Guigsy Posted October 11, 2009 Share Posted October 11, 2009 Hi guys. looing for a bit of help. Yesterday my laptop went tits up (again) Im handy with pc's been building them and stuff for ages. And the last time my laptop broke i had no trouble fixing it. However ive never come accross a problem like this.. I turn it on. it does a POST and starts to load windows. but as soon as it starts it BSOD's and restarts. and then repeats over and over. No errors about not finding the OS. the hard drive is ok (its new anyway) and it shows in the bios. So i put my vista CD in the drive and try and boot up the windows install so i can wipe it off and start again. It loads and then says something about the kernel being corrupt. and that i should insert the setup disk... but thats what i did. It gives me an option to run a memory test. which i have done and it is all fine It wont start in safe mode. Or anything else. And i cant seem to get into setup to format the drive. Any sugestions? Ive never come accross this in all my years of pc owenership. Its quite an old laptop, but its a good spec. But has been very slow recently. Im in 2 minds to get a new laptop as there seems to be a lot arround at the moment at good prices. But obviously fixing this is better. I had planned to get a new laptop.. but not untill the end of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guigsy Posted October 11, 2009 Author Share Posted October 11, 2009 anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie_b Posted October 11, 2009 Share Posted October 11, 2009 If it were me, I'd do the following: 1) Use memtest86 (google it, it's a free and very good RAM tester) on a memory stick, floppy disk or CD to check for duff memory. Duff memory can cause strange crashes. 2) Use a CD-based bootable hard disk checker to check the disk for surface errors. If they're both OK, it's probably a problem with your motherboard, which would need replacing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guigsy Posted October 11, 2009 Author Share Posted October 11, 2009 im prety sure its not the hard drive. i only changed it last month. Im just puzzled why it wont load into windows setup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adnanshah247 Posted October 11, 2009 Share Posted October 11, 2009 OK have had this issue loads of times in my old work machines (at least 50 machines, start properly, boot, windows bar moves left and right and as you expect it to go to the welcome screen its actually restarted), this is what you have to do (they used XP but i think the procedure should be the same):- 1. boot from the xp setup disk 2. when loaded after the blue setup screen etc. press R to get to the recovery console. 3. should boot to a DOS screen giving you the options to type in commands. 4. type in CHKDSK 5. once this is done the bad sectors will be found and fixed, in some cases it asks for you to enter chkdsk /f or something like that but will give you the exact command you need to repair any bad spots. 6. once this is done type in FIXBOOT 7. then finally when thats done type in FIXMBR and select y in the next question. after that restart the machine and im 100% guaranteed it will work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Konrad Posted October 11, 2009 Share Posted October 11, 2009 I would check memory for damage, had this before and memory was at fault. If it is not that, there is one nasty virus which was causing same loop reset, do not remember how it was called but it was causing memory to overload and then freeze system, after that it was getting onto loop mode again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guigsy Posted October 11, 2009 Author Share Posted October 11, 2009 OK have had this issue loads of times in my old work machines, this is what you have to do (they used XP but i think the procedure should be the same):- 1. boot from the xp setup disk 2. when loaded after the blue setup screen etc. press R to get to the recovery console. 3. should boot to a DOS screen giving you the options to type in commands. 4. type in CHKDSK 5. once this is done the bad sectors will be found and fixed, in some cases it asks for you to enter chkdsk /f or something like that but will give you the exact command you need to repair any bad spots. 6. once this is done type in FIXBOOT 7. then finally when thats done type in FIXMBR and select y in the next question. after that restart the machine and im 100% guaranteed it will work. Im running vista. And it wont boot into the normal vista setup. If it would then i wouldnt have a problem. I just get a screen that lets me run a memory check. Think ill bite the bullet and get a new laptop with my first paycheque from my new job. Which is a shame, i was going to spend it on paintwork for the car. Ive done memory checks. nothing at fault. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adnanshah247 Posted October 11, 2009 Share Posted October 11, 2009 re-format it, start from fresh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guigsy Posted October 12, 2009 Author Share Posted October 12, 2009 thats what im trying to do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopgunTT Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Try asking Sam on jap-world, She is supposed to repair and build laptops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 It sounds like it could be a HDD fault. Take out the HDD then turn the laptop on and try to get into the vista setup. If it works then you know its the HDD, if it doesn't then you know its something else at fault. Just a silly question, you do have the bios setup to boot from the DVD-rom first don't you? As in, it is coming up and saying "Press any key to boot from DVD\CD"?? If its not then the bios isn't setup to boot from the DVD and thats your problem. (This happens before the HDD is even accessed so the Kernal error wouldn't happen before that) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie_b Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Ive done memory checks. nothing at fault. How did you test it, specifically? Some test are hardly worth bothering with. I'm pretty sure i could kick a memory module around on the floor, scuff it on some nice static-laden carpet, and some (such as the one my BIOS performs) would report it as being "OK". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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