Computer restarts after the WinXP loading screen?

[jhbball]

Yo guys, I'm trying to fix my younger bro's computer, and I'm stumped.

Apparently, he just restarted his computer (1700+, soltek sdr mobo, etc) and every time afterwards, Windows was not able to load. It would go through the "loading bar", and just restart again.


Any ideas? I'm really open to anything at this point.

thanks


Joseph

 

[newbiepcuser]

Can you go into safe mode?

Ask him did he do anything like load some share ware(z), updated any drivers, service packs, etc?


If you can get into Safe Mode, run msconfig and just select the necessary for the "startup". Look for anything odd ouf of ordinary, like weird .exe etc.


It could be a hardware problem, was the machine overclock etc.


Try the software route first.

 

[jhbball]

yo, i'll check it out and report back here.

thanks

 

[amdskip]

I would try "Last known good configuration" instead of safe mode. It works most of the time for me. Hit F8 while booting and the option will be there.

 

[jhbball]

yo, i tried to do "last known good configuration" and it still did the same thing. I also tried to boot in safe mode, which also didn't work.

Also, just before it restarts, a slight "clicking" sound is made. I'm not sure what to make of it.

Keep giving me input Thanks

 

[newbiepcuser]

Remove any unecessary hardware, sound card, NIC, etc. just video. Try to boot into safe mode or normal. If you really know what you're doing, you can do a step by step mode and see where it hangs up, which file.


The worse case sceniro, do a repair install of WinXP. You won't lose any data, but your might be reverted to Windows XP without a service pack.


Also try swap out different RAM, video card too to see if its hardware.

 

[M0NEYSH0T]

Yeah, if last known config doesn't work, he might have that virus that was just out a couple weeks ago... It does that, just keeps retarting your computer. How do I know? Had a friend that had it. If you can load in safe mode, or last known config that will be the best (I was able to load with last known config...) and make sure you run anti-virus ASAP when you're able too.

 

[jhbball]

alright... well, i used the "fixboot" command in the recover console, which got me past the windows loading screen. But, when i click on a user icon, an error say "explorer.exe cannot be found". So when windows loads, all that loads is the background.

Is there any way to repair explorer.exe?


Thanks

 

[amdskip]

Maybe I missed it but if it's windows XP you can use the xp cd to repair the installation. Best chance you have basically.

 

[jhbball]

yeah, that's what i used. I can't get into windows, so i rebooted the computer, and booted from the cd. It asks me if want to install windows(which i don't), repair windows, or exit. So, hit 'r' to start the repair. This took me to a list of commands that consisted of chdir,chkdsk, fixboot, etc. So, i typed in 'fixboot'. Then I restarted, and I had the problem above.


So the question is, how do i fix explorer.exe? Also, is the an auto-repair function that i can use when i boot off the cd?

 

[waldog]

Originally posted by: jhbball
yeah, that's what i used. I can't get into windows, so i rebooted the computer, and booted from the cd. It asks me if want to install windows(which i don't), repair windows, or exit. So, hit 'r' to start the repair. This took me to a list of commands that consisted of chdir,chkdsk, fixboot, etc. So, i typed in 'fixboot'. Then I restarted, and I had the problem above.


So the question is, how do i fix explorer.exe? Also, is the an auto-repair function that i can use when i boot off the cd?

When youboot off of the CD, you bypass the first repair option - choose Install. The CD will look for existing installations, and give you another option to repair after. Choose this repair option, and it will reinstall over itself. You will not lose your data, but you will have to re-enter the CD key.

 

[jhbball]

thanks for all of the input guys! I think this should do it

 

[crisp82]

Don't mean to scare ya, but my bro had this and I had to format / re-install. If you have to do this, partition the drive down into 2, copy across all files that you need and away you go!

Alternatively, if you can hook the drive up to another computer and virus scan it...