PC will not start

[idahosurge]

I had something strange happen this morning, my PC would not start. It keep going to a screen that said that the PC did not shut down properly last time and gave me three choices to start in safe mode and if I did not pick any of those choices then it would try and start in regular mode.  Not choosing any of the safe modes it tried to start in regular mode and it would not start and it just sat there and kept rebooting.  I finally chose safe mode and it booted up.  I then shut down and restarted and it started fine.

I saw this exact same thing before at work when I installed XP Service Pack 3 on my HP work computer.  At work the only thing that fixed it was to do a system restore.

I am glad my home computer booted up because I have system restore turned off on my home computer since it was recommended on Nick's XP tweaks threads to turn it off.

Anyway does anyone have any ideas why my home XP Home Service Pack 2 HP PC would decide that it was not shut down properly and refuse to boot in normal mode?

Regards,

Rod

[Groundbound1]

Not a clue. But if it finally restarted correctly, you wouldn't think you need to be too worried about it.

[NickN]

There is always safe mode and uninstalling the service pack if you suspect it of the problem


My recommendation was quite clear about System Restore.. I dont use it, I find it to be a resource hog (which it is) and shutting it down is up to you. I have found System Restore to mix new and old files and although a computer may appear fine.. too many times did I see more trouble than it was worth, and a clean install was the only way to fix it... so I do not use it and instead use other means to backup and save a copy of a working partition, which I back up manually once a month in case I ever need it...

[idahosurge]

Nick, I realized when I turned it off that I turned it off at my own risk.

You answered my next question already, what do you do if you have disabled restore and your PC craps out?  Answer: Reformat/reinstall.  You know reformatting and reinstalling is a pain, but on the other hand it is great to start fresh once in awhile and that is what reformatting does for you.

I back up my MS Office document files, aircraft files, Quicken files, and other stuff not easily replaced once a month.  I have all of my programs on CD or have backup files that I copied after downloading programs off the internet (freeware/shareware/payware).

I know that I have said this in the past and I will say it again, thanks for all of the help Nick!

Rod