ExSoldier wrote:
For some reason, when he boots, his computer restarts when the WindowXP bar is loading. We've tried booting in Safe Mode so we could re-install WindowsXP but we still crash at the WindowXP bar.
The "rebooting" is caused by a BSOD (blue screen of death), it just disappears so fast u don't even see the blue screen.
while booting, press F8
then choose the option: do not automatically restart on system error (or something like that)
Then u will see ur blue screen
From there on it's just googling either the error message or error code:
eg. Unmountable_boot_volume (do a chkdsk to fix it), page_fault_in_non_paged_area (normally = 0x50 error => RAM issues), ...
eg. 0x7B (AHCI - IDE - SATA option in BIOS is messed up), ...
ExSoldier wrote:
I've considered booting by the WindowsXP CD by entering the BIOS but we don't know the password (don't remember/don't know it). So yeah, we're kind of running out of solutions. Is there any other way to reformat? We don't want to use the "remove the CMO Battery" trick right away, it seems like a last resort.
Normally there is a way to reset the BIOS by switching a jumper on ur mobo. If not, use the cmos battery trick.
It only reset BIOS settings to default, but at least u'll have access to ur BIOS again.
As for choosing boot device, most mobos have a "boot menu key".
Normally it's "enabled"
On laptops, almost always "disabled" (change it in the bios)
in most cases:
MSI = F11
ASUS = F8
Packerd bell laptop = F8
Dell laptop = ESC
HP laptops = Esc or F9