[Stroggy]

I'm not sure if I should post this here, but the technical help forum seems to be more for technical help with games, and this is about an actual computer (hardware?) problem.

I have recently had a few problems running games like NiBiRu and Deus Ex 2, Deus Ex 2 would always run in windowed mode and NiBiRu wouldn't start because it said it had to be played in full-screen. So I made the terrible decision of setting my graphics card (Sapphire ATI X800PRO 256MB) back to default, after which my screen went black and I couldn't do anything. I had to restart my computer manually.
It started and I came into the window saying windows had failed to start up correctly and if I wanted to make a Safe Start, a start with the last known good cofigurations or start windows normally... none of these worked, the computer always shuts down and starts up again leaving me at the same screen.

I don't quite recall what my computer specs are (except that it is a fairly new computer - got it this year) I assumed the graphics card had just overheated from the action and had thus shut down, but 8 hours later it still won't work. I would like to know two things:

1) Is my hard drive okay? Are my files still there (My 50 page English termpaper is in there and - stupid as I was - i have no backup of the file)
2) what can I do to fix it?

I shall search for further computer specs, but I hope you can already answer my first question.

Thank you

[squarejawhero]

It sounds like something's happened with Windows, as I had a similar situation recently. Could be the graphics card driver has gone belly up... does Windows try to start up at all? Or does it just reboot from that screen?

Good news is your HD should be alright.

Try doing a repair install of windows to see if that does the trick. Windows will load from the CD-Rom instead of from the hard drive. If you don't have a full copy of windows, get one. I can't understand why PC owners would want to run the risk of having a PC, with its myriad possible problems, without one.

[Stroggy]

no, I never even get to the "initialising windows xp" screen, it crashes before that. But when I try to initialize Safe Start I do see a whole lot of lines with windows in it scroll across the screen.

[Crunchy in milk]

If safe mode isn't working... down to the shop it goes. I'd rather pay a tech $70 in labour to deal with it if I'm trying to save hours of work stored on my hard drive.

Whatever did you mean by set your graphics card back to default? What did you do?

[squarejawhero]

Originally Posted by Stroggy

no, I never even get to the "initialising windows xp" screen, it crashes before that. But when I try to initialize Safe Start I do see a whole lot of lines with windows in it scroll across the screen.

The lines of code are XP booting up. You have to wait for it to boot from that. I assume that this didn't work?

[Stroggy]

Well I got my graphics card a month or so ago and my brother almost instantly started fidgeting with the immense ammount of new options. But I noticed a lot of programs were giving me the same sort of windowed-mode error, so I decided it was probably the changes my brother made to the graphics card, and thus I changed the options from "force 3d-card antialising" (for example) to "let the application decide for itself" reasoning the forced antialiasing and trueform was messing up the programs... I guess I was wrong.

The lines of code are XP booting up. You have to wait for it to boot from that. I assume that this didn't work?

Well at one point it asks me "do you want to continue booting up sys..." and gives me some time to respond. But no matter what I choose the computer just switches off again.

[squarejawhero]

If you've got a copy of Windows, do a repair. It won't delete anything.

edit - and never let your bro touch your computer again.

[Stroggy]

Originally Posted by squarejawhero

edit - and never let your bro touch your computer again.

You'll be happy to know he's actually a Programmer who just helped design the latest software used by traders at Morgan Stanley Investment banking, oi.

[squarejawhero]

It was fine before he started fiddling, though.

[Stroggy]

Anyway, how would I go about "repairing" windows.
I don't think i'll solve it now, but I have to wait another week before my brother gets back, and I'd really like to know if I've still got my files... and I've got work to do on my computer.

[squarejawhero]

I'm telling you you still have your files.

To repair Windows, insert the disc at bootup and make sure your bios is set to run the CD-Rom at boot. Press Del to check the settings.

When it asks you to boot from the CD, say yes.

When the dialogue comes up if you want to repair from the console or continue installing, continue installing (console is basically Dos).

Now, CAREFUL here. Make sure you choose the repair option.

Then Windows will go through the motions of repairing itself, basically reinstalling . The programs and files will be fine, but you will need to reinstall drivers etc.

[Stroggy]

Now, CAREFUL here. Make sure you choose the repair option.

That is basically what I'm afraid of, I already hate myself for resetting the options instead of simply turning my computer off as I had planned. if I would also accidently format everything, I'd really go insane.

This is too much, first problems with my university applications, then my mother gets hospitalized and now this... and all in one day! Sometimes I feel as if I'm in Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy and I see my moral-meter plummeting.

[Aj_]

1. "The lines of code are XP booting up." Aren't code.
2. Repairing Windows, a.k.a restoring corrupt system files, isn't usually something I'd recommend for a PC that hard reboots. Generally, you'll get an error message if they is something wrong with your system files.
3. I doubt that your graphics problems (window mode errors) was due to settings outside of games. While they maybe related (although I have a feeling they're not), they're two seperate symptoms. This means, fiddling about with the settings probably didn't do any damage. It's also unlikely that your brother made any changes that would effect the system like this.
4. Your brother should be able to easily retrieve your files.

I don't think this problem could be solved online, it could even be hardware based, and that's a pain in the ass to diagnose. The problem doesn't even have to be with Windows or your Graphics card at all.

[Stroggy]

Originally Posted by Aj_

I don't think this problem could be solved online, it could even be hardware based, and that's a pain in the ass to diagnose. The problem doesn't even have to be with Windows or your Graphics card at all.

What is the likeliest problem, then?

[squarejawhero]

Aj -

1. I know. It's a way of explaining to people who don't know what it is. Hint to getting on with others - try not to sound like an ass all the time.
2. It's worked for me. You might not recommend it, but it's got me out of a ton of sticky situations. If anything it often gets your windows back up and running to make backups before anything else happens.

[squarejawhero]

Other than that I agree on hardware problems. Impossible to pinpoint unless you know what you're doing.

My dad's PC went from slowing down, to sometimes not turning on, to not turning on at all. Could be myriad problems with a load of things... that's when I'd take it to a specialist.

[SakSquash]

If you want to try something quick, try resetting the BIOS. It's fast and easy to do and who knows, it may work.

[Stroggy]

Well a friend of mine gave me the number of a professional, he usually only works for companies but - according to my friend - he should change his mind if I drop my friend' name. He does home-repairs so that could save me some time driving back and forth... unless he does need special equipment to solve it... which i hope he does not.

[SakSquash]

That's silly. Man, I wish I could take a look at your computer. I'm pretty sure I could solve it.

[Aj_]

Originally Posted by squarejawhero

1. I know. It's a way of explaining to people who don't know what it is. Hint to getting on with others - try not to sound like an ass all the time.
2. It's worked for me. You might not recommend it, but it's got me out of a ton of sticky situations. If anything it often gets your windows back up and running to make backups before anything else happens.

1. The days of me taking your crap are definitely coming to a middle, and it's only going to get worse, unless I ignore you. Which I think I will have to do. Lying to someone, being blatently inaccurate, is not the way to explain problems to people. Treating people like ignorant idiots, is not going to help them, I don't see the percentage in telling someone it's code.
2. If he wanted backups I'd recommend a Linux Live CD. You don't run utilities like Repair for Windows, without knowing what the problem is in the first place. If you haven't checked that your memory or harddrive are running correctly then it can cause serious problems. Same with setting the BIOS to default settings, whoever set the computer up could have actually done settings that matter to the machine running. If no one has touched the BIOS, and the machine was running fine after the BIOS was changed, then leave it.

Originally Posted by Stroggy

What is the likeliest problem, then?

I'm going to go with disc or power failure, unless you have introduced any new hardware. Are any of your components overclocked?

You can generally boot into safe mode when system files are corrupt in Windows XP. You can normally use Last good config if drivers or software are the issue. If the system was working on the same BIOS settings, it's likely that they're fine.

Memory Test - memtest
Hard Disk test - Spinrite is the best, not free. Norton and a few others do software.
Linux LiveCD - knoppix