[teds]

Hi there,

Been looking at the vast information about repairing my friends HP laptop. I've got all the disc and stuff.

Got to the recovery part fine, but do not get the Repair option.

So i tried the md tmp - commands.

But comes up with bad path. Am i being thick or what...!

Please help. Cos is doing me in. When they say Replace copy C\windows.. do i use Copy D ( which is the cd drive i wont to copy from. or have i got it all wrong.

Any advice welcomed.

Teds

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Try to install the Recovery Console from the CD.
1. Insert the Windows XP CD into the CD-ROM drive.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type d:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons where d is the drive letter for the CD-ROM drive.
4. A Windows Setup Dialog Box appears. The Windows Setup Dialog Box describes the Recovery Console option. To confirm the installation, click Yes.
5. Restart the computer. The next time that you start your computer, "Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" appears on the startup menu.

[cmw2010]

Try to install the Recovery Console from the CD.
1. Insert the Windows XP CD into the CD-ROM drive.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type d:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons where d is the drive letter for the CD-ROM drive.
4. A Windows Setup Dialog Box appears. The Windows Setup Dialog Box describes the Recovery Console option. To confirm the installation, click Yes.
5. Restart the computer. The next time that you start your computer, "Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" appears on the startup menu.

[piper]

Hi, teds, and welcome to Geeks to Go!

If you aren't getting the Repair option, that means theres' something really wrong with the Windows installation.

1. Let's try to repair the Master Boot Record. Put the Windows XP CD in the cd-rom drive and shut the machine OFF. Power the machine back on and watch the screen for the prompt "Press any key to boot from cd"...press the spacebar once.

This should take you to a "Welcome to Setup" screen...Press R to load Recovery Console"

On the next screen, select your operating system by typing the number to the left of it. In most cases, this will be 1. C:\WINDOWS...so type 1.

If you are prompted to type a password, leave it blank and press "Enter".

This should take you to a command prompt...C:\WINDOWS>

Type in fixmbr and press enter. You should also try fixboot.


2. Another option, especially if you have data on the computer that need to try to salvage, is a parallel installation. This will install Windows into a different folder and will not overwrite anything. Once you are able to backup your data, you can format the drive and install Windows fresh.

Boot to the Windows XP installation cd by pressing a key when the "Press any key to boot from cd" prompt appears at the top of the screen.

• At the "Welcome to Setup" screen, press Enter to set up Windows XP.
• Accept the License Agreement by pressing F8
• With your current installation selected in the box, press Esc
• Select C: Partition1 [NTFS] in the box and press Enter
• To continue setup using this partition, press C
• Now you should see formatting options...choose the last one, Leave the current file system intact (no changes), and press Enter
• To use a different folder, press Esc
• Name the folder WINDOWS0 (just type a 0 (zero)) and press Enter

The Windows installation should begin. This will install Windows to a new folder, leaving your data intact. Any programs installed on the old directory will have to be reinstalled to the new one. Device drivers will also have to be installed for all the hardware to work as it should.

The data will be located in the Documents and Settings folder (C:\Documents and Settings) under your old user account name...so when you set up the new installation, give yourself a slightly different user account name.

[cmw2010]

It is an HP Machine, it probably will not boot to the Recovery Console.

[piper]

Teds, what model is your computer? If it's an HP, the recovery process may be different.

[teds]

WOW,

Thanks for the quick response and all the advice.

The HP in question is a Pavilion ze5600.

I did get as far as trying fixmbr + fixboot. but still no joy.

Also tried a parallel install to, but again no joy.

So I think its going to have to be a clean install and try and retrieve some of the lost files.

Luckily I did a good hard copy back up about a week or so ago, so not to worry.

But will give it a go anyway. Any advice on this subject would be a help to.

That’s as far as my own skills has taken me. So over to you guys.

Also my I say top forum and I’m glad that I found it.

Teds

[piper]

Thanks for the kind words. We really appreciate hearing it!

To confirm: is the Pavilion ze5600 a laptop?

Do you have the HP recovery disks? If so, put the CD in the drive and reboot. If the computer doesn't boot from the CD, reboot again and press the key that takes you into Setup. It could be DEL, ESC, F1, F2, F10, F10, or a combination of ALT+ESC. Once in BIOS, look for "Boot Sequence" and move the CD-ROM drive to the number 1 spot. Be sure to Save Setting when you exit BIOS.

[teds]

Yep, got all the disc's, and yep it’s a Laptop to!

Got into the BIOS and got it to look at CD no probs, also got it to run windows setup- Recovery.

But it will not offer the repair windows option. Only Install.

So that led me to try all the Fixmbr,Fixboot. Still no luck.

Got to this bit to: - Leave the current file system intact (no changes).
Again it failed to produce a working boot up.

So I think its going to have to be a clean install and try and retrieve some of the lost files.

Is this a far assumption?

[piper]

Yes, I believe so. Choose the format option, then install Windows. Good luck.

[teds]

I'm re-installing right now using the format option as you suggest with
fingers X'd.

My only head scratch now is what corrupted the system in the first place. And will it be still active somewhere?

What do you think.?

[piper]

I'm not sure what all led up the problems on the laptop, so I can't really say anything about the cause. But usually formatting the drive will take care of it. Just be sure to install a reliable antivirus software as quickly as possible (there are some very good freeware programs if you don't own a commercial program). Keep it updated and run full scans regularly (more often if you're downloading/installing stuff from the web).

Here are some good free AV programs:
a-squared - http://www.emsisoft..../software/free/
AntiVir - http://www.free-av.com/
Avast - http://www.avast.com...ast_4_home.html
AVG - http://free.grisoft.com/
BitDefender - http://www.bitdefender.com
ClamWin - http://www.clamwin.com/

[teds]

SUCCESS.....!

WE HAVE LIFT OFF..!

All's well, and it all seems to be stable. Full clean install and all drivers loaded. Jobs a good un.

I will slowly re-install everything else and see how we go.

Thanks again for all your help.

I’m now off for a well earned celebratory cup of tea.

[piper]

Glad to hear it