Windows crashed - help!

bambam69

Hi everyone

Hope someone can help, I few days ago my computer crashed whilst using the internet, and after turning it off and on again windows doesn't start up properly. It gets to the bit where it says windows witha moving bar at the bottom but thats it, the bar scrolls sketchy stopping every few secs and it just stays that way. I've tried opening in safe mode and going back to the last know good point but nothing works (opening in safe mode results in a load of computerspeak crolling down the screen and then it freezes).

Tried booting from the windows disk but it says I need a system recovery floppy? Where do I get one of these?

Its windows XP.

Any help hugely appreciated

B

crox

You could try running defrag in safe mode, failing that try reinstalling sp2 if you have it to hand. sometimes crashes corruot system files and sometimes you get away with it.

imho

Have you not got the option to do a "windows repair" you have to go into the bios and change the way the computer boots up,so it boots up to your disc drive with the Windows disc in it.
But first you need to print out how to do the repair.

http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic8356.html

bambam69

Thanks, I already got it to boot from the win cd but was choosing the wrong options (I thought install win xp would start a new install and wipe my harddrive!)

Should be okay from here with any luck.

BillScarab

Funnily enough my cousins PC had a similar problem at the weekend. I fixed it by running chkdisk.

Boot it form the Windows CD, when you see

To repair a Windows XP installation using recovery console, press R

Press R

That should bring up a DOS type screen, black with a flashing cursor

type chkdsk /r and hit return

that will search your hard disk for errors and fix them. It will take a while to run, once it's finished reboot and see if it works.

You may need to change your BIOS to boot from CD, if you don't know how to do it let us know and someone will explain.

imho

bambam69/Good luck,
Its simple to do as long as you print out the instructions ,and follow them.
If i was you i would buy a external hard drive or internal and back up your system to that.They are only about £70 and Acronis 7 is still free.

BillScarab

bambam69 wrote:

Thanks, I already got it to boot from the win cd but was choosing the wrong options (I thought install win xp would start a new install and wipe my harddrive!)

Should be okay from here with any luck.

Install win xp will start a new install and wipe your hard drive! Don't do it, run a chkdsk first. If that doesn't work it is possible to try upgrading you existing installation and keep your files.

EDIT: sorry, just read the link. If you do what it says in that techspot link it should preserve all your files. I'd still try chkdsk first though as it will also give you a clue as to whether your hard disk is on the way out.

bambam69

Okay, got home and tried all that but to no avail, when I go into the 'Enter windows xp install' screen it just says "examining 39206MB disk 0 at ID 0 on bus 0 on atapi..." and does nothing else.

This is the same thing it says when I enter recovery console, anyone got any ideas?

Don't know if this is related but not long before I installed a new dvd recorder drive. This seemed to be working fine and still is as windows is loading from it.

cmc_entertainment

try swapping for now - or search for firmware upgrades for your dvd-rw

bambam69

Swapping what? And windows won't install so searching for upgrades is a little pointless at the mo!

theboylard

Could be the Master Boot Record (mbr) has become corrupted, quite a common problem.
Do as the others have suggested in getting to the windows repair option and selecting your windows installation, but you'll then need to deviate a little and firstly I would suggest you type help at the prompt - this will then list all the commands available to you (chkdisk, fdisk etc.).[1]

As they all wizz past and you lose the first 4 or five at the beginning, if you type "help /p" (omit the quotes, space between help and slash) it will list enough to fill the page, then wait for you to either spacebar or enter.

Just type Fixmbr, hit enter and should be good to go.
**WARNING** If you have a dual boot system, do NOT follow this suggestion - do some research first.

If you are not sure what I mean by dual-boot, then I think you'll be fine.

As with all things - if all else fails, read the instructions.

[1] http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654
scroll halfway down to Command actions.

hapless