[free32]

i get "error starting operating system" when i start the thing. it will not aloow safe boot (f8). im on a different compute at another place, i have a 250 gb portable drive to download anything that may help.

any suggestions on what to do?

thanks

Ps maybe due to sata hard drive? now disconected but still get error

Edited by free32, 18 June 2009 - 12:49 PM.

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Full error message may help.

[Broni]

Full error message may help.

[free32]

that was the full mesage

[Broni]

If you have Windows CD...(if you don't have Windows CD, scroll down)

1. Insert your Windows XP CD into your CD and assure that your CD-ROM drive is capable of booting the CD.
2. Once you have booted from CD, do NOT select the option that states: Press F2 to initiate the Automated System Recovery (ASR) tool.
You’re going to proceed until you see the following screen, at which point you will press the “R” key to enter the recovery console:



3. After you have selected the appropriate option from step two, you will be prompted to select a valid Windows installation (typically number “1″).
Select the installation number, and hit Enter.
If there is an administrator password for the administrator account, enter it and hit Enter (if asked for the password, and you don't know it, you're out of luck).
You will be greeted with this screen, which indicates a recovery console at the ready:



4. There are eight commands you must enter in sequence to repair your problem..
I will introduce them here, and then show the results graphically in the next six steps.
NOTE. Make sure, you press Enter after each command. Make sure, all commands are exact, including "spaces".
These commands are as follows:

CD..
ATTRIB -H C:\\boot.ini
ATTRIB -S C:\\boot.ini
ATRIB -R C:\\boot.ini
del boot.ini
BOOTCFG /Rebuild

Note about the above command.
BOOTCFG /REBUILD command which searches for pre-existing installations of Windows XP and rebuilds sundry essential components of the Windows operating system, recompiles the BOOT.INI file and corrects a litany of common Windows errors.
It is very important that you do one or both of the following two things:
A.) Every Windows XP owner must use /FASTDETECT as OS Load Option when the rebuild process is finalizing.
B.) If you are the owner of a CPU featuring Intel’s XD or AMD’s NX buffer overflow protection, you must also use /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN as an OS Load Option.
For the Enter Load Identifier portion of this command, you should enter the name of the operating system you have installed.
If, for example, you are using Windows XP Home, you could type Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition for the identifier (it's not crucial, however what the name is, as long, as it's meaningful).
Here is your computer screen:



5. Following command verifies the integrity of the hard drive containing the Windows XP installation. While this step is not an essential function in our process, it’s still good to be sure that the drive is physically capable of running windows, in that it contains no bad sectors or other corruptions that might be the culprit:

CHKDSK /R

6. This last command writes a new boot sector to the hard drive and cleans up all the loose ends we created by rebuilding the BOOT.INI file and the system files. When the Windows Recovery Console asks you if you are Sure you want to write a new bootsector to the partition C: ? just hit “Y”, then Enter to confirm your decision:

FIXBOOT

7. It’s time to reboot your PC by typing
EXIT
and pressing Enter.

With any luck, your PC will boot successfully into Windows XP as if your various DLL, Hive, EXE and NTLDR errors never existed.



If you don't have Windows CD...
Download Windows Recovery Console: http://www.thecomput...om/files/rc.iso
Download, and install free Imgburn: http://www.imgburn.c...hp?act=download
Using Imgburn, burn rc.iso to a CD.
Boot to the CD...let it finish loading.
When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.
Then, follow instructions from Step #3 above.

[free32]

thanks -- by the way can i burn rc.iso to a portable flash drive? and boot from that drive? dont have a bank cd on me, have the sata drive

[Broni]

Using USB stick is little bit more complicated: http://blog.emptycrate.com/node/386
I've never tried it, though.

[free32]

Hi Broni

Thanks so much for the detailed info you have provided. I followed the steps, and was able to boot. However, for some reason I cannot boot up any browser, except firefox combined with a proxy. also, i CAN get net access when I log in safe mode as admin. There are no NO names listed at all im my user name file --- its as if there is no authorization to go onlihne,but there are no user names in the file to match against. no is there any option of chosing a user typr or password for that user. very bizarre. is my computer toast or do you have any ideas?

THANKS

ps i just hit enter when windows asked my for password as you deatiled above, and i dont think i ever created password. it went to the next step

Edited by free32, 21 June 2009 - 08:42 PM.

[Broni]

I followed the steps, and was able to boot.

Do you mean, you followed all steps from my reply #4, and you're able to boot to Windows?

[free32]

Yes was able to boot windows and get desk top. Start button went away. get it back. i can now get online, but many programs wont boot like nero. foxfire boots. microsft wont boot, and wont install. cant drag/copy files from disk to hard drive, or from hard drive to portable drive as i used to.

[Broni]

Tell me more about how all this situation started. Did it just happen? One morning, you simply couldn't boot anymore, or...?

[free32]

yeah it just started not long after i added a sata external 350 gb hard drive. i did not set up any partitions. dont know if that matters.

my computer is older. also could be a hard disk failure im thinking. seems to be little consistancy with what works and does not. it even said my recycle binwas corrupted. then it did not say that anymore. how coukld a recyle bin be corrupted for the love of gates?

[diabillic]

It seems you may be better off doing a full reinstall of Windows.

[Broni]

I agree. Now, you can at least boot to Windows, so you can easily back up your data.
Before reinstalling Windows, I'd...

Run hard drive diagnostics: http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287
Make sure, you select tool, which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create bootable floppy, or bootable CD.
If downloaded file is of .iso type, use ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ to burn .iso file to a CD, and make the CD bootable.

NOTE. If your hard drive is made by Toshiba, unfortunately, you're out of luck, because Toshiba doesn't provide any diagnostic tool.

Edited by Broni, 22 June 2009 - 04:13 PM.

[free32]

before i do - how can i best back up my date on to my portabale hard drive?

[Broni]

Simply copy, and paste.