Hello 😀

I don't know if this can be the right section, as i have problem with my "old" PC (a Windows XP and Win 7 dual boot desktop from 2006) but I really need some help if someone can figured it out, as i am going little bit mad :\

I have an ASUS M2N, AMD 64X2 5600+, 8GB DDR2 and a GTX 260 with two HDD (one PATA with XP and FreeDOS dual boot menu, other one SATA with Win 7 only).

The problem is since few days, both systems looks like suddenly died as I can't boot any of them: i didn't change anything and the problems are the sequent:

If i try to select Windows XP on boot menu along FreeDOS, as soon as i press enter the screen goes black with yellow led and it immediately reboots, this on loop infinite. FreeDOS works fine but is useless at moment.

If i try to press F8 Boot Menu and select the second HDD with Win 7 inside, as long the "Starting Windows" write appears, it goes back to black and white error screen when it says an error like 0xc000024c (sort of, can't remember but if needed i can look and write it more precisely).

I tried then to insert Win 7 DVD thinking that maybe the repair on installation would do the trick, but here comes the fun part: After I try to boot with the Win 7 Setup DVD, after the white bar ends to load it gives me a blue screen wit only write STOP in white at the center of the screen, no way to boot even with the DVD.

Then I thought trying with the XP installation CD, and the same happens: the blue installation menu appears, but as soon it starts load the files on the bar below it at very beggining gives me another error that cannot find a file (CD is even original, not burned and always worke fine).

So im pratically stuck, reading around looks like a boot failure (despite three days ago worked perfectly) or a BIOS setting error, but I've tried even to reset the default settings on BIOS menu and nothing changed.

The only thing that i assume can cause this is that I took away a stick of ram (8GB in four sticks 2GB each = 2GBx2GBx2GBx2GB) as it didn't even goes after POST with one stick, removing one boots fine with 6GB but can it be the problem? I added a 1GB stick going 7GB but it give same errors.

Please help me out, what I can do? No way to reinstall everything please, there are years and years of hard work, settings and games inside on both systems.

As last hope I had a USB drive with HirensBoot CD 15.2 inside, but almost whatever options I choose on the DOS menu it give me an error and so I can't even use the Mini XP that sometimes is very useful. Is like everything became unbootable and im forever stuck like this, any solutions would be VERY needed because I almost never faced this kind of problem and seems strange that suddenly two different OS's became like this.

Of course, not even safe mode works: as i said XP just reboots as soon I press enter on the choice menu, while Win 7 i can get the F8 menu but every choice i pick no matter what it appears the black and white screen with that number error.

Thank you very much and sorry for bad english.