I cant access my XP! Whenever I tried to access it, it will say "press ctrl, alt and delete to restart. And it also won't allow me to boot from CD. Is there any solution or must I send this com to the shop?

This is an outside chance

Items in blue which are underlined are clickable to give more information about the process

Start the System Restore Utility at a command prompt

1. Restart your computer, and keep tapping F8 during the initial start-up until you get options, select Safe Mode with a Command Prompt then press enter.

2. Log on to your computer with an administrator account or with an account that has administrator credentials.

3. Type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

4. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to restore your computer to an earlier state.

Look for the most recent system checkpoint created before the errors to restore from

For additional information about the Safe mode with a command prompt, click 315222 to see a description of the Safe Mode Boot Options in Windows XP

What error do you get if you try to start from the CD

(It was my friend's computer) Thus, this is what she said "The F8 button will not work and if it enters Window, it will jam at the logon screen" and "When I tried to boot from the CD, the first dialog would be 'setup is inspecting your computer' or something like that. Then, it would go blank [a black screen appears]"

Is the hard disk corrupted, in this case since the Windows is un-enterable?

Can you keep tapping the delete key as you start the PC, look for BIOS defaults, load those, press F10 to save, type Y to confirm, press enter to reboot

Try tapping F8 or F5 if it doesn't load to the desktop

Kay... I'll try the BIOS default, but the F8 thing before Windows starts is useless now.

It's not working too... so, what's next? the computer shop?

Click this for a guide to using Memtest


Click this to download Memtest


Run it overnight if possible


Have you ever opened a PC case?

If you'd asked me, yes (oh, I did not close it anymore since it's quite old, so it might need the "fresh air" to cool it) but I dunno bout her, most probably yes.
Besides, would it be possible to reformat it if I'd take the damaged hard disk and place it as a secondary hard disk?
(example: My friend's computer, computer A cannot access Win XP. My computer IS usable. I add her hard disk as a secondary hard disk and access the boot disk. Will the idea work?)
P/S: I will tell you the result of the Memtest after I got the result...

You could add it to get the data off, then wipe the drive to clean install

http://www.askbobrankin.com/add_a_second_hard_drive.html

Where can I get the Startup diskette (on the internet)? Cos the prob's the same (maybe almost)

This is the usual way

Windows XP users

Insert the Windows XP bootable CD into the computer.
When prompted to press any key to boot from the CD, press any key.
Once in the Windows XP setup menu press the "R" key to repair Windows.
Log into your Windows installation by pressing the "1" key and pressing enter.
You will then be prompted for your administrator password, enter that password.
Copy the below two files to the root directory of the primary hard disk. In the below example we are copying these files from the CD-ROM drive letter "E". This letter may be different on your computer.

copy e:\i386\ntldr c:\
copy e:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\


Once both of these files have been successfully copied, remove the CD from the computer and reboot.

It may be this though

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545/

Or you can get the set up discs here, check to get the set which apply to the version of XP CD you will be using

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...b;en-us;Q310994

But the setup screen is not accessible... it will go blank after the "Setup is inspecting your computer" dialog

Then the third option (floppy boot discs) is probably the way to repair it now

The boot diskette is unusable since the hard disk partition is NTFS. Thus, I'm using two hard disk to attempt to reformat the hard disk. And I'll tell ya the conclusion after I tried.

Yeahh..... the conclusion: I used my hard disk as the primary master and my friend's hard disk as the primary slave. Then, I was able to access the hard disk and back up the data that was in it. The end... (close thread?)

*To everyone that is reading this thread, if you still <3 your data, I recommend you to use FAT32 as your system... you can use bootable diskette to save it, just like in my case. Tata~

**And one mo thing, thanks, Keith!

This post has been edited by simon_shaft: Feb 22 2007, 08:13 AM