XP wont load. Looping at loading screen. HELP.

[Luke499]

I'm having serious problems.

I re-installed XP yesterday from the backup disk because I was having problems with drivers etc...
And everything went back to normal.

And this morning, windows is failing to load alltogether. Ive tried booting up the windows XP disk and re-installing windows that way. And no change.

I have a dell inspiron 6000.
It gets the the DELL screen (big DELL in blue) (with the loading bar), it loads,  then the screen goes blank, and loops right back to the screen again. It does this over and over again, i have no idea what to do  

Dell themselves are useless, cant get ahold of anyone, wont even let me register online  

Any help from anyone would be appreciated, it is VITAL that i get the laptop up and running and back to normal as SOON as possible, even if it means having to wipe everything from the hard disk.

[Backdated]

I don't suppose you have a full XP disk and I suppose that no floppy drive is available?
If data isn't an issue, try a destructive restore.

[Luke499]

I have the 'Reinstallation CD' 'Windows XP Home Edition SP2'
And no floppy drive.
Is there any way i can resolve this problem with the reinstallation cd?

I'd rather keep my 10 gigs of music if i could... but if its not possible then how do i do a destructive restore?

[knarlybill]

I have a Dell that does the same thing, and I even sprung for an XP Home Edition disk. Everything was fine until yesterday and it started that being caught in the start up screen. It goes to Windows Startup and just sits there. I went to a restore this morning, about two weeks old and finally got it to work. Whats up with this? I even have a new 80Gb HD. And check this out...I tried to reload windows with the disk and go an ERROR CODE 7 message

[Luke499]

SOMEBODY HELP ME!  

[Backdated]

Boot from the restore disk and the options, if available, should laid out in front of you. Try a non-destructive restore at first and if that doesn't work, try a destructive restore.
Didn't you have any documentation/manuals with this machine?

KnarlyBill, please start your own thread. Hijacking existing threads only serves to confuse everyone involved.

[Luke499]

I saw no restore options. Only the options for certain drive formatting before install.
I chose the option that formatted the drive and deleted all the files on it before continuing. Its formatting now. I'l let you know if i have any success.

[Dilbert]

100% probability of success, if the format works and you have an XP install disk.

[Backdated]

I refuse to deal with Dell, HP, Compaq and a few other "big name boxes" so I'm a little out of touch with their restore setups etc.

[Luke499]

100% probability of success, if the format works and you have an XP install disk.

Im happy to hear that. Its still formatting. I'l post when its done.

[Backdated]

Still formatting? I suspect a damaged hard drive!

[Luke499]

No, its done. Success!

BUT, I have no drivers. So I have no sound, no video (my graphics card aint running), and i cant connect via my wireless card cos it has no driver.... what do I do?

[GX1_Man]

You can download and install ALL of the correct drivers from the Dell site. Burn to CD and install on the laptop.


http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen

[Luke499]

Thanks very much for your help guys. All i need now are the sound drivers.
I'm one happy user now.

Shame i lost all my music though... lol.

[GX1_Man]

Sound drivers for Inspiron 6000 and XP

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R99254&SystemID=INS_PNT_6000&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=6466&devlib=0&typecnt=1&vercnt=2&formatcnt=1&fileid=128550