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Technical Help & Discussion => Self Building, Upgrading & General Hardware Help => Topic started by: balrog on March 22, 2004, 17:23

Title: start up problems
Post by: balrog on March 22, 2004, 17:23

:'( :'(never used a forum b4.probably get it it all wrong diddly wrong wrong.i`ve got a problem with my kids pc.when u start it up it reaches the users screen and thats it.it seems to be processing something but nothing actually happens.run out of ideas .......HELP......please.....somebody......anybody

Title: Re:start up problems
Post by: Simon on March 22, 2004, 17:27

Hi Balrog, and  (https://www.pc-pals.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.apax34.dsl.pipex.com%2Fsmileys%2Fwelcome.gif&hash=05644ab4fbfa7c9585f756e9a79aab0a53d0e346)  Don't worry, we were all forum virgins once...  ;) ;D ;D

I'm sure a techie will be along soon to help you.   :)

A couple of things - which operating system is it, and have you tried to start it in safe mode?

Title: Re:start up problems
Post by: Sandra on March 22, 2004, 17:28

Hi balrog and :welcome:

Can you give us some information on the PC itself and its operating system ?
Has this happened after you have installed soem new programs or hardware or just started all by itself ?
Can you get it into Safe Mode ?

Title: Re:start up problems
Post by: Simon on March 22, 2004, 17:32

Beat ya San!  :wahh:   ;D ;D

Title: Re:start up problems
Post by: balrog on March 22, 2004, 17:34

god! u threw me.wasnt expecting a reply so kwik.its running xp and wots safe mode?yes i am that ignorant!!

Title: Re:start up problems
Post by: Simon on March 22, 2004, 17:46

Hit F8 continuously while it's starting, and you should get into what's called Safe Mode, where only the basic requirements for Windows to run are loaded.  It won't be a very good picture and your desktop will be a mess, but don't worry about that for now.

What I think Sandra and myself are thinking is that maybe something which loads at start up is 'hanging', and stopping Windows from starting.  If it starts in Safe Mode, this almost proves that theory, and then we have to establish what's causing the trouble, which is why Sandra asked if you have recently installed any new software or hardware.

Sandra may well, of course, be thinking something entirely different!   ;D ;D

Title: Re:start up problems
Post by: balrog on March 22, 2004, 18:01

just tried it in safe mode and it works fine.the last thing to be installed that i know of was my wireless router which i re-installed but everything worked fine for a couple of days.this all started playing up last night.should i try a system restore?

Title: Re:start up problems
Post by: Simon on March 22, 2004, 18:08

Might be worth a try.  Let us know how it goes.  :)

Title: Re:start up problems
Post by: balrog on March 22, 2004, 18:33

:) :D ;DIt only worked!!!!I`ve no idea what that was all about but doing the system restore seemed to do the trick!
I thought about doing it but could`nt start it up to get into it.I`ve never heard of the safe mode let alone known how to get into it.Every days a school-day!!!Thanks very much for your help.I`ll be sticking this site in my faves and recommending it to other numbskulls(i know quite a few).
thanks guys!!!!! :) :) :) :)

Title: Re:start up problems
Post by: Simon on March 22, 2004, 18:37

Excellent!  I got one right!!  :horror:   ;D ;D

That's got to be at least 5, Hook!   ;)  (Sorry, in joke!)

Don't be a stranger, Balrog.   8)

Title: Re:start up problems
Post by: Sandra on March 22, 2004, 18:41

Glad you got it sorted balrog   :)

Sorry we took so long  :(

Safe mode is a handy thing to try to see if it will boot up in as it only loads the minimum drivers necessary to boot into basic windows and if it works in there then there is a problem when loading other drivers/software that occur as it boots into normal windows  :)