Computer Keeps Restarting, Won't Boot Up: XP

Otakugyrl

I'm hoping someone can help me. I can't get onto my computer. I turn it on, and it starts up like normal and then gives me 5 options.

3 different versions of "safe mode"
"start windows normally."
and "start windows at last configured..."

after chosing any of them (they all end in the same result) it loads up.
Goes to the "win XP" loading where it shows the blue bar.
Then a blue screen flashes (you blink; you miss) and restarts.
And repeats.
And repeats... until it is shut off.
I took my camcorder and videotaped the screen and was able to capture it, trying to read what it says.
All I could see was:

http://www.photobucket.com/albums/0803/Otakugyrl/comp.jpg

that.

Could hardly make out any of the words-- except it sounds like it things there was a software or hardware problem.
I didn't add any of either to my computer.

***
The night before I shut off my computer, no problems. Just like normal.
But when I started it up I kept getting this problem.
***
I don't have a boot disk, b/c at the time my A-Drive wasn't working (of course, now it is). And the XP disk someone brought, installed and instead of leaving me with the disk like they said they would-- they left with it. Now I know I just need to buy one, since I didn't get mine.
But any reason why my computer won't stop restarting?
Any suggestions?
help?
Do I have to reformat? lose everything?
Or is there a way to save it?
Help?

TheBaron

okay well i cant make out what that picture says at ALL, but i'm pretty sure the 2nd line, which is the one i really need to read, says something about a boot volume, so here's what i'm going to suggest.

take out your winXP cd, put it in
it'll boot up, go through loading all the drivers and jazz,
and you'll come to a screen where it says "press enter to continue installing windows XP" or something like that

as you go through the steps, you'll get to a point where it will detect existing installations of XP, once you get there you need to select the option to perform a repair install on the detected installation.

sorry, i cant remember it screen for screen, but i think thats pretty solid advice assuming i read it correctly

on the other hand, if what it says is "IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL" you most likely have a ram problem, try taking sticks out one at a time

good luck

Otakugyrl

Originally posted by TheBaron
okay well i cant make out what that picture says at ALL, but i'm pretty sure the 2nd line, which is the one i really need to read, says something about a boot volume, so here's what i'm going to suggest.

take out your winXP cd, put it in
it'll boot up, go through loading all the drivers and jazz,
and you'll come to a screen where it says "press enter to continue installing windows XP" or something like that

as you go through the steps, you'll get to a point where it will detect existing installations of XP, once you get there you need to select the option to perform a repair install on the detected installation.

sorry, i cant remember it screen for screen, but i think thats pretty solid advice assuming i read it correctly

on the other hand, if what it says is "IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL" you most likely have a ram problem, try taking sticks out one at a time

good luck

the only problem with that is the person who installed winxp on my computer told me he was going to leave me the disk... but he didn't. he took it with him, I never saw him again-- so now I'm without a winXP disk.

Someone else suggested that it might be that I'm out of RAM etc... is there any other way to go about it, without the disk?

Thank you so much.

TheBaron

uhhhhhh... not to do a full repair install, which is what im suggesting... as far as i know. but if you have a second computer (which you obviously do) there are lets say "other avenues" for obtaining an XP disk. not that i condone that or anything.

i doubt that its because you're "out of ram" especially assuming i read that error the right way. can you clarify what the second line says (real short one, right after the first line break)

TheBaron

as a side note, you'll need an XP cd if you have to reformat anyway.

do me a quick favor and try these things, even though they may have nothing to do with your specific problem.

i dont know how much you know about what you're doing, so take this advice with a grain of salt.

first, to cut down on heat, get a can of compressed air in there and dust everything off. while you're at it, only if you've done this before mind you, go ahead and reseat your CPU and apply a nice new layer of thermal compound.

then try booting it up with only one stick of ram, switch and try again.

good luck!~

izzugotom

Rum MemTest...You don't need windows for it. Just obtain the stiffy from someone, stick it in the A-Drive and boot. If it runs for an hour the memory is ok enough.

>Pull out/swop ram sticks if you got more than one, just stick to the config your MB/Ram allows you to.

>If the WIN-Data on the disk got messed up, I will buy another disk, re-Install and see if I can retrive the other data using that disk as a slave.

Just a question:How do you switch off the PC.....I mean if it's switched off, is all the AC cut to the PSU ?, or is the AC supply still feeding the PSU, although the PC is "OFF" ?

Xenogeared

wow that sounds like something that happened to me a little over a month ago. i moved to my dorm and the damn os wouldn't boot up. whats the error it is giving you? something about driver errors? thats what I had. because to this day i've never found out what caused it and how i fixed it. I just started working after the 6th format + reinstall

cramstad

The message you're getting says "unmountable_boot_volume" which I've seen a million times on pre SP1 XP installs. The solution, unfourtunatey does require a XP cd to boot from. Once, you boot from it, select the repair console by pressing 'R' and at the command prompt, type "chkdsk" without the quotations. If it says your drive is in good shape, type "chkdsk /p" again, without the quotations. This should fix your problem.

dpiffy

I just installed Win XP SP 1 for XP Pro and upon restarting after SP1 and a few other criticals, it counts memory, beeps, shows win xp scrren with bar moving.. screen goes black, mouse appears (so far its all normal) then for a splint second a Win XP box comes up while screen is still black, and one time it went a little slower and i was able to reaad it enough, it simply said "Windows is starting up" or something like that, just basically saying its starting up. Ive never seen the box come up before on other XP loads, but right when it come on and then off, it remains black for like 2 seconds then its like the actual harddrive powers off, restarts counts memory, and after counting, then the hard drive finally starts spinning, and repeats all the above over and over. I tried going into it using safe mode, and other options, same thing still. I tried the chkdsk and no change. This actually seemed to happen to me on another computer a few years ago. ANY IDEAS???? If no fix, am I able to reinstall XP without deleting anything and see if it works? or what??

cramstad wrote:

The message you're getting says "unmountable_boot_volume" which I've seen a million times on pre SP1 XP installs. The solution, unfourtunatey does require a XP cd to boot from. Once, you boot from it, select the repair console by pressing 'R' and at the command prompt, type "chkdsk" without the quotations. If it says your drive is in good shape, type "chkdsk /p" again, without the quotations. This should fix your problem.