Headaches and blood pressure rise

[FROG MAN]

Nothing I mean nothing causes me more headaches and blood pressure then a stubborn computer. My daughters Dell desk top running Xp pro sp2 has crashed. We get the dreaded Unmountable boot error. The machine just runs forever trying to boot.Here is where we are.

 

 

1. I cannot boot into safe mode or last know config.

 

2. It's a dell refurb so tech support won't help not the original owner.

 

3. No I don't have a XP pro cd to use the recovery system.

 

4. The Cd rom doesn't work or recognize anything.

 

5. I tried booting with the A drive using boot files from another machine with no luck.

 

6. The only solution I have found is building those dreaded six floopy disc files that support xp pro sp2 from microsoft but damn if I can find working floopys around this house. I am up to 4 usable disc but the fifth one crashes. Three hours work and the trash can is getting full of bad disc.

 

7. All I want is to build a XP pro boot disc from a working machine to try a earlier restore point.She probably has a corrupted file on the HD.

[Yammer Dan]

Go to PCPITSTOP.COM and ask. Called blue screen of death.

[Yammer Dan]

Go to user to user to ask questions

[FROG MAN]

I got big hammer out getting serious now.:smash2:

[SaltyDawg]

It sounds like your memory has gone. No not YOUR memory but the computers memory. Then again maybe it is your memory.

 

Seriously, a lot of the time when a PC won't boot it's because of a bad stick of memory. If at all possible try removing a stick of memory, or moving it from one slot to another. Heck sometimes reseating it will help.

 

My bet is on the memory. It's always the first thing to go. or so I'm told. I can't remember.

 

Seriously a PC checks the memory in the POST before it goes to any drives to look for the boot record. If it can't pass POST it will not search for drives.

[V7Goose]

If it is the memory, the POST routine should issue a beep error code that you can look up on the internet. But mem sticks don't get a full check on boot unless the quick boot option is turned off in the BIOS. Because the error is "unmountable boot error" I believe your hard drive is toast. The CD SHOULD work for booting, however, if it is enabled as a boot device in the BIOS (needs to be before the HDD in boot order).

 

You should download one of the free disk checking utilities from the internet - either Seagate or Western Digital. The WD utility will not work if you don't have a WD drive, so maybe start with the Seagate. You can download either a Windows version or a bootable CD image that you can burn on a good PC. If you can't get the CD to boot on that one, you just need to pull the drive out and connect it as a slave to a good PC to run the diagnostics.

Goose

[ddoggma]

Yeah it sounds like a harddrive problem. But, sometimes a low battery on the motherboard will make it lose settings at boot. If you can get into the BIOS. by tapping f8 or delete when you turn it on. Find the hardrive page and see if its detected bye the system. Sometimes a computer I have gives me a "missing NTFS boot" And I have to redetect the hard drive. Goose it right thou, the CD should work. If you have to install a hard drive I can help you do that and then make the one you have now the backup. You should be able to get all your data, unless its trashed. You will need a XP install disk if you want to install WindowsXP. The memory stick swap is a good idea too. Take em out and try each one one at a time. Also if its a older computer, look for bulging/leaking capacitors on and around the motherboard. If you see any, you need a new board. Or you can recap them if you can do that stuff. I do have some "PC3200 DDR" memory laying around, if you find you need that type of memory.

[BuckShot]

I got big hammer out getting serious now.:smash2:

Hammers aren't as fun as guns...

[BuddyRich]

Hey Gerald, PM me your address and I'll get a dell xp cd in the mail to you tomorrow. I gots them laying all over the place. But as mentioned you may have a bad HDD. What Model is it.

I'll download the drivers and put them on another cd in case you have to replace the HD.

Did the cd work before the crash ?

[stardbog]

Next Time dont waste money on Dell... Buy a Mac.

http://www.apple.com/getamac/

[ddoggma]

Dont do either one. Homegrown PC for the win! I do it all the time, no problems at all. And your not at the mercy of dell and apples proprietary parts and software bloat. Easy to upgrade and you can put in much better parts...ie: graphic card etc. So you have a system that can do more than just surf and look at pictures. If you have every done one of those tandy build it radio sets or similar. You should be able to put together a computer from parts. Its all snap and screw. Hardest part is seeing the small writing on the motherboard and wires. My last upgrade cost me $400.00 bucks and it is not a wimpy computer at all. I can play all the new 3D/PC games....and I do:Laugh: Never crashes or gives me a problem. Dell is good in you just need a email surfing computer for $400.00 complete. Look for "Dell deal" online. Dont add anything to the order unless they give you a free upgrade. And monitor should be included.

[FROG MAN]

Thanks Goose. I was able to download a maxtor hd utility program and build a floppy. After running and repairing the hd it now boots up. The chk files for consistency application in XP runs until it finds file errors and freezes up. I turned off the registry command for checking drive c: Now she runs. I probably have a hd about to go south so the best thing may be to replace the drive and try to save some of the old data. Thanks to Buddy Rich for his help on the XP disk.Now I remember why I bought the kids their own PC's.Glad it wasn't mine.