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cannot access windows


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#1
ogie1691

ogie1691

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Ok.

My computer:
- HP Pavilion a562n
- Windows XP (Home Edition)
- All Hardware has been untampered with
- Settings have not been changed at all.

Before the problem happened:
First, the computer locks up and will not respond. Ctrl +Alt+Del will not work and I perform a manual restart by pressing the power button for 5 seconds. The computer turns off and I turn it back on.

The problem:
It starts to start up and I choose Windows XP when it asks which OS I would like to use (the other choice is "Windows recovery" or something like that) And it continues to this screen that says "Windows did not start properly ... please choose which setting to use" and it gives me some choices.

- Safe mode
- Safe mode w/ Networking
- Safe Mode w/ Command Prompt
- Start with last known settings that worked
- Start windows normally

I have tried ALL of these. and windows refuses to start. When I choose them, it gets to the screen with the Windows XP logo and the moving blue bar under it and it flashes to some blue screen with some text on it for a millisecond and auto-restarts.

I have also, periodically gotten a message saying Windows cannot start because "<Windows Root>\system32\hal.dll" is missing or corrupt. Please reinstall this file." I have not tampered with the windows files. How could this have happened?

Now. What can I do to start Windows again? Can I start Windows again? If not, It's been suggested that I do a reformat.

I have tried the HP reformat both with discs and without discs and the hp pc recovery gets stuck at 4%. 3 hours is the longest I've left it on. And it keeps getting these error messages that "_________.___" cannot be opened, so I don't think it would work anyway if it tried to copy files from the hard drive. But this is only the reformat with the preference that data files be kept intact. Destructive reformat (delete all data files) is my last resort. I don't have a backup of my hard drive files.

Which is why I would also like to ask if there is any way that I could access my files, maybe through a command prompt? and transfer them to a removable storage device, like a flash drive.

Thanks in advance for responses.

- Ryan
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#2
gerryf

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when it says Windows Recovery at the beginning, does it say Windows recovery console? As in choose Operating System.

Not too long ago, HP started installing the recovery console by default on their PCs.

If RECOVERY CONSOLE is the choice, choose that

You will end up at a prompt that says

c:\>windows

type
chkdsk /r
<enter>

Let it finish (will take some time) , the reboot
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#3
gerryf

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..as normal
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#4
ogie1691

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I tried chkdsk /r as you said, and after a while, it said

"75% completed
The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems"

and returned to the C:\Windows prompt.

What should I do from here?
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#5
gerryf

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that, my friend, is very bad news.

I have had some luck taking such drives and placing them in a second computer, and running chkdsk on them from there. I have also had some luck with a third party program called spinrite in these situations.

You can also try running it again and seeing if it goes past 75 percent
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#6
ogie1691

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In that case, if Windows will not respond, I have heard suggestions that I could use a different program, (I've heard Ubuntu and Knoppix) to access my files and back them up before I try a full system recovery. Is this possible? How might I be able to do this?

Edited by ogie1691, 08 July 2006 - 07:31 AM.

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#7
gerryf

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yes, it is possible, but it would be easier to remove the harddrive and put it in a second machine as a slave and recover files that way
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