A Slight Problem With Booting XP

[Ensamvarg]

My girlfriend is having trouble with her laptop. I'm not too sure on the specs of it. I think its
512 DRR2
1.8 Ghz Single Core Intel
40 GB HDD

And it runs XP. She has told me that she tried turning it on before, and it goes straight into the options screen that has

Safe Mode
Safe Mode (with networking)
Run XP Normally
Use Last Known Good Configuration.

She says that she has tried every option on there and every time the laptop just reboots itself and goes back to that screen.

I've been on the laptop before and it runs like a snail. And that would be an understatement. There was so much going on (apparently) that everything ground to a halt if you tried multi-tasking.

My thinking is that XP is corrupt, so they should get the XP disk and try repairing it. If that fails then connect the HDD up to my PC and try and get the data off before wiping it and trying a fresh install.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

[smoker]

My thinking is that XP is corrupt, so they should get the XP disk and try repairing it. If that fails then connect the HDD up to my PC and try and get the data off before wiping it and trying a fresh install.

i think i would follow your own thinking here. and if a windows repair doesn't work, and you do a reinstall, then check all the data you removed with a decent virus scanner before loading it back on the freshly installed drive.

now might be a good time to persuade her to give linux a try!

best of luck

[Ensamvarg]

Thanks for the advice. I have been trying to persuade a few friends about the pros on Linux but still being a newbie I'm not too good at it =P
I think viruses would probably be the problem because she isn't too computer savvy. I'll give that a go when I get the chance (in a few days most likely) and then I'll report back here to say how it went.

[Chiko2008]

It can be a driver problem. Did she install any driver before the crash?

Ubuntu (http://www.linux-archive.org/ubuntu/)

[Battie]

It's getting a BSOD, but restarting automatically. Before the system starts, press F8 until you see a boot menu similar to the one you're seeing now. Choose the option to Disable Automatic Restart on System Failure. The information on the BSOD could point to the culprit.

However, if it's as bad as you say, then it might be time for a rebuild anyway. You can use your handy dandy Ubuntu Live CD to rescue her documents, since you can boot into Windows.

[rickyjones]

My girlfriend is having trouble with her laptop. I'm not too sure on the specs of it. I think its
512 DRR2
1.8 Ghz Single Core Intel
40 GB HDD

And it runs XP. She has told me that she tried turning it on before, and it goes straight into the options screen that has

Safe Mode
Safe Mode (with networking)
Run XP Normally
Use Last Known Good Configuration.

She says that she has tried every option on there and every time the laptop just reboots itself and goes back to that screen.

I've been on the laptop before and it runs like a snail. And that would be an understatement. There was so much going on (apparently) that everything ground to a halt if you tried multi-tasking.

My thinking is that XP is corrupt, so they should get the XP disk and try repairing it. If that fails then connect the HDD up to my PC and try and get the data off before wiping it and trying a fresh install.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

What you propose is exactly what I would do.

Good luck!

Sincerely,
Richard