boot - Windows XP suddenly in reboot cycle

07
2014-07
  • Kev

    A friend called me up today. Everything was normal yesterday, she browsed with Firefox only and didn't go to any unusual sites. Shut down normally last night. This morning whenever she boots she gets a menu where she can choose Normal or Safe Mode, etc., but no matter which one she chooses, she gets the XP logo for a moment, then a blank screen a moment, then the hp logo for a moment, and then her computer reboots itself.

    Could this have been caused by either MS' "for real this is the last exception" recent XP update automatically being applied (she did have automatic updates set), or possibly the zero-day vulnerability it was meant to patch being taken advantage of (despite her normal usage pattern)? Or was it likely a hardware fluke?

    • Answers
  • selfmade.exe

    I dont know about the reason, but it seems to me that the only best and fastest option is to do a repair install of xp; this will only "reset" the whole xp, but you wont loose any of your data. But some programs will need reinstall, and it will be pain in the ass to do it, as well as to make all those settings in windows and programs to make them like before (passwords, settings..). I have done it many times so there is nothing to worry about.

    Be aware that there are two "repair" methods; the one that uses the recovery console (NOT THIS ONE), and the other method that you choose the existing xp setup in the disk(s)/partitions and then you either choose "To repair the selected windows xp installation, press R" OR "To continue installing a fresh copy of windows xp without repairing, press ESC.". Obvisously you choose the first option.

    Dont forget to ALWAYS disable updates, there are meaningless, and BTW XP rocks, no matter what the trolls say to you (Yeah, the windows itself and the hackers waited for this last day to frack with xp machines... Yeap.. Right..)

  • John

    Press F8 after the bios though before the Windows boot logo; if you do this correctly you'll see a boot menu, if not then keep pressing F8 after the computer boots frequently/quickly.

    Enter safe mode.

    Once in safe mode go to START, Run, type msconfig and press enter. Under the Services tab check the box that says Hide all Microsoft Services. Then disable all your remaining services. Go to the Startup tab and disable all the programs there. You may or may not opt to keep your anti-virus running, if the problem persists and you leave it enabled then disable it to see if that is the cause of the problem.

    Restart...again if the problem persists disable the antivirus and any other security software.

    If that still doesn't work then you'll want to upgrade to Windows 7. I've been putting a tutorial together to help people make 7 like XP so if that is an issue for you contact me through my site in my profile.

    If you run in to something else let me know and I'll try to help you out.


    • Related Question

    boot - Windows XP stuck on loading screen
  • Julien N

    Since yesterday my Windows XP install is stuck on the loading screen (XP logo and "progress bar" constantly moving). I waited more than one hour but nothing more happened.

    Before this problem occured I didn't install anything new (no driver, no update...), just read some blogs.

    What I did :

    • restored to a previous restore point (successfully). No change. I don't know why but I had only one restore point.
    • tried to boot with "last known good configuration". Problem remains.
    • the computer boots in safe mode, so I did that and used msconfig to try different boot modes. Each time I restarted, the problem remained. I even tried the "load almost nothing" option :).
    • edited BIOS config to reset to default values.
    • back in safe mode : installed Ccleaner and Spybot, ran both. Nothing important detected.
    • ran a full system virus scan (antivir)
    • performed chkdsk with all option checked on all my hard drives.

    Nothing on that worked so I went one step further :

    • used windows XP install CD to load the Recovery Console.
    • Performed another chkdsk /R
    • performed a fixboot
    • performed a fixmbr (I know it has nothing to do with it as windows started to load, but I was desperate ^^)

    Since I did the "fixboot", the safe mode is also stuck (after the list of drivers loaded, it displays a black screen with only a "underscore" blinking and... nothing more happens).

    Now I'm there : can't boot in normal mode, can't boot in Safe mode anymore. Any suggestion is welcome.

    Moreover, if someone knows if it's possible to read the windows event log under the recovery console, I'm also interested.


    • Related Answers
  • Resorath

    If windows hangs at the loading screen it is probably hung on a custom driver. If you can get in safe mode, great, run msconfig and under "BOOT.INI" select the option "/NOGUIBOOT" under boot options and restart. You should see a list of drivers being loaded instead of the normal Windows logo. When it freezes, take note of what driver is trying to be loaded, then use google to look it up. It most likely corresponds to a third party program that you should uninstall.

  • harrymc

    It seems that having done too much, you are almost out of options.
    You can try using a trouble-shooting boot cd, such as the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows.
    You can try to use your boot cd to roll Windows back to a previous restore point.

    If you can't find a solution, you might have to do a repair installation as described by Ivo, and if this doesn't work (horror) then a full installation.

  • Dave Webb

    Before you try a repair I'd recommend booting to the Last Known Good configuration.

    From the linked article:

    The Last Known Good Configuration feature restores registry information and driver settings that were in effect the last time the computer started successfully.

    This is less drastic than a Repair and you can always try a repair afterwards.

  • Ivo Flipse

    Susprisingly Yahoo! Answers had a suggestion that seems valid.

    It makes you "reset" Windows but leaves your programs and settings be. Probably your best bet.

    XP REPAIR INSTALL - print this for easier use. Use of an OEM disk will probable fail. You need an authentic Windows XP Home or Pro disk for this repair.

    1. Boot the computer using the XP CD. You may need to change the boot order in the system BIOS. Check your system documentation for steps to access the BIOS and change the boot order.

    2. When you see the "Welcome To Setup" screen, you will see the options below. This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft Windows XP to run on your computer: To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER. To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R. To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

    3. Press Enter to start the Windows Setup. do not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R", (you do not want to load Recovery Console). I repeat, do not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R".

    4. Accept the License Agreement and Windows will search for existing Windows installations.

    5. Select the XP installation you want to repair from the list and press R to start the repair.

    6. Setup will copy the necessary files to the hard drive and reboot. Do not press any key to boot from CD when the message appears. Setup will continue as if it were doing a clean install, but your applications and settings will remain intact.

    7. Reapply updates or service packs applied since initial Windows XP installation. Please note that a Repair Install using an Original pre service pack 1 or 2 XP CD used as the install media will remove SP1/SP2 respectively and service packs plus updates isssued after the service packs will need to be reapplied.

    Source(s): Windows XP repair site on the Internet and personal experience with repairing Windows XP

  • ssollinger

    Another thing you can try is to disconnect all peripherals during boot. It's a very slim chance but worth trying - I have seen this work before when XP showed the symptoms you describe.

    Does it always stop at the same point? If not the problem might be something else. I had one PC (with XP) that got stuck occasionally on the loading screen, the problem then got more frequent and it finally started to stop at different points immediately after turning on at the BIOS screen. In this case the motherboard died, a new motherboard sorted the problem in this case.

  • Jan Doggen

    Could be a damaged sector early on the disk. Try SpinRite http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm