Help! Boot issues with XP home

[huntclan]

Hi, I posted this to another group - but, this seems like a more
appropriate place for my question... Thanks!!!

I left my computer on the other night and the next morning it was
running a scandisk. It found a few errors and fixed them... then, it
restarted the computer. It went to a black screen that said something
like,
"Windows was not shut down properly... blah... blah... and gave me the
option to
1)restart in safe-mode
2)safe-mode (networking)
3)Using Last Windows configuration
3)Use normal windows
I tried safe-mode, and it just listed a bunch of files in dos then
stopped. So I restarted the computer. It went straight to this black
screen again. I tried, "using last configuration" and it had the
Windows xp start-up screen, then went to scan disk. It didn't find any
errors... but restarted itself after the scandisk was complete. AGain,
brought me to the black screen. This time, I selected normal windows.
Same thing... scandisk, no errors, restart, black screen.

I got out my Windows xp disk and put it in the CD Rom. I went to the
BIOS and changed the settings so it would boot from the CD. Turned off
the computer... turned it back on - same thing. It doesn't even look
like it is reading from the CD. The light comes on the drive at the
beginning (when turning the computer on)... but, that is it.

I called tech support (Dell)... I don't think they even understood my
problem.

Any suggestions would be GREAT! The big problem is that I was having
some backup issues right before this happened and didn't get my stuff
backed up - YIKES. At the very least, is there anyway I can move those
files to a floppy outside of windows? Can I get to a dos prompt when
the computer starts up??

Thanks so much!!!
Jenni

 

[neil]

Hi,
When you try to boot from the CD you should get a prompt "Press any key to
boot from CD" or words to that effect. If you don't are you sure the CD is
the "first boot device" if you have more than one CD or DVD have you tried
the other CD/DVD.
Is the CD a full version/OEM of XP or a recovery disk, if it's a recovery
disk it may wipe you system so be careful. I think you can still download a
set of boot disks from MS for XP pro/home which you may help to boot form
the floppy drive.

best of luck
Neil

 

[huntclan]

Hi Neil,
Yes, I'm sure the BIOS is set so the CD is the first boot device. I
checked it twice - and the tech support guy had me check it as well.
Nothing happens when I have the disk inserted in the CD and restart
the computer -- same problem. I think the disk is the full version
(I'm not with the computer right now)... it is the disk the tech guy
suggested we use.
I'm going to try going to bootdisk.com and creating a boot disk
(floppy) for windows98. From what I understand that will let me get
into dos and copy my files to a floppy (as opposed to windows xp boot
disks)... am I right? Once I get the boot disk, how do I get into dos?
Thanks,
Jenni

 

[huntclan]

Well, I have downloaded from bootdisk the boot floppies for xp. When
it gets to disk three it says the pci.sys file is corrupt. I don't
know whether it is talking about on my system or the floppy... I've
re-downloaded the boot disks over and over and keep getting the error.
I finally had the idea to reformat some different floppies and try
again with those. That is the next thing I'm going to do.

I was able to get to the dos prompt and copy a bunch of my files to
floppies... so I'm not so concerned about losing files (other than the
big pain to reload all my software, etc.). I don't even know how to
start-over and reformat my HD... how would I get windows going again
since it won't boot from a CD OR the Floppies.

Any ideas?
Thanks so much!
Jenni