[sunshinejessica]

I would appreciate any help you can give me because I am at my wit's end.

I am using my brother's HP desktop while he is in Iraq. It has Windows XP Media Center Edition installed on it. My family visited this weekend and I allowed my other, younger teenage brother to use the computer. Somehow he contracted a virus or something because it won't load now. It was still working fine until I restarted after installing Spybot S&D because I suspected there might be malware after he used it. Then it just keeps cycling the loading Windows screen over and over and the desktop/Windows never loads. It just keeps restarting and restarting over and over again. I have tried Safe Mode, Last Known Config, etc. and nothing will work, it just keeps restarting. I have a lot of valuable data on there that I was in the middle of backing up but did not finish, so I don't want to do a complete recovery. I want to do the Repair option, but since my brother is in Iraq and I only hear from him once every couple weeks. I just talked to him Friday, so I won't talk to him again for awhile now and won't be able to ask him where the CD is. Is there any way to do the Repair option without a CD? Or can I order a replacement CD without it being too expensive?

I have my own System Recovery disks, but they aren't for this computer and won't work. My husband may have his Windows XP CD that came with his laptop, but it is a Compaq and a different version since this one is the Media Center Edition.

Please help! I am so upset, I don't want to tell my brother that his computer got ruined while he is over there risking his life.

Thank you,
Jessica

[Neil Jones]

You'll need a Media Center CD. A local computer shop might be the best way here as they will have the CDs required to repair the system depending on what your brother's done to it. Your serving brother need never know, he'll have more important things on his mind than a Windows CD which he probably never had with the system anyway. Most branded computers don't provide proper XP CDs now, they just provide solutions to wipe the machine.

[sunshinejessica]

Thanks for the input. I'll try to get a hold of a Media Center CD from somewhere. I was hoping not to have to do that since it will take so long. I thought I remembered doing a repair or recovery on my other desktop before without losing data, but I must be mistaken.