Computer Restarts Itself When Booting Up

2323 Views 12 Replies 2 Participants Last post by I'mThatGuy, Nov 22, 2007

I'mThatGuy

Discussion Starter · Nov 20, 2007 (Edited)

Windows XP Home Edition, Service Pack 2

I come back from school to find my computer monitor looking as it should, except with an error message. The message was over the password prompt (which I use), and nothing (mouse and keyboard) responded. Like an idiot, I didn't write down what the problem was. I just rebooted. I got as far as the BootScreen (windows logo, green/blue loading bar), then the screen blanked, flashed a few times (LCD), and started the boot process again, as if I'd hit the restart button.

This happened twice more, and on the second time, at the BootScreen, it just blanked. The power was on, but I had a blank screen. I gave it about 2 minutes before I restarted.

When booting in safe mode, it gets as far as the Drivers loading screen. After it decides to load SPTD.sys it restarts...

Currently, I have put in the windows XP CD and am about to try to "repair" my windows.

Losing all the data on this hard drive would equate to a few thousand dollars, so that's ... not what I'm hoping for. If in the end I have to reformat, no problem, as long as I can get all my data. (Hopefully!)

Thanks,
-Zack

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BMR777

· #2 · Nov 20, 2007

Well, you can rescue your files with a Live Linux CD and a USB drive. *** Instructions ***

Then if you have your XP CD you can do a repair install of XP. This shouldn't delete your files, but you'll have to reinstall all of your programs after running a repair install. If there is any data you absolutely cannot live without, use the method above for making a live Linux CD and copying files to a USB drive.

Hope it helps,
BMR777

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BMR777

· #4 · Nov 20, 2007

The 40 gig USB drive should work. Once you get the ITunes media files backed up, you'll probably have to assign them a new license in ITunes if you already assigned your licenses. I think with Apple you can have up to 5 computers for the files, but I'm not sure about that. I don't think this will be a big deal.

BMR777

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BMR777

· #6 · Nov 21, 2007

Is the file system on the hard drive FAT32 or NTFS? To determine this, connect it to a Windows PC and go to My Computer and right click on the drive. Choose properties. Under file system it should either say FAT32 or NTFS. I ask because if it is FAT or FAT32 it cannot handle files larger than 4GB.

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BMR777

· #8 · Nov 22, 2007

It would be compatible with the Windows computers, but unfortunately the Linux CD wouldn't support NTFS.

Can you try copying over the smaller files in the folder or transferring the files in chunks? Do you indeed have a file over 4GB in that folder, or is it made of smaller files? The Fat32 would only be an issue if one single file is 4GB or more, not the whole folder.

Try breaking it up and transferring fewer files in chunks and see if that works. Also, try deleting any unnecessary files from the USB drive if the above doesn't work.

BMR777

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BMR777

· #10 · Nov 22, 2007

Go to Tools > Folder Options on a windows PC. Then go to the view tab and check "show hidden files and folders" and uncheck "hide protected operating system files". Then on the Windows PC, go to the USB drive and look for a folder in the root of the USB drive called RECYCLE, RECYCLE BIN, RECYCLER, $Recycle.bin or similar. Right click on that folder and choose properties and see how much space it is taking. There is a slight chance that files may be moved to a temp recycle bin on the USB and Windows sees the files in the bin as free space but linux sees the files still there.

BMR777

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BMR777

· #12 · Nov 22, 2007

I don't know what is happening then. It might be a Linux issue. Unfortunately I don't know enough about Linux to help out.

You can, however, try doing the same process with a Windows Boot CD. Download the Ultimate Boot CD (http://www.ubcd4win.com/downloads.htm) and follow these instructions (http://www.ubcd4win.com/howto.htm) to burn. This will create a similar boot CD but it will run a stripped down version of Windows instead of Linux. See if this works. You will need your XP cd to make the bootable CD.

BMR777

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