Misbehaving computer

[Jenni]

My friends computer has Windows XP on it - was working last night but when she started it up today Windows wont start - says she hasnt deleted anything or changed any settings - can anyone help?

[ducasi]

What does it say on the screen, if anything?

[Jenni]

What does it say on the screen, if anything?

Err - let me text her back

[Jenni]

Can you use MSN just now?

[Jenni]

Right - the story is:

Computer gets as far as windows start page then jump to a page with a big long spiel along the lines of:

There's been a recent hard/software change
Restart or windows will be automatically shut down
Choose last known good configuration
If a previous start-up was interrupted by power failure or unknown problem use windows start normally

Table with:
Safe mode
safe mode with networking
safe mode with command prompts
Last known good config.
Start normally

She has tried all of these options but nothing is working - the computer just keeps trying to start windows the going to this page then trying to start again

Does that help anyone?

[ducasi]

Um... I think this is a job for something like a rescue disk... Does she have such a thing?

[Jenni]

could clashing software do it?

[bigdjiver]

Right - the story is:

Computer gets as far as windows start page then jump to a page with a big long spiel along the lines of:

There's been a recent hard/software change
Restart or windows will be automatically shut down
Choose last known good configuration
If a previous start-up was interrupted by power failure or unknown problem use windows start normally

Table with:
Safe mode
safe mode with networking
safe mode with command prompts
Last known good config.
Start normally

She has tried all of these options but nothing is working - the computer just keeps trying to start windows the going to this page then trying to start again

Does that help anyone?

If the machine is the least bit "mission critical" it is better to put it into the hands of an expert straight away.

I believe that the standard way to fix this sort of problem is to boot from the installation disk. It should detect that Windows is already installed, and give you the option to repair the current installation. You can try that, and call in an expert if that fails.

[Jenni]

If the machine is the least bit "mission critical" it is better to put it into the hands of an expert straight away.

I believe that the standard way to fix this sort of problem is to boot from the installation disk. It should detect that Windows is already installed, and give you the option to repair the current installation. You can try that, and call in an expert if that fails.

Cheers - that what we've done and its busy checking to see what it can repair as we speak

[RogerR]

This was a mode of failure of a malware (virus etc) circulating a while ago. Is the Anti-virus up to date with its patterns? AVG free by Grisoft is GOOD