Trying to repair windows using boot disk

[soulfanel]

Hi,

I am trying to use the repair function within windows XP setup to try
to fix a problem with my computer. I don't have a bootable copy of
windows, so I have made a boot disk, but when I get the DOS prompt I
can't CD into my cdrom drive- it says it is an invalid drive. Also when
I just type CD the only drive that shows up is my A drive. I have set
the CD rom drive before the floppy drive in boot sequence. Does anyone
know what my problem might be?

Thanks,

Soulz

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi,

I am trying to use the repair function within windows XP setup to try
to fix a problem with my computer. I don't have a bootable copy of
windows, so I have made a boot disk, but when I get the DOS prompt I
can't CD into my cdrom drive- it says it is an invalid drive. Also when
I just type CD the only drive that shows up is my A drive. I have set
the CD rom drive before the floppy drive in boot sequence. Does anyone
know what my problem might be?

Thanks,

Soulz

Since you say nothing at all about your Windows problem, we
can't even begin to guess what this problem might be. You also
do not say what this "boot disk" is, hence it is not possible to
help you. Suffice it to say that if it is a DOS boot disk then you
won't see your disk partitions, since they are most likely NTFS
partitions. You can run ntfdsdos.exe (www.sysinternals.com)
to make them visible but you won't be able to change anything.

In other words: If you need help, spend the time to describe
your problem and what you did in detail!

 

[soulfanel]

Since you say nothing at all about your Windows problem, we
can't even begin to guess what this problem might be. You also
do not say what this "boot disk" is, hence it is not possible to
help you. Suffice it to say that if it is a DOS boot disk then you
won't see your disk partitions, since they are most likely NTFS
partitions. You can run ntfdsdos.exe (www.sysinternals.com)
to make them visible but you won't be able to change anything.

In other words: If you need help, spend the time to describe
your problem and what you did in detail!

Sorry about that, I thought I was giving enough information.

My problem is one that other people seem to have been experiencing:
loss of keyboard functionality at the windows login screen. My keyboard
is a PS/2 keyboard and it works in BIOS.
Knowing that I should look around before I asked a question about my
problem, I found a solution on this group. The solution is to run the
windows repair utility, which is accessable through windows set up.

Since I cannot log in I have to boot directly to the windows cd.
However, the windows cd I have is not bootable. So, I found
instructions saying that I could create a DOS bootdisk and then CD into
the i386 directory on the windows CD in my cd rom drive, and from there
run WINNT.exe in order to begin the setup process.

My problem is that I canno't CD into the i386 directory and I cannot
see my CD rom drive when I type CD. I have no need to view the
partitions on my hard drive.

When I orginally installed on my computer, when it was new, I followed
this process at the time, but I obviously missed a step somewhere.

With that extra detail can anyone offer me a solution?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Sorry about that, I thought I was giving enough information.

My problem is one that other people seem to have been experiencing:
loss of keyboard functionality at the windows login screen. My keyboard
is a PS/2 keyboard and it works in BIOS.
Knowing that I should look around before I asked a question about my
problem, I found a solution on this group. The solution is to run the
windows repair utility, which is accessable through windows set up.

Since I cannot log in I have to boot directly to the windows cd.
However, the windows cd I have is not bootable. So, I found
instructions saying that I could create a DOS bootdisk and then CD into
the i386 directory on the windows CD in my cd rom drive, and from there
run WINNT.exe in order to begin the setup process.

My problem is that I canno't CD into the i386 directory and I cannot
see my CD rom drive when I type CD. I have no need to view the
partitions on my hard drive.

When I orginally installed on my computer, when it was new, I followed
this process at the time, but I obviously missed a step somewhere.

With that extra detail can anyone offer me a solution?

This makes it a lot clearer.

The instructions you received were incomplete. Using
a DOS boot disk only works when Windows is installed
in an FAT32 partition. This is rarely the case.

You have several options:
- Get a loan of a bootable WinXP CD. You must, of
course, set the BIOS boot order so that the machine
boots off the CD.
- Manufacture a set of WinXP boot diskettes. I am not
near a WinXP PC so cannot immediately tell you how
to do this. Start / Help will probably show you the details.
- Borrow a USB keyboard to see if the problem disappears.

 

[GreenieLeBrun]

This makes it a lot clearer.

The instructions you received were incomplete. Using
a DOS boot disk only works when Windows is installed
in an FAT32 partition. This is rarely the case.

You have several options:
- Get a loan of a bootable WinXP CD. You must, of
course, set the BIOS boot order so that the machine
boots off the CD.
- Manufacture a set of WinXP boot diskettes. I am not
near a WinXP PC so cannot immediately tell you how
to do this. Start / Help will probably show you the details.
- Borrow a USB keyboard to see if the problem disappears.

How to obtain Windows XP Setup boot disks
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310994

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

How to obtain Windows XP Setup boot disks
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310994

Thanks for this!