System will not boot

[thewizard16]

Well, I'll start out by saying that nothing involving hardware was changed before this problem started. Here's what it does:

System goes through all the checks like normal, and goes the Windows XP Pro loading screen. First glitch... the loading bar doesnt work right, you have movement, but it's in funny lines, and it extends out of the box for the loading bar to the right. After the normal few seconds that it would load, the monitor just turns off, the hard drives stop, and the mouse (USB optical) turns off. I can get it to start up in safe mode, but the screen has vertical static looking lines through it, the colors aren't right, and everything is distorted. Therefore, I thought it was a video problem, maybe, but that doesnt add up with the system not booting normally, or the mouse powering down. Can anyone help? I really would like to avoid having to reload if possible.

[andyms18a]

hi thewizard16
and welcome to the forums first have you tried ruining system restore from safe mode ? all so can you post your system specks and do you have any anti virus software on your computer and is it up to date

[Reaps]

hmm, u get all these defects in your display. sounds almost like a video card issue. did u install any new drivers or have u done anything inside the computer recently?

[Cricket]

Please post the complete system specs and whether or not this is a name brand store bought computer (post brand and model if it is).

Also, do you remember what you did prior to the problem arising?

Cricket

[thewizard16]

No, it's not a store brand computer, it was custom built by a store that one of my relatives knows the owner of... it's built on an Intel D865PERL board, running a P4 2.4HT processor, GeForce 4 (AGP) 64mb video, 200gb Western Digital SATA hard drive, and 512 DDR ram.

I know it kindof sounds like a video issue, but would that also cause the USB devices to power down? And no, I havent installed new drivers or messed with anything to do with video.

I use Etrust EZ Antivirus for my virus protection software, and it's up to date.

No, I havent tried running system restore from safe mode... I'd need instructions on how to do that, as I've never done it before, and have no clue how it's done.

As for what was done prior to the problem arising... well, nothing. The last thing that was done was it was started up in the morning (working fine) it was used for a couple games of solitare (breakfast boredom solution) and then shut down. Now it won't boot up right, and I doubted that solitare did that.

Thanks, and let me know what you think I might be able to do to get this thing running again.

[andyms18a]

first boot the computer to safe mode then

Access the System Restore Wizard through Help and Support Center. (Click Start, and then click Help and Support. Click Performance and Maintenance, click Using System Restore to undo changes, and then click Run the System Restore Wizard.
from the Welcome to System Restore screen of the System Restore Wizard select Restore my computer to an earlier time. Then select the date when the computer was ok from the calendar in the Select a Restore Point screen. All of the restore points that are available to use will be in bold type. click next and follow the instructions on screen

[thewizard16]

Well, I'm afraid that doing what you described would have been... well, impossible. The graphics were so distorted that you couldn't read, or even make out shapes, on anything. However, here is what happened...

A box popped up when it started up in safe mode. I could not read the box, but I clicked the button I think said "No." (Guessing, but that's what it looked like, it was the button on the left.) Then, I was able to make out, it brought up a window that said "Welcome to System Restore" at the top. If I moved the window around (I could tell where the mouse was, but that was about it) I could read some things, but not the smaller text. So, hoping this was where I wanted to be, I clicked the button that said "next". Anyway, I guess I went through the system restore process, because it did this loading bar at the end, shut down, and tada, didn't start up right again. So, I did the same thing as last time in safe mode, only this time I chose a different area of what I'm guessing was a calander (???) to randomly click on, clicked next, went through the loading bar again, and it froze in start up. So, I opened it up, checking to make sure that all my connections were good (I was grasping at staws by this point), etc. Close the case back up, power it on, and it started up fine. Told me my system ahd been sucessfully restored to June 9th, blah blah blah. Anyway, it's working now, and if it screws up again, I'll be sure and come scream "help" again.