Windows XP won't start properly (safe mode only)

[Bart]

Two days ago upgraded from Windows ME to XP, and the
system seemed to work fine following the upgrade.

Then yesterday, when I powered up, the XP boot sequence
would stop, and a blue screen would flash containing some
text I couldn't read since it was only there for a
fraction of a second.

I then got the screen offering the 5 options:

start in safe mode
start in safe mode with networking
start in safe mode command prompt
last known good configuration
start windows normally

Neither the "last good configuration" nor "normally"
option worked. I culd boot in the safe mode, and I tried
the various diagnostic options from help and support menu:

- system restore didn't work
- disabling start up options & win.ini, sys.ini etc.
didn't work either.

I basically went through all the options until I got to
the one suggesting uninstall XP, which is where I stopped.

As I had to update drivers etc. to use XP, I am concerned
that rolling back to ME may not help.

Has anyone seen this before? It's weird that it worked OK
one day, but then wouldn't work the next day.

Any suggestions would be appreiated.

Thanks!

[Walter Clayton]

What's happening is the system is faulting and in it's default
configuration, doing an automatic reboot as a result. You can actually look
in the event viewer to see what's going on, but it's a real PITA.

Two things to do with the system up in safe mode. First go into the system
control panel applet, advanced tab. Hit the settings button in the startup
and recovery section. On the next panel, clear the option the automatically
restart on system failure. Apply/OK your way out. Next, go into
msconfig->services tab. At the bottom enable the "hide all MS services"
option. Wait for the screen to repopulate. Odds are you have an issue with
something in this area. Technically it's safe to disable everything here.
Worse case is that you loose some device or application functionality, but
that's fine for the moment. Go ahead and disable all non-MS services and see
if the machine will come up in normal mode. If it does, then start enabling
stuff to see what the culprit is. As long as you've disabled automatic
restart on fault, you'll be able to catch the specific error message and
module that's faulting. With that it'll be possible to correct the problem.

--
Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org
http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/default.asp


"Bart" > wrote in message
...
> Two days ago upgraded from Windows ME to XP, and the
> system seemed to work fine following the upgrade.
>
> Then yesterday, when I powered up, the XP boot sequence
> would stop, and a blue screen would flash containing some
> text I couldn't read since it was only there for a
> fraction of a second.
>
> I then got the screen offering the 5 options:
>
> start in safe mode
> start in safe mode with networking
> start in safe mode command prompt
> last known good configuration
> start windows normally
>
> Neither the "last good configuration" nor "normally"
> option worked. I culd boot in the safe mode, and I tried
> the various diagnostic options from help and support menu:
>
> - system restore didn't work
> - disabling start up options & win.ini, sys.ini etc.
> didn't work either.
>
> I basically went through all the options until I got to
> the one suggesting uninstall XP, which is where I stopped.
>
> As I had to update drivers etc. to use XP, I am concerned
> that rolling back to ME may not help.
>
> Has anyone seen this before? It's weird that it worked OK
> one day, but then wouldn't work the next day.
>
> Any suggestions would be appreiated.
>
> Thanks!
>

[Bart]

Thanks for the tips.

Removing the automatic reboot allowed me to see the stop
error 0xC2 on the blue screen.

I'll post another message to the newsgroup requesting help
on resolving that one, since the contents of 4 parameters
don't match what the MS technical info says.

Bart


>-----Original Message-----
>What's happening is the system is faulting and in it's
default
>configuration, doing an automatic reboot as a result. You
can actually look
>in the event viewer to see what's going on, but it's a
real PITA.
>
>Two things to do with the system up in safe mode. First
go into the system
>control panel applet, advanced tab. Hit the settings
button in the startup
>and recovery section. On the next panel, clear the option
the automatically
>restart on system failure. Apply/OK your way out. Next,
go into
>msconfig->services tab. At the bottom enable the "hide
all MS services"
>option. Wait for the screen to repopulate. Odds are you
have an issue with
>something in this area. Technically it's safe to disable
everything here.
>Worse case is that you loose some device or application
functionality, but
>that's fine for the moment. Go ahead and disable all non-
MS services and see
>if the machine will come up in normal mode. If it does,
then start enabling
>stuff to see what the culprit is. As long as you've
disabled automatic
>restart on fault, you'll be able to catch the specific
error message and
>module that's faulting. With that it'll be possible to
correct the problem.
>
>--
>Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
>Associate Expert
>http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>Any technology distinguishable from magic is
insufficiently advanced.
>http://www.dts-l.org
>http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/defa
ult.asp
>
>
>"Bart" > wrote in message
...
>> Two days ago upgraded from Windows ME to XP, and the
>> system seemed to work fine following the upgrade.
>>
>> Then yesterday, when I powered up, the XP boot sequence
>> would stop, and a blue screen would flash containing
some
>> text I couldn't read since it was only there for a
>> fraction of a second.
>>
>> I then got the screen offering the 5 options:
>>
>> start in safe mode
>> start in safe mode with networking
>> start in safe mode command prompt
>> last known good configuration
>> start windows normally
>>
>> Neither the "last good configuration" nor "normally"
>> option worked. I culd boot in the safe mode, and I
tried
>> the various diagnostic options from help and support
menu:
>>
>> - system restore didn't work
>> - disabling start up options & win.ini, sys.ini etc.
>> didn't work either.
>>
>> I basically went through all the options until I got to
>> the one suggesting uninstall XP, which is where I
stopped.
>>
>> As I had to update drivers etc. to use XP, I am
concerned
>> that rolling back to ME may not help.
>>
>> Has anyone seen this before? It's weird that it worked
OK
>> one day, but then wouldn't work the next day.
>>
>> Any suggestions would be appreiated.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>
>.
>

[Walter Clayton]

A C2 stop code generally points to a driver issue. The rest of the
parameters need not specifically match a given KB article in this instance.
What module name was listed?

--
Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org
http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/default.asp


"Bart" > wrote in message
...
> Thanks for the tips.
>
> Removing the automatic reboot allowed me to see the stop
> error 0xC2 on the blue screen.
>
> I'll post another message to the newsgroup requesting help
> on resolving that one, since the contents of 4 parameters
> don't match what the MS technical info says.
>
> Bart
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >What's happening is the system is faulting and in it's
> default
> >configuration, doing an automatic reboot as a result. You
> can actually look
> >in the event viewer to see what's going on, but it's a
> real PITA.
> >
> >Two things to do with the system up in safe mode. First
> go into the system
> >control panel applet, advanced tab. Hit the settings
> button in the startup
> >and recovery section. On the next panel, clear the option
> the automatically
> >restart on system failure. Apply/OK your way out. Next,
> go into
> >msconfig->services tab. At the bottom enable the "hide
> all MS services"
> >option. Wait for the screen to repopulate. Odds are you
> have an issue with
> >something in this area. Technically it's safe to disable
> everything here.
> >Worse case is that you loose some device or application
> functionality, but
> >that's fine for the moment. Go ahead and disable all non-
> MS services and see
> >if the machine will come up in normal mode. If it does,
> then start enabling
> >stuff to see what the culprit is. As long as you've
> disabled automatic
> >restart on fault, you'll be able to catch the specific
> error message and
> >module that's faulting. With that it'll be possible to
> correct the problem.
> >
> >--
> >Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
> >Associate Expert
> >http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
> >Any technology distinguishable from magic is
> insufficiently advanced.
> >http://www.dts-l.org
> >http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/defa
> ult.asp
> >
> >
> >"Bart" > wrote in message
> ...
> >> Two days ago upgraded from Windows ME to XP, and the
> >> system seemed to work fine following the upgrade.
> >>
> >> Then yesterday, when I powered up, the XP boot sequence
> >> would stop, and a blue screen would flash containing
> some
> >> text I couldn't read since it was only there for a
> >> fraction of a second.
> >>
> >> I then got the screen offering the 5 options:
> >>
> >> start in safe mode
> >> start in safe mode with networking
> >> start in safe mode command prompt
> >> last known good configuration
> >> start windows normally
> >>
> >> Neither the "last good configuration" nor "normally"
> >> option worked. I culd boot in the safe mode, and I
> tried
> >> the various diagnostic options from help and support
> menu:
> >>
> >> - system restore didn't work
> >> - disabling start up options & win.ini, sys.ini etc.
> >> didn't work either.
> >>
> >> I basically went through all the options until I got to
> >> the one suggesting uninstall XP, which is where I
> stopped.
> >>
> >> As I had to update drivers etc. to use XP, I am
> concerned
> >> that rolling back to ME may not help.
> >>
> >> Has anyone seen this before? It's weird that it worked
> OK
> >> one day, but then wouldn't work the next day.
> >>
> >> Any suggestions would be appreiated.
> >>
> >> Thanks!
> >>
> >
> >.
> >

[Dave]

When I was working on a Win 9X box, I checked the boot.log. The last
driver loaded before the crash was usually the faulty one. Don't know
if XP keeps a boot log.


On Tue, 22 Jul 2003 10:11:21 -0700, "Bart" >
wrote:

>Two days ago upgraded from Windows ME to XP, and the
>system seemed to work fine following the upgrade.
>
>Then yesterday, when I powered up, the XP boot sequence
>would stop, and a blue screen would flash containing some
>text I couldn't read since it was only there for a
>fraction of a second.
>
>I then got the screen offering the 5 options:
>
>start in safe mode
>start in safe mode with networking
>start in safe mode command prompt
>last known good configuration
>start windows normally
>
>Neither the "last good configuration" nor "normally"
>option worked. I culd boot in the safe mode, and I tried
>the various diagnostic options from help and support menu:
>
>- system restore didn't work
>- disabling start up options & win.ini, sys.ini etc.
>didn't work either.
>
>I basically went through all the options until I got to
>the one suggesting uninstall XP, which is where I stopped.
>
>As I had to update drivers etc. to use XP, I am concerned
>that rolling back to ME may not help.
>
>Has anyone seen this before? It's weird that it worked OK
>one day, but then wouldn't work the next day.
>
>Any suggestions would be appreiated.
>
>Thanks!