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my pc has given up on life.
john_p_b - 14/4/08 at 06:08 PM

ok going to try and not make this sound too complex.

switch on and the normal black screen with lots of writing and numbers comes up, then i get a screen asking if i want to start windows normally or in safe mode etc, no matter which i select it goes to the windows xp start up screen with the little moving line then a blue screen flashes up for about a nano second then it restarts it's self.

it's been suggested that the mother board may have expired but i'd like a few more opinions before i go parting with hard earned.

thanks in advance.

john

aerosam - 14/4/08 at 06:17 PM

Begs the question, how did you post this without a pc?

Anyway, if the motherboard was fried it wouldn't get that far into startup. Sounds more like a corrupted hard drive. If you have a backup CD with windows XP on it then you can go into the BIOS and format the hard drive. (actually if memory serves the XP disk will format it during installation)

You could always take it to a PC repair shop if you have important data you cant afford to lose. (or put your hard drive into a working pc as a slave and copy the data that way)

good luck!

chockymonster - 14/4/08 at 06:18 PM

Do you have a camcorder?
Record the screen as the PC boots, play it back on your tv and play it slowly to get the error message.

john_p_b - 14/4/08 at 06:23 PM

quote:
Originally posted by aerosam
Begs the question, how did you post this without a pc?


using the laptop which is my main computer anyway, my folks have had my pc for the last few months but just when i was getting ready to reclaim it they broke it! will try the reformatting option as i've got the windows disc here.

john_p_b - 14/4/08 at 06:36 PM

windows is formatting the hard disk as i sit here

madmandegge - 15/4/08 at 10:52 AM

If you get this again, you can tell XP not to restart on blue screen, hammer the F8 key on boot, you should get a menu similar to the "Boot in Safe Mode" one you were seeing anyway, and select "Disable automatic restart on system failure"

This should allow you to have a staring competition with the blue screen, before you eventually decide to reformat anyway

Schrodinger - 15/4/08 at 05:48 PM

I had this problem a year or so ago with my laptop and it turned out to be some duff memory, after the manufacturer replaced the disk twice, then the motherboard.

john_p_b - 15/4/08 at 05:53 PM

thanks for the help folks it seems o be sorted now