Re: Can't boot XP Home PC

Most HP computers you start tapping F10 when you boot the computer and it
access the recovery partition.

"Neil" <n.hall@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OB56tmuZGHA.3880@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
And......

having just searched for my recovery disk and failed to find it, I
remembered that the recovery/restore files are installed on a partition on
the hard disk.

Would you know how to access these files should I need to do a restore?

Thanks

Neil


"Anna" <myname@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23HOrcsoZGHA.4620@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Neil" wrote:

I've got a severe problem with my home PC. It's an oldish HP
Pavilion 740.
There were no hardware changes before this problem occurred, but it
was
about the time of the last Microsoft automatic Windows upgrade. I
ran a
memory test from a floppy diskette for several hours with no sign of
error
so I don't think it's a memory problem.

When switched on, the HP invent screen is displayed followed by a
blank
screen with a progress bar across the bottom. Then the Windows XP
Home full
screen splash screen with green progress bar is displayed followed
by a
blank screen with arrow cursor. After this a Window appears with
"Please
wait" "Windows is starting up". Following another blank screen, the
system
reboots and starts again.

If I try to load in safe mode, I get a black screen with "Safe Mode"
displayed in all 4 corners and ""Microsoft (R) WinXP (R) (Build
2600.XPSP1.020828-1920). This is followed by the "Windows is
starting up"
window, then the system reboots. Sometimes, the system asks which OS
I wish
to use - and it offers just MS Win Whistler Personal, and I may get
a long
list of drivers as they are loaded (finishing with AGP440.sys).

Trying debugging mode or VGA mode or safe mode with command prompt
just goes
through the process to the reboot.

My daughter has some schoolwork on the system that she really needs,
so I'm
hoping there is a way of recovering the situation without a full
restore.
Can anyone help please.

TIA

Neil


"Byte" <Byte@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:2C55226B-8D13-4F2E-9ED7-F9B36726EBC1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I believe the answer is in your question. You state a "green"
progress
bar is displayed. Well, if you are running WindowsXP with SP2, the
progress bar is "blue". You very likely do not have SP2 installed.
Order Windows XP Service Pack 2 on CD (it is FREE)
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/sp2/cdorder/en_us/default.mspx
--
XP - WNP
Today is the first day of the
rest of your life.


"Neil" <n.hall@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OqJCzakZGHA.2376@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thanks for your answer, I think you are right and I don't have SP2
installed - the fact that Windows displays "Build
2600.XPSP1.020828-1920" tends to back that up.

However, I still don't understand why not having SP2 installed would
stop the PC from booting. I also don't understand how I'll be able to
install SP2 when I can't boot the PC - does SP2 come on a CD that
includes a bootable version of Windows?

Thanks for your help.

Neil


"Anna" <myname@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OgfiE2kZGHA.3752@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Neil:
It's hard, if not impossible, to tell precisely what is causing your
problem based on the description of the situation. It may be
hardware-based or software-based. But installing SP2 *at this time* is
*not* the answer to your problem. We must first find out what is
causing the problem and correct it. Then, and only then, should you
install SP2, which *is* a desirable thing to do. But *only* after you
have a bootable, functioning operating system.

At this point I think it would be advisable for you to run a Repair
install of your XP OS. Hopefully, assuming the problem is just one of
system files corruption, the Repair install should bring the system
back to a functional state. You use your XP installation CD to
undertake the Repair install. It's all pretty straightforward. No
complicated commands are involved. You boot to the CD and (hopefully)
you'll come to an opening screen that, in effect, asks what do you want
to do. Unfortunately, one of the options refers to a "repair"
installation involving the Recovery Console. (Why MS used that
terminology at this point is incomprehensible) - the important point is
that you DO NOT select that option. Just remember that.

Select the "setup XP now" option by pressing Enter. Eventually a screen
will display a Repair option and that's the one you select. The repair
install process begins...

You can get more details re undertaking the Repair install by doing a
Google search on "xp repair install". You'll be directed to a number of
websites that contain detailed information on the process.

If the Repair install doesn't correct the process, we go on to further
exploration.
Anna


Neil wrote:
Anna

Thanks for your reply, what you say makes sense to me.

I don't have a Windows XP Home disk as Windows came pre-installed on my
system. I do have a system restore disk, but I fear that using that
would restore my PC to original install and would lose all data and
installed programs.

I do have a Windows XP Home install disk from one of my other PCs. Can
I use that to run the repair that you describe?

Thanks again

Neil


"Enkidu" <enkidu.com@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:444ab957@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Neil,

It may be that you are between a rock and a hard place. It may be
possible to repair the OS with a disk from another pc **BUT** the
manufacturer's repair disk may contain modified programs that such a
repair would overwrite. You **MAY** end up in a bigger mess. That's the
rock.

The hard place is that the manufacturers recovery disk is likely to wipe
everything on the disk and restore it to factory configuration, so you
lose all your data.

The only way out, unless someone else has a bright idea is to find
someone who can rescue the data on the disk for you, maybe to CD or DVD,
then you can use the manufacturers disk to restore the system, and bring
back your data from the CD. Even then you will lose all programs that
you might have installed since you got the machine.

If you are confident with computers and their entrails, you could take
out the hard disk, connect it to another machine and recover the data
yourself.

Cheers,

Cliff


Neil:
I did realize just after I posted my response to your query that you had
mentioned your computer was an HP, thus an OEM machine. So it dawned on
me that you probably didn't have an XP installation CD but rather a
so-called "recovery" CD or recovery partition (the curse of these OEM
machines). But I was hoping that possibly you had installed your XP OS
from a retail version of the XP installation CD.

Since that is not the case, your suspicion (and that of Cliff) that using
the HP restore CD will result in the loss of your programs & data that
were installed/created after the machine left the factory is,
unfortunately, correct.

It's possible, but by no means a certainty, that you can use the XP Home
Ed. CD you mention to undertake the Repair install. It's worth a try. The
Repair option may not be available. If it is, you can use your HP Product
ID during the Repair install. And if it does work, it's a virtual
certainty that you will be required to (re)activate the system.

If, one way or another, the Repair install is unavailable or does not
work, then Cliff's recommendation of installing the HD as a secondary HD
in another machine (or in the HP machine after another bootable HD has
been created) is an option. While you couldn't salvage any of your
installed programs (or at the least, very unlikely), you could at least
retrieve any user-created data off the drive. Of course, all this assumes
the drive is non-defective and can be accessed.
Anna







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