XP / Restore question

Two parts :
1 - anyone know what is happening in XP Home when you see "Windows is
starting ... " [ JUST before the user logon icons appear ( 2 users - no
pwds)], and
2. Restore CD - " Last saved" profile? or just Factory restore ? to fix a
windows system file .

1. Neighbor has pc in boot loop - tries - reboots-tries....

I have same model (Presario 5420 ~2001 era) so put his drive in my PC to
save his pictures/music etc in case needed to reinstall XP. When I put the
drive in my Pc, ( cable select - his was second connection on primary IDE
cable) I booted my drive and it announced - "need to scan secondary
drive - was shutdown improperly" , so I first said no to see 'how bad is
it" and XP saw nothing on the drive ( so serious issue). I rebooted , then
chose " YES" to scan his drive and let it scan/fix his drive and I could
then see his files when I booted my drive - copied his files to CD in case
his disk was dying - all set.

Now with his info saved, I rebooted and ON MY PC I have had 2 boot options
on MY primary drive, ( I often have several drives in there) so I elected
to now boot his ( as secondary drive). His drive booted up - looked good.
I bought back to his house ( thinking I was done) and it hangs (his only
disk drive). So I brought it home again, and, if I make it the ONLY drive
in my PC ( as with his) using primary IDE cable - master connector , it
hangs on my PC too - same spot. Not a hardware issue on his PC.

So , as second drive :
It boots, I see XP Home startup screens, 1 minute later dev mgr scan
happens ( little boxes scanning left to right) , hear the beep, then video
goes blank ( normal so far), and then an XP logo window appears: and
HERE's where it's different -
as second drive THAT XP logo screen shortly therafter ( 1 second?) shows
"Windows is starting ... " ( in 800x600 font) and a few seconds later I
see their 2 profiles ( logon icons).

When it's the ONLY drive, I get to ' THAT XP logo screen ' ( in smaller
font (1024x768?) ) and that's it. I do NOT get the "Windows is starting
.... " info. It doesn't do that last bit. The 2 profiles are on HIS drive
so - when it DOES work - it's fetching that logon info from his drive.

At startup if I press F8 and choose SAFE MODE I see the SAFE MODE window
but then same XP logo window and hangs then too. I tried SAFE MODE with
command prompt - same thing.

Can someone tell me - that far into boot - what is happening ? What files
is it using ? Keep in mind it DID run scandisk and perhaps changed/deleted
SOME file. I can't get a log file ( bootlog.txt) to work.

It's ALMOST there and I don't know " what's NOT working?". Since I have
same PC as he does, I can copy any system file needed - but what ??
I'm debating renaming his system32 folder and copying mine into there to
see if that works, but would like to learn hw to troubleshoot it.

Since no Safe Mode, I'm assuming some system file damaged. I did boot my
drive and rename his pagefile.sys in case it was corrupt. It created
another when I booted as only drive - same symptoms.

AND when his drive is hanging, I do a hard power-off and XP never notices
that I powered it off. I EXPECTED it to announce- shutdown improperly -
need to scan disk - it doesn't.
Back in as second drive ( with another XP drive as primary) and still
works fine.

2. restore ?? With his pictures/music now saved, if I boot his Restore CD
and go back to his last save, is there a chance that it will fix this
issue ? I'm guessing that since it's a Windows glitch that I'd have to
choose " restore to factory". Having seen the menus but never done a
restore I'd just like to know what to tell him - other than " to be safe -
buy a new disk"
and after restore I'll copy XP to the new drive- and we'll put the
original away.

Thanks

On Mon, 07 Jan 2008 09:43:00 -0500, - Bobb - wrote:

> Two parts :
> 1 - anyone know what is happening in XP Home when you see "Windows is
> starting ... " [ JUST before the user logon icons appear ( 2 users -
> no pwds)], and
> 2. Restore CD - " Last saved" profile? or just Factory restore ? to fix
> a windows system file .
>
> 1. Neighbor has pc in boot loop - tries - reboots-tries....
>
> I have same model (Presario 5420 ~2001 era) so put his drive in my PC
> to save his pictures/music etc in case needed to reinstall XP. When I
> put the drive in my Pc, ( cable select - his was second connection on
> primary IDE cable) I booted my drive and it announced - "need to scan
> secondary drive - was shutdown improperly" , so I first said no to see
> 'how bad is it" and XP saw nothing on the drive ( so serious issue). I
> rebooted , then chose " YES" to scan his drive and let it scan/fix his
> drive and I could then see his files when I booted my drive - copied his
> files to CD in case his disk was dying - all set.
>
> Now with his info saved, I rebooted and ON MY PC I have had 2 boot
> options on MY primary drive, ( I often have several drives in there) so
> I elected to now boot his ( as secondary drive). His drive booted up -
> looked good. I bought back to his house ( thinking I was done) and it
> hangs (his only disk drive). So I brought it home again, and, if I make
> it the ONLY drive in my PC ( as with his) using primary IDE cable -
> master connector , it hangs on my PC too - same spot. Not a hardware
> issue on his PC.
>
> So , as second drive :
> It boots, I see XP Home startup screens, 1 minute later dev mgr scan
> happens ( little boxes scanning left to right) , hear the beep, then
> video goes blank ( normal so far), and then an XP logo window appears:
> and HERE's where it's different -
> as second drive THAT XP logo screen shortly therafter ( 1 second?) shows
> "Windows is starting ... " ( in 800x600 font) and a few seconds later I
> see their 2 profiles ( logon icons).
>
> When it's the ONLY drive, I get to ' THAT XP logo screen ' ( in smaller
> font (1024x768?) ) and that's it. I do NOT get the "Windows is starting
> ... " info. It doesn't do that last bit. The 2 profiles are on HIS
> drive so - when it DOES work - it's fetching that logon info from his
> drive.
>
> At startup if I press F8 and choose SAFE MODE I see the SAFE MODE window
> but then same XP logo window and hangs then too. I tried SAFE MODE with
> command prompt - same thing.
>
> Can someone tell me - that far into boot - what is happening ? What
> files is it using ? Keep in mind it DID run scandisk and perhaps
> changed/deleted SOME file. I can't get a log file ( bootlog.txt) to
> work.
>
> It's ALMOST there and I don't know " what's NOT working?". Since I have
> same PC as he does, I can copy any system file needed - but what ?? I'm
> debating renaming his system32 folder and copying mine into there to see
> if that works, but would like to learn hw to troubleshoot it.
>
> Since no Safe Mode, I'm assuming some system file damaged. I did boot my
> drive and rename his pagefile.sys in case it was corrupt. It created
> another when I booted as only drive - same symptoms.
>
> AND when his drive is hanging, I do a hard power-off and XP never
> notices that I powered it off. I EXPECTED it to announce- shutdown
> improperly - need to scan disk - it doesn't.
> Back in as second drive ( with another XP drive as primary) and still
> works fine.
>
> 2. restore ?? With his pictures/music now saved, if I boot his Restore
> CD and go back to his last save, is there a chance that it will fix this
> issue ? I'm guessing that since it's a Windows glitch that I'd have to
> choose " restore to factory". Having seen the menus but never done a
> restore I'd just like to know what to tell him - other than " to be safe
> - buy a new disk"
> and after restore I'll copy XP to the new drive- and we'll put the
> original away.
>
> Thanks

* * *
Bobb,

I would do a hard drive test, I like the one in speedfan, it provides raw
information locally, and then does a comparison test on-line - Use the
S.M.A.R.T. tab... ignore the fans speed hot rodding...

I also like the idea of participation of adding more Hard Drives
performance figures to to his growing database...

Bobb, if anything looks a bit odd then I would go get the Hard drive
manufactures diagnostic software...

Ben, also had a different Hard Drive testing application that read the
S.M.A.R.T. info... But that would be my next check, remember drives are
reasonablly priced today...

JR the postman

Download HDAT2 and run it. You will find out a lot about the health of your
hard drive. http://www.hdat2.com/

.... Ben Myers

On Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:12:15 GMT, Postman Delivers <>
wrote:

<SNIP>
>
>* * *
>Bobb,
>
>I would do a hard drive test, I like the one in speedfan, it provides raw
>information locally, and then does a comparison test on-line - Use the
>S.M.A.R.T. tab... ignore the fans speed hot rodding...
>
>I also like the idea of participation of adding more Hard Drives
>performance figures to to his growing database...
>
>Bobb, if anything looks a bit odd then I would go get the Hard drive
>manufactures diagnostic software...
>
>Ben, also had a different Hard Drive testing application that read the
>S.M.A.R.T. info... But that would be my next check, remember drives are
>reasonablly priced today...
>
>JR the postman
>
>

Thanks guys, but my question isn't hardware/ disk-test related. The price
of a new hard drive is immaterial. I'm just trying to see if I can "fix
his drive" without wiping/reinstalling XP.
And then about Quickrestore CD - if I boot it on his PC ( his restore
partition is fine), will I see menu showing his backup points/dates or
just "return his pc to factory software " ?
Thanks


Two parts :
1 - anyone know what is happening in XP Home when you see "Windows is
starting ... " [ JUST before the user logon icons appear ( 2 users - no
pwds)], and
2. Restore CD - " Last saved" profile? or just Factory restore ? to fix a
windows system file .
<snipped>

"Ben Myers" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Download HDAT2 and run it. You will find out a lot about the health of
> your
> hard drive. http://www.hdat2.com/
>
> ... Ben Myers
>
> On Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:12:15 GMT, Postman Delivers
> <>
> wrote:
>
> <SNIP>
>>
>>* * *
>>Bobb,
>>
>>I would do a hard drive test, I like the one in speedfan, it provides
>>raw
>>information locally, and then does a comparison test on-line - Use the
>>S.M.A.R.T. tab... ignore the fans speed hot rodding...
>>
>>I also like the idea of participation of adding more Hard Drives
>>performance figures to to his growing database...
>>
>>Bobb, if anything looks a bit odd then I would go get the Hard drive
>>manufactures diagnostic software...
>>
>>Ben, also had a different Hard Drive testing application that read the
>>S.M.A.R.T. info... But that would be my next check, remember drives are
>>reasonablly priced today...
>>
>>JR the postman
>>
>>

The point of our recommendations to run diagnostics is that if the hard drive is
failing, doing most anything else in software (factory restore, etc) is likely
to muck up the drive contents even more. Or, at minimum, you will spin your
wheels and waste time trying to fix a hardware problem with software.

To state it differently, and to paraphrase Davy Crockett, make sure the hardware
is right, then go ahead. Whenever a computer is flaky, if you do not have the
assurance that the hardware is in 100% operational condition, then anything else
may be futile.

I could think up other ways of stating this important point about hardware
reliability, but you should get my drift by now. Now run hard drive
diagnostics, please, and let us know the results... Ben Myers

On Tue, 8 Jan 2008 08:36:26 -0500, "- Bobb -" <bobb@noemail.123> wrote:

>
>Thanks guys, but my question isn't hardware/ disk-test related. The price
>of a new hard drive is immaterial. I'm just trying to see if I can "fix
>his drive" without wiping/reinstalling XP.
>And then about Quickrestore CD - if I boot it on his PC ( his restore
>partition is fine), will I see menu showing his backup points/dates or
>just "return his pc to factory software " ?
>Thanks
>
>
>Two parts :
>1 - anyone know what is happening in XP Home when you see "Windows is
>starting ... " [ JUST before the user logon icons appear ( 2 users - no
>pwds)], and
>2. Restore CD - " Last saved" profile? or just Factory restore ? to fix a
>windows system file .
><snipped>
>
>"Ben Myers" <> wrote in message
>news:.. .
>> Download HDAT2 and run it. You will find out a lot about the health of
>> your
>> hard drive. http://www.hdat2.com/
>>
>> ... Ben Myers
>>
>> On Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:12:15 GMT, Postman Delivers
>> <>
>> wrote:
>>
>> <SNIP>
>>>
>>>* * *
>>>Bobb,
>>>
>>>I would do a hard drive test, I like the one in speedfan, it provides
>>>raw
>>>information locally, and then does a comparison test on-line - Use the
>>>S.M.A.R.T. tab... ignore the fans speed hot rodding...
>>>
>>>I also like the idea of participation of adding more Hard Drives
>>>performance figures to to his growing database...
>>>
>>>Bobb, if anything looks a bit odd then I would go get the Hard drive
>>>manufactures diagnostic software...
>>>
>>>Ben, also had a different Hard Drive testing application that read the
>>>S.M.A.R.T. info... But that would be my next check, remember drives are
>>>reasonablly priced today...
>>>
>>>JR the postman
>>>
>>>