[Frustrated05]

hi i am having problems with Windows XP, i have had recent problems as well including a deleted partition and corrupt harddrive
however one of my friends got my computer working with Windows XP recently and evrything ran fine
while i was away, my computer must have restarted although my parents claimed they never touched it
it was stuck in the black screen with the flashing _ line that comes after the HP screen with BIOS and system recovery options
it wont load past that although it was working perfect just a few hours eariler
i have tried system recovery and starting on safe mode, both lead to the black screen
i have set my BIOS to default with no luck

please help, to my knowledge nothing is wrong with the hardware

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Hi Frustrated05...

Sounds like it's not finding the boot instructions. This can be caused by anything from a bad boot.ini file to a bad hard drive.

Do you have your XP installation cd? We'll need Recovery Console...which is on the cd.

wannabe1

[wannabe1]

Hi Frustrated05...

Sounds like it's not finding the boot instructions. This can be caused by anything from a bad boot.ini file to a bad hard drive.

Do you have your XP installation cd? We'll need Recovery Console...which is on the cd.

wannabe1

[Frustrated05]

i know i have the XP xcd somewhere......but right now ive found a vista cd
is there a way to repair this from vista cd without installing vista?
i hope i dont have a bad hard drive......its a new one that i got just about a month ago

[wannabe1]

Nope...Vista cd won't work...it's a whole different animal.

Download rc.iso and burn it to a cd as an ISO image. You may need a burning toy like ISO Recorder to do this...be sure to get the version for your operating system.

[Frustrated05]

no access to a cd-burner that can get to the internet =(
but i will be able to pick up a XP cd by tomorrow

[Frustrated05]

ok i hve downloaded / burned ur rc.iso and booted from it
it gives me 3 options - set up Windows XP, Repair, and Quit

[wannabe1]

Press R to load Recovery Console

Select the operating system to repair...Usually 1. C:\Windows (select by number)

Admin Password...Usually blank...just press Enter

At the prompt, type chkdsk /r and press Enter

This will be a very long check...be patient. It may appear to hang or even back up a little, this is normal...let it finish. When it does finally complete, it will either boot directly to Windows or will be back at command prompt. If it's the latter, type exit and press Enter. It should then boot to Windows...if this works, that is.

[Frustrated05]

it doesnt give me a choice for an operating system to repair
just says type EXIT to reboot computer and has a command prompt, when i try chkdsk /r it gives me a line reading The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems.
does this mean ill hve to reinstall windows?

Edited by Frustrated05, 28 May 2007 - 12:03 PM.

[wannabe1]

Is the prompt you see C:\WINDOWS>?

[Frustrated05]

no, just C:\>
chkdsk /r gives me a line saying unrecoverab le problems

[wannabe1]

At the prompt, type bootcfg and press Enter.

Are any operating systems found?

[Frustrated05]

bootcfg -> gives me a list for scan, add, rebuild, default, list, diableredirect, redirect

from here i typed bootcfg /scan

Error: failed to successfully scan disks for Windows installations.
this error may be cause by a corrupt file system, which would prevent bootcfg from successfully scanning. use chkdsk to detect and disk errors.

bootcfg /list -> There are currently no boot entries available to display.

[wannabe1]

Type fixboot c: and press Enter

Allow it to write the new sector...if it will.

[Frustrated05]

The file system on the startup partition is unknown.
FIXBOOT is attempting to detect the file system type.

The bootsector is corrupt.
FIXBOOT is checking the filesystem type...
The partition is using the FAT file system.

FIXBOOT is writing a new boot sector.

The new bootsector was successfully written.

[wannabe1]

Pull the cd and see if it will boot normally.