I have a Toshiba laptop with Windows XP. Started using it as normal on Sat. morning, when my satellite radio via web wouldn't connect. Then it shut down the web altogether. I restarted to reboot. When it came back up it locks onto "Windows is starting up..." blue screen. I had a USB for a Garmin plugged in at the time (if that may be a factor) I have read some threads re: booting up in safe mode, but it still locks when it hits the same screen. i also read about driver conflicts during boot up, but can't find any walk through info to test. any info provided is much appreciated to get me through this. thank you.
If you have any other USB devices plugged in, I would unplug them. If it still locks, even when you select safe mode, then it is not a driver conflict. The blue screen should have an error message...it would help if you posted it.
Thank you for responding. The USB has been unplugged. However, there doesn't appear to be an error message anywhere from the power up to lock. Just the blue screen indicating the windows XP logo, and 'windows is starting up....' message. IMG_1234.JPG
The issue is either hardware or software, it is hard to say with no error messages: Hardware: I would go into the bios and dissable the networking and sound...if this didn't work, you could try removing one of the ram sticks, and then you could try putting that stick back and testing without the other stick. You can also open up the system and clean it out...this isn't always easy with laptops, but it isn't too difficult if you have the correct tools. Software: There are tons of things you can try, but IMHO, once an install of XP starts dieing, you should just kill it and re-install. This would probably be the fastest test...if it does not work with a freshly formated drive and a freshly installed windows, then you know you are dealing with a hardware issue.
i started by addressing the possible software issue: i burned an ISO file for a bootable CD to access the recovery console, but i got a stop error screen. no driver was identified in the stop message. it mentioned to check for BIOS updates and disabling BIOS memory options (caching/shadowing), but am unable to boot up even in safe mode to access. the technical info: STOP: 0x0000007E (0xc0000005, 0xf76450bf, 0xf7a91208, 0xf7a90f08) pci.sys - address f76450bf base at f763e000, datestamp 3b7d855c any ideas? i have the Toshiba Recovery and Applications/Drivers for the backup and recovery of my laptop, but when i run it, it warns that all settings and data will be deleted on re-written.....does this mean if i resort to using this that i'll lose everything i've got stored on it and start from scratch?
I would try doing a chkdsk c: /f. If you had an abnormal shutdown it might have corrupted the windows files. When windows starts booting up, if it can find the next startup files (because they are missing or corrupt), it will hang or reboot. A chkdsk will usually fix this problem without you having to reinstall windows. When the hard drive is corrupt it usually won't let you into safemode. Reinstalling windows should be your last resort, especially on a laptop because of all the possible driver issues you might encounter.
More than likely will loose all data unless it contains a repair function what that means is your data like pictures,emails,music will be ok everything else will have to be reinstalled including 3rd party software even tho those folders remain. use search engine & copy/paste 1st or 2d line seems it's a common error
