having difficulties rebooting and starting windows

[TurcoLoco]

I agree with Jholland, something doesn't add up. Before you mentioned that this XP installation was an upgrade, from all the modifications and other indication, I could tell this system was upgraded to XP from an older flavor of Windows which 50% spells 'trouble'.

Even worse, this was an upgrade from already unstable and problematic Windows Me. I didn't get the part where you mentioned

Windows XP over NT operating system

How did the NT factor into this? Was Windows NT installed after Me or was it an incorrect info and the system was upgraded from Me to XP?

If you enable viewing hidden files and system files under Folder Options > Advanced section, take a look at the root of the C and D drives to see where and how many Boot.ini file variations you see. You might see stuff like Boot.bak or OLD_Boot.ini which would indicate that there are multiple (yet hidden from XP) copies of the Boot.ini file, thus would confirm your statement abuot Boot file being modified previously.

If you open MS Config tool (Start > Run > msconfig > OK) and click on the BOOT.INI page and click the 'Check all Boot Paths' button to see if XP verfies the current path being valid or gives you an error.
Also make sure there are no funky option selected under the 'Advanced' button.
My guess is either this system got hit by a malware or the system/boot files were corrupted due...whatever. I think a fresh install of XP is overdue but for now you could try fixing it.

~TL

[ladywolf718]

IT? [/B]and what do you mean ???
If you reformat you do wipe out the operating system and then reinstall it. Please answer my questions.
You also state you use Registry Mechanic on a monthly basis. This is totally unnecessary. A registry editor should never be used as a regular maintenance procedure.

sorry i missie your question earlier didnt mean too... when it was reformating it got almost to the end, then came up with an error and had to terminate. Because i only had the upgrade version and not the full version i couldnt reinstall it. it wanted to verify i had a windows operating system before it would "upgrade" so thats what happened it errored and left me with an empty system..
ok so how do i get rid of the other firewall.... and not destroy ez? if i have 2...wow interesting i didnt install 2

[ladywolf718]

I agree with Jholland, something doesn't add up. Before you mentioned that this XP installation was an upgrade, from all the modifications and other indication, I could tell this system was upgraded to XP from an older flavor of Windows which 50% spells 'trouble'.

Even worse, this was an upgrade from already unstable and problematic Windows Me. I didn't get the part where you mentioned How did the NT factor into this? Was Windows NT installed after Me or was it an incorrect info and the system was upgraded from Me to XP?

If you enable viewing hidden files and system files under Folder Options > Advanced section, take a look at the root of the C and D drives to see where and how many Boot.ini file variations you see. You might see stuff like Boot.bak or OLD_Boot.ini which would indicate that there are multiple (yet hidden from XP) copies of the Boot.ini file, thus would confirm your statement abuot Boot file being modified previously.

If you open MS Config tool (Start > Run > msconfig > OK) and click on the BOOT.INI page and click the 'Check all Boot Paths' button to see if XP verfies the current path being valid or gives you an error.
Also make sure there are no funky option selected under the 'Advanced' button.
My guess is either this system got hit by a malware or the system/boot files were corrupted due...whatever. I think a fresh install of XP is overdue but for now you could try fixing it.

~TL

ok orginaly.... several years back, i had windows ME in my computer. i hated it. hubby and i went out and bought the upgrade. anything to get rid of ME. after a few months i had some problems and contacted microsoft. they talked me thru my first clean install and all seemed good. several months later my computer picked up websearch toolbar and i could not get rid of it at all... tried everything that was suggested to me. it was recommended the drive be reformated again to get rid of the regenerating strands of websearch. the reformating began, got all the way thru to 95% said there was a problem and stopped. after it stopped..poof the operating system of windows was gone. in order to use the upgrade and put back xp i needed an operating system. a friend burned a disk he had and when i did the drive again, it asked for a full version of windows to verify the operating system, i put in the disk that was made.. it went thru for about 30 secounds and asked for the xp disk again. i put it in and it finished formatting. after all the icons came up its realized even tho the drive is fat i see many many things labled NT... here are a few i copy and pasted for you to see...$NtUninstallKB896422_0$,,,$NtUninstallKB9254 86$. I have other features i was told only are in Nt like wireless networking wizard.

[ladywolf718]

you enable viewing hidden files and system files under Folder Options > Advanced section, take a look at the root of the C and D drives to see where and how many Boot.ini file variations you see. You might see stuff like Boot.bak or OLD_Boot.ini which would indicate that there are multiple (yet hidden from XP) copies of the Boot.ini file, thus would confirm your statement abuot Boot file being modified previously.

If you open MS Config tool (Start > Run > msconfig > OK) and click on the BOOT.INI page and click the 'Check all Boot Paths' button to see if XP verfies the current path being valid or gives you an error.
Also make sure there are no funky option selected under the 'Advanced' button.
My guess is either this system got hit by a malware or the system/boot files were corrupted due...whatever. I think a fresh install of XP is overdue but for now you could try fixing it.


oh and if i have 2 firewalls definatly running could you please help me to identify them seperatly so i can shut 1 off... i know windows is not running.... ez should be the only 1 .. IS truevector/ zonelabs the other?


everything says its normal..it says exactly it appears that all
BOOT.INI lines for microsoft operating system are ok. nothing is checked off under the advanced option either. I thank you both i think i figured out my booting issue it was lack of resources for the video adapter, i freed up resources, updated the drivers and it seems to be booting normaly again... still wont go into safe mode if i hit f8. the issue with the screen seperating was me downloading the wrong drivers. i have the right ones now. no more other issues except safemode. any idea what happened ..and why i cant f8 into safemode ( it will now boot if i click it in msconfig area)

[jholland1964]

I don't mind telling you...I am TOTALLY confused! So you are saying that absolutely nothing is wrong with the computer?
What happens when you click F8? and When are you clicking F8? and have you ever been able to use F8 to go to safe mode? I never use that, I always use msconfig to go to safe mode.

[ladywolf718]

I am sorry if i confussed you. I fixed the other problems in my computer. the only 2 problems i now have left are safemode... understanding why i cant go into it from F*... it you restart your computer and when it starts to reboot, if you hit F* it will boot up the choice screen asking if you want to boot normal safemode with networking reg safemode ect.. but for some reason when i hit F*.. what i get is a repeat of the text used for booting into windows i just dont understand what happened and if thats a problem i should worry about now. also you mentioned to me i had 2 firewalls running. imnow tring to sort that out. i know running 2 is a no no and i cant figure out how i would of gotten 2 in there. i need to find and identify the other so i can delete it out.

[jholland1964]

You should begin hitting F8 as soon as you reboot the computer. On a computer that is configured for booting to multiple operating systems, you can press the F8 key when the Boot Menu appears.
Is the computer configured to boot to multiple operating systems?
If you CAN get into Safe Mode using msconfig then don't worry about it. If you CANNOT get into Safe Mode at all then we will have to find a way to do so.
You may only have the one firewall. I am so confused now that when I saw Zone Alarm listed also I thought two, at this point I just don't know.

[ladywolf718]

NetMeeting, Windows NT ( these are just a few files I found in the programs i wanted to show you so you know i wsnt just making up the NT thing) i also have 3 folders lable found.001, found.002, found003 taking up more than 200mb of space. any idea what these are. Im not a computer expert so i dont know whats SUPPOSED to be here. all i know its not right. I know I was able to boot into safe mode with F8. I always thought it was neat, but i cant now. I can go into safemode thru the msconfig so i guess i will have to just leave it alone. I found it yesterday in my computer it said zonelabs was a client of CA. im assuming that means all the strand in hijack this are to 1 program..lol ( looked for it again this morning so i could show you but i cant find it and dont remember where it was)
after my computer was redone the last time it would not go into the sleep mode. everything IN my computer said that option didnt exsist anymore. but ALL of a sudden I have that option back again. something changed in my computer. I dont know how to do snapshots or screen shots ect. or id show you all the programs and maybe you could help me firgure this out. Im not completely computer stupid... i know enough to "get me by" and i know if it aint broke leave it alone...lol
but when something CHANGES and you didnt do anything to it..there must be a reason for it. do you understand what i mean. My computer has been attacked by malware, and viruses. last 1 was last week a html virus came in..its listed 3 times but only listed once as quarentined. i searched and search adn still havent found the other 2, so im assuming it only entered once and was quarentined.

[F1]

All posts from #18 have been deleted due to the nature of the content. I do not like my tech threads turning into battlegrounds from misunderstandings so any info in those posts are lost and will need to be addressed. ladywolf718, I'm sorry your help thread turned out this way but sometimes things just happen.


Charlie
IANAG Admin

[ladywolf718]

All posts from #18 have been deleted due to the nature of the content. I do not like my tech threads turning into battlegrounds from misunderstandings so any info in those posts are lost and will need to be addressed. ladywolf718, I'm sorry your help thread turned out this way but sometimes things just happen.

Charlie
IANAG Admin

wow ..
im sorry i didnt mean to cause any problems. i havent taken anything offensively either..anything that can be suggested is of help. i might not be able to do everything suggested but.... i do appreciate all the help.
ok moving onto something to go along with the above. This morning I went to use my pc, and surprise its changed... FOR the worst. the old issues are back with the restarting. the items i disable late last week to the display adapter would run...have all turned themselves back on. I had my monitor set to run with 32 bits color and that setting has disappeared, the screen was set at 1024 x which ever it was it was ( originally i had too choices when i changed that, 800 x 600 and 1024 x whatever it was. now i have more options?) i disabled things in the harware manger im not using so the adaptor could go back to normal and i rebooted... things still havent changed. I dont understand what happened? and other than replacing the harddrive how do i get more resources. ( the things i turned off were printer ports, dial-up modem ect stuff I know im not using.)