Re: XP will not Boot up in any mode

From: Dick in Florida (DickinFlorida_at_discussions.microsoft.com)
Date: 01/21/05 

Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 15:43:03 -0800

I loaded all 6 and got the repair prompt. First try with the commands given
to repair did not work.

"*** in Florida" wrote:

> I contacted compaq and they told me the following:
>
> 1. Insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk drive, and
> then restart the computer.
>
> NOTE: If you do not have the Windows XP Setup Floppy disk,
> download and create it from the following site:
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310994
>
> 2. Click to select any options that are required to start the computer
> from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted to do so.
> 3. When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the
> Recovery Console.
> 4. When you are prompted to do so, type the Administrator password.
> If there is no administrator password, just press ENTER.
> 5. Proceed to Phase 2.
>
> I made the disks. When I boot up with disk 1 of 6, it first says it is
> checking the
> hardware configuration. When I press R at the windows set up screen (no
> welcome screen) , all it does is ask for disk 2. Should it do something
> else, or will something happen to enable me to use the R function after I
> load all 6 disks?
>
> "Sharon F" wrote:
>
> > On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 18:17:02 -0800, *** in Florida wrote:
> >
> > > I now found that when I go to the D drive, which is supposed to be the
> > > current system info for a restore, it represents the drive that was called G
> > > on my system. This was an old drive from my prior computer that had windows
> > > 98 on it. Could the system think it's supposed to boot from this drive
> > > instead of C? I checked the bios, and it still recognized both physical
> > > drives.
> >
> > On all the Compaqs I've worked with, there was a compaq disk (floppy or CD)
> > that booted the system and then accessed the partition setup by them. That
> > partition did not contain current system info. It contained the files
> > needed to restore the system to factory state. As I mentioned before, many
> > HP/Compaq systems no longer use the boot disk. Instead there is a function
> > key to press that will access the compaq partition.
> >
> > The Compaq partition is usually hidden and accessible using the Compaq boot
> > tool. It's possible that the boot disk you're using cannot see that special
> > partition. This would give the impression that the drive letters are moving
> > around.
> >
> > --
> > Sharon F
> > MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User
> >