Smashed Windows (XP)

[Guest]

Please help
I am running Windows xp home edition and am unable to get it to startup. I
have tried all the safe mode options and the best i can get is a black screen
with safe mode in the corners and the xp build data at the top. Trying to go
in normally results in a plain blue screen that never changes.
The many articles here list this type of issue (thanks to those
contibuters) but i am at the stage of loading from the cd but not having a
repair option and not having the administrator password in order to run
recover (or elements thereof) and having no way of getting to a c:\ prompt. I
have seen the get admin password thread but am beginning to loose the will to
fight.
The question is now if i do an install over my previous xp install will i
loose all the files on the pc or will things like excel spreadsheets and
photos survive the process.
Your wisdom most appreciated

Kibble

 

[David Candy]

Your computer sounds like it is mostly working. Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete and File menu - New Task (Run) ... will allow you to start programs. The program that supplies the Start menu and the desktop icons is explorer.exe. Try typing it in New Task and see what happens. Hopefully you'll get an error message. Before typing it make sure Explorer is not running on the Proesses tab of Task Manager (ie that it is hung and is in memory) as it only starts the shell (Start etc) if it's not already running (else it will start an Explorer window).

 

[Guest]

Hello David

I have tried Ctrl + Alt + Delete with both the plain blue screen and the
black safe mode screen up and in both cases nothing happens. At which point
should i be pressing this combination.

 

[David Candy]

If you can't start in Safe mode and can't run Task Manager. What happened before this happened. Can you boot to Safe Mode with Command Prompt?

 

[Guest]

Hello David

Sorry for the delay in response but as you can imagine my access to the net
is now limited. Before the crash my son had downloaded an add on for a game
and was using the patch to design new maps for warcraft3. It blue screened
about half an hour after the download.

I cannot boot in safe mode to the command prompt or infact get any of the
normal boot options to work. In fact i cannot get to a command prompt in any
way. I have converted the bios to boot from the install cd but do not get a
proper repair option after the first reinstall option is selected. I can get
to the recovery (second option on the first screen) but the machine does not
except enter as the password despite the administrator password definatly not
having been created and is therefore blank.

I really dont want to go for the full re install as i believe i am likely
to loose all my photos etc.

Do you think i have any options left.

Thanks very much for your time and patience

Kibble

 

[David Candy]

What type of install media do you have. A genuine MS disk or a computer manufacturer's disk? Genuine MS disks one upgrades the current install with itself to repair some problems (it doesn't remove software so if software is causing it it won't help).

If you can't type anything there is only one thing that may help. The recovery console. If XP was preinstalled there is a password problem - use the boot floppies to get to recovery console.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310994

Look in C:\windows\minidump and see if and mdp files match the date of the crash. If so send me it to david at mvps.org

However it may not be related to current problem (coincidences do happen and one needs to watch for them - I pulled my heater to pieces two weeks ago because the thermostat clicked off as i touched the on/off switch and I thought the switch had failed - there was nothing wrong). Even if it is usually one needs to configure the system to get usefull information which you can't do at the moment or do from the recovery console.

There is a GUI repair too. Choose Repair the second time you are asked (the first time is Recovery Console) but this is unlikely to help.

 

[Guest]

Hello David
It is a computer manufacturers disk and preinstall. I will do as you suggest
this evening and let you know the result tomorrow.

One again many thanks for the assist , Kibble

 

[David Candy]

Well the floppies should allow you to enter the password (issue doesn't occur if you install XP yourself from an MS disk).

Some manufacturers disks are the same as MS disk. Most aren't. While I'm unlikely to know anything about your computer mfg (unless they are in Australia then there is a small chance) others may so post the guilty parties name.

With an MS disk, many things can be done. With computer mfg there is no generic answer. Do you know anyone with a MS disk.

 

[Guest]

I tried it last night and hit a NTDLL.DLL error on the last disk. i will re
do the disks and see if it has an impact. For reasons best known to itself it
ran a chkdisk when i turned it on but this did not resolve anything except
now when i open in safe mode i get the list of progs and it ends at
AGP440.SYS.
I have done some digging on this and found a whole mess of problems
relating to it so i might try some of those fixes too.

Thanks Kibble

 

[Guest]

Hello David , The disks have done the job and i can now get to a c:\ prompt
(Jumps for joy) I could not see the minidump on the dir but did only manage
to spend about 5 mins looking so will do more delving tonight.
I disabled the agp440.sys (as suggested by microsoft) file but to no avail.
I tried to copy some stuff to a disk to back it up (bit late i know) but it
said i could not copy to removable storage. Is there a way round this
Thanks Kibble

 

[Guest]

Hello David

Just to let you know thanks to your advise i managed to get to the c:\ and
from there i found a great site (listed on another thread here) where i
entered a bunch of dos commands and as if by magic my system is reserected. I
still have a driver issue(which may have been the original cause) but i am
well on the way to recovery.

Thanks Once again
Kibble