[DOTCOMNUMBER7]

Every time I load my laptop up ( Windows XP Home Edition), it comes up with no Atapi Bootable Cd or something similar to that and won't do anything at all. Its just text across the screen.

If I put the System Recovery CD in, it loads as normal with the loading bar across the screen acting normally and completing. System Recovery comes on the screen. The screen then goes blue, I get a big arrow then a little arrow, and then nothing else happens. I'm left with a blue screen and a small arrow and only the laptop's fan making infrequent noises.

Any ideas?

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[DOTCOMNUMBER7]

[DOTCOMNUMBER7]

No offence people. But whenever I post a query, it never gets replied to at all. I know you try your best to get through everyone's inquiries and help everyone but it can be annoying sometimes. Particularly, if its your laptop which can't be fixed!

[makai]

No offence people. But whenever I post a query, it never gets replied to at all. I know you try your best to get through everyone's inquiries and help everyone but it can be annoying sometimes. Particularly, if its your laptop which can't be fixed!

Sorry, but I didn't notice your problem until now. You see, we are probably in a different time zones, and frankly I do work during the day so giving you attention was really the last thing on my mind.

Every time I load my laptop up ( Windows XP Home Edition), it comes up with no Atapi Bootable Cd or something similar to that and won't do anything at all. Its just text across the screen.

It also could be that your explanation of what's going on is unclear. You don't state if you already have XP installed, or if you're trying to do an install.

This

If I put the System Recovery CD in, it loads as normal with the loading bar across the screen acting normally and completing. System Recovery comes on the screen. The screen then goes blue, I get a big arrow then a little arrow, and then nothing else happens. I'm left with a blue screen and a small arrow and only the laptop's fan making infrequent noises.

only confuses the issue.

So if you want to start over again, please tell us in more detail what your problem is. And, try describing it so we can decipher it and maybe you will get a reply on what to do.

makai

[DOTCOMNUMBER7]

I explained it as well I could to be honest. Here goes again.

How the problem started- I loaded up Windows normally. The computer then stopped working, and by that I mean downloads stopped and internet pages stopped loading up. Then a blue screen came up stating a serious system error had occured and a physical system dump was in process.

I decided to try a full system recovery, but as I have already stated: it stops loading at a blue screen with a cursor in the middle of the screen. It does not offer me three different system recovery options.

Ei System 4431
Windows XP Home Edition
Intel Pentium 4

[makai]

Sorry I didn't respond earlier, I thought you gave up.

Also, sorry if I seemed harsh... I really didn't mean it, but there are so many people here asking for help, we have a hard time keeping up sometimes.

So from what you're saying, your computer can boot to windows, but you were having a hard time with internet stuff?

Have you tried running chkdsk /f to see if windows can repair itself. Start/run... type in chkdsk /f

Also, have you tried a system restore? Do this in Safe mode. Start your computer and repeatedly hit the F8 before the window splash screen. Once in safe mode, go to Start/Programs/Accessories/System tools/... and run System restore. Choose a date to restore to, but be warned that sometimes you won't be able to restore to a very old date. Just choose something maybe two weeks ago.

[DOTCOMNUMBER7]

Thanks, and I was asking for a harsh response anyway!

I can't actually get onto anything on my desktop, Windows does not laod up. As soon as I turn my laptop on, I get the message on a black screen: No Atapi Bootable CD. I have tried running System Restore/ Recovery and as I said, it stops loading on a blue screen.

Obviously, it could be a faulty cd, and so I have sent for a new one. But I was wondering if there was anything else causing it, anything else that I could do? Would the Windows XP Boot Disk help?

Pressing F8 does nothing, and neither does ctrl and the arrow delete button being pressed.

[makai]

How old is your laptop? Can you get into bios and check the boot order? I'm not familiar with your laptop, but most laptops don't use the delete key to enter bios... try F1, or F10.

Some machines are also very finiky about getting into safe mode. You might want to repeatedly hit the F8 key "very quickly" while the machine is booting.

[DOTCOMNUMBER7]

Its an EI SYstems 4431 with Intel Pentium 4, 233 mhz, etc. Its about a year old. I have tried tapping F8 at lightning quick speed, with no effect whatsoever. I haven't tried F1 or F10 as of yet.

I'm wondering if amybe the system recovery has ran halfway through and so there is no Windows to boot with. Would this affect upon BIOS and/ or safe mode? And what other solutinos are ther if this is the case?

[makai]

I'm wondering if amybe the system recovery has ran halfway through and so there is no Windows to boot with. Would this affect upon BIOS and/ or safe mode? And what other solutinos are ther if this is the case?

Well, depending on how far the recovery went, I guess it could have done a "partial" installation thereby destroying windows... but I can't say for sure as I've never experienced it. Windows has nothing to do with the bios, so the bios should be intact. The only option if windows is destroyed would be a full reinstallation.

However, I assume you do have data that you need to recover, and there are means you can accomplish this so we won't go there yet unless we determine you have no other options.

Did your laptop come with manufacture's recovery CDs, or a true windows XP cd? Also, does your documentation speak of any hidden recovery partition on the hard drive? IBM, HP and I assume other manufactures use a hidden recovery partition that is capable of recovering a machine to factory specs. Do you think your machine has this partition?

Edited by makai, 12 August 2005 - 10:04 AM.

[DOTCOMNUMBER7]

As far as I know, the manufacturers repair people recovered the laptop to factory specs when I sent it off to them, so I am sure this hidden partition exists. Although, they advised me to run a full recovery and since then I ahve had the before mentioned recovery problems.

How is this hidden partition accessible? I can't get on BIOS.