Windows wont finish booting.

My desktop computer won't completely boot anymore today. It was working last night, and the last things i did with it were basically some maintenance. Mainly just defragging the hard disks, and deleted some old files of mine that were taking up space. I don't remember changing any system preferences or anything. It seems to start up normally, but at about the end of the screen were it says windows xp and has that little blue, spinning, progress bar, is were it messes up. The num lock, scroll lock, and caps lock lights blink at once together, then go out, and the blue progress thingy stutters a bit, then the screen goes blank and the system sits there unresponsive to anything. Pressing numlock/scroll lock/caps lock won't turn there status lights on, and i tried pressing the sleep button on the keyboard, and it doesn't do anything.

As to what i have tried so far, i have unplugged it to try to reset it (such as if the cpu was having troubles (ie. one of the very rare times were it "operates at an unsafe speed"), and unplugging the power would fix that. While i had it unplugged, i thought, why don't i dust it, its prolly pretty bad (i have a dusty room b/c i right next to laundry room). So dusted it with air compressor, then hooked it back up. and no dice, same trouble.

Does anyone have any ideas as whether this is software or hardware, and any ideas of how to fix it? Preferreably without formatting (unless its the only way, just don't really want the hassle of trying to save the stuff i have on my drives)

 

It sounds more like software error.

Are you running XP ? If you have the XP disk, you can do a repair which will hopefully solve the problem. It doesn't reformat your computer so your files will still be there.

 

Did you try starting "last known good configuration"?

If that doesn't work (it's doubtful that it will) what SouthernGirl suggests should do the trick.

 

Yeah, i tried that too, it didn't work, guess i will dig out my xp disc and try to repair it. Hopefully it works.

I really should start backing up things i want. I like never backup. Data loss is a disaster waiting to happen for me.

 

Just in case you haven't done a repair before, I would suggest using this site:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

It won't delete any of your files...just repair the registery and other issues. It will delete all of your service packs though, so you'll need to update XP again if you get back in.
SG

 

The Repair Install option is great -- I definately second (third?) the previous recommendations for doing this. All that it touches are the system files -- your data stays safe and sound.

 

Well, I tried using the repair Install option, Not the Recovery console, and it still hangs at the same point.

This is annoying, luckily i have backup computers/laptops.

 

Then its got to be hardware issue.

The repair would have fixed any issues that XP had.

 

what piece of hardware do you think it could be? I will try running a memory test later to see if there is a ram problem.

 

In all honesty, I really don't know.

I really thought that the repair would fix it. I don't know of very many instances where a repair didn't fix windows.

Maybe a full install is the only way it is going to repair itself if it is an XP issue.

If it is hardware, I would guess the harddrive.

 

Yup looks like the HD is dying. Can you try another HD? If its not the HD, then its the memory

 

I'm pretty sure its a hardware issue. Your hdd is dying as seb say. I don't think you could recover your data now.
I had a similar problem with my vaio desktop.

 

well, somehow, i have managed to temporarily get back in, and either it is processing alot, or it is running slower. After running memtest, it seems that my ram is okay. I guess i will try to copy stuff to other drives and see what i can do. in the mean time, i don't think i will turn it off.

 

backup!!! while you can

 

LOL, yep, I'm with Seb. I don't think keeping it on will stop it from dying, so better back it up now while you have it working vs. waking up in the morning with it dead.

If the HD is going, then its going to go whether the computer is on or not.

 

after running hd tune, the older 5400 drive seems to have a higher average data rate then the newer 7200 drive. so in process of backing up now.

well, by leaving it on, its on, if i were to turn it off, i might not get back in.

 

Is it a maxtor?? ;;;

 

You are lucky this time, when i had this problem, I couldn't even get to back up my stuff.

 

I think it is a western digital.

 

X.X;

Its faily uncommon for western digitals to die that way. Maybe its overheat. Get a HD heatsink

 

i just realized that this could account for the seemingly lagging performance that i have noticed recently. It was kinda starting to bug me, that fact that it seemed to be slowing down.

 

I would not go investing any money in new hardware until you try a new OS install. I have seen things like this before where a repair install would not fix the problem.

Also, have you tried Safe Mode?

 

I tried it once, but it didn't work, it just froze while trying to boot into safe mode.

I really dont want to do a fresh install, but if i have to, i have to.

 

Well sounds like you may be running out of options. Given that other things may have been occuring that led up to this your computer may work better than it has in a long time when you goet through with it.

 

I only reformated it last summer. So really, it should have been pretty clean still. Granted things are getting old tho. I think the motherboard was replaced about 3 years ago to, When it died due to bad ram, and apparently the motherboard had surge damage.