electrontau Posted January 23, 2006 Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 I am trying to fix a friend's computer that does not boot. It is a store bought computer and just recently moved to a new place so the CDs that came with computer is in some box. The computer will boot to the black background with "Windows XP Home" and the loading bar in the foreground. After that a blue appears for an instant and the system reboots. It is so fast that I cannot read what is written.Booting in Safe Mode does not help either. I believe some system file got corrupted or damaged. I don't have Windows XP home CD, just the Pro CD. If I try to use it to do the repair, it will try to upgrade rather than repair.I believe thre is a hidden partition of 12GB that does not show even when using knoppix.Any advice?Thanks. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
shanenin Posted January 23, 2006 Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 did you use the program cfdisk with knoppix? I think this would show your hidden partitions as well. 12 gb seems large for a recovery partition, what makes you think their is a hidden partition? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
electrontau Posted January 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 did you use the program cfdisk with knoppix? I think this would show your hidden partitions as well. 12 gb seems large for a recovery partition, what makes you think their is a hidden partition?Because when I use the XP Pro CD to boot the computer, it shows an unpartitioned space of 12gb. I figured that that is where the computer builder put some of the files in there. The same thing happens to Dell, HP or Compaq computers. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TheTerrorist_75 Posted January 23, 2006 Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 If that computer was phyically moved I would open it up and reseat all cards, memory and connections. Also check the motherboard to see if it shifted. Something may have become loose and is causing the problem. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
xxkbxx Posted January 23, 2006 Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 (edited) The blue flash you are seeing is a memory dump, indicating a problem in the windows loading process - therefore safe mode will not work eitherIs the extra 12GB a partition or unallocated space? There's a difference (space is just empty)I've seen this problem be fixed with a new load of the OS, new memory, or a new hard drive Edited January 23, 2006 by xxkbxx Quote Link to post Share on other sites
electrontau Posted January 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 The blue flash you are seeing is a memory dump, indicating a problem in the windows loading process - therefore safe mode will not work eitherIs the extra 12GB a partition or unallocated space? There's a difference (space is just empty)I've seen this problem be fixed with a new load of the OS, new memory, or a new hard driveThe extra space is unallocated space, according to the XP CD. I wonder if there is any files in it! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
xxkbxx Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 The blue flash you are seeing is a memory dump, indicating a problem in the windows loading process - therefore safe mode will not work eitherIs the extra 12GB a partition or unallocated space? There's a difference (space is just empty)I've seen this problem be fixed with a new load of the OS, new memory, or a new hard driveThe extra space is unallocated space, according to the XP CD. I wonder if there is any files in it!I hope that's sarcasm, but I'm not always good at reading things correctly Quote Link to post Share on other sites
electrontau Posted January 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 The blue flash you are seeing is a memory dump, indicating a problem in the windows loading process - therefore safe mode will not work eitherIs the extra 12GB a partition or unallocated space? There's a difference (space is just empty)I've seen this problem be fixed with a new load of the OS, new memory, or a new hard driveThe extra space is unallocated space, according to the XP CD. I wonder if there is any files in it!I hope that's sarcasm, but I'm not always good at reading things correctlyNot a sarcasm. I really don't know what they do with this unallocated space. Companies like Dell and HP always have some hidden/unallocated space where , I suspect, put something in there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
shanenin Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 I have worked on a dell computer that had a hidden fat partition. This partition could be seen using cfdisk. If it apears unallocated, I would feel confident betting money that is just unused unallocated space. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MrBill Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 How big is the HD and how was it done. FAT or NTFS? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
xxkbxx Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 I have worked on a dell computer that had a hidden fat partition. This partition could be seen using cfdisk. If it apears unallocated, I would feel confident betting money that is just unused unallocated space.Interesting - never heard of that beforeIt's probably just extra space anyways - every hard drive (to some degree) has unallocated space Quote Link to post Share on other sites
shanenin Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 My theory was the computer was sold as having a certain size harddrive. Maybe the manufactures got a good deal on slighty larger harddrives. They only formatted them to the desired size. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
xxkbxx Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 My theory was the computer was sold as having a certain size harddrive. Maybe the manufactures got a good deal on slighty larger harddrives. They only formatted them to the desired size.Probably formatted them down to a rounded number like 120 for a 140GB Hard Drive that's actually 127.6 some odd GBIt would freak some people out - "I think I have a virus!" Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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