BSOD flashing with reboot loop can't get to desktop

I can't read the blue screen error message because it flashes and disappears. My laptop is caught in an infinite reboot loop and I can't get to my desktop. Safe mode doesn't get me to my desktop either, neither does debugging mode. No matter what option I try they all are caught in the same reboot loop. What do I do?

Do you have a full version XP CD?

Or an OEM Recovery Disk?

If the former then boot the disk & enter the Recovery Console & try to run chkdsk

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_rec.htm

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm

If this fails a Repair Install would be recommended.

http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

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If your CD is an OEM Recovery who is the manufacturer of the computer?

Do you have the manual & instructions for Recovery Options?

Thank you Jephree:

I do have a full version XP Home Edition CD and was using the recovery console just prior to having this problem. I now cannot do either a clean install or a repair install using recovery console. I also cannot run chkdsk. It just keeps rebooting from the harddrive and looping as if there's no CD in the drive at all. My bios is also locked up and will not let me change the boot order. The boot order as it's now configued is set to boot the diskette drive first, then the hard drive. In the meantime I'm going to try clicking on the links you sent me to see what I can find out.

Sounds like your problems are more complex than XP.

I am wondering why the BIOS is locked up?

Also what was happening with the Recovery Console just prior to this problem?

Anyway: you can create the 6 floppy setup that will either lead you to the Recovery Console & or a Repair or Clean Install.
Note the definite distinction between the Recovery Console & a Repair Install. The above links cover these issues pretty well.

Here is the source for the floppies:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310994

Jephree: It's hard to remember exactly what I did, whether it was a recovery or a repair. My problem was that I wanted to get rid of Winmac, which you probably know is a piece of software that imitates various Macintosh shells and icons within the Windows shell. Unfortunately this piece of software comes without an uninstaller, so I had to try and manually delete the stray pieces of it, and I know I didn't get it all. It was bothering me because I didn't like the way it made my icons look. I should have done a clean install rather than a repair or recovery - whatever it was.

I'm running a Dell Latitude CPi D300XT laptop - an ancient 286, although it has worked very well for me. I replaced the CPU myself about five months ago with a used one in good shape. I had never done this before, but it was very easy, but I think there were some issues with the BIOS because of this. There must have been some things I had to adjust in the BIOS with a new CPU, weren't there? I think that's where I went wrong, because previous to my CPU replacement the BIOS worked just fine and altering the settings was child's play.

Thanks for the details.

The above XP floppy setup should bypass the lack of the CD boot.

Another option would be to flash the BIOS:

http://support.dell.com/support/down...6130&vercnt=12

Thanks for all your help Jephree. The flash BIOS on Dell is a real help. I'd like to make the diskettes but unfortunately I can't get online on my computer. It looks like all I can do is use someone else's computer. Right now I'm using my wife's Inspiron but it has no diskette drive. What a pain. I was thinking about getting a Knoppix disk to replace Windows, and then reload Windows back onto the computer, but I still can't do this due to my current BIOS settings, which would boot from my harddrive before the CD-ROM. I also thought about booting my computer from my wife's computer harddrive with a parallel USB cable, as she is running XP as well. A tech told me in the past that this could be done. Are you familiar with this practice?

I am not familiar with anything like that nor can I find anything on-line; sorry.

I did find a manual which suggests that booting from the CD-ROM on that laptop is not an option.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/pmojav/

Getting the XP floppies is about all I can think of at the moment.

Hey Jephree:

I did the 6 disk floppy install and it worked great , until I got to the part where I needed to insert the CDROM . The problem is that I have removable diskette drive and a removable CDROM drive and they both use the same bay of my computer, so I have to remove the diskette drive to put in the CDROM drive, and when I put in the CDROM drive with the XP disk, the computer doesn't read the drive . When Windows is working normally, I've never had any problems with my computer making the switch. Anything I can do from here? I also tried the flash BIOS update but the new BIOS can't be installed unless XP is functioning normally, because to install it I need to get to my desktop, and I cannot get there.

A final question Jephree:

I'm using my wife's Dell Inspiron 600m to send this email. Is there any way I can perform the final part of the XP install using her CDROM drive as a slave to my computer? But I suspect I need to have access to my desktop to do this.