Suddenly won't boot

[normc]

A little trooubleshooting refresher, please.

When booting, doesn't the BIOS look at all of the possible boot sources
shown in the BIUS setup? In the order shown in the BIOS setup? Does
the order provide for anything other than reduced time for startup?
That is, would any particular order be of special value?

My computer came with two "Recovery and Driver" CDs. Should I expect to
be able to boot from #1?

Is it possible to boot into Safe Mode, even when a normal boot can't be
accomplished? Would that be by F8? When? I don't seem to be able to
accomplish it.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. TIA

 

[Shenan Stanley]

A little trooubleshooting refresher, please.

When booting, doesn't the BIOS look at all of the possible boot
sources shown in the BIUS setup? In the order shown in the BIOS
setup? Does the order provide for anything other than reduced time
for startup? That is, would any particular order be of special
value?

The boot search order does provide for:
(1) speedier bootups (as if you never plan to boot to network, floppy, USB
or CD/DVD unless there is a problem - these options should be last and the
hard disk drive option first.)
(2) Security - as you should have a BIOS password in place that keeps
others from changing your boot order - and the hard disk drive should be
first. This way - someone with a simple boot disk cannot boot up with
CD/floppy and obtain - well - practically anything they want.

My computer came with two "Recovery and Driver" CDs. Should I
expect to be able to boot from #1?

Ask the computer manufacturer and/or refer to the manufacturer's manuals.

Is it possible to boot into Safe Mode, even when a normal boot
can't be accomplished? Would that be by F8? When? I don't seem
to be able to accomplish it.

It is not a given that you can boot into safe mode if you cannot boot into
regular Windows. If it is a driver issue ( alot of trouble is caused by
drivers or services loading) - then you will likely be able to boot into
Safe mode. However - there are more serious issues where nothing short of a
repair installation or complete reinstall (sometimes after hardware
replacement) is all you have. Thus why periodic backups are so important.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. TIA

Suggestions for what?

 

[normc]

A little trooubleshooting refresher, please.

When booting, doesn't the BIOS look at all of the possible boot sources
shown in the BIUS setup? In the order shown in the BIOS setup? Does
the order provide for anything other than reduced time for startup? That
is, would any particular order be of special value?

My computer came with two "Recovery and Driver" CDs. Should I expect to
be able to boot from #1?

Is it possible to boot into Safe Mode, even when a normal boot can't be
accomplished? Would that be by F8? When? I don't seem to be able to
accomplish it.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. TIA

Forgot to mention, the problem seemed to occur, but I'm not certain,
after I shut down, unplugged my PS2 Trackball, plugged in a USB wireless
trackball, and tried to restart.

I shut down, removed the USB wireless trackball, replaced the PS2
trackball, and tried to start,

I get two different messages in the process of trying to boot. One that
seems to indicate a recognition of my NIC (which if I am unplugged it
tells me I am unplugged) and a message "No boot filename received.
Exiting PXE ROM"

 

[Shenan Stanley]

A little trooubleshooting refresher, please.

When booting, doesn't the BIOS look at all of the possible boot
sources shown in the BIUS setup? In the order shown in the BIOS
setup? Does the order provide for anything other than reduced time
for startup? That is, would any particular order be of special
value?

The boot search order does provide for:
(1) speedier bootups (as if you never plan to boot to network,
floppy, USB or CD/DVD unless there is a problem - these options
should be last and the hard disk drive option first.)
(2) Security - as you should have a BIOS password in place that
keeps others from changing your boot order - and the hard disk
drive should be first. This way - someone with a simple boot disk
cannot boot up with CD/floppy and obtain - well - practically
anything they want.

My computer came with two "Recovery and Driver" CDs. Should I
expect to be able to boot from #1?

Ask the computer manufacturer and/or refer to the manufacturer's
manuals.

Is it possible to boot into Safe Mode, even when a normal boot
can't be accomplished? Would that be by F8? When? I don't seem
to be able to accomplish it.

It is not a given that you can boot into safe mode if you cannot
boot into regular Windows. If it is a driver issue ( alot of
trouble is caused by drivers or services loading) - then you will
likely be able to boot into Safe mode. However - there are more
serious issues where nothing short of a repair installation or
complete reinstall (sometimes after hardware replacement) is all
you have. Thus why periodic backups are so important.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. TIA

Suggestions for what?

D'oh. For your inability to boot..

Well - not enough information given. You haven't said how far it gets, what
the bluescreen (if any shows) says, what troubleshooting you have done, etc.

You could - if you have an actual Windows XP installation CD - try a repair
installation:

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315341

 

[normc]

I've been messing with computers for a few years (started with Bendix
G-15 in 1957) and have been very uneasy with XP Pro. Won't take
anyone's time to get into the reasons, but this experience has really
baffled me.

I'd be interested in hearing anyone's thoughts on what might have
happened.... or what is happening.

The messages that would come up (described in another post) would come
up twice and then the screen would go entirely black; but the on
indicator would stay lit unless I pressed the power button.

This time I decided to just close the top, because I had chosen the
option for shutdown if I closed the lid. After a little while I noticed
that the power light was still on, so I lifted the lid. The screen was
black but there was a non-blinking hyphen/cursor in the center of the
upper left quadrant.

I left to get a drink of water. When I returned, my desktop was showing
clear as a bell, So I turned away from the laptop to write this post on
my desktop (as the rest in this thread).

Upon turning back to the laptop, the desktop is gone and the error
messages are playing again on the black screen.

Any ideas what to do? Any ideas what is going on? Many thanks in advance.

 

[Malke]

I've been messing with computers for a few years (started with Bendix
G-15 in 1957) and have been very uneasy with XP Pro. Won't take
anyone's time to get into the reasons, but this experience has really
baffled me.

I'd be interested in hearing anyone's thoughts on what might have
happened.... or what is happening.

The messages that would come up (described in another post) would come
up twice and then the screen would go entirely black; but the on
indicator would stay lit unless I pressed the power button.

This time I decided to just close the top, because I had chosen the
option for shutdown if I closed the lid. After a little while I noticed
that the power light was still on, so I lifted the lid. The screen was
black but there was a non-blinking hyphen/cursor in the center of the
upper left quadrant.

I left to get a drink of water. When I returned, my desktop was showing
clear as a bell, So I turned away from the laptop to write this post on
my desktop (as the rest in this thread).

Upon turning back to the laptop, the desktop is gone and the error
messages are playing again on the black screen.

Any ideas what to do? Any ideas what is going on? Many thanks in
advance.

Sounds like general hardware failure. Nothing to do with Windows. Contact
the laptop mftr.'s tech support for repair/replacement.

Malke