Windows Won't Boot

MisterCornell

Banned
Dec 30, 2004
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I turned my computer on today, and after the BIOS, instead of Windows XP loading, all I got was a blinking cursor.

I put in one of my Linux live CD's, and the Windows partition seems to be fine. The files all seem to be there. I used another "system rescue boot CD", with various tools on it to check the disk, and CHKDISK didn't report any errors. I also ran an anti-virus utility.

Anyway, how do I fix this?
 

sandmanwake

Golden Member
Feb 29, 2000
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fdisk /mbr <-- did you try this? You might also want to get the data off while you still can; just in case it is the drive that's failing.
 

mzkhadir

Diamond Member
Mar 6, 2003
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have you tried to do a default setting in your bios and then boot up to see what happens ?
 

MisterCornell

Banned
Dec 30, 2004
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I loaded the windows recovery console (from the Windows XP CD) I ran fixmbr and fixboot. But I still get the same problem with the cursor blinking, when Windows XP should be loading.

This is what my boot.ini says (I am posting from a Linux OS on CD right now):

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

My hard disk is less than two months old. I bought it to replace an old one that failed.
 

deathwalker

Golden Member
May 22, 2003
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this sounds very much like a driver corruption...i would do a F8 boot and tell it to boot in the vga mode...see if the graphics driver got hosed...have u tried booting in the safe mode?
 

MisterCornell

Banned
Dec 30, 2004
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Originally posted by: deathwalker
this sounds very much like a driver corruption...i would do a F8 boot and tell it to boot in the vga mode...see if the graphics driver got hosed...have u tried booting in the safe mode?

Uhhh.. It doesn't get to that point.

After the BIOS, there's just a blinking cursor. There's no Windows loading screens 1 and 2.
 

mzkhadir

Diamond Member
Mar 6, 2003
9,509
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Originally posted by: MisterCornell
I loaded the windows recovery console (from the Windows XP CD) I ran fixmbr and fixboot. But I still get the same problem with the cursor blinking, when Windows XP should be loading.

This is what my boot.ini says (I am posting from a Linux OS on CD right now):

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

My hard disk is less than two months old. I bought it to replace an old one that failed.

your boot.ini file looks correct.
Have you tried to set default settings in your bios and then restart ?