Please Help! Winows XP locking up during boot.

Hello there,

Have you tried doing a scandisk or a sfc /scannow or sfc /scanboot?

You might also want to boot from the XP cd and do a repair on the disk. Also look in the event viewer to see if that is catching anything on start/boot up.

Let us know if this helps

Tried the /scannow and the /scanboot


neither would run the both come up with 0x000006ab  errors

I put in windows xp pro cd and pc would not boot up off of CDROM.

Rebooted and tried to get into BIOS to check on BOOT order.

BIOS IS NOT COMMING UP!!!!

Is a black screen with a blue bar across the bottom..... and a blinking cursor in the top left corner.

WTF??

Unplugged pc and let sit for about 5min.  PLugged in and in BIOS now...very strange.

Gonna try the windows XP repair option.

Ok, sounds good. Hopefully it helps. If not post the error message and issue you are running into.

"You might also want to boot from the XP cd and do a repair on the disk."

What are the steps for this?

When I slected repair it took me to a command prompt.

I am 100% sure it is somthing in Windows or with the HD it self.

After seeing the "BIOS" issue...I took the HD out of the box and put it in another computer that has 100% the same hardware.  (swaped drives)

The problem followed the hard drive.

Any ideas?

If it worked in safe mode, it is likely a Windows driver problem.  A repair install usually will fix this without affecting your programs or data: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

i concur with Callandor.

also, just a note ... i find it the best practice to test the hdd before trying to reinstall OS, even if it is just a repair install.  if you run into bad sectors during a repair, it is messy.

try Drive Fitness Test.  it works on almost all hdd.  run the Advanced test.  depending on the size of your drive, it may take up to an hour to run, but it is worth it.  green screen means everything is ok.  if you get a red screen, you can look up the disposition code in the user's manual.

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

Before doing a repair install, try booting in VGA Only mode (F8 options) to bypass video driver.

Notes regarding repair installs.  I've done many and they usually cure your problem.  Ensure that XP install CD has at least same SP that is currently installed.  It's OK to use SP2 CD with SP1 installed but not vice versa.

Keep what willcomp said in mind
-Try going further back on your System Recovery.
-Remove any added hardware and replace the keyboard and mouse  and only leave the keyboard and mouse connected and power of course.
-Reset the bios
-If you run Scandisk, and found no errors, a hard drive diagnostic, and everything checks out, tried the recovery console to run a repair, and is getting you now where,  then I suggest you re-installing windows without formatting.  Boot to the Windows XP CD and select the "Set up Windows XP now" option. Windows XP Boot CD will detect if there is a previous windows installation, if it detected it successfully, it will give you the option to continue with the install or repair the Windows installation. Choose the repair option. You might get scared if you see "Deleting Files", don’t panic, it just deleting the old Windows files and all your data and programs will be there when it’s done, but if you want to be on the safe side or  If Windows XP boot CD does not detect your previous installation successfully, back up your files. I suggest using an imaging software like ghost, or download a copy of BartPE Boot CD (This boot cd uses an xp gui that lets you copy and even burn file to a cd/dvd or external drive. You have to do some configuring to BartPE but it comes with instructions. To find it use google). If everything fails to recover your OS then a fresh install would be in order. Unless someone else has another suggestion.  Good luck!

If you run Windows XP setup disk from the CD, does it see the current version on the hard drive?  If so, then try to repair from the CD.

I forgot to mentioned first to check for Viruses and spyware/malware?

Safe mode, command prompt  and run

chkdsk /f

Uninstall the Antivirus, and also try unplugging components (cable to MB and power) as I have seen this issue many times with failed components such as CD-ROM/floppy drives. Just work through 1 component at a time, then try a reboot.

Tks

Brad

If you want to do a Windows repair and not end up at the command promt choose a Windows install.  It will detect that you already have Windows installed and ask if you would prefer to do a repair on that install or install a fresh Windows.  

If you do a repair it will just reinstall those files that it finds missing our in error, but will for the most part leave your registry alone.  

If you do a fresh install it will install a new copy of Windows over the old or in a different directory, and while you files will all still be there you won't be able to access a lot of the programs because the registry will be broken.  So you'll have to reinstall those apps, but you should be able to get to your files.

hi
Boot into safe mode and remove the vga driver from device manager ,if that does not help then boot back into safe mode and remove all the start up programs from msconfig.
I,ve had a similar problem before with a bad network card so maybe there´s something else you could try.

Good luck

try to boot in vga mode only and see if that works.

Have you done any diagnoses yet ?? such as testing ram, HDD ..etc

Try checking your Ram, download the diagnostics software from the following link..
http://www.memtest.org/

Instructions on how to use are also in the above link....

Regards.

Thanks all for your help.

Once the problem followed the HAD to the same machine I knew 100% it was an issue in windows.   No matter how far back I was going in system restor I had issues.

HD tests show hd is just fine.

SO.. that said, I did Windows XP install repair.   Fixed it.

Thank you all again.

seems MessHallMan  was the first one to recomend the correct solution for the issue I have, I am going to award points to him.