My computer died...

[Chukchi Husky]

Last night when I had to go to bed, there wasn't enough time to shut down my computer so I turned it off by the button. This morning when I turned it on before it could go onto the welcome screen it restarts itself. Also, when I try it in safe mode, it does the same but it does managed to say Windows XP setting up before restarting. I don't know what to do...

 

[Lozzy_Ozzy]

This happened to me when it was turned off whilst shutting down.

IIRC I used a bootdisc to sort it out.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I have a recovery disc but the same problem happens with it...

 

[Lozzy_Ozzy]

Hmmmmm, I'm not sure what to do then.

Sorry.

 

[wit>trope]

If you are using a broadband modem on that computer, try turning the modem off and keeping it off. Then while you continue to keep the modem turned off, try turning the computer on and if that doesn't work try it again with the modem still kept off and again ... that might do the trick.

 

[ainwood]

As a random suggestion - turn it off at the wall for a while, then turn it on and try again.

Do you use NTFS or Fat32? If its the latter, then it might be a corrupted bit on the disk, and youmight be up for a reformat.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I did leave it unplugged from the wall and removed all the cables. I only plugged in the power cables and the monitor and tried it again, but the same problem happens.

My hard drive uses NTFS.

 

[ainwood]

Then that is strange - NTFS is a lot more robust (for example, if you don't shut-down properly, then under NTFS chkdsk doesn't normally run).

Can you boot from the WinXP CD and choose 'repair'? (I think you might have to choose 'install' first, then you get a repair option).

 

[Chukchi Husky]

My computer never came with a Windows XP CD (neither did with the computer I'm using now).

 

[Rik Meleet]

As a random suggestion - turn it off at the wall for a while, then turn it on and try again.

The improved way to do this is: remove power cable; push on/off button for 1- seconds; replug powercable and power up system.

What your PC is doing at the moment of rebooting it checking the hardware. Might be wise to remove all hardware, except monitor + mouse + Mem + CPU + Vid-crd (in case you have no on-board) + Harddrive to check if anything is bugging.
Your remark about Win Safe is a bit worrying; that points to a corrupted .ini file or other Win-file.
If you've messed up the software here is a trick: Install Win XP on another Harddrive; when that is done; make your current drive the slave and you can access your files. When you've saved your files; do the reverse.

 

[Rik Meleet]

My computer never came with a Windows XP CD (neither did with the computer I'm using now).

?

OEM-PC ?
What brand ?

 

[Chukchi Husky]

The computer I'm on uses Windows XP, will i be able to do that trick with this one?

 

[Rik Meleet]

The computer I'm on uses Windows XP, will i be able to do that trick with this one?

Well ...

You could hang your crashed PC's harddrive as slave in the PC you're using (if you have the cables), yes, but without a way to reinstall windows afterwards on your crashed PC, then you still have a PC with a problem.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

Will I be able to save my documents if I do that?

 

[Rik Meleet]

Will I be able to save my documents if I do that?

That's the whole purpose of hanging your HardDrive as a slave.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

How do I make my hard drive a slave?

 

[Asclepius]

How do I make my hard drive a slave?

On the back of the drive are two rows of pins separated into three groups; one for the EIDE ribbon cable, one for the (4 pin) power cable and a gap in the middle with two rows of five pins with two little plastic jumpers pushed over two sets of pins. (Sometimes the 4th pin on the top row is missing)

When looking at the rear of the drive, with the EIDE pins to the left, the first jumper will be on the first two (vertical) pins (from the left) and the second jumper on the third pair (vertical) of pins. This is a Master configuration.

Remove the first jumper. This is now a slave device. Don't loose the first jumper if you ever want to use this drive to boot from. You can place it for safe keeping horizontally over the top row 5th pin and the missing 4th pin space.

Connect this drive to the extra EIDE plug in the middle of your primary drive cable. Use any of the spare power cables and restart.

EDIT: WARNING!!! I forgot to say the jumper settings MAY BE DIFFERENT depending on the make of HD you have. Check the manufacturers site to be on the safe side!!!!

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I got it to work. I can't get into my user folder (It says "Access Is Denied)...

 

[ainwood]

Can you log-in as an administrator? Even then, that might not work, as it might not give you administrator rights over an account on a slave drive, but you could at least try.

 

[wit>trope]

Can you log-in as an administrator? Even then, that might not work, as it might not give you administrator rights over an account on a slave drive, but you could at least try.

when I log in as an administrator on my computer I can't access the ADMINISTRATOR.[Computer Name] folder for some reason.