# WinXP frozen



## RichardE (Aug 20, 2006)

Hey guys,

This is the second time this problem has arisen on my laptop.

It starts up and on the blue WinXP page it just freezes. I can't do anything at that point (ctrl, alt and delete doesn't even work), other than pull out the plug. :upset: 

Last time, I was forced to reboot the laptop. However, there are some very important files on the hardrive this time, and I was hoping there was a better solution. 

Any advice will be very much appreciated.:grin:


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## Sarge (Nov 3, 2004)

Happy to help.
Let's just clear up a few things for me first...

1) When you say "the blue WinXP page" do you mean the "welcome" page, or are you seeing a Blue Screen Of Death.

XP Welcome screen looks like:
http://www.petri.co.il/images/xp_welcome_screen.jpg
(login names and icons will vary)

XP BSOD looks something like:
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/images/Windows_XP_BSOD.png
(text of the error message will vary)

2) What is the Make, Type (Series), and Model Number of your machine?


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## laboye (Apr 11, 2006)

He might mean the solid blue background that you get before you log on on systems that have the welcome screen disabled. Can you boot in safe mode? Try a Windows Repair in my signature afterwards...


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## RichardE (Aug 20, 2006)

Hey guys, 

Sarge: 

The blue page is exactly like the WinXP welcome page just before the log in names are shown. So it is the page you see just before this image (http://www.petri.co.il/images/xp_welcome_screen.jpg). 

Actually it is like this except it is WinXP Home Edition: http://sonusingh27.tripod.com/images/Windows-XP-Professional.jpg.

My laptop's info is:
- Compaq
- Product: Presario 2100
- p/n: DP834E#ABU

I pressed F2 and had access to Setup.
I pressed F12 and it said the operating system was not found 

Laboye:

Can I access in Safe mode through the Setup? Otherwise, how would I do that?

Look forward to hearing from you guys.


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## laboye (Apr 11, 2006)

Hold F8 before the XP logo starts up. Then select Safe Mode with the arrow keys and press enter.


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## Sarge (Nov 3, 2004)

RichardE, try booting into Safe Mode. Whether you can access Safe Mode or not will tell us a lot about the nature of PC problem. So, try Safe Mode and we'll go from there.


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## RichardE (Aug 20, 2006)

I did go into safe mode, but it just went to the same welcome page (though the welcome page was shown on a smaller scale). 

I hope this isn't a bad sign


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## Sarge (Nov 3, 2004)

RichardE said:


> I did go into safe mode, but it just went to the same welcome page (though the welcome page was shown on a smaller scale).
> 
> I hope this isn't a bad sign


Well, let me put it this way: It's not a good sign.

So, let's see if we can repair this. Follow the instructions at:
http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=313

Be sure you have your XP Installation CD available.


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## RichardE (Aug 20, 2006)

I was looking at the webpage recommended and it says I should use my WinXp Installation disc, but I don't have one. 

My Laptop already had WinXP on it when I bought it. 
However, I was supplied with 3 discs labelled: 
"Compaq QuickRestore System Recovery CD (Microsoft Windows XP Home SP1)"

When I use these cds the laptop reboots and though everything is back to normal, I will have lost all the information I had saved. Essentially, the laptop is returned to how it was the first time I bought it.


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## Bill_Castner (Aug 17, 2006)

1. Anyone removing the Group "Anyone" from folder permissions?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/162031/EN-US/

2. Anyone play with dual monitor configuration settings?


> The desktop may also be blank if your computer is configured for multiple monitors and the icons are on a portion of the desktop that is outside the viewable range. Check the properties for the video adapter, and then click Settings. If two monitors are displayed, but only one is in use, click the first monitor, and then check the settings. If the Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor check box is selected, click to clear the check box, and then click Apply. The icons should then reappear.


3. Are you on a LAN?


> Windows XP Welcome Screen Appears to Stop Responding (Hang) During Logon
> http://support.microsoft.com/?id=816873
> 
> *SYMPTOMS*
> ...


*RESOLUTION*
To resolve this issue, confirm the error message and complete the logon process. To do so, follow these steps:1. Press ALT+TAB to switch to the Restoring Network Connections task. Note that the task will still be hidden after you activate it. 
2. Press ENTER to confirm the error message. Note If you do not see a Restoring Network Connections task when you press ALT+TAB, you are experiencing an issue that is different from the one that is described in this article. 

4. Hard disk issues of any kind can cause this problem. At the point of your freeze XP is finishing loading and reconciling registry hives. All it needs is the information in your NTUSER.DAT file in your profile. If there is a hard disk issue in loading the registry hives, or corruption in the hives themselves, XP can freeze. Whatever error message it wanted to display is hidden by the background of the Welcome screen.

*Questions for you:* What happens if you hit F10 function key, and what happens if you do a Ctrl+Alt+Delete sequence?

Important -- Do you have a floppy disk drive on the computer?


.


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## Sarge (Nov 3, 2004)

RichardE said:


> I was looking at the webpage recommended and it says I should use my WinXp Installation disc, but I don't have one.
> 
> My Laptop already had WinXP on it when I bought it.
> However, I was supplied with 3 discs labelled:
> ...


Congratulations: You've been screwed by Compaq & Microsoft.


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## RichardE (Aug 20, 2006)

Hey Bill,

1. I doubt the Group "Anyone" has been removed, and I don't get the error message before the screen goes blank.

2. It is not the desktop that comes up, but the page before log-in welcome page. 

3. I don't use the log-in facility, so when my laptop works it will just show the normal blue WinXp screen and load on to the desktop straight away. It is the blue page with the WinXP name on the right hand side of the screen that comes up. 

Nonetheless, I did attempt the resolution and something peculiar happened. I pressed alt and tab, and for a moment a window logon box popped up and then disappeared. The first time I attempted this, the words "Window Logon" appeared on the top left hand corner of the screen. It didn't show this the second time, though I did see the window logon icon pop up and disappear.

However, then when I pressed enter nothing happened. 

4. Nothing happens when I press in F10 or ctr, alt and del. (on the winxp page). 

I don't have a floppy drive on this laptop:sigh: 

This is not sounding too promising, but the fact that the laptop did respond with some sort of logon popup when i pressed in alt and tab, suggests it will respond.

Thanks guys, any more advice is very much appreciated:grin:


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## RichardE (Aug 20, 2006)

Sarge said:


> Congratulations: You've been screwed by Compaq & Microsoft.


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## Sarge (Nov 3, 2004)

RichardE said:


>


They sold you a "pre-installed" copy of XP, and then didn't bother to include the actual installation media. Perfectly legal on their part (since they write the rules). Next time, don't buy a system that doesn't include an actual copy of the Windows installation media. 

However, there are ways to recover data off a hard drive without booting that system's OS. How you want to do this will depend on what sort of hardware you have available.

If this was a desktop PC I'd say you might try removing the hard drive from the problem PC and then booting to a another PC's hard drive with the problem PC's hard drive mounted as a non-OS-resident drive. However, you probably can't do that with your laptop's hard drive since not very many laptops have more than one hard drive connecter. You might try booting a different laptop with a bootable CD and then mounting your problem PC's hard drive as a non-OS-resident HDD. One of the most usefull tools for doing this is Bart's PE. See http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ for more information.


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## laboye (Apr 11, 2006)

He's had this problem before. If you don't need to get data, shoot for the recovery.


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