Crashing

[Clavicula_Nox]

When I start-up my desktop, my computer goes through the start-up procedure, flashes the Windows XP loadscreen, then flashes a blue screen, thn restarts the computer. This cycle happens indefinitely. I cannot restart in safe mode, nor can I restart at "last configuration that worked".

The only changes I made was to add an external DVD drive a couple of days ago, but had no issues come up from it. I shut down my computer last night, went to bed, woke up, and have this problem.

I don't really care what I have to do, I just want to be able to back up my hard disc first, as I have a few years of artwork, writings, and coding stored on it, and silly me, no back-up.

[SFASH]

At this point it might be wise to take it into perhaps Best Buy or other, and get them to snapshot your system before you loose your valuable files.

Backing up might not be possible even with third party software at this point and would risk the loss of data.

They can also run diagnostics to determine the problem and do a reinstall if needed.

If it were me, I might disconnect the new DVD plug and play and give it one try.

Some would suggest doing a system restore from safe mode, but it doesn't sound like you can get there.

That reoccurring Blue Screen (of death) is normally pretty serious.

[HisLeast]

Last time I saw that it was busted RAM... but that was 10 years ago. If you've got two or more sticks in there, try booting with just one stick at a time.

[Diggindeeper]

Mine did that after a lightning surge, in spite of my surge protector.

Tech support told me as soon as the name of your computor comes on the screen, tap the "F8" key over and over and over till a screen appears giving you different options of what to do. (Like start in safe mode, start normally, etc.)

Scroll down to "Last known good configuration" and click on it. That restored mine to the way it was supposed to start up.

Its worth a try.....good luck!

[Master Jake]

Mine did that after a lightning surge, in spite of my surge protector.

lol owned... at least now I now that buying one of those would be a waste of money.

You could probably just put the hard drive in another computer and still access the data, but I don't know. Just be safe and don't do anything without professional help or you might find yourself in an angry state.

[Clavicula_Nox]

I already figured it's a driver issue, most likely related to the external dvd drive. I tried removing that, but no love, so now, I'm trying to do a repair install of XP.

[tt1106]

If it's a pre-packaged system, can you boot to the recovery console. Otherwise, try booting from the recovery cd or windows xp cd. you can usually access this as soon as the bios flashes, usually f12 I think for boot options. Otherwise you can change your boot order in bios.
I would try booting to the recovery console.

If you can get there by bootign off the cd then do this
When you get to the recovery console follow these instructions.

Type CD\ then Enter
Then cd system~1\_resto~1 then Enter
Type dir then Enter
When you hit enter it will list all the restore points folders like rp1, rp2 …….. If the restore points have more than one page then u have to keep on hitting the <Enter> key to view the last restore point folder. You will have to choose the second to last option folder
Type cd rp {the second to the last restore point no. } (Note: Example: cd rp9, if rp9 is the second to the last restore point where the last restore point no. is 10
Then type cd snapshot
Now the command prompt will look like this c:\system~1\_resto~1\rp9\snapshot
Type: copy _registry_machine_system c:\windows\system32\config\system
Press enter
Then type: copy _registry_machine_software c:\windows\system32\config\software
If you get an access denied error when doing the above, then do the following at the recovery console:

Type CD\ then press Enter
Type cd windows\system32\config then press Enter
Type ren system system.bak then press Enter
Type exist press Enter

Your PC will reboot, go back into the Recovery Console and then you have access

If you cannot get access, you will probably have to reinstall windows xp.
If this happens, you should still be ok, just don't format the hard drive.
None of your programs will run, but you should still be able to access your files.

[Clavicula_Nox]

Repair install did not go so well, but I think it's a RAM issue due to finally being able to see the blue screen's error code: page_fault_in_nonpaged_area.

*edit*

When I get from dinner, I'll try using the Recovery Console. I tried pressing Enter at the XP Install screen, but that only gave me the option to format my partition rather than (r)epair it.