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Solve : computer freezes at start up - won't load windows?

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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?
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...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.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.
Quote from: Broni on APRIL 27, 2009, 08:20:18 PM

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 ImgBurn will make the CD bootable. No other action is needed.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 thoughtsOkay, 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:\
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
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.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? 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.
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...


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