Recovering an older gateway xp machine

[Nick Mirro]

Cannot boot a crtical machine. Cannot get into safe mode. There is a
stop error when files begin loading. Maybe the registry is corrupt.

We do not have an os cd but the box has the certificate of
authenticity. We do not have the installation administrative
password.

Gateway's service provider will not help us with a replacement cd.

Can I use another windows cd to do a repair installation and enter the
PIN from the certificate? There are critical files on this machine.

Will Microsoft support walk through this sort of problem for $59?

 

[philo]

Cannot boot a crtical machine. Cannot get into safe mode. There is a
stop error when files begin loading. Maybe the registry is corrupt.

We do not have an os cd but the box has the certificate of
authenticity. We do not have the installation administrative
password.

Gateway's service provider will not help us with a replacement cd.

Can I use another windows cd to do a repair installation and enter the
PIN from the certificate? There are critical files on this machine.

Will Microsoft support walk through this sort of problem for $59?

If the machine has an OEM version of XP on it
(which is probable)

You would not be able to perform a repair install
with a non-OEM cd...
besides, you may end up doing worse damage if the machine does not boot
due to a hardware problem such as RAM (for example)

Since it sounds like there's critical data on the machine...
the best thing to do would be to remove the drive
and slave it to another machine...then retrieve the data.


Once you have all the data backed up,
then you may feel free to try to repair the machine.

I'd at least run a RAM test and a HD diagnostic first though

 

[Nick Mirro]

If the machine has an OEM version of XP on it
(which is probable)

You would not be able to perform a repair install
with a non-OEM cd...
besides, you may end up doing worse damage if the machine does not boot
due to a hardware problem such as RAM (for example)

Since it sounds like there's critical data on the machine...
the best thing to do would be to remove the drive
and slave it to another machine...then retrieve the data.

Once you have all the data backed up,
then you may feel free to try to repair the machine.

I'd at least run a RAM test and a HD diagnostic first though

Thanks. Sounds like a good idea. I'll try it.

 

[Nick Mirro]

If the machine has an OEM version of XP on it
(which is probable)

You would not be able to perform a repair install
with a non-OEM cd...
besides, you may end up doing worse damage if the machine does not boot
due to a hardware problem such as RAM (for example)

Since it sounds like there's critical data on the machine...
the best thing to do would be to remove the drive
and slave it to another machine...then retrieve the data.

Once you have all the data backed up,
then you may feel free to try to repair the machine.

I'd at least run a RAM test and a HD diagnostic first though

Success! Slaved to another machine I had full access to all folders.
That is a relief.

Now that the data is safe and I have full access to the drive, is it
possible to restore a registry backup using Windows explorer. Thanks
again!

 

[Jim]

If you ever made a backup of system state, you can restore it with the
backup wizard.
There is a Help & Support article about recovering from a corrupt registry,
but it really only applies to a non-OEM system.
Sometimes you can recover using a restore point.
Otherwise, as Gateway has not helped much, you may not be able to restore
the system.
Jim

If the machine has an OEM version of XP on it
(which is probable)

You would not be able to perform a repair install
with a non-OEM cd...
besides, you may end up doing worse damage if the machine does not boot
due to a hardware problem such as RAM (for example)

Since it sounds like there's critical data on the machine...
the best thing to do would be to remove the drive
and slave it to another machine...then retrieve the data.

Once you have all the data backed up,
then you may feel free to try to repair the machine.

I'd at least run a RAM test and a HD diagnostic first though

Success! Slaved to another machine I had full access to all folders.
That is a relief.

Now that the data is safe and I have full access to the drive, is it
possible to restore a registry backup using Windows explorer. Thanks
again!

 

[philo]

If the machine has an OEM version of XP on it
(which is probable)

You would not be able to perform a repair install
with a non-OEM cd...
besides, you may end up doing worse damage if the machine does not boot
due to a hardware problem such as RAM (for example)

Since it sounds like there's critical data on the machine...
the best thing to do would be to remove the drive
and slave it to another machine...then retrieve the data.

Once you have all the data backed up,
then you may feel free to try to repair the machine.

I'd at least run a RAM test and a HD diagnostic first though

Success! Slaved to another machine I had full access to all folders.
That is a relief.

Now that the data is safe and I have full access to the drive, is it
possible to restore a registry backup using Windows explorer. Thanks
again!


Glad your data is now backed up.

I should have told you to run chkdsk /f
on the drive while it was in the other machine...

I'd give that a try too.

If you have the XP cd you can perform a repair install...
it may get you going again.

But I'd still recommend doing a RAM test