Can't get into windows XP, safe mode is fine

[LoneWolf121188]

So I was checking the fit of my new NB heatsink (with my comp on, doh!), when suddenly my comp switched off. I quickly pulled my hand out of my case, then hit the power button to see if it would come back on. Nope. So I pulled the plugs and let it rest, then plugged it back in. Better, but now it reboots at the XP loading screen (before the USB stuff I think...the light on my mouse hub doesn't come on). Put everything back to stock in the BIOS, then try again. No dice. I boot into safe mode, then safe mode with networking (where I am now...this 60Hz refresh rate is killing me). Both are fine, so I run Norton GoBack, then try and boot again. Still nothing.

HELP!

 

[WingsofGOD]

Ouch, that could be bad... Tried to reinstall yet?

 

[Know Nuttin]

uncheck everything out of startup using msconfig?
remove some drivers and try again?
last known good configuration?

 

[MrCooper]

Do a windows repair. Dust off that winxp cd and do it. Yup you can do it

 

[LoneWolf121188]

I forget: does repair require you to reinstall all your programs?

 

[NsOmNiA91130]

Nope, but it takes about 30 minutes...

 

[nstabl]

let us know what happens. interesting you can get into safemode. cant be toooo bad if you can boot into safe mode, im thinking software (u lucky) i just burned my mobo out doing stupid stuff

 

[LoneWolf121188]

woah, this is weird...

I try to do the repair, and it finds drives C: and I:, and the primary windows is on I: and the secondary windows installation (XP x64, which is broken at the moment (some problem with ntoskrnl.exe or something)) is on C:. However, in reality there are 3 drives, C: (primary Windows), D: (x64), and E: (which is phisically part of C: but partitioned in half). When I boot into safe mode, it finds all three just fine, but any other time, it doesn't.

I really don't want to format...

 

[Slackfumasta]

Are you talking about the screen where it tells you what WinXP installations it found?

It should only display existing installations, it won't necessarily list all of your drives.

Just a thought.

 

[LoneWolf121188]

yes that screen as well as the screen that displays all of your partitions when you try and do a clean install.

More bad news: I hit R at the first screen and went into the console. Loaded up the installation on I: (actually C and did a fixmbr and a fix-something else (I forget exactly what it was). Now I can't even get into safe mode! It freezes right after the USB devices are loaded and the lights flash on the keyboard.

What was causing the reboot before was a BSOD: IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAT_OR_EQUAL. In my experience, this has been because of excess OCing, but nothing here is OCed right now.

I think the original problem was becuase as I was lowering the heatsink in to check for fit, it touched (and therefore connected) the tops of 2 capacitors. Oops. Again, thats just my best guess, but...


ARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!

 

[MrCooper]

yes that screen as well as the screen that displays all of your partitions when you try and do a clean install.

More bad news: I hit R at the first screen and went into the console. Loaded up the installation on I: (actually C and did a fixmbr and a fix-something else (I forget exactly what it was). Now I can't even get into safe mode! It freezes right after the USB devices are loaded and the lights flash on the keyboard.

What was causing the reboot before was a BSOD: IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAT_OR_EQUAL. In my experience, this has been because of excess OCing, but nothing here is OCed right now.

I think the original problem was becuase as I was lowering the heatsink in to check for fit, it touched (and therefore connected) the tops of 2 capacitors. Oops. Again, thats just my best guess, but...


ARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!

Wipe that drive and do a reinstall..............When I do my repair, I just press R and the choose the drive it wants to repair. I dont type any win98 command as fixmbr The next reboot i make, windows is all fixed and ready for another clocking session.

 

[LoneWolf121188]

Hold on, are we talking about the same thing here? There are 2 repair things in the XP installation: 1) hitting R at the very first screen (loads a console), and 2) pressing enter, accepting the licence and all that, then selecting the drive that has the install, then hitting R (all in the blue GUI). Both see the I: drive.

[EDIT] I put the drive as a slave into my other computer, and windows doesn't recognize it, but PartitionMagic sees it as a "type 44" drive (as opposed to FAT32 or NTFS). I think I need a format, but theres a lot of data I need to get off this thing 1st! [/EDIT]

 

[blt111]

[EDIT] I put the drive as a slave into my other computer, and windows doesn't recognize it, but PartitionMagic sees it as a "type 44" drive (as opposed to FAT32 or NTFS). I think I need a format, but theres a lot of data I need to get off this thing 1st! [/EDIT]

very weird.....
try flashing the bios on your board before formatting just incase. sounds like a short to me so hardware problem and not software. if you're desperate take your drive to a data recovery service to get what you need off it

 

[LoneWolf121188]

Note that in the section you quoted I said I put the drive in my other computer, where it showed up as a Type 44 drive. Because I put it in my other comp and it was still messed up, I don't think it's a problem with the BIOS in the 1st comp.

 

[nstabl]

dang lone, i thought i was in a bad position with my burnt out computer troubleshooting can be a biatch...do what you can to get into safemode!!! then backup from there since that was the only place, this is vital!! get your *** into safe mode somehow, backup, whatever, doing fixmbr mustve set your comp to boot to your OTHER windows install, so make sure you're doing safe mode for the right partition and OS.. after you back up, you have a piece of experiment equipment... and you gotta gut it and start a clean slate..

 

[blt111]

Note that in the section you quoted I said I put the drive in my other computer, where it showed up as a Type 44 drive. Because I put it in my other comp and it was still messed up, I don't think it's a problem with the BIOS in the 1st comp.

what i meant was hardware problem with your motherboard and the drive. it may have been damaged as well when the short happened.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

woah, this is weird...

I try to do the repair, and it finds drives C: and I:, and the primary windows is on I: and the secondary windows installation (XP x64, which is broken at the moment (some problem with ntoskrnl.exe or something)) is on C:. However, in reality there are 3 drives, C: (primary Windows), D: (x64), and E: (which is phisically part of C: but partitioned in half). When I boot into safe mode, it finds all three just fine, but any other time, it doesn't.

I really don't want to format...

I'm guessing that it should only see Primary partitions, not logical ones. Dunno, but that sounds like it might explain this, and I can't remember from the last install I did - been doing images for too long, don't remember the last actual install I ran.

From recovery console you should run fixboot, fixmbr, and chkdsk. You may also want to check out bootcfg. If you didn't actually reset CMOS, you should do that - not just set the settings back, but actually reset everything to defaults.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307654#4