Windows Help...WTH?

[Magnet_Eye]

Hey, my PC started to restart itself the past 2 days for no reason. that's weird.

Then tonight it it did that, and when it restarted i got the black screen with text asking to choose an option...i said Start Windows Normally...then it restarted and brought me back to the same screen! over and over!

then i finally got into windows and all my .EXE files no longer wokked. but if i found them through weird channels, and they would work. that's the only reason i am writing this now. loop holes.

so, did i get hit with a virus, or did my Windows get screwed somehow? I remember at some point it asked me about a program and how to launch it, and i chose IE, and now ALL my .exe files are associated with an IE icon, but NONE of them ever launch!

I think I am screwed!

[ErikRuud]

Is this Windows 98?

I had a similar problem with Win98SE a while ago.

It sounds like your windows registry may have gotten corrupted.  The multiple reboots with black screens can occur when the registry is corrupt, and the backup of the reistry is also corrupt.

Sometimes you can recover if you can find a registry backup from before the problem started.

In my case, I eventually installed Win 200 Pro to solve the problems.

[Wyluli]

Hmmm, My guess would have been a virus.  Virus's can change your .exe files.  So do you have two sets of .exe files for each program?  One that works and one that does not? 
Do you have virus software running?  Try running a free virus program from the internet if you can.

Good luck.

[Sephroth57]

if you can get to the desktop i would definately run some antivirus software. sounds like a virus to me, try booting in safe mode?

[Crazy Cooter]

Corrupt registry.

If you go to windows explorer and browse to the exe's, some will work, some won't.  It depends on if they need info from the registry to start ot not.  You can check this by going to the add/remove programs and see what's listed there.  If the list is empty... the registry went kaput.

"I remember at some point it asked me about a program and how to launch it, and i chose IE,"
What program asked?

[DrewKaree]

If you can rule out a virus or registry problem, I had the exact same problems with a bad memory stick.  It didn't start identifying itself until it was being stressed by LAME, and didn't do it for ANYTHING else but LAME.

That's IF you can rule out a virus or registry problem.

[Magnet_Eye]

Ok, I can't even open Add/Remove programs. Nothing works. If i browse My Computer from the desktop, i can look around, and i found an HTML file, clicked it and it opened IE, thats the only way i got online to write this. I can seem to launch files that in turn launches programs, but i can't launch the programs themselves.

also, all my icons on my quicklaunch bars are dead. if i goto the directories and click the .exe files, they have no icons at all, and dont launch anything. it asks me what program to use to launch the EXE!

[tommy]

If it is the registry get you self a registry cleaner its a free download ,many computers have atleast 400 errors you wouldnt even know it    try that anyway  -tommy

[Magnet_Eye]

no can do. i cant open applications! cant run

[Crazy Cooter]

I'd just format too.  Sounds like an ugly problem.

[SirPeale]

You can likely just get away with installing Windows back over itself.  Well...maybe.

[shmokes]

You likely don't even need to do a complete install of windows.  When you boot to the XP CD it will give you the option to Repair or Install windows.  Choose install.  But it will then detect that there is already an installation of Windows on this machine and ask if you want to repair that.  Choose that option and it will fix your registry.  If you choose repair from the first options menu it will just take you to the cryptic Recovery Console which won't help you at all (unless you're a professional).  Anyway, this option will very likely solve all your problems with the least number of side effects.  Many of your programs will still work just fine and not need to be reinstalled.  All your documents and settings like favorites and so on will be in tact.  Try this before formatting and doing a clean install.

[fredster]

Shmokes is right. You had a corrupted file, likely from rebooting all the time.

All you can do is try to recover. If it fails, with XP you are hosed. You'll likely have to upload all the updates too. Remember the doom worm? Yep, you'll have to go through all that stuff again if the recovery won't work.

I hate XP.  I went back to 98se. XP is sneaky. It's all the time doing something.  With older versions, it's simpler, but it doesn't have the bells and whistles.

I wish I had loaded 2000 pro instead of 98Se.  I use that at work and it is very stable. I haven't had a single thing happen to that computer, and it does high end CAD / CAM apps.

[daywane]

You can likely just get away with installing Windows back over itself.

[DrewKaree]

Failing all these measures, you DID keep the box it came in, right? 

I find the garbage men like picking up useless junk when it's carefully packaged back up in the container it came in.

If you didn't keep the box, paint it a nice color to complement your decor in that room that has that door that just won't stay open for you