need some MVP help for visiting relative's XP laptop

[Hank]

My daughter is visiting and has a problem with her HP laptop that has
me stumped (not hard unfortunately). She has Windows XP Home Edition.
When PC boots the window that comes up says Sorry could not boot and
gives the options of starting in Safe mode, safe mode with command
prompt etc. Problem is no matter which option you select it goes off
and slowly runs through the motions only to end back up at the same
screen again. They have many data files with pictures etc which are
not replacable so I am being very careful on the options I can try. Of
course they do not have a backup system or even their windows disk
(which could be a problem even if they did as it might damage some
important data files). I have a windows XP disk of myown but not sure
I can use it for copywrite or even damaging their files. Any idea
what I might do to get the laptop booting to the point I can try a
repair or even install the recovery mode to the machine.

TYIA

email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
TIA
Hank

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

The message 'sorry could not boot' is not a windows XP system message. They
probably have a virus or spyware that has damaged their system. You should
look into available options for finding out what has damaged the system.
Booting to a setup disk like yours, will allow accessing the Recovery
Console (press 'r' at the first prompt) If you get access to Recovery
Console, you will probably have the ability to type:
LOGON
to access the system.
If you get in, you should run system restore.

 

[Michael T.]

My daughter is visiting and has a problem with her HP laptop that has
me stumped (not hard unfortunately). She has Windows XP Home Edition.
When PC boots the window that comes up says Sorry could not boot and
gives the options of starting in Safe mode, safe mode with command
prompt etc. Problem is no matter which option you select it goes off
and slowly runs through the motions only to end back up at the same
screen again.

Scroll down to "XP Repair install" at this link
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Caveat: I have not used these instructions since 2005, but when I did the
instructions were flawless.

 

[philo]

Scroll down to "XP Repair install" at this link
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Caveat: I have not used these instructions since 2005, but when I did the
instructions were flawless.

That website seems to cover it pretty well.

 

[Nepatsfan]

My daughter is visiting and has a problem with her HP laptop that has
me stumped (not hard unfortunately). She has Windows XP Home Edition.
When PC boots the window that comes up says Sorry could not boot and
gives the options of starting in Safe mode, safe mode with command
prompt etc. Problem is no matter which option you select it goes off
and slowly runs through the motions only to end back up at the same
screen again. They have many data files with pictures etc which are
not replacable so I am being very careful on the options I can try. Of
course they do not have a backup system or even their windows disk
(which could be a problem even if they did as it might damage some
important data files). I have a windows XP disk of myown but not sure
I can use it for copywrite or even damaging their files. Any idea
what I might do to get the laptop booting to the point I can try a
repair or even install the recovery mode to the machine.

TYIA

email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
TIA
Hank

Since I'm not an MVP, I can't answer your question.

If I were an MVP, I would tell you that backing up her irreplaceable files
should be your first priority. There are a number of ways to do this.

The easiest route is to remove the laptop's hard drive, put it in an external
USB hard drive enclosure designed to handle a laptop's hard drive, and connect
it to your computer. You may need to take ownership of some files in order to
copy them to your computer, but that's easily accomplished.

Another approach is to boot the laptop from a Linux live CD. If the laptop has a
CD burner, the files can be backed up on a CD. Here are a couple of sites with
more info.

Knoppix
http://www.knoppix.org/

Computer First Aid Using Knoppix
http://www.shockfamily.net/cedric/knoppix/

Ubuntu Linux
http://www.ubuntu.com/

Ubuntu Live CD
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

Here's a program which can be used to create a bootable CD from the downloaded
ISO file.
http://www.cdburnerxp.se/

Once you have her files backed up, you can begin troubleshooting. Start at the
laptop manufacturer's web site and look for a support section. See if you can
download the manual for the system. The manual should contain instructions on
how to restore the operating system. It's possible that there's a hidden
partition on the laptop's hard drive that contains the files needed to reinstall
Windows XP. Also, look for any utilities that will check the hard drive for
problems.

Note: In order to use your XP disk to work on the laptop, it would have to be
the same version and type as what is installed on your daughter's laptop. If
there's a Microsoft sticker on the bottom of the laptop with the CD key, you'd
need to have an OEM CD for XP Home in order to run a repair installation.

If any of these suggestions appear daunting, my suggestion would be to tell your
daughter to take the laptop to a professional computer repair shop. And, I'm not
talking about the Geek Squad at Best Buy. Do that and you'll get an inflated
bill to replace the hard drive with none of her files recovered.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Hank]

My thanks to all the responded to my plea. I put my Windows XP disk in
the laptop and booted the machine. Selected the repair option and
ended up with a C: prompt. I tried the logon command and nothing. I
tried to see the C directory and it gave me an error. So looks like it
is a hard drive failure. That would explain why when I tried to boot
the laptop in safe mode the pc would start load files and stop a long
time at a couple before shutting down and going back to the select
mode of operation screen ( terminalogy probably wrong) with a
statement about not able to start. She is going to take it to a shop
that specializes in recovering data from hard drives.

Thanks again for the quick and right on the point suggestions.
email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
TIA
Hank

 

[Hank]

Since I'm not an MVP, I can't answer your question.

Sorry I did not mean to imply ONLY an MVP could help but
though one of them would know an answer

If I were an MVP, I would tell you that backing up her irreplaceable files
should be your first priority. There are a number of ways to do this.

The easiest route is to remove the laptop's hard drive, put it in an external
USB hard drive enclosure designed to handle a laptop's hard drive, and connect
it to your computer. You may need to take ownership of some files in order to
copy them to your computer, but that's easily accomplished.

None of us are that mechanically inclined. I would take a hard
drive out of a desktop but would be a little reluctant to tackle a
laptop.

Another approach is to boot the laptop from a Linux live CD. If the laptop has a
CD burner, the files can be backed up on a CD. Here are a couple of sites with
more info.

Knoppix
http://www.knoppix.org/

Computer First Aid Using Knoppix
http://www.shockfamily.net/cedric/knoppix/

Ubuntu Linux
http://www.ubuntu.com/

Ubuntu Live CD
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

Here's a program which can be used to create a bootable CD from the downloaded
ISO file.
http://www.cdburnerxp.se/

Interesting approach. I did download knoppix version 3.8 all 750 MB
downloading through my DSL at between 25 and 38 KB/S. Took a lot of
hours. Using the above CD burner program I was able to make a
bootable iso CD. However Knoppix is all in German with little English
making it kind of hard to understand some of the screens. The one that
is suppose to look like explore in windows seemed kind of different.
Also could not figure how to close down the program or take the CD out
once I started. Had to turn off the power and on re-powering had to
get the CD out before it started booting on it again. They are leaving
tomorrow so no time to play with it. Still not completely sure if C
drive is fried or not but could see some files under Knoppix which is
a good sign. They will probably take it to a computer repair shop they
have gone to before with some luck.
Thanks again for response.
email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
TIA
Hank

 

[Nepatsfan]

Sorry I did not mean to imply ONLY an MVP could help but
though one of them would know an answer
None of us are that mechanically inclined. I would take a hard
drive out of a desktop but would be a little reluctant to tackle a
laptop.
Interesting approach. I did download knoppix version 3.8 all 750 MB
downloading through my DSL at between 25 and 38 KB/S. Took a lot of
hours. Using the above CD burner program I was able to make a
bootable iso CD. However Knoppix is all in German with little English
making it kind of hard to understand some of the screens. The one that
is suppose to look like explore in windows seemed kind of different.
Also could not figure how to close down the program or take the CD out
once I started. Had to turn off the power and on re-powering had to
get the CD out before it started booting on it again. They are leaving
tomorrow so no time to play with it. Still not completely sure if C
drive is fried or not but could see some files under Knoppix which is
a good sign. They will probably take it to a computer repair shop they
have gone to before with some luck.
Thanks again for response.
email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
TIA
Hank

Sorry to hear you had a problem with the file you downloaded from the Knoppix
web site. They group the .iso files by version number. Unfortunately, they don't
point out that the English language ones contain EN in their file name as
opposed to DE for the German files. It sounds like you got the wrong one. It's a
little late in your case but, I'll have to remember to point out exactly what
file to download when referring people to the Knoppix web site.

Thanks for taking the time to come back and provide us with an update.

Nepatsfan