My father's computer is experiencing some problems. When the computer is first turned on, it gets an error message before it starts. It says:
"We apologize for the inconvenience but Windows did not start successfully. A recent hardware or software error has to be reconfirmed the setup program."
It asks whether to hit F1 or F2, but then it simply starts up......everything appears to be normal, however, the system has reverted back to its original time and date....July 2003. Even if you change the time and date back to now, it will do the same thing on the next startup. And change time and date back to its original time......
Other than that, the system is usable and everything appears to be "normal". Can I assume startup files are corrupted????
This might have started after I did some basic maintenance a few weeks ago, like running CCleanear, CleanUp, AdvancedSystemsCare, and possibly a Registry Cleaner. Maybe I deleted an important registry file by accident?????
fyi, it's a Dell Dimension 4600 desktop, 7 years old, Intel Pentium 4, Windows XP, 768 MB Memory, 40 GB harddrive.....
Do I need to do a Disk Check of some sort? I ran System File Checker in Advanced WindowsCare and it said certain files were corrupted and to reinsert installation CD. I was hesitant to do this until get some confirmation of what problem might be.
Any help appreciated. Thanks.
UPDATE: Did a little research. Could it possibly be the CMOS battery? It says time/date have problems if that battery goes. Is there a good test to see if that's the problem?
"We apologize for the inconvenience but Windows did not start successfully. A recent hardware or software error has to be reconfirmed the setup program."
It asks whether to hit F1 or F2, but then it simply starts up......everything appears to be normal, however, the system has reverted back to its original time and date....July 2003. Even if you change the time and date back to now, it will do the same thing on the next startup. And change time and date back to its original time......
Other than that, the system is usable and everything appears to be "normal". Can I assume startup files are corrupted????
This might have started after I did some basic maintenance a few weeks ago, like running CCleanear, CleanUp, AdvancedSystemsCare, and possibly a Registry Cleaner. Maybe I deleted an important registry file by accident?????
fyi, it's a Dell Dimension 4600 desktop, 7 years old, Intel Pentium 4, Windows XP, 768 MB Memory, 40 GB harddrive.....
Do I need to do a Disk Check of some sort? I ran System File Checker in Advanced WindowsCare and it said certain files were corrupted and to reinsert installation CD. I was hesitant to do this until get some confirmation of what problem might be.
Any help appreciated. Thanks.
UPDATE: Did a little research. Could it possibly be the CMOS battery? It says time/date have problems if that battery goes. Is there a good test to see if that's the problem?
