HELP! Computer Problems

I restarted my computer and left the room, when I came back it was stuck on a blank screen. It wouldn't respond so I turned it off and back on. It loads the windows XP screen with the dots going across at the bottom. Then the screen normally goes black and then my desktop shows up. But now when it goes black it stops here. I've tried safe mode, and starting with last known working configuration but it always dies at the same point. It seems to be able to access the HD so I don't think it's dead, but I guess it could be bad. Did I get a virus? I usually run zone alarm but had it turned off when I was online last which was just before I restarted.

What can I do? What should I try? Bad memory module? I don't know where I should start.

does the computer have a network card in it?

Hi Sean,

Try putting in your windows disk and do a repair. A "fixboot" command might fix it. I've had to do it once and it worked fine.

I might be way off base here, but just after the dots and the screen goes blank is when the monitor should go 'click' as it's receiving the higher resolution and refresh rates for the Windows logon screen.

If only you had another video card to swap. (You don't, do you? I can't imagine why you would but you might.)

Perhaps the card got set out of range for the monitor or maybe the card itself is going bad is what I'm thinking.

You might try disconnecting anything attached (usb hubs, etc.) and see if that works. If not, open the case and make sure the video card, etc. is fully seated and try again. Make sure all the cords are plugged in fully. If that doesn't work, try removing ram one stick at a time and see if it will boot with either one (assuming you have 2).

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tiktok 22 said:
Hi Sean,

Try putting in your windows disk and do a repair. A "fixboot" command might fix it. I've had to do it once and it worked fine.

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I don't know how to do this. I don't have the Windows XP disc, it only came with the recovery discs and I don't want to wipe everything out just yet. Any way I can do this with the recovery disc?

OK...the system is trying to boot...can you hit F8 and get to SAFE mode?

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binky said:
I might be way off base here, but just after the dots and the screen goes blank is when the monitor should go 'click' as it's receiving the higher resolution and refresh rates for the Windows logon screen.

If only you had another video card to swap. (You don't, do you? I can't imagine why you would but you might.)

Perhaps the card got set out of range for the monitor or maybe the card itself is going bad is what I'm thinking.

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This is exactly when it freezes. Sometimes it reboots after 30 seconds or so, sometimes it just stays there.

I do have a second video card. I'm using an ATI AIW card and have already removed it and tried using the regular video card with no luck. I also tried taking the memory sticks out one at a time in case on was bad. No luck there either.

I'm now trying to hook up the 80GB HD from the broken computer in my old 266MHZ win98 PC to access some data I'd rather not loose (it's been a few months since my last back-up). But my old computer will not display the drive (set as a slave) in win98. It does see in the BIOS setup though.

I might take it over to my parents house and try hooking it up as a slave on their PC since it about as modern as mine (2.4+ GHZ)

Anymore suggestions?

Silly me....

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14C said:
OK...the system is trying to boot...can you hit F8 and get to SAFE mode?

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When I turn it on it recognizes that their is a problem as asks if I want to boot in safe mode, regular, and a few other options. I tried them all, it starts loading data from the HD and then stops.

If the system stops during the "dots" it is likely thet the O/S is corrupt..ot part of it..all may be not lost.

Do you have boot disk? Or can you make one from the system you are on?

No. I'll try to make one from my parents PC. I'm still deciding if I should go over there this late and wake them up. I might wait until morning to do that. I wish more stores were open 24 hours. I would go and buy a new HD right now, since I've been wanting to do that anyway. Maybe now's the time.

OK...good luck Sean.

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Sean said:
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tiktok 22 said:
Hi Sean,

Try putting in your windows disk and do a repair. A "fixboot" command might fix it. I've had to do it once and it worked fine.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know how to do this. I don't have the Windows XP disc, it only came with the recovery discs and I don't want to wipe everything out just yet. Any way I can do this with the recovery disc?

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I'm not sure what restore disk you have, but it might work. If you boot to the restore disk, it should ask you what you want to do. It shouldn't hurt to put the disk in and see if it gives you a repair option.

maybe your power supply is bad, try unplug your c drive power line then plug it with another power line from your power supply. or switch it with the cd drive power line.
hope it work.

man that has to suck ... I hate computers some time .. sorry to hear about that... and waiting to see if the already posted things get ya fixed up ... I had that happen to mine a few times.. now im running Nortons system works 2005 and it is awesome... stops an attempt worm virus about every 3 hours on here from differnt ip's and list them all even default gateways etc.. Im just glad it is on here and stopping them ... also I have the xp sp2 update.. if you dont have it get it it has a firewall also.. I never did like zone alarm.. it wanted to stop every freakin thing so I took it off..

If you don't have an emergency boot floppy, you may be able to use one created on another PC running Windows XP or Windows 2000

To make one, insert a blank floppy disk into drive A:, select Start, All Programs, Accessories, Command Prompt, type format a:, and press Enter. When asked if you want to format another disk, type n and press Enter. Type the following commands, pressing Enter after each one.

xcopy c:\boot.ini a: /h
xcopy c:\ntdetect.com a: /h
xcopy c:\ntldr a: /h

Now type exit and press Enter to close the window. Remove the floppy disk and label it "Windows XP boot floppy." Put this emergency disk in the floppy drive of your inoperable machine and boot up. Windows should run with no problems. You could simply keep the floppy in the drive all the time, but to truly fix the problem, launch the command prompt as described above, type xcopy a:*.* c:\ /h, and press Enter.

Thanks, I'll try the boot floppy.
The recovery CD I have said it would delete everything and then re-install everything it originally came with. My parents PC also says this but just re-installs windows and leaves everything else alone. I'll try the boot floppy first, I just want my data. After that I don't mind re-installing everything.

Windows XP is supposed to have a repair function on the OEM recovery disk. When you boot from the recovery disk it doesn't have a repair option?

-F