Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 CD

[Guest]

Hi

My laptop has crashed and wouldn't even switch on.

Today I've managed to get it to start but a blue screen has come on asking
for me to Insert the CD labelled Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 CD.
I've looked in my original packaging, but despite having everything there is
no CD. Would this have come preloaded on to my hp pavilion? How can I get
past this stage without the CD?

Thanks

 

[Guest]

Hi

My laptop has crashed and wouldn't even switch on.

Today I've managed to get it to start but a blue screen has come on asking
for me to Insert the CD labelled Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 CD.
I've looked in my original packaging, but despite having everything there is
no CD. Would this have come preloaded on to my hp pavilion? How can I get
past this stage without the CD?

Thanks

Try with Last good known configuration settings or safe Mode and
troubleshoot from there by looking in the event viewer for error message and
post them back in your next post.
To access the Event Viewer, open a run command and type in:
eventvwr.msc click [OK]
There you will see three Options/Folders:
Application
System
Security
By clicking on each and look in the Right Pane/Window you will see a report
Log Double click on the error Message (X) to get more info and you can copy
and paste in your next post.
HTH.
nass

 

[Jim]

Hi

My laptop has crashed and wouldn't even switch on.

Today I've managed to get it to start but a blue screen has come on asking
for me to Insert the CD labelled Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2
CD.
I've looked in my original packaging, but despite having everything there
is
no CD. Would this have come preloaded on to my hp pavilion? How can I
get
past this stage without the CD?

Thanks

Hello:

I assume that you merely turned the thing on, it started the boot process.

If this is what you did, then the bootstrap did not find an operating system
on the hard drive and fell back to the CD.
And you are looking for the above CD.

These days, OEM manufacturers save money by furnishing a repair partition on
the hard drive. Thus, what you are supposed
to do is to get to the repair partition, following the instructions in the
fine manual, and then get the computer to restore
it to the as delivered state.

However, if performing the repair by replacing the disk, you will run into
serious trouble. Unless whoever did this trick realises
what must be done, you will wind up with no repair partition and no
operating system. I don't know what happened during the
repair thus what I am saying is just a surmise on my part.

If the disk was replaced and not properly reconstituted, you should contact
HP for a replacement CD (for a fee). You may also need
a CD with HP specific drivers for all of the hardware devices on the
motherboard. You can expect to spend quite a bit of time doing
this type of reinstall.

Did I mention that you must set the BIOS to first boot from the CD?

Jim

 

[Guest]

Oh gosh ... this all sounds really complicated .........

Thanks for the advice. I'll try and do what has been suggested and get back
to you. I don't hold out much luck though as I don't have a clue how to get
past the blue screen. It only gives me two options - insert the disc and
continue and f3 to quit when nothing happens.

Will I lose what is on my computer? Wish now I had backed it all up!

 

[Jim]

Oh gosh ... this all sounds really complicated .........

Thanks for the advice. I'll try and do what has been suggested and get
back
to you. I don't hold out much luck though as I don't have a clue how to
get
past the blue screen. It only gives me two options - insert the disc and
continue and f3 to quit when nothing happens.

If my impressions are correct, you will never get past the blue screen until
you
install Windows on the computer.

Will I lose what is on my computer? Wish now I had backed it all up!

Yes, if a clean install is what you need, the data will all be gone. This
could turn into an expensive lesson.
You could try loading the disk in another computer so that you can get off
what you need. It would
be interesting to see the state of the disk anyway.
Jim

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Oh gosh ... this all sounds really complicated .........

Thanks for the advice. I'll try and do what has been suggested and get
back
to you. I don't hold out much luck though as I don't have a clue how to
get
past the blue screen. It only gives me two options - insert the disc and
continue and f3 to quit when nothing happens.

Will I lose what is on my computer? Wish now I had backed it all up!

If you have to do a clean install or take the system for service, you must
assume that the drive will be wiped. Repair installs, which you may not be
able to do, "usually" leave the data in place.

Fortunately, it's easy to remove the drive, attach it to another XP system
with enough drive space, and copy your data off. A USB2 drive case, which
will be about $15 - $30, will help a lot with this.

You do need to know the drive type, IDE or SATA, when you buy the case.
You usually need a small phillips screwdrive to remove the drive, and then
possibly a pair of needlenose pliers *if* the drive has a header connector
on the pins. This just pulls off, and when you're done, goes back on the
same way.

The case will come with a special 3-ended cable. You simply attach the
drive to the case, plug the cable into 2 USB ports on the target system,
then into the case (if you do it the other way, attaching to the case first,
you risk drawing too much power from a single USB port and crashing the host
system). XP on the host system will detect the drive, and you can copy
your data.

If you're unsure of what to take, use the Acronis TrueImage 14-day free
trial version. This is about 100 meg, www.acronis.com . Delete the two
large files that may be in the root, pagefile.sys and hiberfil.sys. Empty
the recycle bin. Run the TrueImage demo, and it will make a single-file
copy of *everything* on the drive.

Whether you copy or image, you may need to Take Ownership if you get an
"access denied" message:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

When done, verify that the copy or image worked - mount the image, browse to
a folder, open some files.

Put the drive back in the laptop, and you can proceed with fixing the
problem. Whatever it is you need to do, you will have a backup of your
data.

HTH
-pk