topic Re: Won't boot in safe mode or any mode. in PCs & Accessories

Won't boot in safe mode or any mode.

jumpsuit — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 13:56:12 GMT

Aloha

I've got a bit of a strange problem. On rebooting my desktop the usual Sony and Pentium graphics came up and thats it - black screen and no startup.
Tried safe mode - same result nothing happens.

There's no hard drive activity after selecting xp pro in any mode LOL

Any ideas?

Re: Won't boot in safe mode or any mode.

Blencogo — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 17:37:17 GMT

Hi Jumpy,

Have you tried using the LAST KNOWN GOOD CONFIGURATION FEATURE ?

Re: Won't boot in safe mode or any mode.

jumpsuit — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 17:45:08 GMT

Hi! Sorry - I forgot to mention I've tried that with no luck.

Re: Won't boot in safe mode or any mode.

Blencogo — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 18:20:08 GMT

Oh Dear (or words to that effect)! I take it you don't have an XP disc or any other bootable disc.

As a long shot, you could try and make a bootable disc from your laptop.

To make one, insert a CD into drive F. Type the following commands, pressing Enter after each one.

xcopy c:\boot.ini F: /h
xcopy c:\ntdetect.com F: /h
xcopy c:\ntldr F: /h

Now type exit and press Enter to close the window. Put the CD in the drive of your inoperable machine and boot up. Windows should run with no problems. You could simply keep the floppy in the drive all the time, but to truly fix the problem, launch the command prompt as described above, type xcopy F:*.* c:\ /h, and press Enter.

Can't guarantee it but it may prevent a reinstall!!!

Desperate Measures Required!!!!

:smileyd_oh:

Re: Won't boot in safe mode or any mode.

jumpsuit — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 19:59:28 GMT

Thanks alot for that Blencogo!
unfortunately I keep getting 'invalid' messages despite altering the correct drive letter.
Still trying though!

Re: Won't boot in safe mode or any mode.

Blencogo — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 20:37:17 GMT

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

Are you getting the 'Invalid' message on the Laptop or the Desktop?

I suppose it will only work if your HDD boot sector is corrupt or if boot.ini is corrupt. It does sound like this could be the problem though.

I wonder if there is a way of opening the Recovery Console without a XP disc? I'll have a browse on the MS website - I seem to remember there was a way of downloading the Recovery Console as part of a program to make the CD drive bootable on a computer with the floppy disc drive set as the default.

EDIT: Are both using the same Version of Windows (Home or Pro)?

Re: Won't boot in safe mode or any mode.

Thalamus. — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 21:20:33 GMT

Here is a link Blencogo/Jumpy for the Windows XP Setup boot disks.

This link may help also..:smileyhappy:

Re: Won't boot in safe mode or any mode.

Blencogo — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 21:58:30 GMT

Good Sleuthing Thalamus

I remembered vaguely about the one using floppy discs - but that requires a bootable floppy drive.

The ability to make a bootable CD looks a great answer. I may give it a go - you never know when it may be useful!!

Re: Won't boot in safe mode or any mode.

jumpsuit — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 21:58:54 GMT

Thanks alot Blencogo and Thal!
Both pc's are using different versions of XP (Wouldn't you just know it LOL) and therein probably lies the problem.

The boot disks look interesting, and I'm currently exploring another couple of avenues:smileygrin:

Thanks again!

Re: Won't boot in safe mode or any mode.

Blencogo — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 22:08:45 GMT

Ah................ - you will have to edit the boot.ini as it is operating system specific.

You will have to change "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" to "Microsoft Windows XP Professional"

Your boot.ini for XP Pro should look something like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

EDIT: You don't have a dual boot on either do you?

Re: Won't boot in safe mode or any mode.

jumpsuit — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 09:27:15 GMT

Aloha!

I managed to find a 'ready made' XP pro boot disc with
boot.ini
ntdetect
ntldr
but it didn't work, still the black screen.

Acronis disk director is still showing the correct drives and space used/free on each so thats a good sign. However syscheck states windows not found.

Re: Won't boot in safe mode or any mode.

kee-lo_ — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 11:38:43 GMT

Have you checked the RAM is seated properly (probably a VERY long shot!)

Re: Won't boot in safe mode or any mode.

jumpsuit — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 12:26:29 GMT

Not yet although the pc hasn't moved at all or suffered any 'bangs.'

update: managed to make the bootable cd and at least that loads. Only problem I'm then asked to insert the sp2 disk into the drive. When I exit that and enter the auto system recovery option it asks me to insert the ATS floppy LOL

Re: Won't boot in safe mode or any mode.

Blencogo — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 17:29:22 GMT

You have had a busy day!

Jumpy, can you answer the following and we can then make sure you have a bootable boot.ini which will work in your machine.

Do you have a recovery partition on the desktop? (everything may be looking for Windows in the wrong partition)
Are your drive partitions 'standard' (Programs on C:\ ; Data only on D:\)
Do you have a single HDD or two in RAID config
Windows is on C:\ ?
Operating System is XP Pro ?

Re: Won't boot in safe mode or any mode.

jumpsuit — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 17:35:56 GMT

Hi Blencogo.

No recovery partition.
Yep - standard c and d drive setup
Single HDD
Windows on C
XP pro

I may not have got there yet but I've amassed some flipping handy tools along the way LOL

Re: Won't boot in safe mode or any mode.

thundybird — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 17:39:32 GMT

Hi i think i've had the same problem as you. unlucky is all i can say. I've had my laptop travelling backwards and forwards to the facory over 4 times. In the end i've had my harddrive replaced. I only got my vaio back today. If your computer is still in garentee then i would get on the phone to sony or where you purchased your computer. Thats what i did.

I got told along the way that it was something to do with the recovery partition going corrupt. I dunno but is there some kind of error out there which is causing this error? I spoke to someone else who also had had this problem.
Good luck!!!

Re: Won't boot in safe mode or any mode.

jumpsuit — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 17:41:34 GMT

Thanks Thundybird.

Sadly my Vaio is roughly 2 years at least outside its warranty LOL

Re: Won't boot in safe mode or any mode.

tonybeard — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 17:43:31 GMT

Acronis Disk Director is a very dodgy program and I would never reccommend to use it. The same blank screen occured for me too using disk director when it started trying to boot off the USB instead of the HDD or floppy or CD (for no reason at all???). Even with a CMD.ini bootable SD USB reader it just refused to play ball. In the end I took out the CMOS battery and let the bios charge drain for 24 hours and to reset the system installing as if a brand new installation of hardware . If you don't have the installation floppy for your mobo then don't try this but it worked a treat for me. Give Disk Director a big miss matey and create several partitions on the HD using the XP DOS when installing

Re: Won't boot in safe mode or any mode.

jumpsuit — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 17:48:12 GMT

Arrrrr Matey - cheers for that I will proceed with caution.

Re: Won't boot in safe mode or any mode.

Blencogo — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 18:03:14 GMT

Open up in Notepad the boot.ini on your ready made XP boot disc.

Is it exactly like this: -

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect