Compaq pc problem- windows doesnt boot, just restarts

What could be doing this? I tried installing new ram, so I opened it up, the ram didnt fit so I closed the computer and hooked it back up. From there, I kept getting a windows message saying that the boot was disrupted, and I could boot in:

safe mode
safe mode with netowrking
safe mode with command

lsat good configuration
start normally.

I tried them all. With the safe mode it freezes at agp440.sys, while loading it. The last two, it goes to a message for a quick second, and then srestarts. I thought I would repair with a windows cd, but I dont know how to boot with the disc. It doesnt ask if I would like to run the disc when it starts up. I took a picture of the message that I'll upload tommorrow. Any help would be appreciated. Im desperate. My dads taxes and my hmwk and stuff is on this pc. My pc has games and garbage, but the compaq has hmwk and other stuff. Ive never had a problem like this waith that computer. It was a legit copy of windows too.

Try reseating the ram and check the other plug in cards such as video , etc. to make sure their in tight ,you probably bumped something .




A quick google has some answers mentioning agp440.sys driver errors , hope that helps .


http://www.google.ca/search?q=agp440...ient=firefox-a

Ive never had to install any drivers, ever. I'll check the video card again

Ive never msessed around on anything on this pc, so I dont think it could ahve been a virus or software roblem.

Ive reset my BIOS to default. Install only 1 stick of RAM out of the 3 I had before and I checked the video card. and uninstalled some unneeded pci devices. What still gets me is that the error messages are changing and there are more and more.

config/system corrupt during safe mode boot. i no longer get the agp440.sys error.

Ive had a regisrty error

After I press enter when in repair mode with windows disc, it restarts

irql_not_less_or_equal - this error I got

unknown hard error with blue screen stop:c000021a

So far all these symptoms are from HD error, RAM or video card.

When I switch the ram around I get messages in changes, so the RAm's working. The video card is in tight, the monitor is working fine. Since its a compaq, everything is original compaq hardware except for a cd drive.


should I start a thread in hardware, can a mod move this? thx.

http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm

Your error code is near the bottom.

I have NO idea what all that means, other than something being corrupt.

However, if you have Goback installed and have made any hardware or bios change I can well believe that to be the cause of this problem.

well, I put in the windows disc and ran the repair. from there I did chkdsk, chkdsk /r. then did this:

Quote:

---

md tmp
copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\software c:\windows\tmp\software.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\windows\tmp\sam.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\security c:\windows\tmp\security.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\default c:\windows\tmp\default.bak

delete c:\windows\system32\config\system
delete c:\windows\system32\config\software
delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam
delete c:\windows\system32\config\security
delete c:\windows\system32\config\default

copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default

---

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

Now when I go to safe mode, I freeze at agp440.sys . WHen I boot windows, I get to run chkdsk, which completes and then after windows loads (blue bar goes across a few times) the screen goes black. when I shut down the pc, the on light flashes. Since we bought this from a company after they were done with it, we dont have an instruction booklet to see why that is.

any help would be appreciated

Hopefully there will be an option on the boot screen that says "Disable The Automatic Restart On System Failure".

Select that, then boot normally. It should hang on the BSOD instead of rebooting and you can tell us what it says.

If that option isn't on the menu you will need to go to recovery mode and tweak the registry. I've attached the file you will need (zipped) - simply copy it to a floppy disk and merge it with the existing registry by typing "regedit a:\crash.reg"

I'd pull the drive, slave it into another PC and recover any data that's important.
Then recertify the drive.
Assuming it passes, reinstall into the original machine and reformat/reinstall the OS.

This happened to me two weeks ago after I decided to delete my Linux partition. I could read the drive on another computer, but I just couldn't boot with it. I tried to install Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Home, WIndows Server 2003, and Windows 2000. They all failed at the "Copying files" stage, but it was a different spot each time. Bought another hard drive and reinstalled XP without a problem. Fortunately, I have an external hard drive to which I had everything backed up.

Good luck and have patience!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lynx

Hopefully there will be an option on the boot screen that says "Disable The Automatic Restart On System Failure".

Select that, then boot normally. It should hang on the BSOD instead of rebooting and you can tell us what it says.

If that option isn't on the menu you will need to go to recovery mode and tweak the registry. I've attached the file you will need (zipped) - simply copy it to a floppy disk and merge it with the existing registry by typing "regedit a:\crash.reg"

---

I went into recovery, and when it asked for a password I pressed enter, like I always do, but it says the p[assword is incorrect. Did the pc just make up its own password? Ive never made a passowrd for teh admin :|