Anna said:
(ALL PREVIOUS POSTS SNIPPED)...
Debbie:
First of all forgive me for not including the prior relevant posts bearing
on your problem, but I really don't believe they're particularly
illuminating in helping you to resolve your problem.
At the outset, I'm assuming the following...
1. That the problem(s) you're experiencing are *not* due to any hardware
issue, and,
2. That the problem(s) you're experiencing are *not* due to any
malware/virus infestation.
It really would be helpful if you provided some details about your
system...
1. Is this a desktop or laptop/notebook machine?
2. If it's an OEM machine, what's its make & model?
3. If it's not an OEM machine, what's the make/model of its motherboard?
4. What kind (if any) of the XP OS installation CD do you have? Is it a
retail or non-branded OEM version that you purchased? Or do you have only
an XP OS recovery or restore CD that was provided by the OEM? Or if it's
an OEM machine, only a recovery or restore partition "built-in" to the
HDD?
5. Did this failure-to-boot, BSOD problem occur out-of-the-blue? One
moment the system was working perfectly, the next time this problem arose?
Do you have *any* clue why the problem arose?
I believe one or more responders to your pleas for help have also
suggested you provide some or all of the above information but if you have
I haven't come across your responses. In any event I believe all this
suggested tinkering with registry modifications, control sets, etc. is
not, in the final analysis, going to be truly helpful to you in returning
your system to a bootable, functional state - if indeed it's possible to
do so at this stage without the loss of data.
So why don't you try some basic "stuff" in the meantime?
I think this was previously suggested to you so assuming you have an XP OS
installation CD why don't you boot to it and select the *first* repair
option. As you probably know, this will take you to the Recovery Console
and there you can invoke the chkdsk /r command. I realize that you stated
you tried the chkdsk command one or two months ago without any success,
but give it one more try. Since you've indicated you have a backup of your
data files on a DVD there's little to lose even if the chkdsk utility is
again unsuccessful.
Assuming you have an XP OS installation CD that allows you to undertake a
Repair install of the OS, i.e., the "second repair" process, have you
considered undertaking that process? If your problem is nothing much more
than a mildly corrupted OS, that Repair install may very well resolve your
problem. It's certainly worth a shot if you're able to undertake it with
your XP OS CD.
Anna
It's one (desktop) I built myself, Asus PK5-V (assume this is a typo &
correct model is P5K-V).
(XP OS installation CD) is a retail upgrade version
It seem like (the problem arose) out of the blue, but what I was doing
before it happened was in the device manager
under show hidden devices, I was removing some of the ones that were like
greyed out meaning they were no longer installed. Then I rebooted and the
option to use LKC came up.
I have never had any success using that recovery console, maybe it's because
I didn't know the command. So that is what I put chkdsk /r and what would
be the full command? I have the hard drive in 4 partitons.
The second repair, which one is that? Will I lose my data?
Debbie:
As I've indicated, it probably would be wise to undertake that "second"
Repair install at this point-in-time.
Undertaking a Repair install of the OS is a relatively straightforward
process. It would be roughly akin to making a fresh install of the OS, but
in nearly every case one's existing programs & user-created data would be
retained. Notice I said "nearly". While it would be a rather rare situation
where data would be lost or corrupted as a result of an unsuccessful Repair
install, and as unlikely as it may be, it *could* happen.
So if there are any programs and/or other data on your present drive that
are absolutely crucial to you and that you could not tolerate their loss,
then I would strongly suggest that before undertaking this Repair install
operation that you first either make a "clone" of the existing HDD (using a
disk-cloning or disk-imaging program) or, if that's not practical, install
the HDD in another machine as a secondary HDD so that you can (hopefully)
access the drive and pull off whatever data you want onto some removable
media, e.g., flash drive, CD, etc.
Again, it's a relatively rare event that a loss or corruption of data will
occur even when the Repair install is unsuccessful, but it *can* happen. So
I want you to be aware of this. Incidentally, in a previous post you stated
you had backed up your data onto a DVD (as I recall).
Here are the step-by-step instructions that can be found at Microsoft's site
at...
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/support/nostart.mspx#2
<quote>
Before performing a repair installation of Windows XP, you should have both
your Windows XP CD and your product key available.
To perform a repair installation of Windows XP
1. Insert your Windows XP CD into your computer.
2. Restart your computer. If prompted, press a key to start from the CD-ROM.
3. When the Welcome to Setup page appears, press ENTER on your keyboard.
(Note you do *not* press the "R" key at this time).
4. On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement page, read the licensing agreement.
Press the PAGE DOWN key to scroll to the bottom of the agreement. Then,
press F8.
5. When prompted, press R to have Windows XP attempt to repair Windows by
reinstalling important Windows components.
The repair and reinstallation process might take more than an hour.
Eventually, Setup prompts you to answer questions just as if you were
installing Windows XP for the first time. For detailed instructions, read
"Install Windows XP"
at...
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/winxp/install.mspx"
</quote>
While the above step-by-step instructions should suffice for you there are a
number of websites that contain more detailed instructions for undertaking a
Repair install in case you want to peruse them. Let me assure you that the
process is little more than fresh-installing the XP OS.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm#RI
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=138
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winxppro/installxpcdrepair/indexfullpage.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341
Assuming the Repair install is successful, you should use an A-V program to
immediately check out the PC for any virus infestation. Also, you will need
to download/install *all* the MS critical updates since SP3. (I'm assuming
that if you undertake this Repair install of the XP OS, you will be doing so
with a XP installation CD that contains SP3). But you can undertake this
Repair install with an XP OS installation CD that contains an earlier SP (or
even no SP) than what is currently on the present system and then later
(assuming a successful Repair install) install the latest SP3.
Also, there's a good chance that if the Repair install is successful and
your system is returned to a bootable, functional state, you *may* need to
install some (or all) of the drivers contained on your motherboard's
installation CD.
Anna
