Booting XP Home Edition

[Guest]

On my home computer I have Windows XP Home Edition that was pre installed.
Recently I could not start the computer at all, and was told that it was
probably the powere unit. I ordered a new one, and when installed, I managed
to start the computer normally. Next time I came to start the computer, it
would not boot up. I get a message:
We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfully.
A recent hardware or software change might have caused this. I am given
several options to start the computer: Safe Mode; Safe Mode with Networking;
Safe Mode with Command Prompt; Last Known Good Configuration; and Start
Windows Normally. None of them work. "Start Windows Normally" and "Last known
Good Configuration" - this takes me to the Windows XP sceen, which then goes
black. The computer sounds as if it is trying to boot up, but can not.
The other options take me to a screen that shows a long list:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\System32\Drivers\ etc etc

This screen stays for 30 seconds, and then the system shuts down, taking me
back to the original screen: "We apolagize ........."

Any ideas anyone? I have system recovery CD's, but I want to try and avoid
loosing all of my files.
Thanks
Giles C

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Giles.

Perhaps, in the process of failing, your power supply unit damaged some of
the files on your hard drive. (It might have also damaged some of the other
hardware components of your computer, but let's hope not.)

If none of the options on the startup menu work, it may be time for a repair
installation, also known as an in-place upgrade. The vendor who sold you
the computer with WinXP pre-installed should have included a full WinXP
CD-ROM. If you have that CD, then just put it in your drive, boot from it,
and follow the instructions in this Knowledge Base article:
How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q315341

This will completely reinstall WinXP itself, but leave all your applications
and data intact. Visit Windows Update as soon as you get your firewall and
antivirus back in place to be sure that you have SP2 and any later updates
for your machine.

Sadly, not all computer vendors bother to include that "full" OEM WinXP
CD-ROM. Many give you only a Recovery Disk; it might be called a Restore
Disk or something similar. Read the instructions carefully before using
such a CD! It might simply restore your computer to the condition it was in
when you bought it - meaning that you lose everything you've added: your
music, your photos, your letters, your financial information...and you'll
have to reinstall your programs, too.

The in-place upgrade will take an hour or two, depending on whether you must
reinstall SP2. But that will probably be quicker than trying to diagnose
and repair all the glitches that the failing PSU might have caused.

RC

 

[Guest]

Thanks R.C.
Unfortunately, I do not have a Win XP CD-ROM. Is my only
other option the system recovery CD's - and loose all of my files?

Regards
Giles

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Giles.

Have you asked the vendor who sold you the computer why you didn't receive a
full WinXP CD-ROM?

If you tell us the make and model of your computer, someone here might
recognize it and know what your options are. There are a couple of
variations on the "OEM" them. Big OEMs, like Dell, HP, Gateway, etc., buy
WinXP by the millions from Microsoft, then customize the OS to fit their own
specific hardware. It's not easy to use a Dell OEM CD to repair WinXP on an
HP computer, for example. And then there is the "generic" OEM WinXP CD-ROM
that your local computer assembler can buy from MS in bulk at a discount and
install on each computer he builds. This "generic" OEM CD is almost a
"full" CD. The license for that disk cannot be transferred to a different
computer than the one it was originally installed on. But, if you have a
valid license number ("Product Key"), you can use such OEM CD to repair your
WinXP installation. Boot from the OEM CD and, when asked, enter your valid
Product Key for your original installation. Another possibility is to
borrow a full retail WinXP CD-ROM and boot from that, using your valid
Product Key.

No, I haven't tried any of that because I've never owned an OEM version of
Windows. Others here can confirm or correct what I just said. With either
version of OEM, a part of the deal is that the OEM assumes all the
responsibility for supporting that copy of Windows. MS no longer is
obligated to support it, but some channels - like these newsgroups - are
still freely available.

Unless you can find such a workaround, you probably are faced with the old
faithful: backup your irreplaceable data; restore from that disk your
vendor supplied; then reinstall your apps and restore your data.

Don't bother to backup/restore WinXP itself, of course, because that will be
reinstalled from the restore disk. Don't bother to backup/restore your
applications; you'll have to reinstall them from their original CDs or other
media so that their install programs can make the required entries into
WinXP's new Registry. Just restore your own data (photos, financial data,
etc.) that does not exist anywhere else in the world - or, at least, not
where you can easily find and recover it.

RC