OE version XP Home restoration on Laptop?

[Dewey]

My laptop goes to the safe startup screen and after I
select safe mode or normal mode or previous settings or
safe mode with prompt it reboots on its own. I need to
get my data files off the disk but it will not load
windows. If I plug the drive into another computer using
a USB adaptor it will find the drive but will not allow
access to the files on it. It says there is a #10 error
sometimes and an I/O error others but will not allow
access. Any solution for this?

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP-Windows Shell/User\)]

There's no guarantee this will work but it's your only real option at this
point and note, the suggestion assumes you have a retail version of XP as
opposed to a manufacturer supplied recovery disk or partition:
NOTE, while a repair install should leave your data files intact, if
something goes wrong during the repair install, you may be forced to start
over and do a clean install of XP. If you don't have your data backed up,
you would lose your data should that eventuality occur.



Boot from the CD. If your system is set to be able to boot from the CD, it
should detect the disk and give a brief message, during the boot up, if you
wish to boot from the CD press any key.



Once you have pressed a key, setup should begin. You will see a reference
asking if you need to load special drivers and another notice that if you
wish to begin the ASR (Automatic Recovery Console) depress F2. Just let
setup run past all of that. It will continue to load files and drivers.



Then it will bring you to a screen. Eventually, you will come to a screen
with the option to (1) setup Windows or (2) Repair Windows Installation
using the Recovery console.



The first option, to setup Windows is the one you want and requires you to
press enter. When asked, press F8 to accept the end user agreement. Setup
will then search for previous versions of Windows. Upon finding your
version, it will ask if you wish to Repair your current installation or
install fresh. Press R, that will run a repair installation. From there
on, follow the screens.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP-Windows Shell/User\)]

I should have mentioned, the suggestion I posted was a repair install.