Help wanted

hellmonkey said: "Im afriad i know very little but I was wondering what could cause a pc to go into a loop starting when you switch it on then to the: "windows was not shutdown correctly etc etc" thing. then the screen goes blank and it will go back to "windows was not shutdown..." i know there could b 101 reasons but i'd really appreciate some opinions. :) I presume its physical damage due to the fact that it wasnt shutdown correctly but i'd like to rule out the possibility of a virus. Thanks very much. :D its xp pro btw if it helps Ps sorry for the lack of technical jargon and to anyone who dies of confusion, but i couldnt think of a better way to put it"

raven said: "Do you have your Windows CD? If so, I would recommend inserting it and doing a Repair Install which will replace all the system files but leave your applications and settings as-is. It wouldn't hurt to scan for malware/spyware/virus first."

AngelaCea said: "It will not restart with last available configuration :confused:"

Neutron2k said: "[QUOTE=raven]Do you have your Windows CD? If so, I would recommend inserting it and doing a Repair Install which will replace all the system files but leave your applications and settings as-is. It wouldn't hurt to scan for malware/spyware/virus first.[/QUOTE] the repair install on windows xp actually breaks all of your programs registry entries so its not worth the bother. Its always best to do a clean install. When you get the options saying start windows normally, start in safe mode etc, choose the option to use the last good known configuration. if you do not get the menu, hold F8 whilst booting your computer. If this does not work, try selecting the boot in safe mode option and use windows restore to bring the system back to a usable state. If all else fails, wipe your computer and make sure you back your work up first from the windows recovery console."

AngelaCea said: "Did you use the Microsoft Anti-Spyware application :confused: Have you used it recently at all :confused: I hope you backed up your files because I lost a hard drive to M$ anti-spyware and went through what you describe here!"

Neutron2k said: "tony that is not whats causing this problem. This sounds like a program is causing the system to trip out on the windows shell initialisation which is why he is constantly getting the system was not shut down properly. it could also be a temperature or clock setting with the processor. if its clocked wrong in the bios then it can over clock, generatetoo much heat and force a restart because of the temperature tripping the cpu i doubt its this tho because they guy doesnt sound like he would know what the bios is for (no offence)."

AngelaCea said: "Well sometimes you can't find out what caused it too, you just lose your data with a re-format, but if he has valuable files on the drive he would be better off to buy a new box versus a format! :eek: He can then use data recovery software or [url]www.mepis.com[/url] to read the drive like I did when Windows would not read it! :eek:"

edwin said: "memphis would have been a better name that mepis the memphis o/s ...sounds slicker"

Neutron2k said: "[QUOTE=AnthonyCea]Well sometimes you can't find out what caused it too, you just lose your data with a re-format, but if he has valuable files on the drive he would be better off to buy a new box versus a format! :eek: He can then use data recovery software or [url]www.mepis.com[/url] to read the drive like I did when Windows would not read it! :eek:[/QUOTE] wtf are you waffling about, buy a new box? you can re-intsall your OS without having to format the drive first. Its not the best way but once youve done that you can at least backup your files if you want to do a full wipe. your so full of crap tony its unbelievable. Leave the systems advice to those that know what their talking about eh ;) also im still waiting for you to send me that drive."

AngelaCea said: "But you really don't know what is causing it to happen N2K do you! What if the OS is still on the drive but Windows can't read the drive :confused:"

edwin said: "that is crazy advice bigtony! swap out the system for mepis! lol"

Neutron2k said: "[QUOTE=AnthonyCea]But you really don't know what is causing it to happen N2K do you! What if the OS is still on the drive but Windows can't read the drive :confused:[/QUOTE] tony if the OS is on the drive, windows funnily enough will be able to read it or windows wouldnt boot full stop! Problems can be tacked down 90% of the time by someone who knows what they are doing. besides system wiping is a good thing because it allows you to free up clutter and speed up your installation when it gets groggy. buying a new box is a total waste of time just for a slight problem. man what are you like dude! No wonder you rekon you have 20+ computers there! you probably got one error on one and so decided to buy another one! then another when it asked you to press any key to continue and thought lets buy another... chain reaction! lol"

AngelaCea said: "But it is not booting N2K, that is what he said man, my box would not boot when the same thing happened, guess what? The drive could not be read at all any longer by Windows man!"

Neutron2k said: "no man your windows install was corrupted. and we wernt talkinga bout that were we. you said he should buy a new box. why bother? Get a new hard-drive, install windows and you should be able to read the other drive fines. if it is the operating system causing the problem its because its either corrupted or a driver is playing up. the hard drive is no knackered if its just restarting itself. If the hard drive was knackered, you would be told. the hard drive doesnt control the computer. The processor does that. if the system detects a file is in accessible you will get an error message. this is not a drive fault, im pretty sure of that."