Here's a good one...any ideas?
MY old acer is on the fritz. First my power supply started acting up (chord was torn). No problem. Got a new unit.
A few weeks later, I can't start my computer. It will boot up to the "windows was shut down improperly" screen, and gives me the 4 options (normal start, safe mode, etc)
I've tried each option. The computer takes about 5 minutes to get itself *almost* into XP. As it's about to switch into XP it resets, and this whole process is redundant.
I've tried booting from the XP CD. It will spend about 5 minutes extracting files, then shuts down completely.
I've tried using the actual XP boot CD, same thing.
ProMepis will not work, same thing after a few minutes of extracting files.
Knoppix booted into its OS so I could recover some data.
I'm not familiar with either system, but can I re-format from Knoppix? I am just about ready to let a pro deal with this one.
Ideas?
Notebook startup problem
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flyincanuck
- Rank 8
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- Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2005 5:27 am
You might want to take a look at BartPE. Both should allow you to make a bootable Windows "live" CD that loads XP in a ramdisk.
There are plugins with which you can run your choice of anti-virus and hard drive imaging software. IIRC you should have one or two utilities to reformat if need be.
From there you should be able to rule out whether a partition/filesystem/hard drive problem is the culprit.
Good luck and keep us posted,
Louis
P.S. Right before your computer reboots, do you see a blue screen with some text for a fraction of a second? I've had mine do that after either grub, gparted or Ubuntu messed something with in my NTFS. Booted with BartPE, ran checkdisk, problem solved.
There are plugins with which you can run your choice of anti-virus and hard drive imaging software. IIRC you should have one or two utilities to reformat if need be.
From there you should be able to rule out whether a partition/filesystem/hard drive problem is the culprit.
Good luck and keep us posted,
Louis
P.S. Right before your computer reboots, do you see a blue screen with some text for a fraction of a second? I've had mine do that after either grub, gparted or Ubuntu messed something with in my NTFS. Booted with BartPE, ran checkdisk, problem solved.
How to use scannow sfc...
The main reason for using this utility is when you suspect there may be a problem with a Windows XP system file.
Perhaps you get a dialog box appear informing you of a problem with a .dll file, or your program will just not load! It is therefore worth checking to see if there are any corrupt system files using scannow sfc.
To do this simply go to the Run box on the Start Menu and type in:
sfc /scannow
This command will immediately initiate the Windows File Protection service to scan all protected files and verify their integrity, replacing any files with which it finds a problem.
Try this with the install CD in the drive.
The main reason for using this utility is when you suspect there may be a problem with a Windows XP system file.
Perhaps you get a dialog box appear informing you of a problem with a .dll file, or your program will just not load! It is therefore worth checking to see if there are any corrupt system files using scannow sfc.
To do this simply go to the Run box on the Start Menu and type in:
sfc /scannow
This command will immediately initiate the Windows File Protection service to scan all protected files and verify their integrity, replacing any files with which it finds a problem.
Try this with the install CD in the drive.
Hard to say for sure, but it sounds like physical damage to the hard drive. I've seen a couple notebooks with similar, but not exact, problems... HDD problems in all of 'em.
If it isn't a HDD problem, I suggest getting a bootable windows rescue disk and trying that. Should force you into Windows one way or another.
Good luck
If it isn't a HDD problem, I suggest getting a bootable windows rescue disk and trying that. Should force you into Windows one way or another.
Good luck
