computer freezes at start up - won't load windows

[elicash]

Hey guys been reading the site for a day trying to find a fix for my problem but I haven’t had any luck so I figured I’d start a thread. Sorry if this question is repetitive. I really appreciate the good info I have found - I read often.

Essentially my computer freezes at start up and won’t even get into windows. It is a gateway desktop from about 3 or 4 years ago (I know that’s overly vague) and is running windows XP.

I recently installed SuperAntiSpyware, Malwarebytes, adaware, firefox, and thunderbird … all seemed to be running ok until firefox and thunderbird started freezing. I also recently noticed that Norton 360 wasn’t loading - in fact when I looked for it I couln’t find it on the pc. (this is all right be for it crashed)

Now when I say freezes at startup I mean it’ll get me to the “gateway” screen with the f2 and f10 options and then after that it freezes on a black screen. Otherwise it looks like it starts the initial processes and gives the f11 prompt then freezes on a completely black screen. I have tried to boot into safe mode after tapping the f8 key and it just starts listing about a page of lines like the following and does nothing just sits there with stuff like this on it:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS\System32\Drivers\fltmgr.sys
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS\System32\Drivers\disk.sys
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS\System32\Drivers\sr.sys
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS\System32\Drivers\mup.sys

(these are not the actual ones lines just a very similar ones to give an idea of the kind of lines its showing)

I tried to reset the CMOS (or BIOS?) to factory setting per another fix option I found elsewhere but it didn’t seem to affect anything … may not have done it right though

The kicker to all this is I bought the floor model of the PC that didn’t come with discs so I have no XP discs.

Anyway I am hoping someone may have encountered this before. I do a fair amount of home recording so I am not only concerned about loosing years of recordings but also a variety of recording software that I have surely lost all the codes and discs for (I lost a lot of personal items last year in a move) … Most of my files are saved on an external hard drive so I hope these would these be safe even if the main CPU is toast?

[patio]

Recovery Console.iso

Click the link above to DLoad The XP Recovery Console...
Use your burning app to make a bootable CD with it.
Put it in the problem machine and power up.
At the Command Prompt type in fixboot and hit Enter...
Remove the CD and re-boot.
If this does not work repeat the steps above but this time type in fixmbr and hit Enter...
Again remove the CD and re-boot.
Let us know...

[elicash]

thanks for the help ... I  burned a cd with the rc.iso file on it but it didn't have an effect when i started the computer with it in. I may have created the cd wrong - is there a specific way to make a bootable disc. I just put the cd-r in and selected "open writable cd folder" and then dropped the file into the window and selected "write these files to cd" from the file menu.

[Broni]

You need to use some .iso burner...

Download, and install free Imgburn: http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download
Using Imgburn, burn rc.iso to a CD.

[Griff]

You need to use some .iso burner...

Download, and install free Imgburn: http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download
Using Imgburn, burn rc.iso to a CD.

Just to point out, you don't want to just burn the file to the cd, you want to mount it.

I made that mistake my first time 

[Broni]

ImgBurn will make the CD bootable. No other action is needed.

[elicash]

ok, so I burned it to the cd inserted the cd and it gave me a blue setup menu (I hope I burned it right not sure I remember selecting mounting an image - but since it brought up the setup menu I figured it did) - I selected 'r' (repair) ... and then it asks which installation I want to log onto ... I entered "1" because above that it lists 1: I:MiniNT

I did it once and typed fixboot in the prompt and the second time I typed fixmbr

after each start up I got the following after the pci device listing:

verifying dmi pool data ..........
Boot From CD :

NTLDR is missing
Press any key to restart

... when I press the key I get the following message:

NVIDIA Boot Agent 220.0518
Copyright (c) 2001-2005 NVIDIA Corporation
Copyright (c) 1997-2000 Intel Corporation
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting NVIDIA Boot Agent
Disk Boot Failure Insert system Disk and Press Enter


thanks everyone for the help so far ... any thoughts

[JJ 3000]

Okay, boot to the CD again. Type in 1 again to get to your windows installation and enter your password (if you have one).

We want to get to the root directory of your C drive here so type in: cd\ and press enter. You should now just see a standard C prompt.

At that prompt, type in these commands. These commands assume that your CD drive's letter is E if it not substitute your drives letter.

copy e:\i386\ntldr c:\
copy e:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\

[elicash]

I tried copying the files but it indicates they can't be located - here is what it reads:

I:\>cd i386

I:\i386>copy ntldr c:
the system cannot find the file specified

[patio]

You may need to borrow an XP CD to complete this then if the RC doesn't do the trick...
The version must match:  XP Pro = XP Pro or XP Home = XP Home
The service packs installed must also match.

[elicash]

any guess on where to find one ... or how to find out what version I have (my computer didn't come with anything)?

could I just buy an XP CD and use it?

Since I an in the market for a new computer anyway is there a way to import all my stuff off the old one - if so will the problems come with it?

[elicash]

sorry for the bump ...

Just wanted to see if I could I just buy an XP CD and use it? Having trouble tracking down the specific gateway version.
 

[patio]

No need to buy one...just boorow a Windows CD of the same version and service packs you have installed...it does not need to be a Gateway CD   Microsoft would be the best choice...