Can't Boot WinXP

[Kent_Diego]

I reciently changed my motherboard and had to do repair install as would be
expected. After, I could not boot into WinXP, would just re-boot. Standard
PATA with no RAID or anything special. Safe Mode and Command Prompt only
re-booted too. The new motherboard then died where it would just have
continous long beeps so sent back RMA. I re-installled old motherboard and
same thing. Did repair install and no good. Spinrite 6.0 had error with BIOS
not matching drive and would not run. Tried Repair Console fixmbr and chkdsk
/r several times. Norton Disk Doctor can see all my data just fine but did
not seem to fix trouble. I think Partition Magic made worse with "fix" as
lost a little bit of unpartitioned space that used to be there. Now Disk
Doctor reported "Bad Geometry" error, but I can still see all my data! (250
MB Maxtor) So I just got new 320GB Western Digital and Ghosted to new HD
without any errors. The motherboards BIOS seems to see HD info corrrectly.
Still no boot. Disk Doctor says no errors. Spinrite still cannot run due to
BIOS info not matching HD. Tried fixmbr and chkdsk /r and no boot. Running
chkdsk seems to take hours with either HD.
I am sure a re-format and clean install will work but do not want to
lose all the applications and games I have installed over many years. What
next?

TIA,
Kent

 

[Guest]

First use R-studio 2.0 to recover your lost files (you can download a demo
before you buy to check that it can do the job) -- this program has saved my
ass many a time

next run the repair console

THE REPAIR CONSOLE

This method will reinstall Windows XP, and delete all drivers and windows
updates, BUT IT WILL NOT DELETE YOUR PROGRAMS OR FILES!

To use it you need to insert your Windows XP CD, and then restart your
computer. Then when the boot screen comes up, click ‘boot from cd’ and once
the XP cd has loaded, select the repair console.

Here are some websites that describe the process
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058/EN-US/ Please not this is very detailed
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm this is quite a good
step by step guide which I recommend printing off and looking at while doing
your first repair

Do not worry. Repairs are very easy, but afterwards you will need to
reinstall drivers, and run Windows Update.

I hope that helps you

Cheers

Quintin

ps maybe you need to do it the other way around if you can not access
windows. But i would try recovering the files first in safe mode

SAFE MODE

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR...ent&ExpandSection=4&Src=sec_doc_nam#_Section4


--
Quintin Rares
MVP wannabe
Owner of:
- The Technology Store Australia
- 2x Athlon 64 systems
- two tablet PCs - Toshiba M200 and the Acer c303Xmi
Beta tester of Office 11, Win update...

 

[Malke]

I reciently changed my motherboard and had to do repair install as
would be expected. After, I could not boot into WinXP, would just
re-boot. Standard
PATA with no RAID or anything special. Safe Mode and Command Prompt
only re-booted too. The new motherboard then died where it would just
have continous long beeps so sent back RMA. I re-installled old
motherboard and same thing. Did repair install and no good. Spinrite
6.0 had error with BIOS not matching drive and would not run. Tried
Repair Console fixmbr and chkdsk /r several times. Norton Disk Doctor
can see all my data just fine but did not seem to fix trouble. I think
Partition Magic made worse with "fix" as lost a little bit of
unpartitioned space that used to be there. Now Disk Doctor reported
"Bad Geometry" error, but I can still see all my data! (250 MB Maxtor)
So I just got new 320GB Western Digital and Ghosted to new HD without
any errors. The motherboards BIOS seems to see HD info corrrectly.
Still no boot. Disk Doctor says no errors. Spinrite still cannot run
due to
BIOS info not matching HD. Tried fixmbr and chkdsk /r and no boot.
Running chkdsk seems to take hours with either HD.
I am sure a re-format and clean install will work but do not want
to
lose all the applications and games I have installed over many years.
What next?

TIA,
Kent

Hi, Kent. As for the applications, you will have to reinstall them.
There is no way of getting around that. You can save the data,
including game data. Here's an easy way:

Boot with Knoppix, a Linux distro on a live cd. You will need a computer
with two cd drives, one of which is a cd/dvd-rw. To get Knoppix, you
need a computer with a fast Internet connection and third-party burning
software. Download the Knoppix .iso from www.knoppix.net and create
your bootable cd. Then boot with it and it will be able to see the
Windows files. Use the K3b burning program to burn the files to
cd/dvd-r's.

Otherwise, you can take the hard drive and slave it in a working machine
and copy the data off that way.

I think you should test your RAM if you are using the same RAM in the
new m/b as you used in the defective board. Check out your power supply
also. You don't want anything shorting out.

Malke

 

[Haggis]

have you checked your power supply output ?

 

[Kent_Diego]

have you checked your power supply output ?

I did replace power supply and video card with known good to trouble shoot.

-Kent

 

[Kent_Diego]

Hi, Kent. As for the applications, you will have to reinstall them.

There is no way of getting around that. You can save the data,
including game data. Here's an easy way:

Boot with Knoppix, a Linux distro on a live cd. You will need a computer
with two cd drives, one of which is a cd/dvd-rw. To get Knoppix, you
need a computer with a fast Internet connection and third-party burning
software. Download the Knoppix .iso from www.knoppix.net and create
your bootable cd. Then boot with it and it will be able to see the
Windows files. Use the K3b burning program to burn the files to
cd/dvd-r's.

Otherwise, you can take the hard drive and slave it in a working machine
and copy the data off that way.

I think you should test your RAM if you are using the same RAM in the
new m/b as you used in the defective board. Check out your power supply
also. You don't want anything shorting out.

Malke
--

I ran Memtest86 and all was good. Replaced PS and video card with known good
too. The deal is I can get all my data many ways. I bought new 320 GB hard
drive and can copy over all files using Ghoste, Knoppix, BartPE, Disk Doctor
or Windows copy command..It's the computer configuration and registry
settings that I trying to preserve. I did format and clean install on the
new 320 GB HD and went fine. I wish there was a Settings and Configuration
Wizzard to get my years of configured programs and games off the old HD. I
will have to spend a week or more full time to install and configure all the
apps and games I aquired over the years.

 

[Malke]

I ran Memtest86 and all was good. Replaced PS and video card with
known good too. The deal is I can get all my data many ways. I bought
new 320 GB hard drive and can copy over all files using Ghoste,
Knoppix, BartPE, Disk Doctor or Windows copy command..It's the
computer configuration and registry settings that I trying to
preserve. I did format and clean install on the new 320 GB HD and went
fine. I wish there was a Settings and Configuration Wizzard to get my
years of configured programs and games off the old HD. I will have to
spend a week or more full time to install and configure all the apps
and games I aquired over the years.

Well, XP does have a File and Transfer Settings Wizard. Here's a link to
an article about it:

http://aumha.org/win5/a/fast.htm

I've seen commercial software by Aloha Bob (?) or something like that at
CompUSA that is supposed to transfer programs. I know it has been
around for years but since I've never used it I can't tell you how
effective it is.

Malke