[rxkevco]

I have the xp home recovery cds from HP ,,, but i also have my original xp proffessional cd from my previous pc.

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If you have XP Pro installed on this PC, use the product key from the PC, not the CD

You can use this guide to repair XP

Possibly, you will need to press the power button and keep tapping the delete key, (possibly F2) until the PC enters set up. Change the boot order to CD ROM Drive then hard drive, press F10 then press enter, load the XP CD then type Y then press enter, as it reboots, look for press any key to load from CD, press enter

You will need your XP product key to complete this

The XP Product Key is a 25 character alpha numerical code, which does not include the sequence OEM

If you have audio / video files which are subject to DRM you should check with the provider for known issues with performing an XP repair install

Click this to view the XP Repair Install Guide

Windows XP repair feature won't delete your data, installed programs, personal information, or settings. It just repairs the operating system

The XP repair install will look and run as a normal install, however, you must not see a request to format the drive

After running XP Repair you will need to install all Windows Updates

Microsoft Update

If you have XP Home on this PC, what can you do with their recovery options, is there one which repairs without losing data

[Retired Tech]

If you have XP Pro installed on this PC, use the product key from the PC, not the CD

You can use this guide to repair XP

Possibly, you will need to press the power button and keep tapping the delete key, (possibly F2) until the PC enters set up. Change the boot order to CD ROM Drive then hard drive, press F10 then press enter, load the XP CD then type Y then press enter, as it reboots, look for press any key to load from CD, press enter

You will need your XP product key to complete this

The XP Product Key is a 25 character alpha numerical code, which does not include the sequence OEM

If you have audio / video files which are subject to DRM you should check with the provider for known issues with performing an XP repair install

Click this to view the XP Repair Install Guide

Windows XP repair feature won't delete your data, installed programs, personal information, or settings. It just repairs the operating system

The XP repair install will look and run as a normal install, however, you must not see a request to format the drive

After running XP Repair you will need to install all Windows Updates

Microsoft Update

If you have XP Home on this PC, what can you do with their recovery options, is there one which repairs without losing data

[rxkevco]

This particular pc has XP HOME EDITION on it,,,, and i have a set of recovery cds from hp.

I also have a XP PROFESSIONAL EDITION cd, from my previous pc.

Which should i use ???? Are they both incompatible with one another ??

[Retired Tech]

You can only use Home for Home

Which model number is the PC

[rxkevco]

Its a compaq presario SR1739UK,

[Retired Tech]

Start with this, you can also run PC Doctor to check hardware

http://h10025.www1.h...n...289&lang=en

If none of the above improves things, use the standard recovery (non destructive) option here

http://h10025.www1.h...cname=c00007689

This is a non-destructive recovery, which recovers factory- shipped programs, drivers, and the operating system without affecting any data files that you may have created since purchasing this PC. Some data files may be difficult to find after the system recovery, so it is best to back up all hard disk files before performing a system recovery.

[rxkevco]

I have a C /DRIVE, a D/DRIVE and a E/DRIVE.

The E drive is a 250gb slave drive with all of my music ,video and photo files on it.

The Master drive (120gb ) is the C drive which has all other software etc,,, but also within the C drive is the OS partioned onto D drive.

Is it possible to just reformat the D drive with only the OS on it,, saving me the trouble of backing up data and software on the C and E DRIVES ???

If this is possible, i would be better off using my old XP PRO disc,,rather than the HP recovery discs which are full of all sorts of additional shite ! !

My thinking is only that for all the trouble its worth,, i might as well just reformat and start with a fresh XP.

[Retired Tech]

Best option is to move any data off C on to E

Format C and re-install the software

This is so the data will be recognised by XP on C

[rxkevco]

So ,, move anything important off C onto E and then reformat the whole C drive.

If ireformat the C drive, and then use my old XP PRo disc instaed of the XP HOME that was installed when i bought the pc,, then i wont have any problems or conflicts with my E drive being full of stuff that was downloaded and installed when the XP HOME was the OS ?????

Should i create another partition for the fresh install,, or just install onto the whole drive ???

Keith,
Many, many thanks for your prompt attention and fast replies,, and for all your advice,,, very much appreciated,,, thanx....

[Retired Tech]

Is the D drive the HP recovery partition?

If yes, you can format all of C and then install XP Pro to it

The data on E will be OK with that

[rxkevco]

Many thanks Keith,,,
Will do the reformat tomorrow on my day off,,,,,god i love reformatting ! !

[Retired Tech]

Use the default, not quick format option

Hope it goes well

[rxkevco]

Hi Keith,,,
Was hoping to be the bearer of good news since the reformat,, but,,,, This is driving me nuts ! ! !

Completly reformatted the C drive as planned, and all appeared to have gone well.
XP PRO loaded perfectly,, set up my broadband and wireless home hub,,, got my email up and running and started the laborious task of reinstalling all my hardware and software back onto the c drive.

Had an issue with " bt desktop help ", which was causing hangs at shutdown,, so completly removed it from the system as i have never needed it before, and cant see me using it in the future,,,, all was well again,, the system hang dissapeared at shutdown.
Carried on installing software etc,, then noticed that when i press the SHUTDOWN option ( not restart),,, the bloody thing just restarts ! ! !

So,,, when i shutdown, windows says it is " shutting down ", and then for a breif second, the "saving your settings " screen appears,, then the pc just boots back up again to the compaq screen with the bootup options etc,,,
Its caught up in a loop,, i press shutdown,, it restarts,,,,

As if thats bad enough,, i am now back to square one,, part of the original problem seems to have reappeared. ! ???
when the pc is turned on,,, or when it restarts as mentioned above,,,, i am back to staring at the compaq screen for 30 or more seconds,, then black screen for a few secs,, then an option appears,, load windows xp proffessional, or underneath,,load windows xp home ! !
The xp pro option is the default that is highlighted ,, a 30 sec countdown starts,, but pressing enter starts windowws xp pro.

Everything appears to be running as it should,, and a lot faster as well thanks to the reformat,,, but these other problems are doing me in ! ! !

Is there ever going to be a straightforward, hassle free and complete reformat ?????????

Hope you can be of a little more assistance to me,,,, thought i would have had things sorted by doing a fresh intsall,, but ,, no such luck.

[Retired Tech]

Click start, right click my computer, click properties, advanced, settings for start up and recovery

Remove the tick for automatically restart, click apply

See if it shuts off

This isn't the solution, but may show if something during shut down is causing an error which kicks in the restart

[rxkevco]

Yes,,, that seems to have solved the shutdown / restart problem,,although i did get 3 seperate hangs before shutdown !
1/ NET broadcast event
2/ DDE server window
3/ KEM.EXE

After restarting the pc, am back to square one though ? ? ?
Pc gets to the compaq screen, then after 50 seconds the CPU FAN kicks in at a ridiculous speed (noise),, then the " load windows xp pro " black screen appears, press enter, then a blank black screen for 5 seconds, then another blank black screen,, then xp starts loading,, then a few secs later,, the cpu calms down and windows loads quickly and normally. ? ?