Dell 4300 caught in infinite loop booting up. Can't even get to safe mode!
drcwks
My brother has a 4300 Dell running Windows XP 1.4 ghz. He is caught in an
infinite loop booting up. The screen ends up saying.
"We apologize for the inconvenience but Windows did not start successfully.
A recent hardware or software change might have caused this.
Then down further in the page you have the option to pick
Safe Mode
Safe mode with networking
Safe mode with command prompt
Last known configuration
and then the highlighted default is--- Start windows normally.
I have tried ALL of the above but none will get past this screen. When I try
safe mode-- this is the only one where stuff starts flashing across the
screen.... DLLs...etc etc... But eventually, it returns to the above mention
screen.
Once in a while when it starts to boot up....just for an instance a blue
screen comes up with white text and it's so quick that the only words I can
remember are
memory and dump...but it's at least 4-5 lines of text.
I finally was able to get into the setup F2 and searched and found something
that said system event log. I went in there and about the time this problem
happened it did show 3 keyboard errors posted in a matter of about 5-6
minutes. I did remember seeing keyboard failure one time on boot up. SO.....
I decided to unplug the scanner, printer, and network. Then We hooked up a
new keyboard and rebooted.... Still back to the same screen. Then we change
to a different mouse...Still the same errors. I did turn fast boot off in
the setup hoping something would show up on the screen.( I think that
feature just suppresses the memory count but do not know for sure)...Still
no luck.
So... Since I did not bring over a bootable floppy, I changed the computer
to boot up via the XP disk. Once we did this, it started loaded a bunch of
hardware files???? Not sure what it was actually doing. Then we came to a
screen where our only choices were INSTALL XP (Which we don't want to do
YET).... He has too many files he needs and don't want to wipe them out.
The NEXT choice is "R" for repair... LIKE XP will install just the files
needed for repair. I wanted to try this but MY QUESTION now is.... Can the
REPAIR
option wipe out all his other software? Like emails, picture files, etc??
Then of course the last option was EXIT which is what we chose until we have
a better idea on what to do.
He did just call so this statement is out of order...but.... HE did say that
when he was booting up before anything went wrong. Windows WAS all the way
up but zone alarm or Norton would not load....had an error. SO... he went to
start and RESTART. As the computer was shutting down like normal, XP says
SAVING SETTINGS.... Apparently this was STUCK at this mode for 5 minutes
saving settings and then he MANUALLY turned of the computer. SO... The next
time he booted up... The above scenario began......
I'm sorry this is such a long post but I wanted to give as much info as
possible so you know most of the facts....
Thanks in advance for your help.
Dean
Edward J. Neth
Safe Mode if necessary).
The infinite-loop problem was common with some nVidia drivers for a while.
"drcwks" <z28...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:m8j%9.89647$Vh.3...@news2.central.cox.net...
S.Lewis
> My brother has a 4300 Dell running Windows XP 1.4 ghz. He is caught in an
> infinite loop booting up.
<snip>
From what you've described, I'd try a repair. With any luck, it should leave
his files, apps, and preferences intact......
If it works, I'd immediately back up his data in case of further
quirks/corruption.
Stew
drcwks
I did find out the video card is a 64mg .GeForce ii MX nVidia with TV out.
The only problem is..... We can NOT get the computer to go to SAFE MODE. So
there is NO way to update the drivers.
Any suggestions on what else to try to get into the safe mode? I did find
that F5 brings up another menu but from what my brother described it has the
same options as the other panel. He did try safe mode from there and it went
back to the same Windows logon and it looks like it's booting up with the XP
logo but it ultimately ends up with the "We apologize.....Windows did not
start successfully....and then you once again have the options I described
below....and no matter which ones you pick, you finally end back up at the
same screen. Is there anyway to boot up from a floppy that will let you
install drivers? I keep forgetting you don't have DOS with XP...is that
right...so you can't use those commands to copy files to certain
folders..... Any other suggestions would be welcomed.
Thanks,
Dean
"Edward J. Neth" <ej...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:b1kkl8$13srp7$1...@ID-84332.news.dfncis.de...
drcwks
scan disk and virus check. But it didn't help. So I decided to try the R for
Recovery option by booting to the XP disk. This loads a lot of hardware
files and at the end it says "Recovery Console" The recovery console
provides system repair and recovery functionality.
Then the option below appears.
1:C:\WINDOWS
and the Question? Which Windows installation would you like to log on to?
(Enter to quit) So I picked the only option #1.
Then it returns a prompt and asks for the administrative password.
I'm sure this was something that was set on initial set up and my brother
was sure he only left the password field blank.... Of course we tried a
dozen or so passwords and never had any luck. Does anyone know how to figure
the admin password from XP when it's forgotten? etc?? I would like to try
this RECOVERY option before I reformat the hard drive.
Thanks in advance,
Dean
"S.Lewis" <stew...@mail.com> wrote in message
news:1Ik%9.4346$Vr1....@news.bellsouth.net...
S.Lewis
> Well....I decided to install the suspect hard drive on my Dell GX1 and do
a
> scan disk and virus check. But it didn't help. So I decided to try the R
for
> Recovery option by booting to the XP disk. This loads a lot of hardware
> files and at the end it says "Recovery Console" The recovery console
> provides system repair and recovery functionality.
>
> Then the option below appears.
> 1:C:\WINDOWS
>
> and the Question? Which Windows installation would you like to log on to?
> (Enter to quit) So I picked the only option #1.
>
> Then it returns a prompt and asks for the administrative password.
>
> I'm sure this was something that was set on initial set up and my brother
> was sure he only left the password field blank.... Of course we tried a
> dozen or so passwords and never had any luck. Does anyone know how to
figure
> the admin password from XP when it's forgotten? etc?? I would like to try
> this RECOVERY option before I reformat the hard drive.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Dean
>
>
<snip>
Try pressing "enter" at the password prompt. If no password was set, this
should work.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;308402
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;307654
Stew
WSZsr
files, etc. Follow these instructions exactly:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
"drcwks" <z28...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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drcwks
Here's a long drawn out explanation on what I finally decided to do and it
WORKED!! :-)
I think I did mention in my original question...(Not sure why it's still not
in this thread)...but the blue screen with the error message flashed so
quickly that I had to snap a picture of it so it could be read.
This is what it said.
"STOP-- error 00000218---registry file failure. The registry cannot load the
hive file \System Root\system\config\SOFTWARE or its log or alternate. It is
corrupt, absent or not writable.
Beginning dump of physical memory. Physical memory dump complete. Contact
your system administrator or tech support for assistance.
Since DELL's XP DISK would not let me do a repair function since I could NOT
get into the system due to the ADMINISTRATOR PASSWORD would not work. I
later found out from DELL that I probably DID enter the right password. They
said NO matter what I entered...it would not have worked(they said it was a
glitch in XP) and I would have to just reformat the hard drive and reload
the XP os.... I still wasn't ready to give up yet. After looking at MS tips
I did find out the reason that DELL'S repair disk would NOT take the ADMIN
password was because of how DELL installed XP to begin with. Here's what MS
says...
This article was previously published under Q308402
SYMPTOMS
When you attempt to log on to Recovery Console in Windows XP by typing the
correct password for the local Administrator account, Recovery Console may
display the following error message:
The password is not valid. Please retype the password.
Type the Administrator password:
This error message may occur even though you typed the correct password. If
you start Windows XP, successfully log on by using the same password, change
the local administrator's password, and restart the computer to Recovery
Console, you receive the same error message.
CAUSE
This issue may occur if Windows XP was originally installed from a Sysprep
image, or if Sysprep 2.0 was run on the computer at one time. Sysprep.exe
makes changes to the way that password keys are stored in the registry;
these changes are not compatible with the Recovery Console logon routine.
NOTE: The manufacturer of your computer may have used Sysprep to preinstall
Windows XP on your computer.
So basically... DELL deactivated WIN XP's repair/restore function via the XP
boot up disk without telling the customer.(YES..MS is also at fault but DELL
should NOT have sent this out without a solution to the bootable repair disk
not working.)
Anyway.....I installed the hard drive on my 450gx1 as a data drive. From
there I was able to see all the files, etc. After stumbling across the
SYSTEM VOLUME INFORMATION folder I saw that this is where the RP (Restore
Point) folders reside. Usually a new restore point folder every day. Inside
these folders is another one named SNAPSHOT. Inside this folder were files
named similar to the HIVE FILES...(just longer names). IE--- the SAM file is
named "_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM" . I knew the current directory for the current
corrupt hive files were in the C:\WINDOWS\system32\config . The hive files
in this directory are named SECURITY, SAM, DEFAULT, SOFTWARE, SYSTEM.
These correspond to the ones in the RP(Restore Point) directories except
they all had the prefix of "_REGISTRY_MACHINE_. I just deleted the CURRENT
HIVES and copied&renamed the RESTORE POINT HIVES to the single name inside
C:\WINDOWS\system32\config
Of course I picked a restore point directory that was a few days back from
the day my brother's computer crashed. I then installed the HD back in the
4300
and booted up.... AND to my disappointment... the Infinitely Looping error
screen reappeared. I picked the same option I had tired 3 dozen times (boot
up normally) and to MY surprise.... WINDOWS XP was back... I really couldn't
believe it...Everything worked and no files were lost. I did however go to
the restore function under windows and picked another restore point a day
earlier than the files I dragged across. I didn't really think that was a
good fix and wanted XP to do the restore properly... IT WORKED TOO..and so
far so good.... I will help my brother back his entire HD up now....just in
case the next time is REALLY unrecoverable....
DRC
"S.Lewis" <stew...@mail.com> wrote in message
news:JQ%%9.3037$fl5....@news.bellsouth.net...
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "drcwks" <z28...@hotmail.com>
> Newsgroups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell
> Sent: Sunday, February 02, 2003 6:58 PM
> Subject: Dell 4300 caught in infinite loop booting up. Can't even get to
> safe mode!
>
>
> > Hi,
> > My brother has a 4300 Dell running Windows XP 1.4 ghz. He is caught in
an
WSZsr
"drcwks" <z28...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:p_D1a.16530$qY4....@news2.central.cox.net...
S.Lewis
> Hi Everyone,
>
> Here's a long drawn out explanation on what I finally decided to do and it
> WORKED!! :-)
>
<snip>
Agreed. Very well done. Post back if the problem returns (hopefully it
won't).
Stew
drcwks
again.
I do need to learn more about what scan disk is showing me. I defragged the
hard drive but there were 4-5 files that this utility could not defrag. The
files were in the same directory I was messing with... I did fail to say....
that before I deleted the original HIVE files from the CONFIG directory... I
created another folder and moved the current 5 HIVE files to
OLDHIVEFILES.(just in case I needed them later) ..then after I renamed and
moved the others from the RP directory... but I forgot to delete that folder
:-( BUT I wasn't sure....after I did that last restore via the XP
utility..if I should mess with it.... NOW I think I probably should. Here's
what was returned to the DEFRAG
diagnostic window....
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Fragments File Size Files that cannot be defragmented
2 232 KB \Documents and
Settings\LocalService\NTUSER.DAT
10 511 MB \hiberfil.sys
2 232 KB \Documents and
Settings\NetworkService\NTUSER.DAT
98 18 MB \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE
15 4 MB \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
This may also be attributed to a NEW restore file being created... Now that
I think of it.... Similar to outlook express' identities file name.... the
real long name with all sorts of characters.... Anyway... the bar graph that
shows -- in colors... red blue ? and green...(green being unmovable files??)
There is a large green bar..(compared to the others..) all the way to the
right--going on memory...forgot to do a screen print... I guess I interpret
that to mean those files are at the end of the disk... I guess I will just
have to get up to speed on that one...
Any suggestions? Is it bad or uncommon to have files that cannot be
defragged?
Thanks,
Dean
"S.Lewis" <stew...@mail.com> wrote in message
news:gxE1a.44812$nz.4...@fe06.atl2.webusenet.com...
S.Lewis
<snip>
See if this applies:
Why files are not moved to some regions of NTFS-formatted volumes.
, Windows reserves a portion of the free space called the master file table
(MFT) Zone, as a space where the MFT
MFT
An NTFS system file on NTFS-formatted volumes that contains information
about each file and folder on the volume. The MFT is the first file on an
NTFS volume.
can grow. Windows stores all the information necessary to retrieve files
from the volume in the MFT.
Disk Defragmenter does not move files to the MFT Zone because it is reserved
by Windows. However, Windows allows other files to be saved in the space
reserved for the MFT Zone when no other disk space is available.
This is preliminary documentation and subject to change.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/prodtechn
ol/windowsnetserver/proddocs/entserver/defrag_overview.asp
I've understood in the past that it was generally not good if a given file
couldn't be defragged. This seems to suggest otherwise.
Stew
Eddy11
care of the sysrep issue?
--
Regards,
Eddy
"drcwks" <z28...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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drcwks
drcwks
This is all new to me but I believe my brother's computer did not have SP1
installed when he got it. It's 1 1/2 years old. Since then I'm sure he's up
to date. Maybe installing an SP1 update did not correct that problem with
the password....after the fact. All I know is what the Dell Techs told me. I
didn't quiz them at the time since I wasn't sure what else to ask. I do have
a new computer myself (finally!) and will check out that restore disk just
for grins. I'll let you know if that disk takes a password.
Dean
"Eddy11" <edd...@ssyymmppaattiiccoo.ca> wrote in message
news:CbX1a.1436$606.3...@news20.bellglobal.com...
Eddy11
--
Regards,
Eddy
"drcwks" <z28...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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drcwks
Wanted to see if it recognized my admin password since this caused a lot of
problems with my brother's 4300 when it failed at the login stage for
administrators password. I am happy to note that it worked just fine and
when it asked for the admin password I was able to just hit the enter key
(blank) and I was in the restore/repair area where I was unable to get to on
my brother's. At least I know it works if I ever have a major problem on
booting up...
Dean
"Eddy11" <edd...@ssyymmppaattiiccoo.ca> wrote in message
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