mj

My gran has just had me round at hers after she complains her PC won't boot, she said she mistakenly hit the power off at the plug during starting it up , all that happens now is the "windows has had a problem" type blurb/DOS screen , and you get to choose 1 of 5 startup options, bit like hitting F8.

The only one of these that comes close is the "start normally" option - the windows bootup screen appears, but just as the status bar under the XP logo finishes, and you expect windows to fire, the PC BSOD's - the problem is the BSOD is so quick I cannot read it to get an error message

I have tried:

swapping the RAM to a different slot
swapping the RAM with
swapping the HD to a different IDE
Checked over HD controller board for any obvious faults, none seen.
Restored BIOS defaults

I have also tried to run a repair from the CD but there is no option to do a repair. One thing I did notice when I put in the XP disk was this:

boot from CD...setup is loading files etc..

the XP setup sees the C: partition and 8meg unpartionedspace as per normal, however Setup sees the C: as "unkown"

I click enter on the C: partition to start the setup , hopefully to be told "there is an existing windows installation etc..", but setup does not see the existing install, and I can only assume this is why I am not being givn the option to repair.

I will plop the drive in a USB hard caddy this evening, assuming there is no prob with the HD, and I can access the drive, what should I be looking for? are there any boot files I can edit?

thanks in advance..

mike.

sti555

oh dear mate

ok sounds the you need to fix the master boot record, he OS is'nt seeing the volume..

Do you have any chance during startup to 'load last known good config'

or safe mode??, press either F8 or F5 before the xp splash logo, can't remember which

If you can gain access even in safe mode, try using the chkdsk utility from a cmd prompt..

May be worth having a quick look here for all the repair options & commands, like

chkdsk /p
fix mbr

www.technet.com

Last option then is the recovery console, boot from cd then press F6 9i think, says at the bottom of the screen) prior to loading all the setup files..

Good Luck

mj

Cheers mate,

tried last know cnfiguration - no good, it just returns you to the same screen.

I would like to try the MBR fix ( a mate did this for me once on a laptop that I was about to sling! )

Like a cabbage I have left the XP disk at her house but I have an XP home disk here, though its for a Dell machine.

so, the question is how do i Boot to DOS si I can fix MBR?

cheers,

Mike.

mannyo

Another option is to install XP over XP. You will need to re-activate and have an install key available.

Insert XP cdrom and boot, select option to install XP. at this point it will go away and find your existing install and give you an option to repair it. You will see it delete some files, then the install will run through like a new install except at the end all your apps etc are still there and work.

mj

thats not the case here, the only options I am getting are to format the disk prior to install - it seems setup does not recognise the disk or the OS already on it.

I have done fixmbr via the recovery console with no change.

I have the drive in my 2K machine as a slave -it can see it, but cannot tell me the format type or nor can I access it

I'll try it in the caddy to see if there's any difference.

sti555

mmmn, you need to recreate the file system, I did this for a nate a while back... can't remember what program I used...

Can you mount it as a volume from 2k using drvspace??


I'm pretty sure only the pro version cd has the full recovery console, but as long as you can copy your data from 2k by mounting it..

You can only run fix mbr from the recovery console, booted from the xp pro cd..

sti555

spend a couple of minutes here:

microsoft

mj

cheers for your help 555,


I got to do a FIXMBR from a XPhome disk before - at least it said it had done it

mj

all sorted now, not sure how though ...did a few of those DOS commands and when I came back upstairs windows had booted - the last one I tried was "logon" - eventually it told me to feckoff, didn't know the password even if there is an administrator account.

I rebooted & hey presto!!

cheeers chaps.

mike.

sti555

not bad for a days work mate



Cheers

Tim