Startup loops.

RivaldinhoRivaldinho
edited September 2007 in Hardware
Good morning to you i have a problem with my computer. The problem being that it won't boot. It gets to the windows Xp sign and then it restarts, it has been doing this for some time now.

One thing that might be important is that i get a screen that offers me to go to safe mode or start windows normally but there the keyboard freezes so i can't get to safe mode. I haven't tried anything because i don't know anything. Anyone who might know what it is ?

Comments

  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited September 2007
    The freezing keyboard at the safemode screen sounds like you have a USB keyboard that isn't responding.

    If it's rebooting before it's getting to the sign in screen that's usually a good indicator that you've got a bad driver somewhere in the mix or bad ram. Fortunately RAM is pretty easy to test. You'll need to get a program called memtest86 (just google it) and either put it on a floppy drive or burn it to a cdrom. Then you reboot your computer with that in the drive and it'll run a memory test and tell you if you have any bad ram with a very easy to read pass/fail report.

    If you get any failures remove the ram stick (if you only have one your going to have to acquire another) and reboot the computer to see if that is the problem. After you've resolved potential RAM issues one way or the other and it's still going into a reboot loop then it's likely drivers. But it's also possible that it could be other failing hardware.

    However I would first rule out software issues. But to do that you'll need a Windows XP cd and you'll have to do a repair install.
  • RivaldinhoRivaldinho
    edited September 2007
    Thanks for the quick response i tried burning in on a dvd but it had no effect on the computer it dosen't seem respond to the disc in any way. so i tried the windows xp install disk and the same thing happend. So i guess you have to do something more than just put the disk in ?

    Btw i'm not very good with computers so you will probably have to put up with a few extra noob questions than usual.;)
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited September 2007
    You need to get into your bios to make sure that your primary boot device is your rom drive. When your computer starts up there'll be a prompt that says something like 'press ____ to get into your settings'.

    On most generic computers that button is the 'del' key. Turn your computer on and start tapping that button and you should get into your bios. On name brand PC's that key is usually the F1, F2, or F11 keys depending on the brand.

    On some newer bios's there is also a prompt that allows you to hit F12 to choose your boot device. But the end result is you have to make sure your computer is trying to load from the rom drive first or these methods won't work.

    So one possible trouble is that if your keyboard is a USB one and your computer isn't recognizing it then you won't be able to get into any of these options.
  • RivaldinhoRivaldinho
    edited September 2007
    ok your last advice worked like a charm. I tried inserting the windows xp cd and i got a blue screen. It says Welcome to setup... I'm sure you know it.
    So i press R but then it says ''setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer .'' I'm guessing that means the hard drive is the problem ?
  • JokkeJokke Bergen, Norway Icrontian
    edited September 2007
    Before you get to that screen, the setup should ask if you want to install any additional drivers. On that screen you say yes, and put in the floppy with your Harddrive drivers, providing you have one.
  • RivaldinhoRivaldinho
    edited September 2007
    Ummm ok funny story actually i don't really have a floppy drive. Is there any way i can do this without the floppy ?
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited September 2007
    If you have an IDE drive, or a motherboard that has built in SATA drivers you shouldn't need any floppies to recognize the drive.

    However if it's not seeing the harddrive in the BIOS you may have a problem. It's possible that your reboot loop corrupted your master boot record.
  • RivaldinhoRivaldinho
    edited September 2007
    I have a motherboard called ASRock 939SLI32-sata2. Am i screwed ?
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