Home PC (dell xp home) won't boot

TOMLESCOEQUIP · May 17, 2006

My kids messed with my home pc yesterday & now windows won't boot. I constantly get a screen telling me windows shut down to avoid damage etc. I tried to go to a manual boot up,safe mode start, start using last stuff that worked etc, & after pressing multiple F buttons(appropriate they call them "F" buttons isn't it ?) at start-up/turn power on, I get a screen stating unbootable volume ?(gaps in files ? WTF ??) I don't have a boot floppy, just the windows XP install CD, which I couldn't get it to do anything with either. The kids used the power switch to shut it down several times recently (probably after locking it up) & that may have caused the problem. All spyware & anti virus is up to date, so I don't think at this point I have an infection problem. Short of using the 357 magnum PC trouble shooting method :14_6_12: (I hate computers !!) & buying a new $400 dell, anyone got any ideas a somewhat computer illiterate equipment dealer can do ? (Did I mention I hate computers ?)

bczoom · May 17, 2006

Sounds like you've been having fun...

OK, let's start by getting you a boot disk. It sounds like you're going to need another PC to do this.
Get a blank (formatted) floppy disk and download a boot disk to it.
It will be beneficial to know which version of XP you're running (original release, SP1 or SP2).
Here's Microsoft's page to download a boot disk.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310994

A google search will show other sites as well.

Create a boot disk, have your original Microsoft CD's available (just in case it asks for them), insert the boot disk and start it up.

Let's see what that does/tells us.

beds · May 17, 2006

Sounds like a bad disk sector on your hard drive. Is the drive (computer) making any new, odd sounds, like clicking noises? The problem with these things is they can be recoverable, but only for a while until they totally crash, so keep your usage to a minimum. Do you have another computer at home? You can get a new hard drive for <$50 and you'd be good to go. What kind of computer is it? Seriously, this is probably a <$50 problem that folks here including me an guide you through. Prepare yourself to have lost everything on your hard drive, though.

beds · May 17, 2006

BC is right - it may be something more simple than a crashed hard drive. But if it's making new noises, then it's likely crashed.

bczoom · May 17, 2006

beds said:
BC is right - it may be something more simple than a crashed hard drive. But if it's making new noises, then it's likely crashed.

It's been awhile since I had to boot from a floppy but in line with what beds is saying, if there's an option to do a scandisk I would consider doing that if it doesn't state something else as the obvious problem.

Whenever the PC is shut down using the power button, the next time it comes up, it says something like "the PC was not shut down correctly. You should do a scandisk to see if anything is corrupted".

It may just be that it's really confused right now since all the shut-downs using the power button.

TOMLESCOEQUIP · May 17, 2006

The hard drive wasn't making any new or unusual noises, but some of their games weren't running correctly at full speed. The graphics were a little slow & jerky. We don't have any real games in there, just a few flash games, & the windows pinball it came with. The computer is a 2 year old dell, just a basic pc, their dimension desk top series. I never thought I'd miss my dial-up at home since I have hi-speed here at the shop, but I was going thru withdrawl last nite.What do I do to get it to boot from the floppy........anything special ?

bczoom · May 17, 2006

TOMLESCOEQUIP said:
What do I do to get it to boot from the floppy........anything special ?

Insert floppy.
Turn on PC.

Heck, again, it's been so long (going back to Windows 98) that I had to do it, I don't honestly recall if it does some things manually or if it prompts you for what you want to do.

It does sound like once you do get it up and running you need to do a little clean-up. I would use the disk clean-up and defragment utilities soon. If you haven't done those in a couple years, that'll slow things down and could cause the machine to act funny.

TOMLESCOEQUIP · May 17, 2006

bczoom said:
Insert floppy.
Turn on PC.

Heck, again, it's been so long (going back to Windows 98) that I had to do it, I don't honestly recall if it does some things manually or if it prompts you for what you want to do.

It does sound like once you do get it up and running you need to do a little clean-up. I would use the disk clean-up and defragment utilities soon. If you haven't done those in a couple years, that'll slow things down and could cause the machine to act funny.

I ran the defragment a couple weeks ago even though it said I really didn't need to degragment the volume. I'll make the floppy & play around with the other PC at home tonite. thanks guys !!

beds · May 17, 2006

Run ad-aware if your computer starts slowing down or misbehavin'. You may have some spyware slowing you down.

http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/

It should by default attempt to boot from the floppy before anything else. If it doesn't, you have to go to your BIOS settings when the computer is booting up. This is one of those popular F-keys that you mentioned! Once in the BIOS settings there will be a boot sequence. Change it to be "A,C,CD-ROM" to boot from the floppy first (it should already be that way).

(As an aside, you can also change the settings here to boot from your XP CD-ROM. You could put your original Windows XP CD disc in and change your BIOS to a boot sequence of "CD-ROM,C,A" and it would boot from your XP CD. You would do this to install the XP operating system on a new drive or to re-install a fresh copy.)

TOMLESCOEQUIP · May 17, 2006

beds said:
Run ad-aware if your computer starts slowing down or misbehavin'. You may have some spyware slowing you down.

http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/

It should by default attempt to boot from the floppy before anything else. If it doesn't, you have to go to your BIOS settings when the computer is booting up. This is one of those popular F-keys that you mentioned! Once in the BIOS settings there will be a boot sequence. Change it to be "A,C,CD-ROM" to boot from the floppy first (it should already be that way).

(As an aside, you can also change the settings here to boot from your XP CD-ROM. You could put your original Windows XP CD disc in and change your BIOS to a boot sequence of "CD-ROM,C,A" and it would boot from your XP CD. You would do this to install the XP operating system on a new drive or to re-install a fresh copy.)

I ran the spybot & lavasoft programs within the last 2 weeks as well. I was kinda worried that it might try to reformat the hard drive when I tried to use the windows xp install cd. I'll give it a go tonite.........If I post about 10 pm or so you'll know it worked !!

California · May 17, 2006

TOMLESCOEQUIP said:
... now windows won't boot. I constantly get a screen telling me windows shut down to avoid damage etc. I tried to go to a manual boot up,safe mode start, start using last stuff that worked etc, & after pressing multiple F buttons(appropriate they call them "F" buttons isn't it ?) at start-up/turn power on, I get a screen stating unbootable volume

A slightly different line of investigation -

Does that Dell have 'hibernate' mode enabled? The screen you see may be the final screen of the last successful session.

'Unbootable volume' may indicate the sequence of boot devices has been altered. Look behind the pc and see if the kids left a flash drive in the USB slot - they can rearrange which drive letters are assigned to which devices.

And get into the bios before bootup and verify drive letter assignments. I think on a Dell you hold down 'delete' as it boots - can someone confirm this? I don't presently own a Dell.

TOMLESCOEQUIP · May 17, 2006

No flash drive stuck in it anywhere ! I've had the on-off power switch pushed so many times it may go into 12 guage hibernate soon !! My pc geek finally called & I'm going to try all the stuff you suggested first, then if it won't run, :pat:

its probably a new hard drive. Hope I can fix it or at least get it to run enough to transfer some files. Thank goodness I have most of them copied on my shop computer.

bczoom · May 18, 2006

TOMLESCOEQUIP said:
I'll give it a go tonite.........If I post about 10 pm or so you'll know it worked !!

I guess it didn't work...

Last post to thread by Tom was at 4:51.

TOMLESCOEQUIP · May 18, 2006

bczoom said:
I guess it didn't work...

Last post to thread by Tom was at 4:51.

Well..........The Dell is .......Fr^*#%(^g..........toast. I tried the boot floppy, boot from CD,F2 this and F8 that, F12, then it was FU2 :finger1:

, finally boot out the door & probably a new hard drive. Hopefully my computer geek will get to look at it sometime today. Looks like I may want to watch the sales for a deal on another PC for the house, so I can have it preloaded & waiting in the wings for when the dell dies completely ! I use these darn things too much for online business & communication not to have one at home to check up on my stuff. (Did I mention I despise computers ?)

beds · May 18, 2006

Any diagnostics to report? Did anything work? Did the computer at least attempt to boot from floppy or CD? Any luck in the BIOS?

Just think how computer savvy you'll be by the end of this!

TOMLESCOEQUIP · May 18, 2006

beds said:
Any diagnostics to report? Did anything work? Did the computer at least attempt to boot from floppy or CD? Any luck in the BIOS?

Just think how computer savvy you'll be by the end of this!

The floppy drive, as well as the CD drive both would start to run, but then would come back to the same screen: Unbootable_Volume ?? This is the same result no matter how you went thru the boot process..........everytime. :pat:

bczoom · May 18, 2006

TOMLESCOEQUIP said:
The floppy drive, as well as the CD drive both would start to run, but then would come back to the same screen: Unbootable_Volume ?? This is the same result no matter how you went thru the boot process..........everytime.

I'm not 100% sure but I think they'll make the noise just as part of the hardware checks on boot.
Did you check/assure it's set to boot from the floppy first? (See beds post, #9 in this thread).

TOMLESCOEQUIP · May 18, 2006

bczoom said:
I'm not 100% sure but I think they'll make the noise just as part of the hardware checks on boot.
Did you check/assure it's set to boot from the floppy first? (See beds post, #9 in this thread).

Sure did, Brian !! I've been thru the try to boot process probably 50 times now. I'm looking at a couple computers at best buy right now that are about $450 or less, that are pretty well laid out........anybody have any comments on these ? Emachines

beds · May 18, 2006

I wouldn't buy one of those eMachines. My neice had one and it wasn't "strong". I also wouldn't get an AMD chip, but that's me. I would look at getting a no-longer-latest-technology pentium P4 chip. It would be something like a 2.8GHz or less, have DDR memory instead of DDR2 and perhaps only 512 MB. Don't get a celeron, either. Again, this is IMO, but you are better off getting an older pentium than either the celeron or AMD chip. Last year's Deere versus this year's Craftsman, if you will. Best Buy and these places have the discontinued computers online, but often you have to get into the store. And do you need all of those peripherals - like printer, monitor, keyboard, mouse? I would also recommend buying used from IBM. These are very solid machines that are off-lease and come clean, packaged and delivered like new to your door for a good price.

http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?storeId=1&catalogId=-840&langId=-1&categoryId=2576395

TOMLESCOEQUIP · May 18, 2006

Well........I got the call.......It's fixed ! The hard drive had bad sectors & he replaced it, took the old drive out, put it in a bench machine as a 2nd drive,got it to run temporarily, and ran a restore on it, then cloned it into the new HD, upgraded all my service pac & other updates, replaced the drivers from dell online, so I should be good to go....($138.00 & tax later)........for awhile anyway ! .....Beds.....I just thought about one of the cheapie Emachines to sit on my desk in my basement office at home for cheap insurance as a back-up machine. I can get another dell for about the same price also. HEY EVERYONE !!! THANK YOU ! THANK YOU !! for all the help & suggestions ! :a1:

bczoom · May 18, 2006

TOMLESCOEQUIP said:
($138.00 & tax later)
...
HEY EVERYONE !!! THANK YOU ! THANK YOU !! for all the help & suggestions !

Do we get $138? :tiphat:

Kidding aside... glad to hear it's up and running again!

TOMLESCOEQUIP · May 18, 2006

bczoom said:
Do we get $138?

Kidding aside... glad to hear it's up and running again!

It's already in the mail !! You DO believe that don't you ?

beds · May 18, 2006

TOMLESCOEQUIP said:
($138.00 & tax later)

Good news! $138 in four years of service aint that bad. Plus it's got you thinking of backing up and disaster recovery.

IMO, don't buy a backup computer. The computer you buy today for $400 as a backup will be worth $200 in two years when yours fails. And then Bob chimes in with "the present value of money invested in a T-Bill and the actual cost blah blah blah" that we won't read, and it works out to be even more. Make some backups of critical data and be prepared to fork out $400 to Best Buy and have a new machine the next day. Your worst case scenario is you're down for a day or over the weekend while you acquire a new machine.

bczoom · May 18, 2006

beds said:
And then Bob chimes in with "the present value of money invested in a T-Bill and the actual cost blah blah blah" that we won't read

Actually, if you currently have 2 PC's and now that you have a crossover cable, you can backup one PC to the other. I won't go into the details as I don't know if you have the hardware for this option but I just utilize the "My Briefcase" option. I tell it what directories I want in the Briefcase and anything I update on the one PC gets copied to the other. It's faster and easier than full backups.

If you have a CD/RW, you can do the same (Briefcase option) instead of using another computer for fast backups.

johnday · May 18, 2006

Tom, and all this time I thought you could fix anything!! I know how ya felt, ultra frustration!!! And I'm still getting it from my old machine.

Computers are fun when they do what you want, other than that, I HATE 'em too!
:gun2_smi:

TOMLESCOEQUIP · May 18, 2006

johnday said:
Tom, and all this time I thought you could fix anything!!

I CAN fix anything Jon.........This just took another kind of wrench ($$) , that's all ! Great to be back in the evenings,....... Everyone !!

Home PC (dell xp home) won't boot

Just Plinkin Away the $$

Super Moderator

New member

New member

Super Moderator

Just Plinkin Away the $$

Super Moderator

Just Plinkin Away the $$

New member

Just Plinkin Away the $$

Charter Member

Just Plinkin Away the $$

Super Moderator

Just Plinkin Away the $$

New member

Just Plinkin Away the $$

Super Moderator

Just Plinkin Away the $$

New member

Just Plinkin Away the $$

Super Moderator

Just Plinkin Away the $$

New member

Super Moderator

The Crazy Scot, #3

Just Plinkin Away the $$