Computer stuck in safe mode screen

[jlabruno]

Hello All

I am trying to get an older computer of mine working. I bought a brand new hard drive and it has windows xp on it.

The computer worked fine for about 2 weeks then out of the blue now everytime it boots up it goes to the screen that asks you if you want to run it in safe mode but it gets stuck on that screen. It will let you move up and down the options of safe mode, or regular mode but if you select any option or just wait for the clock to run down it freezes on that screen. It will not go past that screen under any circumstance. I even tried booting up from the windows disk and it will not do that either. Anyone have any suggestions on what might be doing this or how to fix it?

Any advice would be great thanks all

 

[7angofragger]

You said new hard drive. Did this hard drive already have windows xp previously installed? or did you put in the new hard drive, and install windows xp FROM this computer you are working on now?

 

[jlabruno]

You said new hard drive. Did this hard drive already have windows xp previously installed? or did you put in the new hard drive, and install windows xp FROM this computer you are working on now?

I installed windows xp on the new harddrive. And it was a version of xp I had on another computer. I have done that in the past and it worked no problem

 

[7angofragger]

Alright, I guess what I'm asking is, did you install windows on this computer you are working on? Or did you install it with another computer, and just transfered the drive.

 

[jlabruno]

Alright, I guess what I'm asking is, did you install windows on this computer you are working on? Or did you install it with another computer, and just transfered the drive.

I bought the new hard drive, installed it, then installed windows xp on it

 

[7angofragger]

Alright. Well, if it was working fine for two weeks, and it was a fresh format and new hard drive, and you haven't changed any hardware or drivers, I would guess it was a virus.

If I were you, I would bring the hard drive to another pc and scan it for virus/mailware and get all the data off of it. If it finds anything, put it back in the old pc and try to boot. If not, just reformat.

 

[jlabruno]

Alright. Well, if it was working fine for two weeks, and it was a fresh format and new hard drive, and you haven't changed any hardware or drivers, I would guess it was a virus.

If I were you, I would bring the hard drive to another pc and scan it for virus/mailware and get all the data off of it. If it finds anything, put it back in the old pc and try to boot. If not, just reformat.

Is it possible to reformat the hard drive while it stills on its current computer? And if so how do I do that when it keeps booting up to the safe mode option screen?

 

[johnb35]

You boot to the xp install disk. You may need to change the boot order in the BIOS so it boots to the cdrom first instead of the hard drive.

 

[jlabruno]

You boot to the xp install disk. You may need to change the boot order in the BIOS so it boots to the cdrom first instead of the hard drive.

OK sorry if this is a dumb question but when booting up how do I get into bios?

 

[johnb35]

When you restart the pc, look at the options it gives you. Should say something like press the delete or f1, f2 keys to enter setup.

 

[7angofragger]

Yup. Look for something like: xx to enter setup (xx being like DEL/F8/F2)

 

[jlabruno]

Thanks will keep you all posted.