I came home today and installed the new Updates Windows had waiting for me. Checked em out nothing like drivers just some security issue and some malware thing. I went ahead and installed the update and now when i boot up my PC won't get past the windows boot screen. It just keeps rebooting non stop now. I tried going in safe mode and that doesn't work. It keeps rebooting over and over. tried safe mode with comand prompt and dind't work either. What would you guys recomend.

K Rock XP

Doesn't sound too promising-try doing a repair install:

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm#Warning1

One thing to remember which I don't think is covered in this guide is, if asked to enter a user name during the repair install process, skip this step or you won't be able to access your files.

Wow this sucks. I'm so angry right now. Those repair things are always bad news. I think i'm just gonna repair and then see if i get any problems. if i do i'll back up files and do a clean install. All this becuase of soem stupid security fix.

Damn you Microsoft

any luck?

This might sound crazy and pointless since its an update that seeminly started this, but unplug the cable from your hard drive and from your motherboard an then plug it back in. Then, try going to the recovery console and logon to your windows account. Once you get the C:/WINDOWS and are logged in, try typing bootcfg /default. Make sure your windows installation is the default or even on the list. If it is, try a fixboot. It will rewrite the boot sector for the partition you are fixing. You would type "fixboot /c:" (exactly like that without the quotation marks) after C:/WINDOWS. This should only be a last ditch effort. It should work though.

Actually, it should be look like C:/WINDOWS>fixboot c:
It's been awhile for me if you need any help, just type /help at the command prompt and it will give you the list of possible commands.

Nothings worked so far i'm going to try that thing u recommended (unplug HDD etc.) We'll see what happens. I'm trying to repair the OS (I HATE DOING THIS CAUSE THE PC WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!) but need to get my SATA drivers on a floppy so windows XP boot CD will see my HDD. I'll update you guys on my findings tonight. and for the record. (K Rock XP= a very sad guy.) i'm gonna buy a external HDD this week and back my thing up bi weekly.

K Rock XP

Okay. Yeah either way DO be sure to let us know what happens. If ALL else fails and you are sure you are just going to have to format, you can always try a fixmbr instead of a fixboot. at the c:/windows prompt just type fixmbr and type enter. Just do this if everything else fails. This attempts a fix of the master boot record. If it doesn't work, it could make all the partitions completely inaccessible (it will warn you with this possibility). So it's the last step (as far as I know) between trying to repair or use fixboot and formatting. If you can get the thing on another computer, something like partition table doctor 3.0 could probably fix the problem for you. You can find it at download.com.

cool no problem. well the problem is i can't get into the command prompt to try and repair/recover anything i'll try the disconnect thing but i doubt it will work i'll post about my findings tonight or tomorrow. (at work now...lol)

did the disconnect thing and still can't get into a command prompt. i'm gonna try and repair the install (GRRRRRRRRR )

K Rock XP

just out of curiousity, is your copy key for XP legit? Microsoft has some sort of "Genuine Windows" checker now and they are pretty sneeky when it comes to updates.

You didn't get this off of bit torrent did ya

The only way you are going to get into a command prompt, like I said, is with the Windows XP CD. From the Windows Setup/Install menu, go to the recovery/repair console (AKA command prompt). From there try try the fixboot stuff.

well i'm back at it again. turns out that. my brother has some Dell machines laying around. their bios is a little more friendly so i went ahead and poped in the drive scanned for virus's, etc. Everything was fine. I disconnected the Dell drive and put mine in. i was able to get to the repair console. so far everyhting looks good. I'll let you guys know what ends up happening. oh and my version of windows is not legit. but it is a good copy. and that validation thing isn't enforced with auto updates. if by any chance it was, then i wouldn't be the only person posting....hehe. Thanks again guys for all the help.

K Rock XP

My hp pavillion laptiop crapped out wouldn't boot up as a result of updating and ALL of my software is legit. I feel screwed but my drive is now hissing. I've chkdsk'd numerous times. and I unfortunatly will need to swap out the drive and replace it. HITTING F8 every half-second aftter the laptop logo comes-on will bring you to the MS Configuration starrt-up Menu

was this recent? I remember reviewing the updates one was a security update the other a malware thing and i don't remember the last one. i was able to repair the OS when on the Dell but when i put my drive back in my pc. it started rebooting again and agian and again. i'm gonna see what happens when i put it back in the dell. i'll do that tonight i gave up last night and went to sleep.

K Rock XP

You have to repair it in its own machine most of the time. A tried to fix a friend's HD that was suffering from the same problem and fixed it on my computer as master, put it back in theres and it doesn't work because of the information that is in the CMOS/BIOS/POST/bootstrap. It's probably useless now, unless you can do a fixboot or fixmbr in its original machine. OR, instead of going to the repair console, go to install windows and an option will come up that says install over existing installation or something like that. That SHOULD replace important system files and maybe boot files. But if none of those works and making a boot disk/startup disk doesn't work, I don't know what to tell ya.

i'm losing it. Windows won't find the RAID drivers for the SATA drive on the floppy i put in. i tried the new ones and old ones nothing works. it looks in it the light turns on then it goes back to insert floppy. i'm really happy about my pda(SX66) it's been the only thing to keep me connected. (email, AIM, Internet). What do you guys think i should do. It did the same crap when i first tried to repair. (thats why i used the dell) and does the same thing.

K Rock XP

mobo = ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe.

have you verified that the floppy drive works? i was going nuts trying to make a boot disk one time until i narrowed it down to the $5 floppy drive i had installed. it would act normal but the disks would be unreadable.