Re: Windows won't boot. Need help.

DaveJohnson12@nomail. wrote:
On Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:05:54 -0400, Ben Myers <ben_myers@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

DaveJohnson12@nomail. wrote:
On Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:11:03 -0400, Ben Myers <ben_myers@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

DaveJohnson12@nomail. wrote:
It's an Optiplex 755 with Windows XP pro SP2.
I get a blue screen saying Windows has detected an error and is shutting down to protect the
computer. The screen did not list any drivers as causing an issue.

I called Dell tech support. They had me run diagonostics. No hardware problems.

The computer boots in safe mode. For some reason there are no restore points though it's set up to
use 18GB of space for restore points. ;-) Dell recommends reinstalling the OS.

Any suggestions on correcting the problem would be appreciated. :-)

I was going to burn data to DVDs but Nero cannot find any DVD burners, probably because it only runs
in safe mode. I have backups but they are so disorganized that it would be much easer to copy what
data is on the computer now.

I'm planning to buy another hard disk, install Windows on it and copy the data from the old hard
drive to the new one, then reformat and reinstall Windows on the old hard disk if necessary.

I haven't yet found a good place to buy the specific hard drive I want. Please see my other post if
you have any recommendations about that.

Thank you.
Run the DRIVE MANUFACTURER'S diagnostics, downloaded from the mfr's web site, on the hard drive. Dell's diagnostics do a quick sanity check on the drive, not at all thorough. Also run HDAT2, a free download, to examine the SMART data on the drive.
I downloaded Seatools. It's a seagate hard drive. Unfortunately I could not install it.
The computer will only boot in safe mode and software can't be installed in safe mode.
I tried a diagnostic startup and it would not boot like that either.

If you can wait until a new drive arrives, do so, unless the drive diagnostics show the drive as A-OK. Then copy whatever data possible
>from the old drive to the new one, after installing Windows.

It looks like that is what I will do.

Any complaint about unusual performance by one of my clients gets me to run diagnostics first, screw around with Windows afterward. If one does otherwise, he is peeing in his own soup, to quote an old Slavic saying.
lol good one. I never noticed any performance problem or any other kind of problem. I had the
computer running for a while and when I came back to it the blue screen was there. Thanks.
You need a version of SeaTools that is self-booting and runs under DOS.

If it's self booting, does that mean it somehow causes DOS to run? Is DOS included in the
self-booting version?

Seagate has SeaTools downloads for a bootable CD (ISO file) or a bootable floppy. Your CD burning software needs to be able to burn an ISO file correctly. If your system does not have a built-in floppy drive, an USB floppy drive will do.

Do I have to change something in the BIOS to get the computer to boot from a CD. I don't
have a floppy drive.

I think HDAT2 also boots from a CD.

I have Nero 6. I think that can burn from an ISO file though I have never done that.

For me, a blue screen almost always deserves to have the computer run hard drive diagnostics. if you look through the descriptions of BSODs on the Microsoft web site, they are as sketchy as can be. The programmers dreamt up something to satisfy managers flogging their backs, but they are rarely of much help... Ben Myers

I believe you. Thank you.

Self-booting means that it has enough of MS-DOS (or FreeDOS or Caldera DOS or IBM-DOS) to boot and run the diagnostic software.

With most Dells these days, you hit the F12 key to call up the menu that offers the choice to boot from CD, hard drive, floppy drive (if available), etc.

Download HDAT2 4.5.2, the latest non-demo version of the software. It, like SeaTools, is available in both ISO format for CDs and a file that builds a bootable floppy.

I have not used Nero 6 in a long time. I know that some of the OEM versions of Nero are somewhat crippled, and may not burn an ISO file correctly, so that the CD boots. As very servicable alternatives, I recommend CDBurnerXP (works with Win 2000 and Vista, too) and ImgBurn, both free downloads. CDBurnerXP requires .NET 2.0 to install and run.

.... Ben Myers
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Windows wont boot. Need help.
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    ... I'm planning to buy another hard disk, install Windows on it and copy the data from the old hard ... Run the DRIVE MANUFACTURER'S diagnostics, ... Unfortunately I could not install it. ... The computer will only boot in safe mode and software can't be installed in safe mode. ...
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