Windows xp computer won't boot. The computer turns on, but the operating system does not start: possible causes and solutions to the problem. Possible viral infection

There are many reasons why Windows XP does not load. Most often, the problem is accompanied by a text explanation on a black background. But sometimes even that may not exist. The article will discuss the most popular errors and failures of the operating system, as well as ways to eliminate them.

Possible problems

Among the most common errors are the following: Bootmgr is missing, NTLDR is missing, BSOD and many others. In the first case, the problem is that the bootloader files are damaged. The second failure indicates a violation of the integrity of registry entries. BSOD is one of the names blue screen of death. There are also other failures, full list which would take several dozen pages.

But solutions for many problems are universal. For example, from most minor problems with working system You can get rid of it by rebooting. Of course, there are often exceptions to this rule, but it has the right to life.

Next, we will consider universal ways to get rid of situations when Windows XP does not start. If you cannot determine the cause or error code, then simply perform each one in order. One of them will definitely help. If the problem is known, then review the corresponding section of the article.

Method 1: Last Known Good Configuration

When Windows XP fails to start normally several times, the boot menu will open. It contains several options for emergency system startup. To begin with, you should choose "Last successful...".In this mode, system files will be partially rolled back to the state when the PC was functioning in normal mode.

Important: If the boot options menu does not launch automatically, you must open it manually. To do this, restart your PC and press F8 repeatedly.

If this option for turning on the computer was successful, then everything is fine with Windows, a one-time failure occurred. At this point, the problem can be considered resolved, subsequent launches will occur in standard mode. They won't require the same setup.

Otherwise, the failure cannot be easily fixed. Then move on to the next solution to the problem.

Method 2: Recovering from Safe Mode

Now let's look at a short version of calling this function. Expand the full list of items in Start. Next go to "Standard - Service". And from there run the element "System Restore".

Then simply follow the on-screen instructions.

Note: User data will not be affected during the rollback. But some programs may be removed and settings may be cancelled. As a matter of fact, this is what the recovery procedure consists of.

Method 3: Live CD

A Live CD is a disk with a system that does not require installation. It is immediately ready for use. "Live Image" allows you to perform emergency recovery and backup data on a computer or laptop with Windows not working.

First you need to find a suitable Live CD to burn to a disk or flash drive. To do this, you will need another computer with Internet access.

Now connect the media to faulty computer and perform recovery regular means Live CD. You can also try replacing the following system files: Boot.ini, NTLDR, Ntdetect. They are responsible for the operation of the bootloader and other important Windows components.

Method 4: Reinstall Windows XP

Failure on the previous three occasions indicates that damage is likely system files critical. They are not subject to standard restoration. All that remains is .

It requires the creation boot disk with the operating system image. This procedure is no different from burning a Live CD. The Windows image is not available for download from Microsoft servers, so first find a suitable build on the Internet. The easiest way to transfer it to a blank is with using UltraISO, you can also use a USB flash drive.

When recording is complete, you need to set to BIOS loading from removable media. This is done in Boot section. There, find the Boot Priority item, put the desired device in first place.
Then return to the main section and exit saving the settings. Now restart your computer. The installation procedure will begin. It is necessary to format the disk completely.

Important: if you do not want to lose data, then first transfer it to removable media via Live CD download.

If Windows won't boot, there is one simple way that can help us restore the operating system without getting into its "internals" :)

The reasons that Windows does not boot can be very diverse, for example, -, and each specific case requires its own individual approach. But, knowing the basic set of faults (“classics of the genre”), we can independently fix most Windows boot problems.

Let's digress a little and I'll tell you a little story from my practice, how I got into a situation where Windows won't boot and what did I do? I once worked in one of the geographically remote departments of our institution. In addition to all other tasks, it was necessary to install the fourth service pack (OS update) for Windows 2000 on one of the computers there.

Note: The method described below is absolutely identical for the Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems.

So, I finished all my current affairs and thought: now I’ll quickly install the service pack and - for lunch. I'm launching, it means installation file, the installer unpacks the two-hundred-megabyte archive, then its installation begins.

During such a procedure, there is a massive update and an increase in the total number of system files and components of the OS itself, so it is strictly not recommended to turn off or restart the computer before it is completed!

What do you think happened at the moment when the installation progress indicator reached exactly the middle? The lights in the room have turned off! The electricians needed to re-route some cables and they decided to cut off the power to several rooms “for five minutes” :)

It is clear that a few seconds were enough for the computer (to my involuntary and not entirely literary exclamation) to turn off. It is clear that after turning on the electricity, I saw that Windows did not boot, but went into a constant cyclic reboot (at the stage when its logo appeared).

“Lunch is served and the planned quiet surfing on the Internet is over,” I thought. Windows will not boot, you need to take everything to yourself and “raise” the system (restore the OS boot).

How are we going to do this? In this case, the method on top of an existing one helped us. Let's figure out how to do this correctly?

A small note: with this method of restoring Windows boot, missing or damaged system files and OS libraries are replaced with original ones, which allows (in many cases) to obtain a working system. Moreover very important that all user data, installed programs and the registry settings are saved. The changes affect only service files and libraries.

So, Windows won't boot - let's start repairing it! Let's take it installation disk with Windows, insert it into , set the BIOS to boot from it and reboot.

Perhaps, to boot from a CD, we will be asked to press any key on the keyboard - press it. As a result, we should see a window like this:

Press the “Enter” key, as shown in the photo above. We discussed what it is and how to work with it in one of the previous articles and we will not dwell on this.

Let’s look at another very important point that requires a separate explanation. To be able to use this recovery method, we (ideally) should have on hand the disk from which the particular copy of Windows that we are going to “repair” was installed.

Why is that? I don’t know exactly the answer to this question, perhaps this is related to the OS serial numbers from Microsoft? Let me explain my point: if you often had to install them, you probably noticed that sometimes the serial numbers from one installation disk miraculously match another (naturally, within the same product line).

Apparently, Microsoft produces original disks with copies of Windows in batches. And so, within one such “party”, serial number from one disk can be successfully applied to all others. This is precisely the nuance of successfully using the installation disk in a situation where Windows does not boot.

We need (ideally) the same disk from which the system was initially installed, or a disk from the same batch!

At one time (even before the crisis), our organization purchased quite a lot of licensed products from Microsoft. Therefore, it is almost always possible to find a distribution kit in disk debris that will behave “correctly” during the installation process :)

What I mean? But let's see what the screenshots of this process look like next:

Standard window with the license agreement. We need to accept it by pressing the “F8” key.

After this, we can see a very interesting inscription at the bottom of the screen:

It is at this stage that the OS from the distribution kit on the disk determines whether it can be used to restore an already installed copy of Windows? Those. - Are these two systems from the same series/batch?

What happens if the check is successful? A window exactly like the one in the photo below appears:

After this, press the “ R", confirming our desire.

Attention! If you don't you see the inscription "To try to restore the selected copy of Windows press R" - don't continue installation, otherwise you will irrevocably overwrite the already installed copy.

Then the screen changes and we see the following window:

After a few seconds, this is the picture:

In appearance, it looks very similar to installing from scratch, but we remember that we have Windows won't boot and we are doing exactly that recovery !

After the installation is complete, we reboot the computer and - Windows boots!

As you remember, in my case it was Windows 2000, but the result and the process itself looked exactly the same for XP.

Now I want to show you how the screenshots of the installation process differ if the distribution disk is not suitable for recovery using the method described above.

So, the initial situation is that Windows does not boot, we take (as it seems to us) the “correct” distribution (from the same batch) and try to boot from it. At first, everything is exactly the same as in the previous case, but only up to this point:

All! This is the last Redmond Windows warning :) If we go further, we will lose all the data, programs and settings that were made in the previous system, and no emergency will help us.

Use the first option described at the beginning of this article!

If after turning on the power computer won't boot, this could be due to several reasons.

■ If on initial stage The message Invalid system disk appears on the boot screen. Replace the disk, and then press any key and you can't do work at home, check to see if you have a floppy disk inserted into your computer's drive. If the floppy disk is present in the drive, remove it, then press the Reset button on the front panel of the system unit or turn off the computer's power and turn it on again.

■ The computer may not boot If the operating system boot process stops at any stage, press the Reset button on the front panel system unit Or turn off the computer's power and turn it on again, then press F8 during the initial system reboot stage. A menu will appear on the screen in which you should select Safe Mode using the cursor keys in Windows 2000/XP or by successively pressing the 3 and Enter keys in Windows 98/Millennium Edition. After Windows has finished booting into crash protection mode, check the disks. In Windows 98/Millennium Edition, to do this, select Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Check Disk, and then click the Run button in the Disk Checker window that opens. On Windows 2000/XP, open My Computer, click right click mouse on the icon of the drive on which Windows is installed (most often this is drive C:), in the menu that opens, select Properties. Click the mouse at the top of the window that appears on the screen, go to the Tools tab, click on the Run scan button, check the Automatically fix system errors and Reinstall bad sectors checkboxes, and then click on the Run button. Most likely, Windows will prompt you to perform a scan the next time you boot the system; agree to this proposal by clicking on the Yes button. Restart your computer.

If the computer does not boot, then after loading the operating system in safe mode (to select this mode, press the F8 key at the initial stage of Windows boot) in Windows Millennium Edition/2000/XP, you can use the System Restore utility. To do this, select Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore for Windows Millennium Edition/2000 or Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore for Windows XP. In the right part of the System Restore window that opens, set the switch to the Restore the computer to an earlier point in time position (Restore the computer to an earlier state) and click the Next button. On the left side of the next window you will see an image of a calendar, in the table of which the dates on which Windows automatically created a “snapshot” of the system are highlighted in bold - it is to the state of one of these days that you can restore Windows using this program. These “snapshots” are called system restore points. You can switch months in the calendar by clicking on the buttons with the right and left arrows. Having selected the desired month, click on the date when the restore point you need was created. In the field to the right you will see the time it was created and a short text comment. You can scroll through the list of restore points by clicking the right and left arrow buttons above the restore point descriptions. After selecting the desired restore point, click Next. System Restore will show you information about the selected restore point. Click the Next button to begin system recovery. Within a few seconds, the System Restore program reads all the necessary information from the disk, after which the computer will restart. After the resuscitation process is completed, Windows will boot into normal mode with completely restored settings. System Restore doesn't mean that when you restart your computer, you'll lose any documents or emails you've recently prepared, but programs installed after the restore point was created may not run, so you'll need to reinstall them again.
If, when you turn on the computer's power, sounds are heard from the system unit. sound signals, consisting of a series of long or short beeps (the image on the monitor screen may disappear), this means a hardware failure has occurred - most likely computer won't boot because some part of the computer has failed. Contact a computer repair specialist.

Setting the boot configuration (Boot.INI)

If configuration file loading Boot.INI contains errors, starting Win XP will also be impossible, since NTLDR will not know what to load and with what parameters. The system notifies you of this problem with the following messages:

Check boot path and disk hardware - check the disk and path to the boot partition;
Could not read from selected boot disk - could not read data from the selected boot disk;
Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem - Windows startup failed due to a disk configuration error.

The recovery console will again help you get out of the situation. Run the command: bootcfg /rebuild- she restores standard entries boot.INI. During its operation, all hard drive partitions are checked for installed copies of Win. If systems are detected, entries about them are added to the configuration file, and the user can confirm or reject the addition of the system to the boot list. This way it is possible to restore the launch of several copies of Windows at once.

Registry recovery

Another reason XP does not boot is damage to the registry, especially the System sections, which contain information about starting drivers, and Software, which contains boot control settings.

To “rollback” these two partitions to the state at the time the system was installed, launch the recovery console and run the commands:

rename c:windowssystem32configsystem system.old

rename c:windowssystem32configsoftware software.old

copy c:windowsrepairsystem c:windowssystem32configsystem

copy c:windowsrepairsoftware c:windowssystem32configsoftware

You can restore other partitions using the same method. Win registry: Default, Security and Sum.

Recovering boot files

You already know why the files responsible for starting Windows XP become inoperable. In such cases, Win loads almost to the end, but at a certain moment it goes into a reboot or ends with a BSoD. Thus, error 0xC000021a (fatal system error) indicates the absence or corruption of Winlogon.exe or Csrss.exe. Problems with other files may not be accompanied by messages, but only appear as a black screen during the boot process.

If you know which files are missing, you can transfer them from another similar system or from a distribution disk - from the i386 folder. To do this, the computer also boots from the recovery console, where commands are executed to copy and unpack files from the storage. Yes, team expand d:i386userinit.ex_ c:windowssystem32 unzip and copy to folder system32 file userinit.exe, where d: is the installation disk.

If you don’t know which files are causing the problem, installing the system in recovery mode will help. System files will be overwritten, but programs, settings and user data will remain unchanged.

Start your computer from the installation disc. When the “Welcome to the program...” window appears, continue the installation by pressing Enter.

During further work, the program will scan the disks and if it detects a copy of Windows XP on them, it will offer to restore it. To do this, select it in the list and press “R”.

After the reboot, there will be several more stages where user participation will be required. This includes entering the serial number.

At the end of the operation, the files will be overwritten and if the reason why Windows did not boot was in them, the system will restore its operation.

Moreover, it is quite expensive, but it is without visible reasons stopped loading.

It’s good if you can quickly deliver it to service, but in a number of situations you have to fix the problem yourself.

Of course, without a detailed diagnosis, it is impossible to find out the true cause, as well as provide universal advice, but several of the most common causes can be considered.

What to do if your computer won't boot

First you need to find out at what stage the computer freezes, at the self-test stage, or when Windows has already started loading.

If the Windows logo appears on the screen, after which the download stops, the problem is guaranteed to be a damaged operating system; most likely everything is in order with the computer hardware.

Sometimes loading the latest helps successful configuration. To do this, immediately after turning on the computer and the BIOS system sends a signal about the successful completion of self-test (one short one), you must start pressing the F8 button. In the menu that appears, select “Load last known known configuration.” If the system starts after this, the problem will be solved.

If the Windows logo does not appear, but the computer passes the test, you can try to boot from external media, for example, from a Windows bootable system disk. If the download went fine, the problem is most likely in the operating system, after reinstalling everything should work fine.

If the computer starts up at the self-test stage, the problem lies in the hardware. It is necessary to listen to the signals given BIOS system using a beeper.

Depending on the signals sent, you can try to determine the cause of the failure:

One long, three short – video card malfunction. The first thing you need to try to do is remove and reinsert the video card, check the connection of additional power cables to it, if any. If this does not help, you will have to contact service.
Three long ones – memory error. Remove one of the modules and try to start the computer again. Remove both memory modules, if there are two, and try to insert them again into the same slots, or into other free memory slots, if motherboard installation is provided in all slots of the same type of memory.
One long and one short, repeated short, continuous - a malfunction of the motherboard or processor. You'll have to contact service.

On a number of motherboards from earlier years, resetting the BIOS can help. Find a jumper on the board (jumper) consisting of three contacts, under which it says Clear CMOS. Move the jumper installed on it to a different position (for example, if it is now installed on the first and second contacts, move it to the second and third) for a minute, then return it back. Try to start the system.

Sometimes even such a method as removing the network cable from the power supply unit, waiting a minute and plugging it back in helps. This is due to the operation of the power supply protection system against voltage surges.

Situations often arise when operating system Windows XP suddenly stops loading. There can be many reasons for this, and each specific problem requires an individual solution. However, if the user knows why the computer may malfunction, then he can easily solve the problem on his own. All possible reasons failures can be divided into two groups:

Hardware - something has broken inside the computer, and Windows no longer works;
Software - software errors have arisen in the OS itself that interfere with the correct operation of the system;

It is also worth paying attention to at what stage the OS does not load, that is, what manages to appear on the screen, and after what particular event you detect a failure. In this case, we will consider a situation where Windows XP no longer starts after the splash screen appears.

What can be done

The very first method you need to resort to is loading the system's last known known configuration. After all, the cause of the malfunction may simply be that you, for example, installed an incorrect program or driver on your computer, due to which the OS does not load normally. Accordingly, for the system to operate normally, you need to return it to the moment when these tools were not installed. There is a special section in the system registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINES\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet, where information about the last problem-free boot is recorded. It is with the help of this Windows partition will determine the last known known configuration and boot based on it.

Another option is to run Windows XP in safe mode.

With this method, only the minimum required set is loaded software For Windows operation, none of the supporting programs are loaded.

If you were unable to boot your system as usual, but it booted into safe mode without any problems, this already means that you most likely recently installed some software on your computer that is causing your system to fail. starts.

After starting your computer in safe mode, you should Windows recovery XP. To do this, you need to run the recovery utility, which is located in the All Programs/Accessories/Utilities/System Restore directory. It takes so-called snapshots of important system files, and saves the resulting information in the form of restore points at which the system boots normally (more precisely, it booted before the problem occurred). Points can be created manually; periodically they are created automatically (for example, after installing a new software). You need to select the desired point and then start the recovery process. Upon completion, the computer will restart.

If all else fails

If previous attempts have failed and your system still won't boot, your last resort may be to restore your system using the installer. In order to do this, you will need a Windows XP installation disc. Insert it into the drive, enter the BIOS and set it to boot from it. . If a window appears on the screen asking you to press any key to continue working, then do just that. The operating system installation window will appear. Windows systems XP. You will need the first item, by selecting which you will begin Windows installation XP on computer. First of all, a license agreement will be displayed on the screen, which you must accept, otherwise you will not be able to install the OS.

In the next step, the message “Search” will appear at the bottom of the screen previous versions Microsoft Windows..." Thus, the program determines what it needs to do next - install the system on the computer or launch a recovery mechanism for an already installed OS. There is one rather important nuance here - for the recovery procedure to be successful, you will need a disk with exactly the same copy of Windows that you had previously installed. This is due to the fact that each operating system has its own serial number, which during the installation process is also checked for compliance with the previously installed copy.

Let's say the scan completed successfully and no compatibility issues were found. In this case, a message appears on the screen asking you to either restore your existing copy of Windows, or install a new copy on your hard drive, and not carry out the recovery procedure. Since we are interested in system recovery, we need to select the first item and then press the R key. If suddenly the installation wizard offers you only to install a new copy of Windows on your computer, do not agree - this will remove your OS from the computer and you will have to do the installation again.

If you did everything correctly, the program will begin the recovery procedure. From the outside it will look like installing a new OS on a computer, but in fact it is just restoring a damaged system. After all, the process does not affect Accounts computer users, programs installed on the computer and system registry data.

That's it, your computer now boots in normal mode. It is advisable to make sure that the correct device boot priorities have been set in the BIOS (because after recovery through the distribution kit they have to be changed). Priority should be to launch from hard drive. If everything is correct, then Windows XP starts and works without failures.

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Windows XP does not load for many reasons; if information is displayed on a black screen, then you can judge from it that there is a malfunction. For example, when you saw the message Bootmgr is missing, your boot record along with the bootloader, then this is for you. In case of violations Windows registry XP, such an inscriptionmissing or damaged. Or and such information exists.Sometimes the Boot.ini file is edited incorrectly-> or do you need it Or maybe when loading . For each problem, our response will vary greatly, so we would like to know in more detail about everything that happened to you. By the way, one of our latest articles is , can also help you.

Windows XP won't boot

From the beginning, let's try to solve our problems with starting Windows XP using Last Known Good Configuration it restores system registry and driver settings that were used the last time the system booted successfully.

You need to restart your computer and press the key at startup. Next, select “ Loading Last Known Known Configuration" and press . You have one attempt to restore the last known known configuration.
Let's say nothing worked, then try restarting the computer again. When prompted to “Select an operating system to start,” you need to press the key and boot into safe mode, then click Start->Programs->Accessories->System Tools->System Restore. In Safe Mode, only the option “Restore your computer to an earlier state” is available as it is already selected by default, just click “Next”. Then select a restore checkpoint and start the restore process, full article here.
There is one tricky way to restore loading Windows XP, create an additional partition on your hard drive or take another one HDD and install a new copy of Windows XP there, the boot files will be overwritten in any case and you can choose between the new operating system and the old one, which by the way should boot, then delete the new one or exclude it from the boot menu.

In most cases, boot problems occur due to the absence of system files, primarily: Boot.ini, NTLDR, Ntdetect.com, which are usually damaged or deleted due to a virus or other numerous reasons.