Need help guys! There was a power surge in my place while my pc is running. The pc restarted and won't start. When I try to reboot my pc, same thing happens, the windows xp logo will appear but after that, the screen will just turn into dimly lit blank screen (bluish). What could be the reason? Is it the videocard or the hard disk? what step should I do to check which is which?

Thanks.

Is the monitor connected to a graphx card or is it connected to the vga on the motherboard?
If it is connected to the vga on the motherboard then you may have to replace the motherboard (worst scenario).
If it is connected to a card try connecting to the vga on the motherboard (assuming it wasn't disabled in the hardware manager)

If this doesn't work,try changing the graphics card.(I keep a low grade card as a spare for such an instance).
If either of the above work,then your card is probably faulty and needs replacing,
I don't think the hard is drive broken, although with a spike in the power it is possible for the
data to be corrupted,.

If you can see the XP logo, then it doesn't sound like a graphics card problem.

Can you boot into safe mode? If you can try doing a system restore.

Start> All Programs> Accessories> System Tools> System Restore.

When this opens make sure that "Restore my computer to an earlier time" is chosen, and click on Next>.

The dates appearing in bold are the dates that you can restore to, click on the date that you want and then click Next> to start the System Restore. This may take a long time to complete, and when it is done it will restart your computer. When the computer restarts and you have logged on as the administrator a Restoration Complete page will appear, click on OK to complete the process

Is the monitor connected to a graphx card or is it connected to the vga on the motherboard?
If it is connected to the vga on the motherboard then you may have to replace the motherboard (worst scenario).
If it is connected to a card try connecting to the vga on the motherboard (assuming it wasn't disabled in the hardware manager)

If this doesn't work,try changing the graphics card.(I keep a low grade card as a spare for such an instance).
If either of the above work,then your card is probably faulty and needs replacing,
I don't think the hard is drive broken, although with a spike in the power it is possible for the
data to be corrupted,.

The monitor is connected to a video card. Ok I will try to connect to the vga on the mobo (if it has one, have to check). If not, then I might buy another one.

If you can see the XP logo, then it doesn't sound like a graphics card problem.

Can you boot into safe mode? If you can try doing a system restore.

Start> All Programs> Accessories> System Tools> System Restore.

When this opens make sure that "Restore my computer to an earlier time" is chosen, and click on Next>.

The dates appearing in bold are the dates that you can restore to, click on the date that you want and then click Next> to start the System Restore. This may take a long time to complete, and when it is done it will restart your computer. When the computer restarts and you have logged on as the administrator a Restoration Complete page will appear, click on OK to complete the process

yes, the xp logo is appearing but thats about it. I can't boot in safe mode either. It stops after loading ---->multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\System32\Drivers\Mup.sys

A simple cmos reset might do the trick for you

A simple cmos reset might do the trick for you

same thing, windows is loading but after that..blank screen

you can also try a chckdsk /r by using recovery console or win repair. it can be GFX but lets not start to spend money unnecessary.
so. try that first

chkdsk /r solved my problem! thanks sittas87. My pc is up and running...but how can I boot directly to windows. Everytime the pc boot-up, it let me choose first between the two items 1. Windows XP Professional 2. Windows XP Professional Set-up

tia

hi J
First you need to determine witch OS you want to use the first or second one.
two questions:
1-at startup do you select the first boot up or the second
Windows XP Professional
OR
Windows XP Professional Set-up
2-Do you want to permanently delete the one youre not using

post me answers and ill sort you out

Actually I am using the first one, the Windows XP Professional. It is my existing OS. The second one just takes me back to the windows installation. I just wanna boot directlly to Windows.

thanks!

So if youre not using the second one [Windows] than you can backup the data on that windows-profile if theres any data you want and just permenantly delete the second windows.
backup your BOOT.INI file first if you wanna permenantly delete the unwanted windows heres how: start>right click my computer> advance> startup and recovery>edit>file> save as, choose a location too store the file preferably desktop and give it a name
to permenantly delete the second boot up option go to
start>right clisk my computer> properties>advance[tab]> startup and recovery settings>edit
delete the whole last line -only-

Finally delete the Windows folder from the drive that the "unwanted" OS was installed

hi sittas! I have deleted the last line but I havent deleted the "unwanted" OS folder. I don't know where to look for. Hence, the situation is the same. The only thing that changed was the choices

before:
Windows XP Professional
Windows XP Professional Set-up

now:
Windows XP Professional
Windows (default)

Hi J
Thats good, you on the right track..
all thats left to do is to get the default not to display. but you now to determine witch Windows folder is the one that you dont use, by default its on your c: drive there should be two though, the one that you currently using and the so called "unwannted" one. first I want for you to check if there is in deed two WINDOWS folders in the root of youre C: drive. if there isnt two on your C: drive than check on your other partition/s. So do that first and get back to me, we dont want you to try to delete the wrong one.
CHeers

ok guys thanks, i will do that shortly....

Hi sittas and hughv, thanks for the tips. I solved the problem already. I edited the boot.ini by copying the boot sample in the link that hughv gave -->http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022

Now my pc is booting directly to windows! thanks again

youre welcome

cheers
sittas

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