XP Reboots at splash screen

[docmeyer]

My daughters AMD Compaq with XP SP1 has started looping, again, when it gets to the XP splash screen. I say again becuase I fixed it the last time by booting from a XP disk, and intsalled over the OS. The system was (past tense) full of spyware and the like, I cleaned it up, installed Spybot and a AV and set them to run and scan daily. Now she calls me and tells me its doing it again.

When it gets to the XP logo splash screen there is a blip of a blue screen, then it reboots, and on and on.

I've tried everything, every possible version of Safe mode etc.

I'm beginning to think hardware as the computer is probably almost 4 years old.

Any suggestions?

~d

The DI from PI

http://95south.150m.com

httP://difrompi.freeservers.com

Virginia Beach, VA U.S.A.

 

[Cwgunder]

it's more likely to be software related. In many of the cases I have to... well.. wipe the hard drive and start from sratch. This option is not too appealing I know. This is where restore CDs come in real handy.

There may be able couple of things to try first however. If you have a copy of an XP SP1 CD, you can try to do a repair, also some restore CDs offer a non-destructive system restore.

It's likely it's some sort of corruption of the files in the c:\windows\system32 directory, which spyware can do. A repair should be able to restore that directory and hopefuly allow you to boot.

To be honenst, even if you can get this booting again, it's likely to still have some problems. The only real way to get this back and working like new again, is to install a clean install of XP. If you can, I'd setup XP and the anti-virus software on another HDD and connect the old HDD as a secondary drive and tranfer the necessary data later. That way, nothing is lost though you'll have to re-install each of the programs. The anti-spyware/anti-virus installed first can help protect from re-infecting the computer as you transfer the data from the other HDD.

I'd look into some spyware protection for when you do get the computer running. Here's some free ones you can find and download from

http://www.cnet.com.

They work well together. You can never actually expect one program to fully clean all of the spyware on a computer.

*SpyBot Search and destroy
*Ad-Aware
*spybot blaster (spyware prevention tool)
*Windows cleanup (deletes the IE cookies and temp cache where a lot of spyare like to hide)

Also, Microsoft has a fairly new one that is free and seems to work well. It's called Windows defender and can be downloaded from

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

Hope this helps

Good Luck!

Chris

 

[docmeyer]

You know I actually told her that word for word, I need to do a clean install...and I don't really have the time.

Thanks for your input.

I'll probably have to let her borrow my laptop again while I have at it.

~d

The DI from PI

http://95south.150m.com

httP://difrompi.freeservers.com

Virginia Beach, VA U.S.A.

 

[Codeman0013]

hey doc try going to

http://www.ubcd4win.com/

its the ultimate boot cd for windows its able to run in dos and you can work on it later without being in safe mode or anything just set it to boot from cd and there u go

Remember free things are fun but they can come with an emotional price tags..

 

[docmeyer]

<Napolean Dynamite>Sweet tip!!!</Napolean Dynamite>

I'm on it!!!

~d

The DI from PI

http://95south.150m.com

httP://difrompi.freeservers.com

Virginia Beach, VA U.S.A.

 

[linney]

Have you tried the Recovery Console and running ChkDsk /r?
While your in the Recovery Console have a look at the FixMbr and FixBoot commands.

How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307654&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

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

This is a layman's version of Q307545 in simple language.


Next time you get it fixed how about updating to SP2. If you had SP2 installed there is a Safe Mode option to turn off Automatic Restarts and stop at the BSOD. If you get into SP1 the same option is available via System Properties, Startup and Recovery.

Cannot logon to winxp...losing lots of valuable documents
thread779-975236