Computer starts but won't boot up Windows

[Gepetto]

A mate has a PC that starts up normally until it gets to the Windows starting screen. Then it goes back to the beginning and does that over and over.

Can anyone tell me what's knackered? I figured HDD, but I took that out, put it in my machine and I can read it fine on my PC. Didn't try booting from it mind!

 

[Gepetto]

by read it u copy and pasted files over , etc etc?

could try the RAM but very doubtful tho

No, I must confess I didn't try to do anything with it. Just opened the folders to make sure the info was still there.

Can you get into safe mode.

No RJC, 'fraid not, it didn't give me the option.

 

[Gepetto]

Didnt give you the option? What option did it give you?

Does it happen in the exact same place everytime? If it does then it is probably a driver issue. Best bet is to go to safe mode and reinstall/uninstall the main drivers.

Alternatively you could try removing any hardware thats not needed such as PCI cards to run a barebones system and see if that boots.

Thanks JB, I'll try that. I didn't see the safe mode option, and I have no idea how to get into it from startup, so I'll do some reading.