[latisha]

Hello, I'm new to this board. I appreciate all of your help in advance.
Ok, I have a computer thats about 6 years old that i am trying to restore for my children. I got a hold of a new hard drive, so I decided to put it in. Originally the computer had a 40gb hd . The computer conked out eventually and i think the hd crashed, because I was getting the error message "no os system found" So after a few years i decided to get a new hd and start this project. I replaced the drive with A maxtor 160 gb ATA drive. Currently according to the BIOS it detected it after i replaced it, (at least when i pulled up the bios screen, i see it there) anyways, the computer has sdram /pc100 intel chip 256 memory and Im guessing that the last time the computer worked, I had recently upgraded it with windows xp professional. (by the way, i can't figure out the password, its been so long ago) anyways, now when i start it up I get

We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfully. A recent hardware or software change might have caused this.

If your computer stopped responding, restarted unexpectedly, or was automatically shut down to protect your files and folders, choose Last Known Good Configuration to revert to the most recent settings that worked.

If a previous startup attempt was interrupted due to a power failure or because the Power or Reset button was pressed, or if you aren't sure what caused the problem, choose Start Windows
Normally.

Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt

Last Known Good Configuration (your most recent settings that worked) Start Windows Normally

Use the up and down arrow keys to move the highlight to your choice.

EVERY option I select does nothing, it keeps going back to this screen. I don't know what to do, I selected the recovery console option, but as I said it asks for a password, and obviously I don't know it, because it keeps saying its incorrect. I don't know what to do, I dont have any recovery disks for this computer. I have a windows xp professional cd, but when i put it in it doesnt boot from it, and i already changed the boot sequence so it reads from the cd rom first. it always goes to this screen Any suggestions....I don't know what to do

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Hi latisha...

The Recovery Console password is blank by default...just press Enter when you are prompted for the password and it should continue.

Once at the Recovery Console prompt, type chkdsk /r and press Enter.

This will run a full chkdsk operation on the drive. You may, under the circumstances, have to perform a Repair Installation of Windows.

wannabe1

[wannabe1]

Hi latisha...

The Recovery Console password is blank by default...just press Enter when you are prompted for the password and it should continue.

Once at the Recovery Console prompt, type chkdsk /r and press Enter.

This will run a full chkdsk operation on the drive. You may, under the circumstances, have to perform a Repair Installation of Windows.

wannabe1

[latisha]

Thanks SOOOOO MUCH....... (im in the process of trying to fix this thing) for your fast reply. Now I did try just hitting enter and that didnt work. I read somewhere before, if its xp professional that a password was required, but I don't know it. anything else you might suggest i try

[wannabe1]

To be honest with you, the error you are getting will probably not be addressed using Recovery Console. The problem is most likely a registry hive corruption. I would recommend trying the Repair Installation from the link in my first reply. If the repair guide is followed closely, you should be able to get up and running with your data intact.

[latisha]

Now according to step 3 in those instructions, it tells me to insert my windows xp cd and restart the computer. Now i have done that, and as i mentioned, i changed the boot sequence in the bios to boot from the cd first, and it still is not giving me that blue installation screen for windows, are there any commands i can hit to make the computer recognize the cd, and I remember installing a new cd drive in the computer when it was working, and there are lights on the drive that indicate its trying to read (i guess)

[latisha]

oh, and by the way, i'm not concerned with loosing any data, its ok if i have to loose it. I just want to get the thing started. (although it would be great to save my music files that were on it )

[wannabe1]

Have you set the cd-rom as first boot device in BIOS Setup?

[latisha]

Yep.

[wannabe1]

Do you get the prompt to "Press any key to boot from cd" at the top of the screen when you start with the cd in the drive?

[latisha]

Nope, i don't get that prompt, it immediately goes to that windows did not start successfully screen etc. ive powered off/ alt cntl del several times.

[wannabe1]

What kind of machine is it? Make and model number.

[latisha]

Its an HP Pavilion 510 c
trigern motherboard/ phoenix bios
intel socket 370

intel i810e
sdram/pc100 2 dimm/ 512 mb

[latisha]

and I know my software cd works, I got it from Devry and I recently installed a copy of it on my girlfriends computer. and It worked successfully, shes still running windows xp professional.....

[wannabe1]

I think it's a boot priority issue...if it was trying to boot to the cd, you should have seen that prompt.

Restart the machine and tap the F1 key right after the system beep...if that doesn't get you to the BIOS Setup, restart and tap the Delete key. I think you may have been in the soft boot menu...we need the actual BIOS Setup. Have you seen the screens shown HERE?

[latisha]

ok, i'm there, now what information do you need