Windows XP computer turns on, shows loading then restarts.

My cousin's computer recently decided to be an annoyance, and now only turns on, shows the loading screens up until the windows XP loading page (with the little moving loading bar) then proceeds to restart and repeat the process.

I followed this tutorial (#8: Disable automatic restart) and got the stop code:

0x00000024 (0x00190203, 0x86cd52b8, 0xc0000102, 0x00000000)

He no longer has his XP installation disk, which seems to come up a lot in troubleshooting websites.

hopefully someone can help me with this, if you need any more information about the computer, just ask.



Roswell.

Sounds as though there might be corrupt data or bad sectors on the hard drive. It's a rather common cause for these type "boot loops".

If you can get an XP installation disk try running chkdsk from the repair console ("chkdsk /p /r")

kb.wisc.edu...

Any XP disk will let you get into the recovery console and you will most likely need to get there to do the repair.

I suggest removing his hard drive and backing up his important files.
If his hard drive has an I386 folder, make sure you grab it because you can install XP using just the files from the i386 folder. The MSOcache folder can be used to reinstall Office if your missing those disks as well.
If he had XP home then you good to go. If he had XP pro, you will have better luck if you find an XP pro or higher machine to read his files.

While the disk is on another computer, run a program called ProduKey to find you product keys for XP and any MS programs. It can pull up the product keys on an external drive that had windows installed, even if it is not running.
Web Site: www.nirsoft.net...

Lots of repair options if you remove his drive. Many of the same options that need the recovery console.... chkdsk... replacing system files, restoring the registry.

Another option is making a Ultimate Boot CD 4 Windows. Google it. It is a computer tech's best friend in non boot situations like yours. It has the ability to boot off the CD running a live OS that can fix non boot issues.

Might be a simple fix to copy the NTFS.SYS off another XP box and replace the one on your friends or cousins... In that case the UBCD4Win should be used. it would take all of 5 minutes and just need a flash drive with the good NTFS.SYS file and the UBCD4Win cd..
Copy it from the flash drive and replace the "BAD" one

Good luck and keep us informed on your progress.


[edit on 12/13/2009 by staple]