks both for your help. John |
John H (8) | ||
| 527919 | 2007-02-25 04:19:00 | Try another IDE cable? if u have one. | Speedy Gonzales (78) | ||
| 527920 | 2007-02-25 05:55:00 | tried to do a Repair Install. I got a message this time saying that it could not detect a Windows installation, Oh. Bad. You need to retrieve your data from this thing. It will need to be hooked up to another PC and attempted that way. I'd then run Seagate Tools over it to be sure its OK. Then Windows will need to be reinstalled. |
pctek (84) | ||
| 527921 | 2007-02-25 06:40:00 | Thanks both. SG - haven't got a spare at home I'm afraid. pctek - oh dear. I know all my documents are backed up to the second hard drive, but I will lose my emails for the last fortnight unless I can get the data retrieved. Grump grump. Thanks both of you. Will see what the doctor can do tomorrow... John |
John H (8) | ||
| 527922 | 2007-02-25 07:27:00 | Try a Linux LiveCD (such as Ubuntu) and see if you can access your main drive that way. You can then copy across any data you wished saved to the spare drive. | Jen (38) | ||
| 527923 | 2007-02-25 08:10:00 | Thx Jen. I do have a Ubuntu boot disk, but when I tried that recently, I couldn't see the Windows partitions. I think I have a Xandros boot disk somewhere, so will try that, because Xandros certainly will show up the Windows partitions. Will try that in the morning before doing anything else. Thx again. John | John H (8) | ||
| 527924 | 2007-02-25 08:47:00 | Thx Jen. I do have a Ubuntu boot disk, but when I tried that recently, I couldn't see the Windows partitions. I think I have a Xandros boot disk somewhere, so will try that, because Xandros certainly will show up the Windows partitions. Will try that in the morning before doing anything else. Thx again. John John, you will have to mount the drives or partitions where your data is first, then you can go get it. KwikDisk is the utility you'll be looking for to mount the drives/partitions (Ubuntu uses KDE by default doesn't it folks :blush: ). |
Murray P (44) | ||
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