HELP!!!! Computer wont start

I

ianhutchinson

New Member
Hi

New to the forum, any help would be appreciated. My computer locked up the other night and I switched the power off at the plug to shut it down, it would not shut down any other way. I then re-started my computer and I was taken to the screen advising me to re-start using previous settings / last configuration. I pressed enter to restart but nothing happens, I cannot even select safe mode using the arrow keys. The keyboard is working fine so no issues there. I have tried to re-start using my XP disc and it goes to a screen asking me to press any key to reboot from disc but this does not work and takes me back to the screen advising me to re-start using last settings.

My computer is running windows XP.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Regards
Ian
 
Can you please tell us what you had done before you turned off your system?
This could be a problem related to software or hardware.
Did you play around with the registry?

Oh, and by the way, a warm welcome to CF :D
 
i think i know what your problem is, as i have experienced that same thing. (though we ended up taking a shovel to the computer) the problem was most definitely the hard drive. i tested this by trying the hard drive in other computers and the same error messages came up. so you may have to pick up a new hard drive.
 
Hi

Thanks for the replies, I did nothing to the system, was just searching for a file on my PC (Inbox.mbx and Inbox.dbx) because I could not download my mail and I was advised to find either of these files and change to Inbox.old, computer then locked up and would not unlock using ctrl alt del so switched off at mains and then problem started.

If my hard drive is shot does that mean all my files will be lost or can they be recovered.

What is the best course of action???

Regards

Ian
 
yeah from what i can tell the hard drive is probably shot and if you didnt backup anything, sorry to say everythings gone. to be sure though try putting the hard in another computer if possible and booting in safe mode, if that doesnt work you're going to need a new hard drive
 
If you do a clean reinstall i can give you some recovery software.... it will work just you won't get "all" of your data and as for your e-mail it probably would have been your ISP or a setting in your e-mail browser..... i wouldn't have thought it would've been the file.
 
If the hdd is un-bootable but, still working then he could get an external hdd and use a live cd to boot from and copy everything to the external hdd.
 
ianhutchinson said:
Hi Coheen

Could you please send me the software and advise what to do??,

many thanks for everyone's advice

Regards
Ian
Click to expand...

Here it is - no need for installation

ianhutchinson said:
I have a laptop, can i use this to transfer my files, if so how.

Thanks again

Ian
Click to expand...

Use a cross over cable and send it via that..

or if they are both on a network, share a folder on the laptop and just copy and paste the data from the desktop to the shared folder on the laptop.
 
Hi am new here too.

It sounds like your computer has an issue with the boot sectors. The boot sectors are the most crucial component for the boot, as they contain a piece of code that tells the operating system or application to boot.

Unfortunately the only fix for this is to have a new harddrive installed into your system and try to get a data recovery expert or technician to remove any much needed or important files from the drive.

Hope this helps.
 
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