Computer won't boot up -help please

codheadling · 15 April 2011 at 9:08PM

just to be sure,do you have a windows xp disk in the cd/dvd drive when you try to boot from cd, or some other type of boot cd?

baywood_2 · 15 April 2011 at 9:16PM

says on disc evesham tech ltd xp service pack 1 inc consumer range drivers and says at side the software included on this recovery cd rom was pre installed etc etc is that the right one or could it be i need something else and if so is it downloadable?

codheadling · 15 April 2011 at 9:25PM

download xp recovery console from here http://forums.pcpitstop.com/index.php?/topic/150212-boot-to-recovery-console-wo-xp-cd/
and burn it to a blank cd if you can,(it is only a small download about 6 mb,and it is already converted to iso so is bootable as soon as it is put on a cd)

baywood_2 · 15 April 2011 at 9:33PM

ok thank you i will do that and get the person who has been helping us to try it tomorrow, i have been looking at hard drive enclosures on ebay, do you think that would work?

codheadling · 15 April 2011 at 9:48PM

yes that would work,but as i said earlier once you get the machine to boot to the recovery console it really is a very easy fix,post on here how you get on with it tomorrow and you will get plenty of help if you need it.

baywood_2 · 15 April 2011 at 9:56PM

Thank you very much it is much appreciated

SoftwareDiscountCodes · 16 April 2011 at 11:38AM

Not sure if this will help you but I had a similar issue on my laptop a while ago. Just could not get it to boot up.
Someone I knew took the hard drive out, put it in an external case and ran a defrag from his computer. Worked like a charm. I still have an issue every now and then but I just run a full defrag using Diskeeper or one of the other programs and keeps it running fine. Not sure why it is fragmenting so much but at least I have a solution for now

baywood_2 · 17 April 2011 at 2:16PM

Update is that i have downloaded the recovery disc but when you try to get it to boot from disc it says Boot failure reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device. Boot form disc is def selected in bios so think it is definately going out the window, i will try to get an enclosure for the hard drive to see if i can get the data off that way.

GunJack · 17 April 2011 at 2:20PM

did you make sure to burn it as an .ISO (or image) file ?? not all burning progs can do this, and it needs to be a .ISO to be bootable.....when you download it, make sure you download the .ISO

baywood_2 · 17 April 2011 at 2:24PM

i just burnt to my sons lap top from the link in the above post then burnt to a disc, did i do it wrong and if so how do i do it differently? sorry but i am pretty useless at this.