My 'puter died... *shakes fist at winblowz*

[Grimmlok]

So yeah.. I installed some software for my new phone last night (it came with the phone), and installed gmail video chat a bit later.. and at some point in the night, my puter decided to restart itself.. except it couldn't.

Now it sits in the BIOS page, saying "windows didnt load last time you rebooted yer puter, blah blah" and naturally gives you the 2 safe mode choices (none of which i can select cuz the keyboard doesn't respond).. and when the timer runs out, it tries to reboot normally.. loads windows halfway.. and then reboots itself and starts all over.

I'm guessing windows has basically been lobotomized and i'll have to reformat the C drive and reload windows, and all my shit all over.. but if anybody else has any other ideas, let me know.

[*DIVA!]

So yeah.. I installed some software for my new phone last night (it came with the phone), and installed gmail video chat a bit later.. and at some point in the night, my puter decided to restart itself.. except it couldn't.

Now it sits in the BIOS page, saying "windows didnt load last time you rebooted yer puter, blah blah" and naturally gives you the 2 safe mode choices (none of which i can select cuz the keyboard doesn't respond).. and when the timer runs out, it tries to reboot normally.. loads windows halfway.. and then reboots itself and starts all over.

I'm guessing windows has basically been lobotomized and i'll have to reformat the C drive and reload windows, and all my shit all over.. but if anybody else has any other ideas, let me know.

When your comp. restarts keep hitting F8, it will take you to a screen that gives you the option to set your comp. back to the last time it worked properly.

[Butterfly]

"but if anybody else has any other ideas, let me know."

You can take a bat to it...

[Grimmlok]

When your comp. restarts keep hitting F8, it will take you to a screen that gives you the option to set your comp. back to the last time it worked properly.

Hrmm i'll give that a shot, see if it works.

[Trixie]

Yep, and if you restore it to an earlier date, it will also get rid of the software which apparently screwed things up in the first place.

[Grimmlok]

provided it isn't just windows itself having a stroke

[micashell]

Is your keyboard a wireless keyboard? I'm thinking if your keyboard doesn't respond you might have trouble hitting F8.

Is it possible to try a different "normal" keyboard and see whether that allows you to use the safe mode option?

[Grimmlok]

Nah, i dont have a wireless keyboard or mouse.. it's funny, cuz if i hit F4 to go into the power settings, i can use the keyboard fine.. but when you exit, and it goes to the "windows didnt load properly last time" page with the 30 second timer, i cant use it to select safe mode.

If i can get it to boot from CD i'll just reinstall windows.. hopefully i wont have to do a full wipe of the HD.

.. anybody have any idea how to boot from a CD right as it starts? LOL

[micashell]

Different machines go with different buttons, I've had to use F2 and the delete button before, depending on the computer

[lurkur]

Nah, i dont have a wireless keyboard or mouse.. it's funny, cuz if i hit F4 to go into the power settings, i can use the keyboard fine.. but when you exit, and it goes to the "windows didnt load properly last time" page with the 30 second timer, i cant use it to select safe mode.

If i can get it to boot from CD i'll just reinstall windows.. hopefully i wont have to do a full wipe of the HD.

.. anybody have any idea how to boot from a CD right as it starts? LOL

If you're able to get to the BIOS settings, you should be able to modify the boot drive to specify to boot from the CD, but the last time I fooled around with that crap was on a puter running Windows 2000. I think my command was either F2 or DEL to get to the settings page right as you flip on the computer, before it starts loading anything else--before it gets to that safe mode prompt.

[Novice]

This kind of happened to me last week (after I'd blown up my mac of course...) and I ended up having to totally reload all the software (did it on sunday, am still getting updates...).

Good luck mate!

[Grimmlok]

Ok, so update:

The keyboard would not respond whatsoever last night.. i couldn't even get into the bios. The roomate says that cuz I;m using a USB keyboard, the USB drivers probably don't get loaded up till a bit later in the windows loading.. which i never get to cuz it resets itself, which is the original issue. That doesn't seem to make sense though, given that ordinarily anybody should be able to mess around with the bios stuff.

SO yeah.. can't get into the bios to boot a windows repair cd from the CD drive. Not sure what to do.

Mebbe my hard drive is fried.

[micashell]

Can you borrow a non-usb keyboard?

USB ports don't work until later in the process if there is a problem. It's the reason why you can't install windows from a suitably large memory stick, has to be from a CD.

You may well be able to recover it if you can use an "old style" keyboard.

[Grimmlok]

*ponders*

I wonder where i can find one in this day and age...

Barring that, i wonder how much a new puter goes for.. one suitably impressive, but not for gaming. I dont need gaming,i have an XBOX

[Corsair]

just saw this. probably too late but, you can get adapters or a keyboard is cheap. you can change the settings in bios (but of course you have to GET to bios first) to load USB through bios instead of operating system. Were you able to get this straight?

PS/2 to USB Keyboard/Mouse Converter - SW-2002, $5.95

here's the adapter, I always have a couple around.