Reinstalling XP. What happened to the option to do a Repair install.

[mm]

Why, when I try to reinstall XPSP3 over an existing and somewhat
working XPSP3 I no longer get offered the Repair option. Instead I
get 3 options, Enter to setup XP in the selected partition [there is
only one], C to create a partition in the unpartitioned space [there
is none], and D to delete a partition.

What happened to the Repair option?

If I choose Enter, for setup, I get 6 options, to format a FAT or NTFS
partition, Quick-ly or not, to convert to NTFS, or to "leave the
current file system intact (no change)" But I'm sure it's not going
to leave the data that is there.

(Earlier in the process, I also get the first choice, between
installing Windows and R for the Recovery console, and I choose Enter
to install Windows, but it doesn't show me the Repair option.)

And if I just try to boot from the HDD, I get stuck in a loop with the
initial Dell logo screen over and over and over--I don't even have to
type or click on anything.


Background:
I am trying to fix another old computer now, a Dell, and, since I
can't boot it from USB, I removed the harddrive, slaved it to my
computer, ran a bunch of AV programs (which removed about 150 files),
and reinstalled it in the computer it came from. Without connecting
to the net, I'm trying to do a Repair install of the XP SP3 that it
came with.

I now have a copy of the Hewlett Packard XP SP3 Reinstallation CD, and
was told that any such CD works on any version of Windows, including
on a Dell, and indeed it worked very well the first two times!!

When I was making the CD from the .iso file, two sectors on the copy
failed the verify step. They mapped to oembios.bi_ . I took a chance
that file wouldn't be needed, because it was probably still on the
harddrive in question. I ran the Repair install and I did get a
warning when I got to that file. I chose to Skip the file rather than
cancel the reinstallation.

XP worked fairly well then.

But next, to get that one missing file, I made a second copy of it
from the .iso file, and this time it completely passed the Verify
step. But when doing the Repair install with this one, it stopped at
2 different files, and I skipped both of them. One was including
simsun.tt_ , which I figure is just one of many fonts and I can get
along with out it or install it later.

At some point, trying to start the computer put me in a loop, with the
initial screen showing over and over, the screen with the big blue
DELL logo, the progress bar, and in the last few seconds: "F2 for
Setup / F12 for Boot Order"

So I tried to do the Repair install a third time, with the VERY SAME
second CD and, after the place for the Recovery Console, all I get are
the choices at the top, no Repair option.

I thought, Oh my gosh, the partition or all its files have been
deleted, but I used Hinson's Boot CD and all the files are there.

What's going on!

Thanks for reading.

Any help is much appreciated.

 

[John John - MVP]

Why, when I try to reinstall XPSP3 over an existing and somewhat
working XPSP3 I no longer get offered the Repair option. Instead I
get 3 options, Enter to setup XP in the selected partition [there is
only one], C to create a partition in the unpartitioned space [there
is none], and D to delete a partition.

What happened to the Repair option?

Happens when the boot.ini file is missing. You can use the Recovery
Console's bootcfg utility to rebuild the file.

John

 

[Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]]

Why, when I try to reinstall XPSP3 over an existing and somewhat

working XPSP3 I no longer get offered the Repair option. Instead I
get 3 options, Enter to setup XP in the selected partition [there is
only one], C to create a partition in the unpartitioned space [there
is none], and D to delete a partition.

What happened to the Repair option?

If I choose Enter, for setup, I get 6 options, to format a FAT or NTFS
partition, Quick-ly or not, to convert to NTFS, or to "leave the
current file system intact (no change)" But I'm sure it's not going
to leave the data that is there.

(Earlier in the process, I also get the first choice, between
installing Windows and R for the Recovery console, and I choose Enter
to install Windows, but it doesn't show me the Repair option.)

And if I just try to boot from the HDD, I get stuck in a loop with the
initial Dell logo screen over and over and over--I don't even have to
type or click on anything.


Background:
I am trying to fix another old computer now, a Dell, and, since I
can't boot it from USB, I removed the harddrive, slaved it to my
computer, ran a bunch of AV programs (which removed about 150 files),
and reinstalled it in the computer it came from. Without connecting
to the net, I'm trying to do a Repair install of the XP SP3 that it
came with.

I now have a copy of the Hewlett Packard XP SP3 Reinstallation CD, and
was told that any such CD works on any version of Windows, including
on a Dell, and indeed it worked very well the first two times!!

When I was making the CD from the .iso file, two sectors on the copy
failed the verify step. They mapped to oembios.bi_ . I took a chance
that file wouldn't be needed, because it was probably still on the
harddrive in question. I ran the Repair install and I did get a
warning when I got to that file. I chose to Skip the file rather than
cancel the reinstallation.

XP worked fairly well then.

But next, to get that one missing file, I made a second copy of it
from the .iso file, and this time it completely passed the Verify
step. But when doing the Repair install with this one, it stopped at
2 different files, and I skipped both of them. One was including
simsun.tt_ , which I figure is just one of many fonts and I can get
along with out it or install it later.

At some point, trying to start the computer put me in a loop, with the
initial screen showing over and over, the screen with the big blue
DELL logo, the progress bar, and in the last few seconds: "F2 for
Setup / F12 for Boot Order"

So I tried to do the Repair install a third time, with the VERY SAME
second CD and, after the place for the Recovery Console, all I get are
the choices at the top, no Repair option.

I thought, Oh my gosh, the partition or all its files have been
deleted, but I used Hinson's Boot CD and all the files are there.

What's going on!

Thanks for reading.

Any help is much appreciated.

If this is XP Home, you're sunk. If it is XP Pro, the repair install
from the boot CD will be there. But if you are using an XP Pro CD
(retail) to repair an XP Home (retail) install, it will likely give
you bad results or hose your system. Also, using an OEM CD (HP, Dell,
etc.) to repair a retail install or other vendor, it will gum things
up pretty good. That's likely what you are seeing.

- Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]

 

[mm]

Why, when I try to reinstall XPSP3 over an existing and somewhat
working XPSP3 I no longer get offered the Repair option. Instead I
get 3 options, Enter to setup XP in the selected partition [there is
only one], C to create a partition in the unpartitioned space [there
is none], and D to delete a partition.

What happened to the Repair option?

If I choose Enter, for setup, I get 6 options, to format a FAT or NTFS
partition, Quick-ly or not, to convert to NTFS, or to "leave the
current file system intact (no change)" But I'm sure it's not going
to leave the data that is there.

(Earlier in the process, I also get the first choice, between
installing Windows and R for the Recovery console, and I choose Enter
to install Windows, but it doesn't show me the Repair option.)

And if I just try to boot from the HDD, I get stuck in a loop with the
initial Dell logo screen over and over and over--I don't even have to
type or click on anything.


Background:
I am trying to fix another old computer now, a Dell, and, since I
can't boot it from USB, I removed the harddrive, slaved it to my
computer, ran a bunch of AV programs (which removed about 150 files),
and reinstalled it in the computer it came from. Without connecting
to the net, I'm trying to do a Repair install of the XP SP3 that it
came with.

I now have a copy of the Hewlett Packard XP SP3 Reinstallation CD, and
was told that any such CD works on any version of Windows, including
on a Dell, and indeed it worked very well the first two times!!

When I was making the CD from the .iso file, two sectors on the copy
failed the verify step. They mapped to oembios.bi_ . I took a chance
that file wouldn't be needed, because it was probably still on the
harddrive in question. I ran the Repair install and I did get a
warning when I got to that file. I chose to Skip the file rather than
cancel the reinstallation.

XP worked fairly well then.

But next, to get that one missing file, I made a second copy of it
from the .iso file, and this time it completely passed the Verify
step. But when doing the Repair install with this one, it stopped at
2 different files, and I skipped both of them. One was including
simsun.tt_ , which I figure is just one of many fonts and I can get
along with out it or install it later.

At some point, trying to start the computer put me in a loop, with the
initial screen showing over and over, the screen with the big blue
DELL logo, the progress bar, and in the last few seconds: "F2 for
Setup / F12 for Boot Order"

So I tried to do the Repair install a third time, with the VERY SAME
second CD and, after the place for the Recovery Console, all I get are
the choices at the top, no Repair option.

I thought, Oh my gosh, the partition or all its files have been
deleted, but I used Hinson's Boot CD and all the files are there.

What's going on!

Thanks for reading.

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks for replying.

If this is XP Home, you're sunk.

Darn, I forgot to say if it was Home or Pro.

It had XP Home SP1, and the CD was XP Home SP3, made by HP and not
Dell.

It worked the first two times? Is there something about the third
time that's different?

If it is XP Pro, the repair install
from the boot CD will be there. But if you are using an XP Pro CD
(retail) to repair an XP Home (retail) install, it will likely give
you bad results or hose your system. Also, using an OEM CD (HP, Dell,
etc.) to repair a retail install or other vendor, it will gum things
up pretty good. That's likely what you are seeing.

Elsewhere I had read that there was no problem using any version of XP
to repair any version of XP, except that a prior SP level would... I
forget what problem it would cause, just putting the SP level back to
the CD's level?, or worse?

So what about a retail version XP SP1? Do you think that will get me
back to normal sp1? (Slipstreaming SP3 into the CD is not an option
now.)

 

[mm]

Why, when I try to reinstall XPSP3 over an existing and somewhat
working XPSP3 I no longer get offered the Repair option. Instead I
get 3 options, Enter to setup XP in the selected partition [there is
only one], C to create a partition in the unpartitioned space [there
is none], and D to delete a partition.

What happened to the Repair option?

Thanks for replying.

Happens when the boot.ini file is missing. You can use the Recovery
Console's bootcfg utility to rebuild the file.

I thought it might be something like that. But the boot.ini file is
there and looks okay to me.

It only had one choice, so I gave it a second phoney choice, partition
4, which doesn't exist, just to make it show the multiboot screen.

But nothing changed. It just keeps displaying the Dell logo screen. I
don't think it is getting to the boot.ini file or it would have
displayed the mulit-boot screen.



But I don't remember or never understood what precedes boot.ini.

Ntldr? That is still there, though I don't know how to check if it is
still valid.

Just the MBR? Should I FIXmbr? Could that make things worse? How
could anything I've done ruin the mbr? Even using an HP reinstall CD,
could that possibly hurt the mbr?

What about the boot sector? IIUC, that gets used after the multiboot
screen.

 

[Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]]

Why, when I try to reinstall XPSP3 over an existing and somewhat
working XPSP3 I no longer get offered the Repair option. Instead I
get 3 options, Enter to setup XP in the selected partition [there is
only one], C to create a partition in the unpartitioned space [there
is none], and D to delete a partition.

What happened to the Repair option?

If I choose Enter, for setup, I get 6 options, to format a FAT or NTFS
partition, Quick-ly or not, to convert to NTFS, or to "leave the
current file system intact (no change)" But I'm sure it's not going
to leave the data that is there.

(Earlier in the process, I also get the first choice, between
installing Windows and R for the Recovery console, and I choose Enter
to install Windows, but it doesn't show me the Repair option.)

And if I just try to boot from the HDD, I get stuck in a loop with the
initial Dell logo screen over and over and over--I don't even have to
type or click on anything.


Background:
I am trying to fix another old computer now, a Dell, and, since I
can't boot it from USB, I removed the harddrive, slaved it to my
computer, ran a bunch of AV programs (which removed about 150 files),
and reinstalled it in the computer it came from. Without connecting
to the net, I'm trying to do a Repair install of the XP SP3 that it
came with.

I now have a copy of the Hewlett Packard XP SP3 Reinstallation CD, and
was told that any such CD works on any version of Windows, including
on a Dell, and indeed it worked very well the first two times!!

When I was making the CD from the .iso file, two sectors on the copy
failed the verify step. They mapped to oembios.bi_ . I took a chance
that file wouldn't be needed, because it was probably still on the
harddrive in question. I ran the Repair install and I did get a
warning when I got to that file. I chose to Skip the file rather than
cancel the reinstallation.

XP worked fairly well then.

But next, to get that one missing file, I made a second copy of it
from the .iso file, and this time it completely passed the Verify
step. But when doing the Repair install with this one, it stopped at
2 different files, and I skipped both of them. One was including
simsun.tt_ , which I figure is just one of many fonts and I can get
along with out it or install it later.

At some point, trying to start the computer put me in a loop, with the
initial screen showing over and over, the screen with the big blue
DELL logo, the progress bar, and in the last few seconds: "F2 for
Setup / F12 for Boot Order"

So I tried to do the Repair install a third time, with the VERY SAME
second CD and, after the place for the Recovery Console, all I get are
the choices at the top, no Repair option.

I thought, Oh my gosh, the partition or all its files have been
deleted, but I used Hinson's Boot CD and all the files are there.

What's going on!

Thanks for reading.

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks for replying.

If this is XP Home, you're sunk.

Darn, I forgot to say if it was Home or Pro.

It had XP Home SP1, and the CD was XP Home SP3, made by HP and not
Dell.

It worked the first two times? Is there something about the third
time that's different?

If it is XP Pro, the repair install
from the boot CD will be there. But if you are using an XP Pro CD
(retail) to repair an XP Home (retail) install, it will likely give
you bad results or hose your system. Also, using an OEM CD (HP, Dell,
etc.) to repair a retail install or other vendor, it will gum things
up pretty good. That's likely what you are seeing.

Elsewhere I had read that there was no problem using any version of XP
to repair any version of XP, except that a prior SP level would... I
forget what problem it would cause, just putting the SP level back to
the CD's level?, or worse?

So what about a retail version XP SP1? Do you think that will get me
back to normal sp1? (Slipstreaming SP3 into the CD is not an option
now.)

Well, since you used a XP Home SP3 CD (this was a OEM SP3 from HP?)
and it appeared to have worked two times, my hunch is that he third
time it just broke what might have already been teetering on the edge
of breaking. A repair install, while handy, doesn't always fix what's
broken so much as resetting to default and install and *sometimes* can
carry the apps that are installed with it. Most often though, it
breaks Office and a few apps because the repair will mess around with
the registry by resetting a lot of keys to default or just blanks them
out. There's nothing like a good old fashioned re-install, especially
if you have an HP OEM SP3 CD and this is an older laptop. It will in
fact give you a speedier system.

I would suggest grabbing whatever registration (a.k.a. Product) key is
installed already by using Produkey (free) from Nirsoft and saving
what files you can, if possible, and re-install. You could also burn a
copy of System Rescue CD and boot from it if the machine supports
booting from CD and mount the Windows Drive and copy your files off it
to a USB drive. It's super easy to use so you won't have trouble
figuring it out.

I am not sure where the myth of using any XP CD to fix any XP install
came from. I've been burned by using a XP Pro CD to "repair" a Home
install, not realizing it was XP Home, and then not having a key to
activate because Pro overwrote Home. They are different beats. I would
say try one more install of Home SP3 but boot into Safe after the
install finishes. Other than that, my guess is the registry has gotten
too gummed up to repair and that's why you are having the problem in
the first place.

- Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]

 

[Daave]

I am not sure where the myth of using any XP CD to fix any XP install
came from.

I had never heard anyone suggest this option. Ever.

Perhaps mm is misremembering advice about the Recovery Console. Any XP
CD *can* be used to run RC.

 

[mm]

I had never heard anyone suggest this option. Ever.

Perhaps mm is misremembering advice about the Recovery Console. Any XP
CD *can* be used to run RC.

I'm sorry. It wasn't RC, but I also failed to include the distinction
between Home and Pro. What I meant to say was I had read somewhere
that any XP Home CD could be used to reinstall any other XP Home
system, whether either the CD or the computer was retail, OEM, or a
different OEM. And the same for XP Pro.

I don't know that it's true, but I was happy to believe it because my
friend's HP computer came with an HP XP SP3 Home reinstall CD, and I
didn't have an XP SP3 Home reinstall CD of any sort until then. It
did work pretty well the first two times.

 

[John John - MVP]

Why, when I try to reinstall XPSP3 over an existing and somewhat
working XPSP3 I no longer get offered the Repair option. Instead I
get 3 options, Enter to setup XP in the selected partition [there is
only one], C to create a partition in the unpartitioned space [there
is none], and D to delete a partition.

What happened to the Repair option?

Thanks for replying.

Happens when the boot.ini file is missing. You can use the Recovery
Console's bootcfg utility to rebuild the file.

I thought it might be something like that. But the boot.ini file is
there and looks okay to me.

It only had one choice, so I gave it a second phoney choice, partition
4, which doesn't exist, just to make it show the multiboot screen.

But nothing changed. It just keeps displaying the Dell logo screen. I
don't think it is getting to the boot.ini file or it would have
displayed the mulit-boot screen.

Is the disk ok? Is it properly identified in the BIOS? Is the boot
order properly set in the BIOS? Can you boot to the Recovery Console
and access the disk?

John