Can someone help me with the Windows Repair Utility?

[shiftomnimega]

Ok, so my computer always wants to reboot before loading windows XP Pro (no matter what mode I put it in).

It all started when it rebooted while I was trying to burn a CD. I was attempting to burn a Knoppix ISO (must be a microsoft conspiracy

Does anyone know a good website that tells me about how to use the Repair installation utility on the windows XP CD? Or if you don't mind give me a pointer or two on here.

I've tried some basic stuff like chkdsk (which by the way fails while scanning each partition).

Is there any way to get to the system restore with this utility?

Anyway to uninstall recently installed programs?

Thx

 

[johnjkr1]

Did you try to go to safe mode and use system restore? I just fought through all the repair options this weekend for a customer, and the repair console did nothing, What finally fixed it, I booted to the xp cd, i DID NOT pick R to repair with the console, i choose "enter" to install windows. Then it found my installation and asked me if I wanted to repair it, i said yes, it went through its thing (that looks like a new install) then it rebooted, took me to the desktop right where the user left off with all his stuff intact. He had a similar rebooting problem.

 

[shiftomnimega]

Nope, it doesn't want to go to safe mode, or any mode for that matter. It just reboots.

But I will try your suggestion now, thanks.

 

[shiftomnimega]

Okay, during the repair windows kept prompting me that one or another .dll or .sys file did not copy properly.

I just kept hitting "Enter" for retry. Eventually I got the XP blue screen, ugh... Not cool.

 

[johnjkr1]

It's very odd that it would blue screen or have trouble copying during a repair, maybe its not a software problem.

 

[boomerang]

Yes, I would check your memory. Take a close look at the motherboard looking for blown caps. Reseat everything, etc.

 

[shiftomnimega]

what exactly does this blown cap look like?

Oh and this is brand new memory mailed straight from corsair, if it's bad, then I'll be mad pissed.

I guess I'll have to acquire a floppy disk to do a memtest.

 

[johnjkr1]

Have you tried a clean format and reinstall of the OS? You might also want to consider running a diagnostic on your hard drive.

 

[GregANDTCH]

"I guess I'll have to acquire a floppy disk to do a memtest"
If you can burn cd's on the present computer, just download the memtest ISO file & you can test the memory by booting with it.
http://www.memtest86.com/memtest86-3.1.iso.zip
Can you run a test on your hard drive too?
Maybe it's going bad.

 

[boomerang]

Several images of bad caps here. Bulging tops and brown crusts from fluid leaking out are the telltale signs.

The manufacturer of your HD will have a diagnostic utility available at their website for download. Runs off a floppy though.

 

[shiftomnimega]

Thanks for your help everyone.

I got this memtest going on now and realizing... none of this stuff is intelligible to me.

I know this much... under errors it says '2975' (somehow i don't think that's good)

Also it detects my processor as an AMD Opteron instead of a 64. Moreover it doesn't detect my chipset...

I'm gonna go in and mess around with the configuration.

Again, thanks for all you all's help.

And reformatting has come to mind, but I really don't want to seeing how I just did when I bought the new processor and mobo (don't want to deal with the pain of going through calling microsoft to activate my software).

 

[johnjkr1]

Did you switch to an athlon 64 without formatting? Also, calling microsoft is easy, one question, bunch of numbers, done. And you can even internet activate it several times before having to call.

 

[dude]

If you upgraded your motherboard, you really should do a "repair" option on the cd. No need for a format!

If you upgraded your MB, CPU, and RAM, it would be one of those, most likely. You should not get a blue screen while copying files. If it doens't find a file, it will keep prompting you to insert the proper cd, and should never bsod. If the file is not important, you *can* skip the file and install the rest of the files.


Your CPU and Chipset is probably too new for the testing utility to recognize. If it detected an "Opteron", then it's correct, as Athlon 64's did not exist until less than a year ago and if the testing utility was written before then, it would not know that there's such a thing. As for the chipset, don't worry. Alot of programs detect chipsets wrong anyways and no utility test the chipset anyways. It would be blanket under your memory and cpu test as the data pipes pass through it/them (chipset).