Repair Installation w/ OEM? XP rebooting.

[Guest]

Can you do a repair installation with an OEM copy of Window's XP Pro?
Windows XP Pro is bundled into the restoration disks for this Compaq
computer. All I ever known an OEM copy doing is when you boot-up with the
restoration CD it prompts you with a warning message saying if you continue
you will delete any saved files you have on your HDD; never giving you an
option to do a repair install.

Reason for doing this is at normal boot-up it gives you the "Diagnostic
Start-up/F8" screen/prompt. You can choose ANY of the options, including
safe mode and last known good config, and the results are always the same; it
doesn't fully load Windows and then automatically reboots into the F8 screen
again. Only thing I can think of is do a repair install. But the other
bottle-neck, as mentioned above, is the fact that they have only a OEM/Compaq
copy of Windows XP Pro.

It sounds like I'm going to slave that HDD, save the user's important files
and data, and do a clean installation of Windows XP Pro using the Compaq
restoration disks for that PC.

Any other ideas or possible solutions?

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Compaq Presario Desktop PCs - How to Perform a System Recovery
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/famiDocument?product=89327&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&docname=c00007689

Note: Proceed with the "non-destructive system recovery" method.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.mspx

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| Can you do a repair installation with an OEM copy of Window's XP Pro?
| Windows XP Pro is bundled into the restoration disks for this Compaq
| computer. All I ever known an OEM copy doing is when you boot-up with the
| restoration CD it prompts you with a warning message saying if you continue
| you will delete any saved files you have on your HDD; never giving you an
| option to do a repair install.
|
| Reason for doing this is at normal boot-up it gives you the "Diagnostic
| Start-up/F8" screen/prompt. You can choose ANY of the options, including
| safe mode and last known good config, and the results are always the same; it
| doesn't fully load Windows and then automatically reboots into the F8 screen
| again. Only thing I can think of is do a repair install. But the other
| bottle-neck, as mentioned above, is the fact that they have only a OEM/Compaq
| copy of Windows XP Pro.
|
| It sounds like I'm going to slave that HDD, save the user's important files
| and data, and do a clean installation of Windows XP Pro using the Compaq
| restoration disks for that PC.
|
| Any other ideas or possible solutions?

 

[Anthony J. Dellarte Jr.]

"Some data files may be difficult to find after the system recovery, so it
is best to back up all hard disk files before performing a system recovery."



This information was noted on the URL you provided if I would take the
"non-destructive system recovery" path. I don't want to take the chance of
losing pictures, music, and other data. With the Windows XP Retail, as you
may know, the "repair installation" avoids losing any personal data. I
might as well just hook up the HDD as slave to another PC and back up the
data like I stated in the original post.



If there are any suggestions on how to fix the reboot issue and to avoid
reinstallation of system software, please let me know.





Thanks,



Tony

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Resources for troubleshooting startup problems in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308041

How to perform advanced clean-boot troubleshooting in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316434

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.mspx

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| "Some data files may be difficult to find after the system recovery, so it
| is best to back up all hard disk files before performing a system recovery."
|
|
| This information was noted on the URL you provided if I would take the
| "non-destructive system recovery" path. I don't want to take the chance of
| losing pictures, music, and other data. With the Windows XP Retail, as you
| may know, the "repair installation" avoids losing any personal data. I
| might as well just hook up the HDD as slave to another PC and back up the
| data like I stated in the original post.
|
|
| If there are any suggestions on how to fix the reboot issue and to avoid
| reinstallation of system software, please let me know.
|
| Thanks,
|
| Tony