Invalid Partition and other issues

[adbears]

Last night I did the latest microsoft update. (May not be related.) the
computer started this morning then hung.

I have Windows XP Home Edition.

I have gone into BIOS and set it to start from the CD Drive. When the
computer turns on I get this message "Press any key to boot from
Cd.....Invalid Partition table"

When I try hitting F8 to get to the menu that will allow me to do a repair
or restore all i get is the Boot Menu.

At my wits end, so would be grateful of any help.

I am good with the computer but not with the technical jargon. I f someone
can give me some advice I would be so grateful.

I can't get past this black screen with the error message.

Tried other F keys to no avail.

Thanks

jan

 

[Tom]

So you cannot start it in safe mode?
You need to start it up as with your harddrive as normal.
As it first to boots up, (after you set the bios back to boot from
harddrive) you hit the F8 key to get the boot menu.
Then you boot into safe mode
After it gets booted up,
go to start,
all programs,
accessories,
system tools,
system restore..........
then restore back to a date you had no problems with the computer. The dates
will be in bold that you can restore.

NOW if you cannot bootup at all, you can hit F8 and use the boot with last
known good configuration. I think that what it was called.

If that does not work for you, someone else will have to step in

 

[adbears]

Thanks Tom.

I tried your suggestion. Went back to boot from the hard drive. But then
when I try to get to the safe mode all I get is a boot menu listing what I
can boot from. No safe mode. When I select start normally, I get the black
screen with ïnvalid partition table".

thanks for trying.

Jan

 

[Tom]

Read this to see if this will help.....good luck
It shows what I wanted you to do and then some more options.

 

[Tom]

for to add link, was eating breakfast.
http://en.kioskea.net/faq/sujet-223-booting-windows-xp-in-safe-mode

 

[adbears]

I think I am missing what to read? Not showin on message.

Jan

 

[adbears]

Great article thanks. My problem is that I can't get past the black screen.
Can't get to the Start menu or into safe mode.

 

[Tom]

Ok after hitting F8, what are your options?
Are you tapping or holding the F8 on startup?
Also, what updates do you have and SPs.
Like myself, I have been updated to SP3, with updates automatic turned on.

 

[Bill Blanton]

Do you have a floppy drive you can boot from? If so,
download partinfo.zip from here-
ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/tools/pq/utilities/
Unzip it to a 98 DOS boot floppy.
http://www.bootdisk.com/
Boot the floppy and at the A:\> prompt type:
partinfo > partinfo.txt

post the a:\partinfo.txt file.

If no floppy you'll need to configure a USB boot, a CD boot (in which case
you'll have to write the numbers down), or hang the hard drive off another machine
and run the Windows version of partinfo. PartinNT.

The partition table needs to be examined.

 

[Badger]

Last night I did the latest microsoft update. (May not be related.) the
computer started this morning then hung.

I have Windows XP Home Edition.

I have gone into BIOS and set it to start from the CD Drive. When the
computer turns on I get this message "Press any key to boot from
Cd.....Invalid Partition table"

When I try hitting F8 to get to the menu that will allow me to do a repair
or restore all i get is the Boot Menu.

At my wits end, so would be grateful of any help.

I am good with the computer but not with the technical jargon. I f someone
can give me some advice I would be so grateful.

I can't get past this black screen with the error message.

Tried other F keys to no avail.

Thanks

jan

When you get the "Press any key to boot from CD" message don't use the f8
key - try enter instead. It seems you have the same BIOS as I do and f8
insists on taking you to the boot menu. Using a different key should cause
the machine to boot from the CD which is what you want.
Badger