[webdesigner]

My computer froze during Call of Duty 4 and would get an error about a System 32 file being missing and wouldn't start up. So I put in the Windows XP Home Setup disk, and used the Fixboot and Fixmbr commmands. When I started up again it gave me a NTLDR error... Long story short I ended up reformating my HD, and reinstalling Windows XP. Now it will flash the Motherboards logo, and start to post and then just reboot and loop. :confused: I've changed out the RAM, and it didn't do anything. The motherboard's lights are all green. Please Help.

My Specs if you need them:
CPU: Core 2 Quad Q6600
HD: Western Digital 500GB 7200RPM
VGA: nVidia 8800 GT
MB: MSI P6N SLI Platinum
OS: Windows XP Home Edition Upgrade w/ SP2

[JBeaucaire]

When booting, press F8 before the Windows logo appears and select:

DISABLE AUTOMATIC RESTART ON SYSTEM FAILURE

Now when it fails, it won't reboot and you will see the blue screen displaying what the computer was doing when it stopped, probably a corrupt driver. Note down what it says and deal with that component.

[JBeaucaire]

If it's a hardware issue, you may be able to play detective and keep disconnecting components until the system successfully boots.

Also, use the install CD to boot to the recovery console and try a chkdsk /p
Then remove the disk and reboot.

[webdesigner]

When booting, press F8 before the Windows logo appears and select:

DISABLE AUTOMATIC RESTART ON SYSTEM FAILURE

Ok, I know F8 for advanced options, but I only get these options:
Safe Mode
- w/ Networking
- w/ Command Prompt

Boot Logging
VGA Mode
Last known Good Config
Directory Services Restore Mode
Debugging Mode

Start Windows Normally
Reboot
Return to OS Choices Menu
...

And I tried Chkdsk /p, It said everything was fine, didn't help the reboot problem.

Any idea how to turn off reboot on sys fail?

[Scleros]

If it's restarting during POST but before loading the operating system you have a hardware issue. If you can get into the BIOS setup, set it to boot from floppy or anything but hard drive and see if it finishes POST. Disabling the logo and showing full POST messages would be helpful too.

[webdesigner]

Ok, I turned off the logo, it seems to POST fine, but when it tries to start windows it crashes. :confused: The HDD POSTed fine, and it's not an old HDD. So JB, I agree it's probably a driver. I need to know how to disable restart on system fail. Scleros it won't boot with a rescue disk I made. The only Windows thing I can start up to is the install CD. Thanks for your help.

[JBeaucaire]

Black startup screen is briefly displayed and your computer restarts repeatedly when you try to start Windows XP

You need to get into Windows at least once to permanently turn it off. How dumb is that? The link above provides 4 ways of trying to get in and get the existing Windows installation to show the boot messages so you can find the offending problem. One of them suggests installing a second copy of Windows in another location, booting THAT one, using some registry hacks to load some fixes from the new install into the old one, then rebooting the old one. Ugh.

Have a read and see if you can make it work.

[JBeaucaire]

Here is another approach - renaming your existing Windows install folder, then installing new again into a Windows folder of the original name. This may get you on board. Good luck:
====================
Seriously, it's a rather low-brow approach to the problem. In my case, I popped the WinXP CD in, booted off that (might have to configure BIOS to prefer the CD in the boot sequence) and put it into (R)ecovery mode. Logon to the appropriate partition (in most cases, the one with the OS installed) and if necessary provide the administrator password. You're put into a sort of "limited command shell" of sorts... the only folders you have access to are %Systemroot%\Windows and the CD-ROM that you booted from.

Here's the dicey part, not for the faint of heart...

• issue a "RENAME WINDOWS WINORIG" command and hit <ENTER>. Once you issue that, there's no turning back.
• Reset the machine and boot again off the CD.
• This time do an install.
• When it asks which partition, give it the root partition (in most cases C:) and (watch this) MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT CHOOSE THE OPTION TO DELETE THE CONTENTS ON THE PARTITION YOU CHOOSE!!! (Assuming you want to have access to your existing files.) This will go through the same process as if you were putting a fresh installation of Windows on the device, INCLUDING a re-write of the registry, which I suspect is where the little booger that kept trashing the system resides.
• Once it gets done churning away, you have essentially two copies of the OS on the same partition.
• You may also notice when you first power up that you have two identical OS's to choose from...choose the top one, or just let the machine auto-select after it times down for 30 seconds.

Now, a few things to point out:

1) Although your original files will be intact because of the new registry, it will likely not allow you to use many of those applications (MS Office, for instance.) That's okay for my purposes; I simply needed access to my irreplaceable files (documents, address books, this year's tax forms, etc.) Once I back these up, the whole enchilada gets reformatted and re-installed.

2) This was done with an original "fresh" install CD, not an upgrade. I'm not sure what sort of validation routines an upgrade disc will use, but you may want to have your copy of Win98/2K/ME around to pop in, just in case.

3) I opted NOT to (re-)Activate Windows XP at this time, and for two reasons: a) I plan on wiping the system and re-installing as soon as I back up my files, and b) in the process of trouble-shooting the system, I wound up replacing both the video card and NIC, and don't want to get zapped by Micro$oft for too many changes to the setup. So for now, I'll put up with the "occassional" reminders that pop up.

Hope this helps. Again, was neither pretty nor elegant, but served my purpose of getting at my files to back them up. Good luck. Let me know how you make out with the machine next week.
=================

[JBeaucaire]

ANOTHER APPROACH:
When you start your computer, the Microsoft Windows XP start up screen appears, and then the computer restarts. The Windows XP logon screen does not appear. This error can occur if the Kernel32.dll file is missing or damaged.

To resolve this issue, use the Windows Recovery Console to extract a new copy of the Kernel32.dll file from the original Windows XP compact disc (CD). To do this, follow these steps:

1. Start the Recovery Console. If you do not have the Recovery Console installed, start it from the Windows XP compact disc (CD). To do this, follow these steps:

a. Insert the Windows XP CD and restart the computer. If prompted, select any options required to boot from the CD.

b. When the text-based part of Setup begins, follow the prompts; choose the repair or recover option by pressing R.

c. If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot system, choose the installation that you need to access from the recovery console.

d. When prompted, type the Administrator password.

2. At the command prompt, type "cd system32" (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.

3. Type "ren kernel32.dll kernel32.old" (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.

4. Type "map" (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.

5. Note the drive letter assigned to the CD-ROM drive that contains the Windows XP CD. It is displayed in a format similar to the following: D: \Device\CdRom0

6. Type "expand <drive>\i386\kernel32.dl_" (without the quotation marks) (where <drive> is the drive letter of the CD-ROM drive that contains the Windows XP CD), and then press ENTER. For example:

Expand d:\i386\kernel32.dl_ <ENTER>

Note the underscore character after the "L" in Kernel32.dl_

The following message appears: Kernel32.dll, 1 file(s) expanded.

7. Type "exit" (without the quotation marks). The computer restarts.

8. Remove the Windows XP CD and start the computer normally.

[Scleros]

Personally, I'd back up the entire drive with imaging software or at least my data, wipe the drive, and start over.

Does your XP media have SP2 integrated or did you apply SP2 yourself? SP1 or later is required for large drive support (>137 GB). I'm wondering if that's the issue.

Also, if you hit F8 can you enter safe mode?