system wont boot to windows

[ilyar]

I have windows xp sp2. Everytime i try to boot in to windows normally it goes through post, then the windows xp screen pops up and seems to boot but after a few seconds the pc just haults and reboots by itself. when i restore to an earlier time point it seems to boot fine but when i go to restart the pc again it just does the same thing. any ideas why that would be happening? thx for help

 

[pscowboy]

Tell us how long you've running XP while it was okay. Do you have a hardware router; the Firewall up; and are you running an up-to-date Anti-Virus program?

Did the trouble start after a long session on the Net; or unsuspectingly opening an infected email?

This feels like you've been hit with something. Especially so, after you "Restore" to a good point with one good boot & then trouble again right away. A worm or virus probably.

 

[ilyar]

been running xp for around 6 months .. this started happening like for past month just never noticed it was that bad.. i have a wireless router with firewall up. i am running latest avast. i ran it and it didnt find anything. i even ran trend micro, it came up with some things but it didnt solve my problem. i dont really know exactly when the trouble started could b anythin. i tried reinstalling all drivers and the system booted up fine. but now when i restart it haults again and restarts then runs chkdsk and if skip chkdsk it loads normally. very strange

 

[pscowboy]

Now it sounds like you could be at the beginning of a failing hard drive. Constant rebooting is a sign of corrupted files which can be caused by hd problems. I have to think this way because you say there is no virus!

Get SpinRite 6.0 (costs a little bit of money), and run it at level 4 and see if it comes up with anything. Monitor the results now and then before it completes.

But before that; Chkdsk produces a report. Next time you get your desktop, do the following: Double click My Computer; right click the "C" drive; go down to Properties - Tools - Error-checking. Check off both boxes and reboot. Chkdsk will work on your hd for an hour or so.

When it completes, a reboot will occur. When you get your desktop back, do the following: Go to Control Panel - Admin Tools - Event Viewer - Application. Look for "Winlogon" on the right side near the top. Open it and read. If it shows bad spots, time for a new hd.

Now, especially run SpinRite to see if it can salvage something. This program will find more bad stuff than Chkdsk can, but can also fix a lot of the problems. It works on every single electronic bit switch on the drive.

If this also produces bad news (as you monitor the detailed Technical Log),
back up your system as soon as it is done, and get a new hd and do a restore.

 

[ilyar]

k i will try that but someone suggested this on another forum :

First click Start> Run> bring up a command prompt by typing in "CMD" and type " fsutil dirty query d: ". This queries the drive, and more than likely it will tell you that it is dirty. Next, type "CHKNTFS /X D:". The X tells Windows to NOT check that particular drive on the next reboot. At this time, manually reboot your computer, it should not do a Chkdsk and take you directly to Windows.

Once Windows has fully loaded, bring up another CMD prompt and type and now you want to do a Chkdsk manually by typing "Chkdsk /f /r d:". This should take you through 5 stages of the scan and will unset that dirty bit. Finally, type "fsutil dirty query d:" and Windows will confirm that the dirty bit is not set on that drive.

wat do u think bout this sollution?

 

[pscowboy]

Worth a try. Quicker than what I suggested. BUT, if you do have a "failing" drive, it won't solve your main problem.

Just curious about the "d:" part. If that's the drive designation, why isn't it c: ?????????????

Good luck!

 

[ilyar]

yea idk why he put d: , my drive is C: but anyways i will try both. that program u mentioned isnt free :-( do u know where i can find a free full version?

 

[pscowboy]

No. But SpinRite is worth having. You can check ANY questionable drive with it for the rest of your life.

Try Ebay. Maybe someone can sell you their copy cheaper than the $89; or, you can get v.4 or 5 real cheap ($5-$10) and then upgrade to 6.0 for $49.

Just be sure if you go that route, you get the serial #

 

[riser]

When your computer locks or reboots on the Windows Logo, it's loading drivers..

You can boot to safe mode (F8 while loading) and check your event viewer for driver failures.

OR

Enable Boot Logging: This option turns on logging when the computer is started with any of the Safe Boot options except Last Known Good Configuration. The Boot Logging text is recorded in the Ntbtlog.txt file in the %SystemRoot% folder.

Get back into windows, look at the text, find out what's causing your computer to fail. I'd suspect it's the same driver causing the problem. Find that file in Safe Mode, delete it. Windows XP rebuilds drivers on restart.. that should fix it.

You can also boot up and do a chdsk or a fixboot instead of all the stuff the other guy told you to do.. kind of tedious his way.

 

[KennyG]

If you ever mess around inside the computer check all your cables. I've seen an IDE cable that has been plugged in half ways so that it was detected ok, but windows wouldn't boot, same thing you're describing. But I think everyone is certainly on the right track, it has something to do with the HD.