The last bit makes me suspect memory problems - but the system completes POST - which I presume reads through the memory. So the memory is presumably OK -
That leads on to something else generating memory problems possibly Excessive heat Lack of power Is the battery OK Well, using mains power, can you play a music CD without booting windows on that system Can you do it using the battery What if the system gets an 8 hour charge and - if the battery is giving up - then avoid doing anything that would be expected to stop the system working if you do not complete it - It is beginning to sound as if you need to take the PC to a service place where the staff can check the battery, memory, CPU and drive separately JimB ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rod Lindgren" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2005 3:49 PM Subject: Re: Hardware: Laptop won't boot > Made the attempt and got further than yesterday. When I attempted the Recovery Console, I was asked for the Admin Password. To the best of my knowledge, there isn't one, so I hit enter without attempting one. It was rejected. > > I tried my best guess at what the password was. It failed. > > Tried another and it failed and the computer shutdown. > > I booted again from the CD. This time I decided to install XP. The disk I have is an update version. It asked me to insert a qualifying product. I inserted my old Win98 CD. > > It okayed that. I opened the drive to put the XP cd back in and the computer shut down. > > I started the computer normally. For a while, the XP screen was up. Then the screen went blank, as if the Welcome screen might come up. Instead, I got a very brief flash of the blue Memory Dump Screen, and the computer shut down. > > Rod Lindgren > > -----Original Message----- > From: Windows Home/SOHO [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > James Button > Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2005 1:52 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: HARDware: Laptop won't boot > > My take on the situation.. > > The PC starts, gets through its POST, and accesses the hard drive so motherboard, CPU and memory are almost certainly OK you get to use the mouse, and keyboard so they are OK > Hard drive is spinning and has partitions set-up on it, or the system wouldn't get as far as letting you select an OS instance > > So - if my summary above is accurate, the problem is ALMOST certainly to do with the files (that should be) on the drive to allow the process that should get control when you have selected a boot OS, and mode. > > A repair may deal with them, but you need an SP2 Cd if your system is at SP2 > > An alternative is to re-install the OS and loose all files, or and (IMHO) the best alternative install a second OS instance in another location, boot that and recover your data > That will leave you with 2 OS instances - > One that works, and one that could - possible be recovered > > JimB -- ---------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Is your picture included in the Official Win-Home List Members Profiles Page? http://www.besteffort.com/winhome/Profiles.html If not, write to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
