How could I backup my harddrive if Window XP doesn't start and turn off the computer auotmatically?

Answer 1

One of my favorite tricks is to buy a hard drive enclosure (make sure you get the right one for your system; 3.5" for desktops, 2.5" for laptops, make sure it's for IDE drives if you have an IDE, SATA for SATA drives, etc), put the hard drive from your system in it, then attach that to another computer and just read off the information you need. If you've been wanting an external USB drive anyway, just buy a new hard drive to go in your system along with the enclosure, re-install your system on the new drive after you've taken the old one out, and all your data is right there.

Another tried and true option, at least for desktops; instead of buying an enclosure, just mount the hard drive in another system to get the data off of it. Burn it to a CD/DVD from there.

Short of that, you might have luck booting to a boot disk of some sort. Try hitting F8 when the system boots and go into safe mode, that may let it boot when it wouldn't otherwise.

Of course, it's always possible that the data you wished you had already backed up is part of what's lost and making your computer functionally challenged. It's possible some data is beyond easy recovery; search for "data recovery service" on Google if you're desparate for the data and ready to shell out a pretty penny. Oh, and while you're waiting for them to get your data recovered, start thinking about what you're going to do for system backups from here on out. :)

Answer 2

To set your computer's turn-on and off, create your preferred settings in the Control Panel -- open Power Options or Power Management.