Windows won't boot

[DaveGoTech]

We have several Dell PCs w/Windows XP Pro. 1 machine is used by new employees. The users keep screwing them up by downloading junk from the internet. That happened about 4 months ago and I erased the whole machine and reinstalled everything. All was OK until a new employee came in and promptly installed Yahoo Messenger, then complained that the PC was crashing. I uninstalled Yahoo Messenger, but when it was finishing the uninstall, windows froze and I had to power off. Now it won't boot. If I boot from the HD, it gets to the B/W screen that says 'windows did not start successfully the last time' and give the options of Safe, Normal, etc. modes. Regardless of which option I select, the machine resets as soon as I press enter. So I tried to boot from the Windows CD, hoping I could repair the installation, but windows gets the error "STOP - driver_irql_not_less_or_equal". The machine then has to be powered off. I dread having to reinstall all the software on this machine because there are numerous custom applications, which takes many hours to complete and I just don't have that kind of time. Does anyone know what the problem is and can it be corrected without reinstalling?

 

[linney]

HOW TO: Install and Use the Recovery Console for Windows XP (Q307654)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q307/6/54.asp

An easy to follow recovery console description when unable to start computer due to corrupt registry.

http://www.digitalwebcast.com/2002/03_mar/tutorials/cw_boot_toot.htm

It is also possible to disable any offending driver from loading (using the Recovery Console). Does the error message give you a clue as to which driver that might be?

 

[bcastner]

Do not re-image, do a repair reinstallation. Remember to enable the firewall, and then head directly to Windows Update site to reinstall the necessary service packs and hotfixes:

http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/q315/3/41.asp&NoWebContent=1