Im posting this on behalf of my Aunt, basically windows wont boot up normally and keeps looping:
It starts by saying "We appoligise for inconveniance, windows did not start-up successfully"
Then it gives her the options to boot in safe mode, safe mode with networking and to start up with last good config.
She has tried all the options, it actually starts booting up, you can see the windows logo for a couple of seconds then it takes her back to the "We appoligise for inconveniance" screen, listing the same options again.
I asked her if shes upgraded any hardware, Iv asked her if she has downloaded any dodgy sofeware but it was no to both of these.
Any help in this matter will be apprieciated by me and me aunt ;)
1. make sure that there are no usb flashcard readers/printers with flashcard readers/or usb pendrives connected during bootup. Sometimes that will get in the way especially if the usb drivers are corrupted.
2. If she has had an improper shutdown, some system files might have gotten corrupted. You can use a windows installation cd to get to the dos screen and run a "chckdsk c:/f" command, this will fix any system corruption files.
3. On windows xp, if she did any partitioning or hard drive restoration the "partition ID drive letter" might have got rearranged. What you describe as windows going into a loop or hanging at the logon screen is a classic symptom of a drive letter problem. These problems are fixable. There are 2 drive letters that must match "partition ID" and the "mounted device" .
You can use the "savepart" utility, it is now available as a standalone ISO file. Just download the file that says "spartiso.zip" and use nero or imgburn to burn the ISO to a CD.
1.)bootup with the savepart cd, type savepart at command prompt.
2.)next choose "update windows2000/xp/vista registry" doubleclick on it.
3.)next doubleclick on the "disk number 0" this is usually the hard drive that has your partitions.
4.)next click on the partition that has your system (make a note of the drive letter, this is your mounted device drive letter) most default installations it will be "c".
5.)the next screen is blue and has directorys, here choose the "WINDOWS" directory and doubleclick on it.
6.)On next screen just double click on the partition shown.
7.)It'll take you back to the screen on step 4, doubleclick on the "C" partition.
8.)Finally your in the "drive letter to affect this partition" box. This is where it will show you the "partition ID drive letter" it should be the same as the "mounted device drive letter".
If it's a drive letter problem, it's a little complicated to fix, but it's fixable. The "partition ID drive letter" can be fixed in 5 minutes with a "boot corrector", for a "mounted device drive letter" you need a bartpe cd to bootup the computer and use regedit to edit the registry.
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=210322
I went round to have a look myself and it starts to load and then it goes into sleep mode then it takes you back to the screen with those options i mentioned, i asked her if shes partitioned her Hard drive and she said no.
i have a copy of windows xp Home edition i will try and restore the corrupt files, but my pc skills are limited, if i boot up using the cd will the option "chckdsk c:/f" command be there? i know it gives you the option to install windows itself but the last time i did that was a fair while ago so my memory is fuzzy if there was any other options.
hi just wondering if you ever solved the problem, i turned on my PC today and have exactly the same problem, that windows won't boot properly, it gives me the options of safe mode, last known config and start windows normally but then the computer just goes into sleep mode, and continues this loop until turned off manually by the power button. Please help thanks
Have you tried doing a scandisk or chkdsk c: /f? That's the major cause of windows not booting up properly.
If a system file is corrupted, when windows starts to load and can't find that file the computer restarts. Chkdsk c: /f can usually fix most file corruption problems.
You can also try a linux live cd to bootup your computer, that will test your hardware. If the linux livecd boots up properly then you can rule out a hardware problem.