[Flowers]

Okay, so I've been working on my computer since yesterday morning, and actually ended up fixing a problem. However, this is the new problem I'm facing.

I turn on my computer. Nothing loads except the wallpaper (no taskbar, start menu, etc.) The error message comes up "The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0150002)", in reference to explorer.exe.

I click ok and cannot do anything. If I press ctrl + alt + delete the windows security pops up and I can click task manager, but nothing happenes. I've tried running in safe mode and I get pretty much the same thing. I've run in safe mode with command prompt and tried following advice from previous posts all throughout google, but nothing will come up.

I've also tried messing around in the Recovery Console, but everything I try doesn't seem to work. Based on Google results it seems a lot of people have had a similar problem to mine, but mine seems to be different in the fact that I cannot do anything.

Normally I would of just given up and reformatted my computer, but there are important things I'd like to get at on the computer that I don't want to lose.

It's a vaio laptop, fyi. Windows XP.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Advertisements]

You can do a repair/install of your windows


1- Boot the computer using the XP CD. You may need to change the boot order in the system BIOS so the CD boots before the hard drive. Check your system documentation for steps to access the BIOS and change the boot order.

2- When you see the "Welcome To Setup" screen, you will see the options below
This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft
Windows XP to run on your computer:

To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.

To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

3- Press Enter to start the Windows Setup. Do Not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R", (you Do Not want to load Recovery Console). I repeat, Do Not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R".

4-Accept the License Agreement and Windows will search for existing Windows installations.

5-Select the XP installation you want to repair from the list and press R to start the repair. If Repair is not one of the options, END setup.

6-Setup will copy the necessary files to the hard drive and reboot. Do not press any key to boot from CD when the message appears. Setup will continue as if it were doing a clean install, but your applications and settings will remain intact.


For more details look at this link
http://michaelsteven...pairinstall.htm

[Alzeimer]

You can do a repair/install of your windows


1- Boot the computer using the XP CD. You may need to change the boot order in the system BIOS so the CD boots before the hard drive. Check your system documentation for steps to access the BIOS and change the boot order.

2- When you see the "Welcome To Setup" screen, you will see the options below
This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft
Windows XP to run on your computer:

To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.

To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

3- Press Enter to start the Windows Setup. Do Not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R", (you Do Not want to load Recovery Console). I repeat, Do Not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R".

4-Accept the License Agreement and Windows will search for existing Windows installations.

5-Select the XP installation you want to repair from the list and press R to start the repair. If Repair is not one of the options, END setup.

6-Setup will copy the necessary files to the hard drive and reboot. Do not press any key to boot from CD when the message appears. Setup will continue as if it were doing a clean install, but your applications and settings will remain intact.


For more details look at this link
http://michaelsteven...pairinstall.htm

[Flowers]

Thanks so much for your response, Alzeimer.

Unfortunately, I've tried this solution. I put the XP Boot cd in, load from disc, etc... The small blue screen appears, "Windows Setup", and begins to load everything. However, when it has finished, instead of seeing the "Welcome to setup" screen that contains the three options I see...

"Windows Xp Professional Setup"
"The following list shows the existing partitions and unpartitioned space on this computer."
I now have three options: "To set up Windows XP on the selected item, press ENTER", "To create a partition in the unpartioned space, press C", "To delete the selected partition, press D". I have two partitions to select from, one of which is my "C:" thing. Now, I've tried installing/repairing Windows XP on that parition, but it doesn't seem to give the option to repair. When I selected the "C:" partition I get three options: "Format the partition using the NTFS file system (Quick)", "Format the partition using the NTFS file system", "Leave the current file system intact (no changes)". Now I have no tried the first two for fear that it will destroy data on my hard drive, but I have tried the third. The third does not seem to repair anything and seems to just install another clean copy of Windows XP on my computer, leaving my with two operating systems, one which still gives me the explorer.exe error, and has all of my data...

[Alzeimer]

Your boot.ini is damage so your xp cd does not see any xp installation and treats it as a blank disk.

If you do a clean install it would solve your problem but you would also lose all your data.

If you look at the web link i gave, in WARNING 2 it explains how to rebuild your boot.ini.

-----------------------------------

Possible Fix by reconfiguring boot.ini using Recovery Console.

1.Boot with XP CD or 6 floppy boot disk set.

2. Press R to load the Recovery Console.

3. Type bootcfg.

4. This should fix any boot.ini errors causing setup not to see the XP OS
install.

5. Try the repair install.

------------------------------------

[Flowers]

I went into Recovery Console and typed Bootcfg, but I still don't think it sees the Windows XP install, because when I put in my XP Boot cd it still skips right to the "Windows XP Professional setup", showing my partitions etc.

Right now I'm trying the third option again "in tact", but I think it will just install yet another Windows XP operating system.

[Alzeimer]

Is your XP cd an oem cd (only for SONY labtop) or is it a retail version made for any computer.



"Reboot, this time taking the immediate R option and if the CD letter is say K: give these commands

copy K:\i386\ntldr C:\
copy K:\i386\ntdetect.com C:\


(two other files needed - just in case)

1. Type: attrib -h -r -s C:\boot.ini del C:\boot.ini

2. Type: BootCfg /Rebuild

which will get rid of any damaged boot.ini, search the disk for systems and make a new one. This might even result in a damaged windows reappearing; but gives another chance of getting at the repair"

[Flowers]

My Xp Cd is just a cd rom with windows XP on it. It does not give me a chance to get into the Recovery Console, it just takes me to the Windows Professional Setup thing. I have another CD that has an iso of Recovery Console burned onto it. Unfortunately, because the first cd does not give me the option to get into Recovery Console, I can't copy the system files from the cd onto my hard drive. On top of that, the second CD (with just the Recovery Console), does not contain the system files to be copied onto my hard drive...

[Alzeimer]

Verify if your HD is not damage and still in working order by downloadind the boot cd program utilty from your HD manufacturer and test your hard drive.

If your hard drive passes the tests

Take your HD and put it as a slave hard drive and connect it to another computer and try to save your data.

If you were able to save your data then after everything is saved use a program like DBAN Darik's Boot and Nuke (download the iso file dban-beta.2006042900_i386 and burn it to a cd) boot from the cd and use autonuke (if only 1 hd) to erase and wipe everything on it (including boot.ini) if you just use the xp formating it might not erase all your boot sector that was damage.

Once it as been wiped clean boot from your XP cd and do a fresh install (you can use quick format) and reinstall XP on your hd.

If you were not able to save your data maybe somebody else here can advise you of another way of saving your data.
If your drive did not pass the manufacturer tests you may still be able to save your data or most it by connecting your hd as a slave hd.

Please note that the autonuke of DBAN might take a long time to complete depending of the sze of your HD, so be patient.

[Flowers]

" Verify if your HD is not damage and still in working order by downloadind the boot cd program utilty from your HD manufacturer and test your hard drive. "

How do I find out who the manufacturer of my HD is?

Also, I'm able to run my computer with Puppy Linux and see my files etc., is there anyways I can use that?

[Alzeimer]

" Verify if your HD is not damage and still in working order by downloadind the boot cd program utilty from your HD manufacturer and test your hard drive. "

How do I find out who the manufacturer of my HD is?

Open your labtop and look at it or with your Puppy Linux you are probably able to see the Brand and Model (Maxtor, Seagate, Western Digital ect) in its version of device manager or something else.

Also, I'm able to run my computer with Puppy Linux and see my files etc., is there anyways I can use that?

I am sure you could copy and save your files using your Puppy Linux cd but I am not an expert of Linux so I cannot help you on how.

[Flowers]

I was able to run the Windows Boot Disc repair, but now I have another problem... When I turn on my computer I get...

We apologize for the inconvenience, but windows did not start successfully. A recent hardware or software change might have caused this... Etc.

I have the options for safemode, starting windows normally, last good config etc., but none of the options work, they just bring me back to the same screen.

I tried doing
copy K:\i386\ntldr C:\
copy K:\i386\ntdetect.com C:\
but it said "Access is denied."

[Alzeimer]

In recovery comsole do a checdisk/r

Why kind of Repair did you do the recovery repair or the install repair

[Flowers]

Install repair, I believe, and I tried that but it didn't change anything..

[Alzeimer]

When you get to that screen do you see the same as this one





If you do choose the line saying Disable Automatic Restart on System Failure this will enable to see if your get a BSOD when you try any other mode (safe mode, normal mode ect)

[Flowers]

I have a similiar screen but I don't have the advanced options and I don't have the option to disable automatic restart.