Still messing w/damaged XP OS. (original post below) Can boot to safe mode
w/dos prompt, but many of the commands I'm used to aren't there (fixboot,
bootcfg, map) are there any comparable? I can't get /p to work when I type
help, so can't see many of the commands available. Is there some other
command I can use? Then I can at least see the commands and try to figure
out if one of them can help me.
Still no cd rom available. c:\dir reveals a config.sys with nothing in it..
Is there something I can type in there to get more of my system to work?
When I did a c:\config.sys, windows asked me what program to run & allowed
me to open notepad to view it. Can I use this option to my advantage for
more recovery purposes? I'm hoping...
--
Donna
404 Westover Dr.
Yakima, WA 98908
509.494.3015 c
509.249.8836 fx
509.249.0080 w
It is great that you can get into the BIOS and see your CD ROM, but is
your BIOS set to boot on the CD ROM first, or the HDD? You may have
to change it.
An empty config.sys is normal in XP.
If the BIOS is setup to boot on the CD and it attempts to and fails, I
would suspect the CD (media) first. It is broken, not bootable, etc.
The hardware is probably okay if it at least tries to boot (accesses
the CD).
Does the CD media boot on another computer?
Why not make your own RC bootable CD?
You can create your own Recovery Console CD with free software, fast
and easy. Then you can run chkdsk /r to see if your HDD file system
is okay, or fix it if it is not okay.
Any other recovery operation on a corrupted HDD file system is a total
and complete waste of time.
Create the RC bootable CD, change your BIOS to boot off the CD first,
boot into RC, run chkdsk /r to verify your HDD.
What is the problem you are trying to resolve?
Here are some directions to make a Recovery Console CD. If the
directions are not clear, let me know so I can adjust them:
You can make a bootable Recovery Console CD by downloading an ISO file
and burning it to a CD.
The same XP Recovery Console commands can be run from the bootable
Recovery Console CD.
The bootable ISO image file you need to download is called:
xp_rec_con.iso
Download the ISO file from here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?ueyyzfymmig
Use this free and easy program to create your bootable CD:
http://www.imgburn.com/
It would be a good idea to test your bootable CD on the computer that
is working.
You may need to adjust the computer BIOS settings to use the CD ROM
drive as the first boot device instead of the hard disk. These
adjustments are made before Windows tries to load. If you miss it,
you will have to reboot the system again.
When you boot on the CD, follow the prompts:
Press any key to boot from CD...
The Windows Setup... will proceed.
Press 'R' to enter the Recovery Console.
Select the installation you want to access (usually 1: C:\WINDOWS)
You may be asked to enter the Administrator password (usually empty).
You should be in the C:\SYSTEM folder. This is the same as the C:
\WINDOWS folder you see in explorer.
RC allows basic file commands - copy, rename, replace, delete, cd,
chkdsk, fixboot, fixmbr, etc.
From the command prompt window run the chkdsk command on the drive
where Windows is intalled to try to repair any problems on the
afflicted drive. Running chkdsk is fine to run even if it doesn't
find any problems.
Assuming your boot drive is C, run the following command:
chkdsk C: /r
Let chkdsk finish and correct any problems it might find. It may take
a long time to complete or appear to be 'stuck'. Be patient. If the
HDD light is still flashing, it is doing something. Keep an eye on
the percentage amount to be sure it is still making progress.
Remove the CD and type 'exit' to leave the RC and restart the
computer.
You do not have to adjust the BIOS again to boot on the HDD since the
CD will not be present.
Here is additional information about how to start Recovery Console:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058
Here is additional information about the Recovery Console commands you
will be using:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058
You can consider adding RC as a boot option to your system.
A good idea (now that you have had this experience) is to create a
bootable XP installation CD with the latest Service Pack already
installed.
