About as bad as it gets

  • Thread starter Thread starter Beth
  • Start date Start date
B

Beth

So, when we start the computer in normal mode, it hangs at
the Windows XP window indefinitely.

When we start in the Safe Mode with Networking, it can't
launch any applications (we get an error message trying to
launch IE, for instance, so we can't try and email the
files we have on there to back them up).

When I tell it to start from CD (external drive), it seems
not to recognize it, so can't launch from CD.

Any thoughts on what is wrong, how we can try and back our
stuff up, and how to fix this?

Details: Toshiba Portege 2000 (no internal drives),
Windows XP Professional.

Thank you!
 
Hi,

What is the error message, pls post back with details so
that someone may help you.
Can you select last know good config in safe mode?

Peter
 
Peter,

This is the message I get when it starts up:

"We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not
start successfully. A recent hardware or software change
might have caused this.

"If your computer stopped responding, restarted
unexpectedly, or was automatically shut down to protect
your files and folders, choose Last Known Good
Configuration to revert to the most recent settings that
worked.

"If a previous startup was interrupted due to a power
failure or because the Power or Reset button was pressed,
or if you aren't sure what caused the problem, choose
Start Windows Normally."

Do you also want the errors I get whenever I try and start
an application? I get different errors depending on which
application I try to start.

FYI, I actually managed to sort of start it up in normal
mode - it took 20 minutes to boot up (using last known
good configuration), but I still can't run anything. It
can see the CD drive at that point, but errors out when I
try and browse to Norton on the CD (or on the hard drive).

I can select last known good config, but not in safe mode,
and it behaves exactly the same with this config as it
does if I boot it normally.

Thanks.
 
Beth said:
So, when we start the computer in normal mode, it hangs at
the Windows XP window indefinitely.

When we start in the Safe Mode with Networking, it can't
launch any applications (we get an error message trying to
launch IE, for instance, so we can't try and email the
files we have on there to back them up).

When I tell it to start from CD (external drive), it seems
not to recognize it, so can't launch from CD.

Any thoughts on what is wrong, how we can try and back our
stuff up, and how to fix this?

Details: Toshiba Portege 2000 (no internal drives),
Windows XP Professional.

Thank you!
Click to expand...

Try booting the system into Safe Mode and use Start - Run.
Enter

SFC /SCANNOW

in the dialog box.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."
 
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