----- Rob wrote: ----
My computer was on when I left home yesterday. There was
a storm and when I returned I found my computer was off
Now the computer won't boot. I get the option to boot
normally, to safe mode, etc. No matter what I try I can't
get XP to boot. I have turned off my computer and tried
booting about 30 times but never successfully
Any ideas other than doing an XP Repair. I don't want to
do this unless I have to because I would lose my Outlook
Express and IE settings
Thanks
Ro
I feel your pain! I lost my boot files as well last week (due to a power failure) all attemps to do a repair have failed,I haven't tried a clean install yet because I haven't given up hope for a recovery,But this has given me an excuse to get a new system
Will also get a UPS for this system. Just incase this is not what you have tried check this ou
When it boots you to the BIOS, switch your boot sequence
to boot from the CD-Rom. Then place your CD-Rom in and reboot
If this still doesn't get you anywhere, create a boot disk from a Win9x
system or download one from bootdisk.com and start that way
Your ultimate goal is a repair install (because of the outage)
Repair the Windows XP Installation - Note: You will forfeit all MS Updates
Configure your computer to start from the CD-ROM drive. For more information
about how to do this, please refer to your computer's documentation or
contact your computer manufacturer
Insert your Windows XP compact disc (CD) into your CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM
drive, and then restart your computer
(You can also boot with a Windows 98/Me Startup disk with CD support and run
WINNT.EXE in the I386 folder on the CD
When the "Press any key to boot from CD" message is displayed on your
screen, press a key to start your computer from the Windows XP CD
When you see the following message displayed on the Welcome to Setup screen,
press ENTER: To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER
At this point an option to press R to enter the Recovery Console is
displayed. Do not select this option
On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen, press F8 to agree to the
license agreement. Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP is
selected in the box, and then press the R key to repair Windows XP. Follow
the instructions on the screen to complete Setup
Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q31534
I wish you luck!