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Topic: My computer crashed |
Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Posted 2 May 2009 6:19 pm |
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Am writing from my wife's computer as mine crashed last night. Had just opened a Firefox browser when it locked up. Even control, alt, delete wouldn't work to close the browser. I had to hit the power button. Now it won't boot up into windows (XP). It starts to boot, shows me to hit F10 for Boot Menu or F2 for Bios Settings, and then goes to a black screen with a white-arrow cursor on it, but no icons anywhere. I tried downloading the bootdisk files from MS and burned them to a disc on my wife's computer and then tried to use it to boot mine but nothing happened. All I get (as before) is just my cursor in the center of a black screen, with no icons or anything, and nothing clickable anywhere.
Can anyone advise me on how to proceed?
Many thanks,
Jim
_________________
www.JimCohen.com
www.RonstadtRevue.com
www.BeatsWalkin.com |
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Bo Borland
From:
South Jersey -
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Posted 2 May 2009 7:17 pm
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Jim, are you seeing the dos command screen?
To compare or ID it, on the working computer go to start, all programs, accessories, command prompt.
If you are getting the dos command window maybe some here remembers how to enter dos code |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
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Phil Halton
From:
Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA
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Posted 3 May 2009 11:49 am Re: My computer crashed
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Jim,
Does it allow you to actually enter BIOS setup with F2, or Boot menu with F10, or does it just show that info and go directly to crazy?
Usually those options are on a 30 second or so time window, wherein if you don't hit any keys within the alotted time it goes directly to OS boot.
If it goes directly to dead screen, then I have nothing more to offer, and it sounds like a problem occuring at BIOS time, but if it waits the alotted time and then crashes that suggests to me that the BIOS routines are working properly, and its going to OS boot phase (by reading the Master Boot Record for OS startup information), and dying there.
It could be a MBR (Master Boot Record) problem, which can be corrected with a MBR re-write disk. I just had to re-write the Master Boot Record on my laptop to correct a problem with fatal system load errors at bootup. Now everythings running smooth as warm milk through a puppy.
It might be worth a shot to try and rebuild the MBR with this disk. I could send you the ISO disk image via SendSpace, and you could burn it on CD and try to boot from it. |
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Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
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Posted 3 May 2009 12:39 pm
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Jim;
See if you have, or can borrow a CD with the same operating system and service pack on it. Place said CD/DVD into a disk drive that will read it, and boot from the Windows Disk. If you can read the options on your monitor you can proceed with a repair setup installation, or can use the Recovery Console to repair the MBR and Boot Files, as alluded to earlier.
If you have/can get the OS disk and boot into setup, proceed as follows. The CD will load drivers then come to a halt, awaiting your choices. It will ask if you want to try to Repair the OS, using the Recovery Console, or run Setup.
- Press R to use the Recovery Console
- You'll have a selection of Windows installations listed by number. Your boot partition is usually listed as number 1. If that coincides with your C boot drive press 1.
- If you have an "Administrator" password you'll need to type it, then press Enter. Otherwise, press Enter.
- At the command prompt type these commands:
- FIXMBR (press enter)
- FIXBOOT (press enter)
- Chkdsk /P (press enter)
- After Chkdsk completes type EXIT and press enter
If you can boot into your Welcome screen and login you are done. If not, a repair installation may be needed. But, first try booting into Safe Mode, by restarting and tapping the F8 key. If you are able to login to your desktop in Safe Mode you can try using RUN > MSCONFIG (enter) to temporarily disable some or all of your "startup" items.
While in Safe Mode run all security scanners to see if malware is involved. Security definitions can be updated if you boot into "Safe Mode With Networking" and plug an Ethernet cable from the router to that computer. It may or may not establish wireless networking, depending on what network drivers are loaded (Safe Mode loads minimal drivers).
You should also schedule Chkdsk to run upon rebooting. To do that open My Computer > right-click on the C drive icon > Left select "Properties," click on the "Tools" tab, then, under Error-Checking, press the "Check Now" button. Check the first option to check for and fix file system errors and click OK. You will receive a pop-up box telling you that Windows must do this upon restarting, do you want to schedule a disk check? Click YES and close everything, then reboot and see what happens.
I have an excellent web page all about Chkdsk, that explains what it does and its "switches." Chkdsk is often able to repair file system errors that cause "a failure to communicate."
If you can't boot into Safe Mode you will have to run a repair installation. This will take time to describe and I have to go out to my gig. Microsoft has complete knowledge base articles describing the procedure for a "repair reinstallation" of Windows, for each supported OS. But, there are several urgent considerations that will need to be attended to afterward. I will try to provide details about them tomorrow, if you still need them.
_________________
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Posted 3 May 2009 2:46 pm
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Thanks guys. Since I don't have the OS disks (XP came installed on my PC but they didn't give me any physical disks for it). To answer your question, Phil, yes, it does let me hit F10 or F2 and I can get to their respective screens.
It sounds like maybe I should try Phil's suggestion first, then if that doesn't work, see if I can borrow an XP disk from someone and try Wiz's suggestion. Make sense to go in that order?
If so, Phil, thanks for offering. My email address to send it to is jasaco-at-aol-dot-com (altered, of course, for safety). Thank you!
Jim
_________________
www.JimCohen.com
www.RonstadtRevue.com
www.BeatsWalkin.com |
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Phil Halton
From:
Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA
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Posted 3 May 2009 7:02 pm
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The reason I suggested the MBR fix ISO file I have is because I was unable to boot from my windowsXP disks in order to use the recovery console. The ISO image CD booted and fixed my problem (produced by Acronis and uses a variant of the FDisk program with the /MBR switch).
Of course, Wiz is right-on and I'd do exactly as he suggests, but I don't think it can hurt to try to do an MBR fix with this little boot CD. |
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