[confuseduser100]

Hi

My laptop has died, Ive put in the recovery disk and that isnt working it says either HDD not specified or the above code x:\i386\system32> and i dont know what to type next ?? Im not very computer literate, I dont have windows disk ..any help appreciated

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Welcome to Geeks To Go!

The Recovery disc will only work if you boot the computer from it, instead of booting from the hard disk.
Your PC may not be set up to boot from a CD/DVD drive. To set that up you have to go into the BIOS settings.

This is done by starting up the PC and pressing a specific key (sometimes two keys together)as soon as the PC maker's splash-screen appears. The BIOS settings screen should then appear. In there, you need to look for "Boot Options" or "Boot Priority" and change that setting so that "CD-ROM" is the first boot device -- then 'save and exit'. The PC will now always look to the CD-ROM drive first for a bootable disc.

The actual key (or keys) you need to press to access the BIOS varies according to the make and model of the PC. If you post those details we can help you further. Or you can look at the bottom of the screen as soon as you turn on the PC and you should see some text like "Press XX to enter setup", where XX is the actual key or keys you need to press at that exact moment.

Edited by phillipcorcoran, 10 February 2010 - 02:45 PM.

[phillipcorcoran]

Welcome to Geeks To Go!

The Recovery disc will only work if you boot the computer from it, instead of booting from the hard disk.
Your PC may not be set up to boot from a CD/DVD drive. To set that up you have to go into the BIOS settings.

This is done by starting up the PC and pressing a specific key (sometimes two keys together)as soon as the PC maker's splash-screen appears. The BIOS settings screen should then appear. In there, you need to look for "Boot Options" or "Boot Priority" and change that setting so that "CD-ROM" is the first boot device -- then 'save and exit'. The PC will now always look to the CD-ROM drive first for a bootable disc.

The actual key (or keys) you need to press to access the BIOS varies according to the make and model of the PC. If you post those details we can help you further. Or you can look at the bottom of the screen as soon as you turn on the PC and you should see some text like "Press XX to enter setup", where XX is the actual key or keys you need to press at that exact moment.

Edited by phillipcorcoran, 10 February 2010 - 02:45 PM.

[confuseduser100]

Hi ive tried changing the Bios to boot from the cd, the computer is a toshiba satellite pro a200 psae4e, pressing F12 and bringing up the boot menu the cd/dvd drive says TSSTcorpCD/DVDDW TS-L632D-(PM) or the built in drive HDD1 Toshiba MK8037GSX (s1)

It then says loading ramsdisk image......then it brings up half a screen x:\i386\system32\cmd.exe-startnet.cmd where the cursor just flashes and wont except any characters at all...I can acess the c: on the screen but nothing in there that affects how it runs

Dont remember how I did it but i did manage to get another screen up that just stayed on x:\i386\system32 and it did allow me to type in a command but nothing I tried worked

Can anyone work miracles lol....thanks guys

[rshaffer61]

Your bios may be different but see if these steps will help.

To change Boot Sequence in your BIOS
Reboot the system and at the first post screen (where it is counting up memory) start tapping the DEL button
This will enter you into the Bios\Cmos area.
Find the Advanced area and click Enter
Look for Boot Sequence or Boot Options and highlight that click Enter
Now highlight the first drive and follow the directions on the bottom of the screen on how to modify it and change it to CDrom.
Change the second drive to the C or Main Drive
Once that is done then click F10 to Save and Exit
You will prompted to enter Y to verify Save and Exit. Click Y and the system will now reboot with the new settings.

[confuseduser100]

the del button doesnt do anything, the computer starts brings up the options to start in safe mode etc or start windows normally, doesnt matter which one i choose it comes up with windows XP and then goes back round in a circle, it never gets further than the windows xp screen ..I can F2 and its the pheonix trustedcore setup utility but nothing in that screen helps either........thanks

[confuseduser100]

ive got a new screen up after 2 days lol, this one asks what type of computer type I can as it cant determine which..im not sure myself acpi multiprocessor pc, acpi uniprocessor pc, advanced config & power interface pc, mps uniprocessor pc, mps multiprocessor pc, standard pc and other...tried otjher but said cant find a floppy disk,,,any ideas

[confuseduser100]

^{can anyone help with this please, read postings, thanks guys}