[Rikterscale]

Hey there. Can I use an XP Pro disc to repair my fathers unbootable XP Home computer?

I'm currently an IT student and finding this forum was an incredible thing for me. You guys rock!

Thanks

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Hi Rikterscale, and welcome.

No you cannot do this, the disc must be the same to run a repair install.

Cheers

Troy

[Troy]

Hi Rikterscale, and welcome.

No you cannot do this, the disc must be the same to run a repair install.

Cheers

Troy

[Rikterscale]

OK, thank you buddy.

Richard

[hfcg]

Hello,
Can you give us some info on the issue that you are trying to fix?
If you just need the recovery console we can help with that.
Can the machine boot in to safe mode?
Do you get any error messeges?

[Rikterscale]

No, cant boot into safe mode, last known good or anything like that. Once i hit last known good, it looks like its going to boot, then freezes on the blue windows screen before the login screen.

I'm in school for IT and my instructor informed me to do a repair just like the one described in the first pinned thread on this forum. He has XP home. Problem is I dont have an XP home disc, I just have the Pro.

Richard

[jt1990]

In addition to that - If the computer is branded (specifically Dell branded) you will need a Dell XP Home CD to run the install. Otherwise the product key won't work right.

[hfcg]

Use the recovery console to fix the master boot record.
When you are given the message press any key to boot from cd..., press a key and Windows Setup will start. At the first screen where you have to enter input, hit R to enter the Recovery Console. Then you will have to hit 1 to log into your windows installation and then just hit Enter for the Administrator password because it is normally blank unless you changed it. Once you are at the command prompt C:\WINDOWS I want you to type each of the following, hitting enter after each line:

• attrib -s -h -r c:\boot.ini
• del c:\boot.ini
• bootcfg /rebuild
• fixboot

Now type Exit and take your XP CD out. Your computer will reboot itself. Post back how things are going.
You can use an XP pro disc to run the recovery console. (But not a recovery disc)

[Rikterscale]

I will try that as soon as I get out of class and get over there. I will also post back the results.

Thank you very much!

Richard

[Rikterscale]

I found this disc that my dad said came with his computer. It says Reinstallation CD Microsoft Windows XP Home Editiom. Is this the CD I need to do the repair install on his PC?

Thanks

Richard

[jt1990]

Yes, that should do it.

[Rikterscale]

OK I did it. I did the repair reinstall. Once it went through its routine and got back to the login screen, something was/is wrong. The display is horribly distorted. I also went to the control panel to turn on windows firewall. When I click to open the firewall a window came open that said due to some problem it couldnt display the firewall settings or properties.

I thought when you do a repair reinstall, it keeps your data?

When I boot into safe mode, everything looks ok, no distortion.

But normal boot, everything is screwed up looking. All graphics look horrible, if you can even tell what it is in the first place.

Does a video driver or something like that have to be installed? If so, that brings me back to my question - I thought all your data was supposed to remain safe.

How can I go and get the updates and/or patches I need if I cant even turn the firewall on?

Also, when I go to display properties to try and fix the graphic problem, I cant move the slider for the screen resolution pixels and the color bit box on the right that usually says 32 bit, only says 4 and thats as high as i can set it.

Big problems over here.

Richard

Edited by Rikterscale, 31 October 2008 - 07:15 PM.

[Troy]

What's the make and model of your computer?

A "repair" install (as in the walkthrough) won't touch your personal data at all. But that is using an official Windows disc. I am not sure about other discs, such as the "Reinstallation" CD you have used.

Have you lost any personal data (such as pictures, documents, movies)?

When running a repair install, however, you will lose any updates and service packs (and sometimes drivers) because it is replacing everything currently on there with the original file from the disc.

Post the make and model of your computer here and I'll try and find the video driver for you.

Just as a side note, why was the computer unbootable? You have not mentioned what happened. If the firewall service is off and cannot be configured, this is a possible result from the computer being infected with malware... In which case you would be wise to head over to the malware forum.

Troy

[Rikterscale]

I dont know why the computer became unbootable.

My Dad put in a new secondary hard drive and everything was fine for a while. Then one day he decided to restart his computer. From then on it went south. It would boot, kind of. The black windows screen with the status bar at the bottom would come up and then go to a blue windows screen (not the blue screen of death) where the windows XP logo was featured. And there it would freeze.

At first I couldnt get it to boot into last known good, or to choose any options at all for that matter by choosing F8 in the startup.Then after a few tries, we got the up and down arrows to work and was able to select last known good. Same thing though, it would freeze when it would come to that same screen.

After the repair install with the installation disc occured, we got it to boot. But like I said, the graphics were horribly distorted. Couldnt change pixels or color bit in the display properties box. When we booted into safemode, everything looked fine.

As of right now, my father has said hes getting everything back. But im still confused as to what happened. When the firewall error came up, I've never seen anything like it. It didnt give an error code or anything. It just said due to some error that the firewall properties cant be displayed. They can now though.

So when this happened, should I have gone to safe mode and tried to install drivers or something like that. I believe its a Dell dimension 4500.

It seems like we got most of it back now though. I keep thinking maybe I should of tried to repair the MBR first as stated in an earlier post. And for a Dell, dont you have to use the reinstallation disc that came with the computer to do a repair install and not a normal windows disc?

I appreciate everyones help!

Richard

[Troy]

Either disc should do the trick.

The Windows disc would repair it to "Windows" standard (i.e. operating system only).

The Dell disc would repair it to "Dell" standard (i.e. OS, drivers, possibly other programs etc).

Troy

[jt1990]

Either disc should do the trick.

The Windows disc would repair it to "Windows" standard (i.e. operating system only).

The Dell disc would repair it to "Dell" standard (i.e. OS, drivers, possibly other programs etc).

Troy

No, not in my experience. You need a Dell branded Windows CD in order to successfully install Windows with a Dell Product Key Code - otherwise you run into issues when you enter the product key.