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chexmix
sage
Reged: 12/01/04
Posts: 346
Loc: Arlington, MA, USA
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Hi Folks -
What's described here has not happened to me before so I thought I'd ask the smartest people I know! 
My machine is a multi-OS laptop. On the first primary partition (about 18 gigs) sits Windows XP, with the recently-installed SP3. As of this morning, Win XP is refusing to boot. I get to the initial MS logo (w/ black background) screen and then the monitor goes dark ...
... and stays dark ....
I've tried booting "with last known good configuration" (or however it is phrased): same result.
I have tried booting in "Safe Mode" and "Safe Mode with Networking" - what I get here is a rapid scroll-by of some text showing locations of various Windows files. This stops dead (if it would help for me to post WHERE it stops I can do that - currently I am working via Slackware Linux).
The only thing I can think of is a power surge/lightning strike: there were storms last night and this morning my clocks were blinking. Mind you, my Debian Linux partition was up last night (e.g. not Windows) and was still fine this morning, but I suppose this doesn't _necessarily_ mean something didn't reach in and caress my hard drive somewhere else ...
... I don't think it's a problem with SP3 or anything since I have shut down and rebooted Windows since that got downloaded and installed ...
Anyone seen anything like this? Not sure where to start troubleshooting. It isn't necessarily a total disaster for me, more an inconvenience, I guess. But I am interested in figuring out what may have happened.
I have my XP w/SP 2 CD, FWIW. I booted from it and it offered to do an automatic system diagnostic, but kept asking for a diskette I don't think I have ...
Any pointers would be most welcome. Thanks!
GB
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8" Discovery DHQ
Celestron C102-HD
9x63 Orion mini-giants
(2) Frontally-placed visual organs, incl. lens, vitreous/aqueous humors, assorted rods, cones.
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chexmix
sage
Reged: 12/01/04
Posts: 346
Loc: Arlington, MA, USA
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It seems to have fixed itself. No idea. :P
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8" Discovery DHQ
Celestron C102-HD
9x63 Orion mini-giants
(2) Frontally-placed visual organs, incl. lens, vitreous/aqueous humors, assorted rods, cones.
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Tom L
Reged: 01/07/04
Posts: 29817
Loc: Sunny Oregon
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Keep an eye on your HDD...and backup your stuff now! This same type of problem has happened to me in the past and it ended up being a HDD on it's way out.
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Tom 
Tele Vue 102mm f/8.6 on an EzTouch
Vixen 80mm f/5 A80SSWT on a grab-n-go mount
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chexmix
sage
Reged: 12/01/04
Posts: 346
Loc: Arlington, MA, USA
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Quote:
Keep an eye on your HDD...and backup your stuff now! This same type of problem has happened to me in the past and it ended up being a HDD on it's way out.
Tom,
Yeah, I was wondering about that. This is an old machine and it has been soldiering on since 2003, so it's definitely not out of the realm of possibility.
Thanks,
GB
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8" Discovery DHQ
Celestron C102-HD
9x63 Orion mini-giants
(2) Frontally-placed visual organs, incl. lens, vitreous/aqueous humors, assorted rods, cones.
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Joe Cipriano
Entropy Personified
Reged: 09/03/05
Posts: 3830
Loc: Uh... anyone have a GPS?
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I'll second Tom's recommendation on a full backup; however, the HDD may not be entirely to blame... InformationWeek article on XP SP3.
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In the Land of Eternal Light Pollution & Great Pizza (Chicago)
SN-6, ED80, WO 66SD
Meade 208xt, SBIG ST-4
D70 (modified)
CGE (way modified)
A Wife who understands (unmodified)
Some other stuff...
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
Douglas Adams
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Tom L
Reged: 01/07/04
Posts: 29817
Loc: Sunny Oregon
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Interesting, thanks for posting the link.
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Tom
Tele Vue 102mm f/8.6 on an EzTouch
Vixen 80mm f/5 A80SSWT on a grab-n-go mount
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chexmix
sage
Reged: 12/01/04
Posts: 346
Loc: Arlington, MA, USA
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Thanks, Joe. Interesting read.
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8" Discovery DHQ
Celestron C102-HD
9x63 Orion mini-giants
(2) Frontally-placed visual organs, incl. lens, vitreous/aqueous humors, assorted rods, cones.
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BlueMoon
super member
Reged: 06/14/07
Posts: 174
Loc: Idaho, USA
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Quote:
Microsoft said the restrictions are designed to prevent system instabilities.
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Jeff
Antares 1529 152mm f/6.5 Achromat Refractor
EQ5/ST-2 mount
1984 Tasco 19ER 20X-60X50 Refractor
Oberwerks 15x70 Binoculars
Herrett Observatory, Twin Falls, Idaho.
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