Hi, yesterday I was using my computer like any other day, when all of the sudden the blue screen appeared. it went to the screen where it says to either start windows normally or in safe mode. I pressed start windows normally and the pc just restarted back to the same screen... I tried safe mode and the same thing happened, it just restarted back to the screen. So I decided to format the pc with my windows xp disc.. It started up fine, but then after 2% the computer restarted itself! so i tried again, but now it wont even start the format, it goes to the screen where it says choose what you want to do, and it restarts... I took out the cd and now it goes automatically to the formatting disc screen even though the disc isnt inside.. and then it just restarts... if i dont turn it off manually, it will just keep on restarting forever. I really don't know what to do, there was once when the blue screen said that the system needed an update.. something about the bios not working.. Please help me, it used to work fine I dont know why this happened.. Thanks in advance.
sounds like you have a dying hard drive, or possibly some other piece of hardware. as you have already started formatting it i doubt theres a lot to try other than replacing the hard drive...
thank you for responding man.. well I think it is the hard drive as well... you think if I format my external hdd and make it like a normal one to install xp, i'll know if its just the hdd and not the whole computer? thanks.
you can try, but before you do check your computers BIOS to make sure that your pc will boot from a usb hard drive - not all do...
yeah.. my pc cant boot up from usb, but it doesnt matter because I fixed my problem! I tried installing windows vista on it seeing that I had tried xp over and over again, failing everytime. On vista it worked but then an error appeared... error: 0x000000A5 to be exact. I googled it and found the answer: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314830.... all i needed to do was press F7 on my xp disc in order for Windows to automatically disable the installation of the ACPI HAL and install the Standard PC HAL. Problem solved, i'm installing a new copy of windows xp right now! Thanks for your help nickberry, I'm glad someone had answered me at least.
oh noooo... nevermind.. my computer faild epically. The formatting went fine,but when the windows xp disc tried copying the files to my computer, almost 60% of all of them failed! i kept on pressiing ESC seeing it was the only thing i could do... then it just gave me a blue screen with an error.. somebody please help.. thanks.
thanks for responding... you know what, now that you mention it... i upgraded my pc to 2gb ram about a month ago... it used to be 1.5, but I bought a one gig card... but everything worked fine until the day my pc broke... could it be the ram? my pc only goes up to 2gb's, and thats what i have installed...
at first, I did a full format... but im not sure if it was fat32 or ntfs.. there was only 2 choices, quick format and full format, i chose full format... but like i said, even if i try formatting again, i cant even reach that screen where i can choose what i want... the pc restarts before reaching there.
A common cause for this error is files left on the drive and flagged "read only" Formatting doesn't remove the files and flags, just the file table which shows where they are. The xp installer is not that great.. it does not have an IGNORE_FILE_FLAGS function. Usually running active@killdisk on the first 10% of the drive.. or partitioning differently will solve the file copy errors.
i have come across a similar problem install windows over linux, where it fails because the installer cannot format the drive due to the linux partitions - just using any partitoning tool (acronis, partition magic et al) to remove the partitons first fixes it
Make sure to delete the partition first and then format it. You will lose all data. Its the D-> Enter -> L when you boot the XP CD.
hey everybody, thanks for your help.. it was the ram like core2kid had said.. i took out both of my 1gigs, and put in my original factory 512mb stick, and as i speak the installation is going on perfectly fine. The only problem i saw was that my main hard drive is going to be D instead of C, they both switched, but no big deal. I have one more question though, in the end was it too much ram the problem? Thanks.
Ok, though the main drive is D instead of C, it will cause major problems in the future since all programs are built with having the C drive as the main drive. I suggest that: -If you have 2 hard drives, remove the one you are not writing to when you install XP 2-Delete all partitions and then create a new one. DO NOT JUST FORMAT THEM. For your RAM, it wasn't too much RAM but I think your RAM has gone bad. I suggest calling the manufacturer (who is it?) and getting it replaced. RAM usually has lifetime warranties.
alright, I deleted both of my partitions and created a new one, C.. but how do i create D again? theres no empty partitions left.... anyway you were right man.. it was on of my 1gb memory sticks not working.. i tried putting it with my 512mb and a blue screen appeared saying the following: Registry Error, Tech Info: STOP:0x00000051(0x00000004, 0x00000001, 0XE000DC6DC) Beginning Dump of Physical Memory, Physical Memory Dump Complete. < That is what happens when i put my Kingston KVR400/1GR memory stick in.
Makes no difference if the main disk is C or D along as you don’t chance the letter after you’ve installed windows got my main disk as D on computer downstairs in the living room
