Help! Cannot Start XP

Question

Hallo Ladies and Gents - can anybody help me with the following problem?

Cannot start windows XP

The problem started when I tried to start my laptop (Insp 8200) as usual - boot screen popped up with the status - windows was not shut down properly please select from safe mode etc etc

Selecting ANY of the options results in the system initiating for a couple of seconds and then freezing. When trying in safe mode it runs through a list of System 32 drives and then freezes mid way through the search.

When trying last good config a bar runs across the bottom of a black screen and then freezes when it gets to the other end. The other options when selected fall ito the above two catagories.

I then tried to booting the system with bu installing Win XP - this at least gave me access past the initial black screen (after selecting install I chose repair) - once complete (39mins) this gave me access to my normal screen but then I started having the Remote Call Procedure bug (the system will restart after 60 sec etc) together with a bug that kept trying to autodial a web site of ill repute (judging by the web address) the auto dial I disabled by deleting my ISP details.

Once in to windows i tried System restore but there were no dates in the calander - I guess because I had a repaired installation?

To solve the RCP problem I searched the DELL forums and found a fix (Document number H01083290) but unfortunately it failed to solve the problem.

I also used the forum to download worm fixes and virus checkers but to no effect.

The worst of the problem is that the bug appears to have disabled windows functionality. I have 6 months worth of family photos that I want to rescue in particular but I can't burn to CD, drag and drop to a memory stick, of instruct windows to copy data to CD.

If I leave windows up and running without touching it it eventually crashes back to a black screen and the only way back is to go through the repair windows routine again.

It looks like I am heading towards a disk format and a fresh installation of XP but want to check if there is any chance of rescuing my photos first.

Can anyone suggest a cunning plan to let me get my photos of my laptop before resorting to reformatting?

Does anyone recognise the symptoms quoted above?

Yours in anticipation!!

LittleAdvice · Answer

Dimanche,

A hard drive failure is possibly the problem. I had a similar problem and the result of the tests was that the hard drive was bad and needed to be replaced. Well I got a new hard drive and loaded it up on the system with my original drive removed and got the system working. Then I attached the old hard drive to the system as a slave and got my data off the old hard drive. Not sure how you can do this on a laptop though. You may want to post this to one of the Inspiron boards for more assistance. This is a desktop board and desktops are handled a little differently from laptops and the laptop boards may have more ideas on how to fix this.

gudgeon · Answer

I would try taking the drive out of the PC & slotting it into a 2.5 inch USB 2.0 Caddy - then getting the important files copied across to another PC by that route.

I would then reinstall the drive in the Inspiron, format it & reinstall XP.

Dimanche · Answer

Thanks for the Inspiron Forum tip (doooh!) - fingers crossed its not the HD though!

Dimanche · Answer

Thanks Iain - thats an option!

Francis Nguyen · Answer

An adaptor cable will allow you to connect the 9.5mm notebook HD to the slave connector of the primary IDE cable (desktop PC).  This will permit the transfer of data out of the 9.5mm HD.  F.

Dimanche · Answer

Thanks

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Help! Cannot Start XP

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