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Computer help needed! (1 Viewer)

K

Klimtology

Footballguy
Hey,

I'm running windows seven and windows won't start. It seems to be stuck in an infinite startup loop, when I turn it on I hear a whirling noise for a few seconds and then it restarts. It reaches the starting windows screen probably once out of every 10-15 tries and then restarts soon thereafter. I am able to reach the advanced option screen but none of the options fix the problem. The computer will then again to get stuck in the infinite boot loop. Startup repair, last known good configuration safe mode etc. do not work. I also tried booting directly to the win7 installation disc by changing boot order and also f12 with no luck. Got message after pressing any key: the selected entry could be loaded because the application is missing or corrupt.

A couple of days back I was able to back up most of my files but I can't boot to the win7 cd to even do a clean install. Though I'd prefer to repair the problem

Any ideas?

Would Microsoft provide tech support for win7?

Would the geek squad be a reasonable option?

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 
Also after attempting startup repair several times (which also gets caught in. Loop) the screen will go black. Should I assume it's repairing windows even after 5-10 min?

Thanks again!

 
Electricity to the house you mean?

Not that I'm aware of.

I also rarely hear a beeping noise. I've heard it maybe three times over a two day period.

Fyi

 
Last edited by a moderator:
a beep at boot-up is normal but continuous or long period of beeps means errors. im guessing the whooshing sound is your hard drive failing to spin correctly

is the fan sitting directly ontop of the processor working

 
Last edited by a moderator:
it does sound like a hard drive problem. I would not run any utilities or the likes, you could further damage the data on the drive. Hopefully only the partition that has the operating system is damaged for now, which should mean all of your data should be recoverable. if you have access to a second hard drive, install windows there and access this drive as a slave and try to access the data there. You could take the hard drive out and plug it into a second computer as a slave for this purpose as well. If there are critical data on the hard drive, take it to a professional. hard drive recovery can become very expensive, so it depends on what kind of data u got on there.

 
Thanks guys!

Isn't weird that I can't boot to the cd/DVD drive?

I don't mind doing a completely new installation of win 7. But I can't access the cd drive

In terms of hard drive failure could it just be that malware or a virus corrupted the os and that the hd itself Is not damaged? Also, would that prevent me from being able to boot to the win 7 disc?

Does it sound like a hardware or software issue?

I suppose I could call dell and ask them to help me do a clean install. The desktop is approx 2and1/2 years old

It's a dell xps 8100

Any other suggestions/recommendations?

 
Also after I backed up the files two days ago after finally booting all the way to windows the clock was off and there didn't appear to be any system restore points

I ran malware bytes and it did find something I forget the name it was dumb of me to forget to write it down. But that may just be acoincidence.

I also downloaded several win updates hoping that would resolve the prob which did not help

 
Seems like a BIOS or MBR issue on the HD

I would take that HD to another machine and see if it shows up as a data drive.

Sometimes you need to be in DOS and point to a CD ROM driver to boot to CD.

Could try using a USB key to flash your BIOS

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Is it complicated?

As I mentioned I dint mind doing a complete reinstall

Would a complete reinstall solve the issue?

I do have a USB flash drive if that helps

 
Also when I try to boot to cd and see press any key and press any key it will say 'windows is Loading files...'and then crash again and then start the infinite startup loop again

 
Klimtology said:
Not even sure what that means

I only have one machine

Should I try to reset bios defaults?
Click to expand...
Something early in the process is failing. BIOS is the first thing that comes into the picture. You are getting the setup screen so it seems OK, but you are also unable to launch a CD.

The typical software reason a hard drive won't boot is because the Master Boot Record is corrupted. There are ways to fix that, I don't know them offhand but you can look it up. If the hard drive shows up on another computer and you can see everything on it, then probably your MBR is corrupted. Viruses and Malware can do that

If that is the case I'd use another computer to get whatever you need off of that drive, wipe it and reinstall win7, then put your stuff back on

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks for responding!

I already have all that I need off the drive. Would you explain how to wipe the drive and reinstall win 7 or provide a link on how to do so?

As I mentioned I'm hVing trouble accessing the win7 cd

 
a virus wouldn't give a whooshing sound. save yourself time and get a new HD since all data is backed up

 
Step by step instructions would be awesome. Anyone have a link?

The geek squad said it would take 7-10 business days to fix

Dell said that software support would cost $129 for three days and would not include hardware support

Should I bring it to a local repair shop?

Tia

 
10 days. ###### geek squad.

I'd see if there's anyone on craigslist or a nearby college who work on this for like $25 an hour. You probably just need a new hard drive but without a second machine there's no way to know for sure.

 
dude go get a hard drive, replace new hard drive with old. put win7 cd in, cmos - boot priority. set cd rom to top priority. follow onscreen instructions

 
Staples has a sata 3hd on sale. Would that be compatible with a sata 2 hd?

Sata 2 is what I have currently

Also the PC will occasionally beep 4times

According to dell that indicates a ram read/write failure

:myheadhurts:

 
Klimtology said:
Staples has a sata 3hd on sale. Would that be compatible with a sata 2 hd?

Sata 2 is what I have currently

Also the PC will occasionally beep 4times

According to dell that indicates a ram read/write failure

:myheadhurts:
Click to expand...
unplug the hard drive and start it and see if it gets to the BIOS post screen

 
Fuller said:
Klimtology said:
Staples has a sata 3hd on sale. Would that be compatible with a sata 2 hd?

Sata 2 is what I have currently

Also the PC will occasionally beep 4times

According to dell that indicates a ram read/write failure

:myheadhurts:
Click to expand...
unplug the hard drive and start it and see if it gets to the BIOS post screen
Click to expand...
There are two wires attached to the hard driveShould I detach them both?

And then attempt to boot?

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Ok I completely disconnected the hard drive and the machine is malfunctioning in the same way - 2 to 3 seconds on and then it restarts again (over and over)

This means that it's not the hard drive right?

:unsure:

 
Wow!

Finally got it booted up!

Disconnected the hard drive like fuller suggested. Both cables. Then attempted to boot. Same problem!

While I had the machine open I made sure the RAM was firmly in the motherboard and reconnected both cables.

Then I started the machine and it booted all the way up to startup repair!

Which said it could not repair it automatically, but when running startup repair again it indicated there were no problems to repair.

Then I clicked finish and the computer restarted all the way back to windows!

What a relief!

I'm still not sure what's wrong with the computer exactly. But, I'll probably try to reinstall or repair the os before shutting it down again.

Thanks everyone for all your help!

Typing on that Ipad is SLOW.

 
congrats.

if you're going to do a lookover of the hardware, check the cpu heatsink as well, could be an actual fan depending on your setup. Not the case fans, whatever is sitting directly on top of your cpu. I had this type of behavior on my old rig a long time ago and the heat dissipating putty had either worn out or dissipated so the heat was not being removed from the cpu. replacing that (under $10) and putting the heatsink back on did the trick for me.

 
Thank you!

Ok, so what's my best option going forward?

Should I attempt a repair install? An upgrade install? Or a clean install?

Aren't a repair install and an upgrade install the same thing?

I'm thinking a repair install. It's recommended to uninstall service pack 1 if it doesn't come with the win7 installation disc(which it doesn't). Then run the 'upgrade' install. Then reinstall sp1.

I was also considering running a chkdisk on the c drive before the repair install , but the computer needs to be restarted to do so and I'm afraid I won't be able to reboot back to windows.

 
I think it's possible, but I'm not 100% sure. I checked and all three fans are spinning properly.

My guess is that it was either the Ram, or that disconnecting and reconnecting the hd 'reset' something and allowed it to boot all the way to windows.

I'm pretty certain that there are some corrupted files on the os so I want to repair it in some way. The question is which method.

I'm leaning towards an 'repair install' aka 'upgrade install'.

Anyone have advice on the subject?

 
We had a problem with some Dell pcs getting stuck trying to wake up from deep sleep that would do almost the same thing: you'd press power, it would run for about 3 seconds then shut off or reboot.

Work arounds were

1. Unplugging the power, letting it sit a few minutes, then hold the power button in for another few seconds before plugging it back in.

2. Pushing the power button several times at start up.

3. Finally the real fix: going into BIOS and telling it to never go into Deep sleep.

Anyway, your description is very similar but not exact, so I wouldn't mess with these unless the problem reappears, but if it does come back and #3 fixes it, wa la, you just avoided paying Geek Squad like $200.

 
Walking Boot said:
It could have just been the RAM wasn't seated correctly? ...
Click to expand...
Sure sounds like it...

Klimtology said:
Also the PC will occasionally beep 4times

According to dell that indicates a ram read/write failure

:myheadhurts:
Click to expand...
Klimtology said:
While I had the machine open I made sure the RAM was firmly in the motherboard and reconnected both cables.

Then I started the machine and it booted all the way up to startup repair!
Click to expand...
 
Your motherboard is ever heating the CPU. I wager your machine is approaching 5 years old? If so you'll likely see this again in the near future.

 
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