computer in infinite loop- can't start windows xp

Question

I was doing a Repair Reinstall for the 3rd time since my computer kept freezing and getting blue screens. The Repair Reinstalls seemed to work the first 2 times until I shut down my laptop (Inspiron 700m), then it would freeze again. I was trying to backup my hard drive but while verifying the disc, it froze. So I tried doing the repair reinstall and it froze while there was 34 minutes left. I kept on shutting down and restarting and it would continue but then freeze around 34-37 minutes. Finally after multiple shut downs and restarts it wouldn't even go to the window that shows the progress. It would only go to the screen with blue background and Windows XP logo that says 'Setup is being restarted....' Then a black screen, then an error message 'Not enough virtual memory or paging quota is available to complete the specified operation.' Then it would loop back to the restart process: Dell logo, Windows XP logo, Setup is being restarted page, then error message. Most of the time it showed that first message but sometimes it shows 'A write operation was attempted...' and 'Insufficient system resources to complete the API.' I couldn't catch the end of that write operation message since it just flashes for a second and then loops back to attempt a restart. I called Dell hardware support and they determined it wasn't a problem with the hardware. So now I have to call software but don't want to pay the extra $$$! Any suggestions? The current message being shown now is 'Securities account management failed because of following reason: The media is write-protected...' and more stuff but i can't read it b/c it just flashes for a second. I don't know what this write-protected business is, maybe it's trying to complete the action of burning/verifying the cd since that was the last thing it did in windows? any help would be MUCH appreciated! i really want to be able to get into windows so i can finish backing up my stuff. thanks.

jsp14 · Answer

thanks for the tip. could you explain a little more what a parallel install is? i couldn't find any info besides the protocol on what effects it will have on my laptop. i won't lose any data? will i have to reformat afterwards from scratch or will it be fixed?
thanks.

Blakemen · Answer

You should try doing a parallel install to recover your data... careful though, mistakes = data loss.   There's a good guide here: www.windowsreinstall.com. just be sure to name the computer something different that it was before in setup. Also, don't create the same user names, as they'll overwrite the old ones.   Good luck!

Blakemen · Answer

A parallel install installs another copy of windows on the same partition that windows is currently on.

Its like building a new house on top of an old broken house to get your stuff out of the old house, the new house being the new installation of windows and the old broken house being the old corupted windows installation... and the stuff being uh... the stuff.

You'll need to reformat after. Your data should be safe through the install, just be carefull with the renaming.

Windows General

Was this post helpful?