Help, help, my computer won't start!

[Sulkdodds]

Last night.
Shut down.
Sleep.
Wake up.
Computer is still in process of shutting down.
Press shut down button.
Turn computer on.
Computer starts, shows a windows loading bar, goes black and restarts.
Your computer has failed to startup properly.
- safe mode
- last good configuration
- start normally
> Start normally
Loading bar, goes black and restarts.
Your computer has failed to startup properly.
- safe mode
- last good configuration
- start normally
> last good configuration
Loading bar, goes black and restarts.
Your computer has failed to startup properly.
- safe mode
- last good configuration
- start normally
> safe mode
Loading bar, goes black and restarts.

- rinse and repeat -

Your computer has failed to startup properly.
- safe mode
- last good configuration
- start normally
> ask the internet

 

[sychopike]

if you have your windows disk you could boot from the cd and do a system restore...

 

[Sulkdodds]

This is no use to me.

I require my documents and files intact. :|

 

[sychopike]

i'm not talking about dumping the hdd, and i've never gotten corrupted files from doing a system restore on computers running XP SP2, but i've only done it on like 5-7 computers so i'm not sure if it is a prevalient problem (never heard of it as one tho).

you can also try using an external hdd or networked hdd and loading xp off of that to try to fix the problem

or use a different computer and make an XP boot-up disk

lol... hope i'm helping and not repeating stuff you've already tried

 

[Sulkdodds]

Not much chance of that: I'm completely inept. It's ****ing witchcraft. I've been searching around the interweb for mup.sys and jesus, the error I'm getting seems to be caused by anything and everything, with about a thousand different solutions.

The problem is this: there seems no way to tell what the problem is or what manner of problem it is. Thus, I have no cause-and-effect framework to work on. For all I know, the wind blowing east could cause purple elephants to eat my graphics card.

Before I try anything at all, I need a method by which I can get important files (ones that cannot under any circumstances be lost) off the HDD.
Or, I need a method which is guaranteed not to harm the hard drive (note that 5-7 computes with no error counts as a guarantee to me!).

Hmm. Currently favouring just giving a system restore a go. I've been simply afraid to even touch the computer for fear that it'll go nuclear.

Thanks for your (continued?) help.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Double post in order to attract attention. Go eat shit, Samon. That's right! You heard me!

I had a cunning plan, which ran thus:
1) Boot off the XP CD and enter the "recovery console"
2) type "diasable mup" and hit enter (with out quotation marks)
3)reboot normaly and should work.

Unfortunately:
Faced with a choice of windows installations on which to 'disable mup' I see only:

1. C:\WINDOWs

Problem: My Windows is running on 'I' drive since I was forced to get it repaired a good while ago. The computer does not seem to realise this.

:| ;(

 

[giant384]

using system restore does not delete any files all it does is reinstall windows around the files.

 

[JNightshade]

Just scatter onions around your room to ward off the purple elephants. That, or wait for the wind to shift.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Voodoo charms are in place. I am calling my local shaman.

 

[Glirk Dient]

Take another hard drive, make that HD master and this one secondary and take anything you need off of it and delete the partition and reinstal windows.. Sounds like your HD failed and a sector got corrupt and unfortunately a windows critical file was in there. Or some bad voodoo like that. Sometimes if you let it sit for a while it will magically work again, had a few comps do this.

Could also un plug it(power and data cable) boot the comp up, shut down then plug it back in to see if that refreshes it and gets it to work.

 

[Chris D]

Sulkdodds, Windows may very well let you allocate I: to the drive where the OS is stored, however in the eyes of the Windows Recovery Console, it will always be as C:

The best way to sort this kinda problem out is to download a Windows PE disk. PE stands for Pre-installed Environment. It basically means you can run a version of Windows XP directly from a CD. It's a great diagnostics and repair tool if you can't boot into Windows.

It's not the fastest way in the world to run Windows, but it creates a RAM drive (a hard drive out of your physical RAM) and allows you to run some tools. Typically they'll have anti-virus, system restore (as in the 100% safe Windows XP system restore), file explorers and pretty much everything you can imagine.

Unfortunately, a lot of the software isn't 100% legitimate in terms of it not being pirated so I can't directly link to a good one in this thread, but speak to me on MSN and I'll point you in the right direction.

Oh, and after you do the system restore type thing, make sure you run anti-virus and spyware scans as this is most likely the cause of the actual problem. Windows very rarely just corrupts itself without warning.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Thanks. That sounds like some pretty useful shit right there.

Would it allow me to access my super-duper F-Secure virus scanner that's already on there? It also sounds like I could use it to get all my important documents onto my MP3 player.

The one fear I have about doing anything is that I'll open a window of opportunity for the computer to explode or something.

 

[Chris D]

Thanks. That sounds like some pretty useful shit right there.

Would it allow me to access my super-duper F-Secure virus scanner that's already on there? It also sounds like I could use it to get all my important documents onto my MP3 player.

The one fear I have about doing anything is that I'll open a window of opportunity for the computer to explode or something.

PE is 100% safe, it's all running from a CD so unless you physically do something to them, your physical files are safe.

You won't be able to access your currently installed programs, but chances are this PE disc will have F-Secure, Avast and AVG on it anyway (Free Editions). You won't have any internet access on your PC unless you're connected to the internet via ethernet and PE has the driver for your ethernet adaptor.

Plug n Play doesn't work great either, so your MP3 player will need to be already in the USB port, before you turn the PC on and it boots into PE.

So yep, anything important can be saved onto portable storage, however there's probably no point as the System Restore utility will get you back into Windows within 10 minutes I recommend, despite your virus scanner being "super-duper", doing the virus scan through Avast or AVG through PE before going back into Windows though. Should have Spybot and Adaware on there too

 

[Barney Fife]

OK try this take out that HDD with corrupted OS in it. Install new raw HDD In the system, Format and install windows, install old HDD with corrupted OS in it as a slave after windows setup go to My computer and search for that HDD and you better not have to files encrypted or you out of luck.

Good luck, you gonna need it