Emergency Windows XP Computer Help Needed

[savedbygrace]

I need help.

Windows XP SP2 on my computer will not start. Earlier this morning, everything was going great, then Firefox locked up while doing a Google search. Locked up tight, and I had to press and hold the power button for several seconds to shut down.

Now, when I power up, everything goes well through POST until Windows tries to start up, then the screen goes black and all disk activity ceases. After waiting several minutes with nothing happening, pressing the power button for a fraction of a second shuts the computer down.

I've tried booting to Last Known Good Configuration - same result.

I've tried booting into Safe Mode - same results. When I boot so I can see each startup event happening, the last event that prints to the screen is:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\FONTS\vgaoem.fon

Then, all disk activity ceases and nothing else happens.

I built this computer myself - it's a P4 2.4GHz with 1GB RAM on an Asus mobo.

I do not want to lose all the data on the boot drive. Some of it is not backed up since two days ago, including Quicken and QuickBooks.

One big obstacle is that I originally installed this from an early WinXP full install CD, before SP1, and I've updated through SP1 to SP2. So, booting from the install disc won't help. I do have an SP2 disc from Microsoft, but I doubt that is bootable.

Help!

[MD_Willington_1976]

Many manufacturers were affected, Abit, MSI, ECS/PCChips, Jetway, Gigabyte, Epox etc etc...

Even some Dell GX270 and 280, SC400 etc etc...

Abit, MSI & Jetway are the only ones being sued or have been sued in class actions lawsuits...


And to all of those that think Apples hardware is so friggin superior, the imac, G4 & G5 have suffered similar fates with bad caps, bad power supply boards and bad CRT's, I have an Imac DV Graphite to prove that point... and links to bad caps used in various models... the machines cost more because you're paying for something that is less that 10% of the PC market, not because the parts are any better.

[John Lenin]

Try unplugging everything, printer, all usb ports, sound card if you use one and than try starting up.

[Malsua]

Sounds like a drive crash to me. If it's hung on VGAOEM.fon, you can boot to the repair console and expand it from the windows CD...as an example: d:\expand vgaoem.fo_ c:\windows\system32\dllcache
D being whatever your Cdrom drive is and assuming XP is installed into the windows folder.

This is if it sees your CD rom drive from the console. I've run into it where I can't see it. In that case, you can probably find a copy of vgaoem.fon on the net. I'll note, that this particular file is probably just a symptom of a larger problem, but why not try to replace it. shrug.

[rzeznikj at stout]

Not at all.

We have a Tech Support ping available--IMO it is generally just as valuable as calling the vendor's support.

Not to mention that some things no longer have support available. But that doesn't mean that other FReepers may be able to solve the issue at hand.

[tutstar]

I've posted on FR for help in the past. I got help faster than I could do a search for something at MS site and didn't have to pay for tech support.

People helping people. FR is the greatest!

[spudsmaki]

Check to make sure that there is not a floppy in the floppy drive. I am not joking.

It's serial. When someone leaves in their camera, USB card reader or other doodad, it messes up the boot order. I'm thinking this isn't the case here, but it's always good to check

If the machine made it past POST, boot sector, and startup, it has mostly loaded the OS by the time it gets to the fonts. The system has been thoroughly exercised at this point.

He says this is the third time this year: spyware picked up in admin mode.

[DollyCali]

This is absolutely the RIGHT place for this type of queries.. Jim Rob's house has many rooms.. Techie help is one of them..

You wouldn't believe the groups/lists/interests at FRee Republic!!!!

[Turbopilot]

I agree with other posters that this sounds like a physical HDD failure (your symptoms are very similar to the ones I had last weekend, which were the result of a failing hard drive). If booting from your XP CD and installing (not selecting the repair option on the first screen, but selecting "install" and then telling it to repair your installation) doesn't work, as it didn't for me, you should use a drive utility to see if you have physical problems. You can download Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test here: Hitachi Downloads. You can download either a file that unzips to a bootable floppy or an .iso to burn to a bootable CD. The program works on any drive except a very few IBMs, although a couple functions are locked out on non-Hitachi drives. Nevertheless, it can tell you whether your drive has failed. If it has, get a new drive and install XP on it, move this one to a slave on your IDE bus, and get as much data off of it as you can before it completely eats itself.

As an aside to the jokers telling you to "get a Mac", I enjoy that kind of back-and-forth on tech threads as much as anybody but that kind of comment on a thread started by a guy with a real problem is obnoxious, to say nothing of unhelpful. He wants to get his computer going, not hear how much better your personal preference is - to say nothing of the fact that Macs use the exact same HD technology as every other computer and I'd be surprised if they ran any better than a PC does with a failed HD.

[Sofa King]

I don't think I could ever go back to having a computer with only one hard drive :)

[baal2006]

Here's your answer..... http://www.madboot.com

make up the madboot diskette according to directions....in my experience it will boot up any computer...then give you plenty of options from there.

you're welcome

[VeniVidiVici]

*Could* be spyware. But if it hangs loading the same font it could very well be a bad sector on the drive.

[don-o]

I found a program call driverescue that fixed it up first try.

Dumb question: How can you run a program if you cannot boot up?

[don-o]

Thanks. I saved that site and am going to grab me some stuff. I simply must get both these machines backed up. I got two HD's on both. Just been too lazy to get it done right.

I'll prolly start me a thread when I get up the gumption to do the work.

I love these tekkie threads; almost as much as BBQ and NASCAR ones.

[shadowman99]

No, it's not a dumb question. If your hard drive will not boot, it is possible using settings within BIOS to boot from a CD, DVD, or other device. You can boot into a working operating system this way, and run software on the defective drive. This work so long as it is the hard drive at fault, and not some other system component (CPU, memory, MB, etc...)

The Knoppix CDs are a nice emergency recovery CD that leaves your windows system intact. Using a Knoppix CD and an external USB HD, you can copy the contents from the damaged drive (if data is not entirely lost) over to the external USB and then wipe the corrupt hard drive (or replace the unit entirely. HDs are cheap. Do not trust a bad hard drive)

[calex59]

Your Hard drive is toast. Trust me, I have seen this before. It makes it through post because the bios is doing that, but when it trys to boot it is using the hard drive and of course the HD is mush. Just my opinion but I would be I am correct.

[Kaylee Frye]

One more thing you've probably already thought of (and is really unlikely to the problem, since it's failing at the exact same spot each time), but have you checked to see if any of your fans have gone out - particularly the power supply fan? I'm sure you know that when a fan goes out it can damage your system badly.

But at any rate, I think the advice here is good - slave your drive in and boot from another drive and see what you can find that way.