Monteey Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Greetings Does anyone know how to boot a computer using the XP cd, as at the moment my damn piece of junk keep coming up with some message about one of the drivers required to start XP is corrupted and advising me to use the CD to do the task instead or repair the problem, i can get into the bios of the computer without a problem but actually getting into XP is not happening at this stage. Either that or can i repair the corrupted file before trying to get into XP? Mark Hawks Ex BT Openreach Field Service Now Self employed telecom and data engineer www.mphtelecom.co.uk Also back doing sub contract work in the security industry. Retained firefighter Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Press f8 on start up and choose boot from cd. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drew Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 In the bios, you can usually set the first boot volume to be the CD drive, rather than the hard disk as it probably is set for at the moment. With the XP CD in, you can then boot from the CD. There is a repair option, once the CD has booted, but I have never used it. A google may help with this. Good luck! PS: Just found this: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm Drew Hoggatt Managing Director Paxton Access Ltd Follow this link for important legal information Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whistle Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 I had to do this the other week when i got a virus and had to format my c drive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amateurandy Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Press F8 and try to start in Safe Mode. This may give you some clues to the problem. If you don't know what you're doing, get in someone who does; you risk destroying any data on your PC, assuming you want to keep it of course. If it won't start at all you're realistically looking at a reinstall of Windows. If it's a desktop PC (not laptop) the safest way is to buy a new (larger) hard disk, install it alongside the existing one and do a clean install on the new disk. That way you can then pick up all your old data and you've got a 2nd disk ready for when it happens again! None of this is for the faint-hearted or inexperienced, unless you don't mind losing your data. Final note: if it's a Dell (also some other manufacturers) there's a method for resetting the whole machine to it's "as delivered" state, using a hidden area of the hard disk. If you phone the help line the techies (in Mumbai usually) tell you how to do this as it's very easy. DON'T DO IT unless you're happy to lose ALL your data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 Do you happen to remember the name of the driver? that would help some pros to know your problem (what it is and what caused it) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amateurandy Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 Ok update on progress so farWell managed to get to the repair screen on xp setup without too much problem, only thing is its asking me for the admin password to run the repair program, ive never had an admin password so does anyone know the default one that is entered from the factory? Oh for the information of the experts the corrupted file that it tells me is as follows system32\drivers\ntfs.sys not sure if that means anything to anyone Cheer for any onward help ntfs.sys is related to the NTFS file system, so it's pretty fundamental! There is no default admin password on Windows; it's whatever it was set up with by whoever set it up. What sort of PC/laptop is it and how did you get it? There may actually be no password, have you tried just pressing return or Escape? But, if you get by that do you know what you're planning to do next; you're in a dangerous area! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amateurandy Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 Ok think i may have got through the admin password bit as its giving me the c:/windows prompt, any assistance from here to repair the corrupt file Did you look at the web page referenced by Drew? http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm That looked pretty good advice to me and you've probably chosen the wrong option to get where you are......................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris j Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 Ok think i may have got through the admin password bit as its giving me the c:/windows prompt, any assistance from here to repair the corrupt file If your in the repair console the command I was told to use by Evesham was CHKDSK- /R then enter i had exactly the same message as you (system 32 drivers) a few weeks ago it takes about 40 minutes to complete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amateurandy Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 Given up for tonight, done as instructed in that link but there are files missing so still not making much progressHopefully the experts can shed more light on the problem when they see this This is what that web page said about missing files: If you get files not found during the copying stage, restart the repair install after inspecting the CD for any surface imperfections and if you have multiple CD drives, switch to the other CD drive. If the problem is not resolved, and you have no other option, continue with the install by closing all the files not found message windows until setup finishes. Apply the XP firewall (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=283673), then run Windows update after reaching the desktop and the missing files should be replaced. You should backup ALL data if you haven't done so prior to the repair install before making any other changes to the system. If the system seems unstable, run defrag, reboot a few times and trouble shoot any error messages. If system cannot recover, double check if you have all data you can not replace backed up and then proceed with a Clean install (http://michaelstevenstech/cleanxpinstall.html) Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP Shell michael@michaelstevenstech.com Copyright Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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