Needing help with a pc that wont start up windows..

I had been working on my pc one night , all was going ok and next day went to turn it on and wouldn`t go past the safe mode page, it says to me when I go down to start with safe mode, or start normally, another one is last known working config .. all won`t start, when I click on them it goes down a few lines and freezes. also when I press F10 at bootup after I have turned it off, I press restore it ,, goes to restore, either it freezes and then another time says an unexpected error (1073480600) occured at line 1773 in d:press any key to continue then nothing it freezes, do you know what it could be or do you think I need to take it to the tech to fix it, just wanted to know as like to do them all myself if I can, hoping this is not too hard a question to ask .. I have a HP a1550a media center desktop pc..

Hi Sorry to hear of the problem with your machine. As it's an HP computer have you tried hitting the F11 key ( not F10) and then seeing if you can do a System Restore? Regards paws

Hi Paws , Sorry I tried that but didn`t work the computer won`t restore, when I go to there get an error message that an unexpected error 1073480592 occured at line 1768 in d:\xpclient\base\boot\setup\arcdisp.c I have no idea why. another one is when I press the F8 key it goes to safe mode, so I do safe mode, or with network or with comand prompt, it goes to the loading pages and stops and freezes at multi(0) rdisk(0)partition\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\MUP.SYS not too sure what that is, maybe you or someone will know … sorry that your post didn`t work …

Hi Ok all understood. I hope your back up/copy /archive of all your important stuff is 100% up to date accurate, reproducible and kept safe on removable media….. if for any reason it's not, then this must be your number 1 priority. (If you need any help with this…. post back for detailed instructions) When all your important stuff is safely copied to removable media then try this: Start your machine with the Microsoft Windows XP CD installation disc in the CD/DVD drivebay, select the option to setup XP, when it highlights your Windows XP partition, choose R to repair XP. and see how you go: If your machine won't start up from the disc (you may have to try a number of times) then you will need to set the boot priority in the BIOS to Optical drive CD/DVD as number 1 Hard disc O as number 2 and floppy drive (if fitted as Number 3…(any network drive should come last) The directions for entering the BIOS should flash up on-screen directly you start the machine, its easy to miss (as its so quick) so hover your finger near the "pause" key on your keyboard to freeze" the screen so you can read it easily……….. hitting the space bar will enable it to continue when you have noted down the keystroke to enter BIOS. For most HP machines it's Esc for a laptop , F1 or F2 for a desktop. Remember to save the settings in the BIOS before exiting, but do not alter anything else other than the boot priority! Regards paws

Hi Paws thanks for the reply I `ll try that but I do need you to give me details instructions for backing up/ copy , might be hard if the pc wont go on though .. but I `ll do what ever you say, luckily I have this older pc its an acer and have never had any trouble, like this media centre one. so thanks for your help I really appreciate this, I hate having the other pc off the air, take care …

Hi,
Here's a few ways to get access to your hard drive so you can back up/ copy off your important stuff even though you cant get into Windows.

1 Download Linux Puppy Live distribution from here:
http://www.puppylinux.com/
Its a relatively small download ..between 50 and 100MB so a broadband connection would be best.
Burn the iso to CD (you must burn it as an image) if you are in doubt over how to do this then download Imageburn from here:
http://www.imgburn.com/
With Image burn you will be able to create a bootable CD with Linux Puppy Live on it……
Linux Puppy Live is a self contained operating system that runs from memory and does not need Windows to run……..
The look or interface of Linux Puppy is usually fairly easy for folks to use even though they may have never used anything other than Windows in the past

Here's an extract from my "canned" speech on this:

When the machine won't boot up, no matter what you do and you realise that all your important stuff, (music, photos, work, address books and contact lists, emails, downloaded programs and all your Microsoft Word docs, Excel spreadsheets, data bases PowerPoint presentations and all the rest perhaps including the only draft of the book you have spent the last 3 years researching and writing or your PHd thesis) may have all disappeared…………
then we can try to boot into Live Puppy, mount the hard drive (Live Puppy does this automatically) and copy off the data to safe external media……A USB external hard drive is favourite , or a USB flash drive or even a few of them can all be used!

2 As an alternative you could remove the hard drive from your machine and put it in another machine and pull off the data that way

3 Next method would be to borrow,beg, or as a last resort, buy an external USB hard drive caddy that your existing drive will fit into….. They are very cheap now and come in both IDE and SATA flavours)
then you can just plug the USB connection into another suitable machine..

NOTE when taking the side off your machine and delving around inside you must be confident that you have taken all personal safety and anti-static (ESD)precautions.

Hope thats enough to be going on with
Regards
paws

Thanks Paws I `ll keep in touch and let you know how I go, thank you so much for your help .. hugs Rainee

Ah Paws no use, no matter what I do it goes to open screen where it says esc boot . F1 for setup , F10 for recovery then if I press for ity to go to recovery it goes to the screen , goes all down all loaded programs and stops on multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partision(1)|WINDOWS\SYSTEM32|DRIVERS\MUP.SYS and then freezes , I left it to see if it would go further for 30 min and didn`t budge so turned it off, I `ll have to take it to the technician I think as I think its too big a job for me, many thanks for your help …. I just don`t know what else to do, am really dissappointd with that pc as I haven`t had it so long and its not been really good at all …

Hi, Ok I understand, but its the F1 you want, this takes you into the BIOS, (this is often called "Setup") once there you set the boot priority to boot first from the CD..save the changes and exit, With the Puppy disc inserted restart your computer and it will boot into Linux Puppy where you can copy off all your important stuff to flash drive or external hard drive. However never be afraid to consult a local competent computer technician over this………..she/ he will be happy to do this or a similar procedure for you….but do get a firm quote in advance and a guarantee that they will preserve your data….. I say this because some shops will just format and reinstall your Windows and then you will lose everything…….. and they could also charge you a lot of money for this…. Good luck and don't hesitate to post back if you need clarification Regards paws

Hi Paws … Me again, is it possible to have an other operating system on that pc, I have friends with Linux and they love it, if so how do I go about doing that, I am not so worried about having Windows things and really the stuff I had on the pc isn`t worth much as I copy to my usb at different times the things I wanted to keep so that is not important now, is there other operating systems that would work on that pc, I am willing to give them a go if I could do that.. thanks again ..

Hi Rainee, I would recommend to ask your Linux friends, I'm sure they'd be able to give you a "hands-on" lesson and install a particular distro of Linux that would be easy for you to use. Troy

Hi, Its a big step moving from Windows to Linux…….I'm not saying don't try it…..but do consider things carefully…
A lot of the programs that you may be used to running in Windows will not run under Linux……there will be Linux applications that will do similar jobs ,,,but there will be a learning curve……and it could be …err…steep…ish !

Its pretty easy to get help practically anywhere on Windows issues (and some of it is actually authoritative and correct…

but Linux users (as a group) can tend to be….. (paws dons tin hat and flak jacket) inclined to be a bit evangelistic……………….but you will meet lots of considerate competent and skilled folks on the Linux user group forums…………. having said that, its great that you have some chums who could give you practical face to face help.

My recommendations are :

1 Get your HP machine running Windows XP, correctly, fast and sweet and providing reliable computing for your needs

2 Try the Linux PUPPY distro and see if you like it……. Once your machine is running Windows you will be able to try out these live Linux distros without writing anything to your hard drive, so Windows will waiting for you if after having dipped your toe in the water with Linux you find that it is not completely to your taste.
NOTE the Linux Puppy is a very small size application…for a full scale Linux application that will run within memory I suggest the latest Live distribution of Ubuntu and you can get it from here:
http://www.ubuntu.com/products/WhatIsUbuntu/desktopedition
you will need 384MB of RAM on your computer to run Ubuntu live

3 Use the Live distros of Linux as set out above, they will run completely from within memory…so you are not "burning your boats" by trying them

The desktop that you will see when you try Ubuntu is pretty easy to use by folks who are more used to Windows…..
just remember that as these applications are running purely in memory they will probably be slower than you are accustomed to…however if you go ahead at some future time and install say Ubuntu to your hard drive you may find it a bit quicker than you are used to.
Post back if you have any questions on this.
Regards
paws

Hi Troy, Thanks for the reply, I might do that but the one I mentioned is on holiday in Singapore so wont be home for another 3 weeks, another friend has that ibunto one, maybe you can help my quetions, see I love the pc and am willing to try anything, have been looking for a way to change the bios like Paws said, now I `ll give that a go too, but first was wondering do I need to do that to windows restore it when I can forget it and use another operating system, I am a pensioner and can`t really afford to have it seen to if I can do it myself, so am willing and capable of doing minor things myself…so can I put another operating system on a pc that is not working in windows … thanks for your interest in my problem as well…

Hi

Just wanted to lay down my 2cents regarding Linux.

Instead of Ubuntu, I would actually recommend to try use Fedora instead.

http://fedoraproject.org/

Some reasons for this;

Fedora is seen as a beginner-friendly distro.
It is very easy to obtain the drivers needed for the system.
Forum / help-centers are just as widespread as Ubuntu.
Its interface is more intuitive. (Thats my opinion)
Its bootable from a USB key
All programs needed are there from start of install (No need to hunt with Apt-get)
Vey simple DSL setup (Which Ubuntu lacks)

That being said, Ubuntu is a very easy distro also. It is just lacking in places, where I see it, that makes
beginners to Linux pull their hair.

I know, they are going to rough me up now Anyways, regarding Linux, its best to try out some distro's before
deciding which ones to stay with. I have bought a very cheap laptop, just for this reason, so I can learn about some
distro's before making the big jump, which will eventually come one day.

But as Paws suggested. Get your windows up and running smoothly. Then you can either try dual-booting with a
Linux distro, or you can try the Wubi installer, just for tasting. Wubi is a program that installs a watered down Ubuntu
distro (not real Linux, but close enough) in windows! It can be added and removed again through windows Add / Remove
programs. Do note, that it have problems running on 64bit systems and some Vista versions.

http://wubi-installer.org/

Regards Abydos