How to repair Windows XP/2000 if you are unable to boot into Windows

augh!

I've been having big problems with my new laptop. I got a new Inspiron 6000 and am running Windows XP Home on it. This weekend, I kept getting blue screens with a STOP 0x00000024 error, which I found out pertains to Ntfs.sys. I tried following the instructions in the first post, but I'm not sure what to do when it asks me which partition I want to install Windows in. As my username suggests, I don't know a lot about computers, so any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also, I was reading some of the replies in this thread where people were talking about adding an external hard drive and using it as a slave or something like that. Could someone explain this to me? Thanks!

Unable to boot to Windows XP Desktop

Here is something I slapped together from my experience as a tech all day, everyday, for too long.

These are suggestions on things you can try if you can't boot to Windows XP desktop.


If you want to backup your files:

Try to backup your data before attempting any kind of repair to your system. Here is a simple and cheap suggestion. Buy an external USB hard drive enclosure, they can be found for around $29. This way, you can temporarily remove your hard drive from your computer, install it in the USB enclosure and connected via USB to any other system and copy over your data. Note if your file system is NTFS, as is the case most of the time with Windows XP and 2000, you won't be able to access the files if you plug it onto a Windows 9x/ME system.

The files you want to backup will likely be within your user(s) profile. After connecting the USB enclosure with your hard drive in it to another system preferably running Windows XP or 2000, it will assign a drive letter for it. You can then access that drive through “My Computer” or Windows Explorer. You might want to scan that drive for viruses before going any further. Once you open your drive, go to “Documents and Settings” folder then find your username folder, it may have your name or be called “Owner” or “User”. If you have more than one user you obviously will have more than one username folder. Don't worry about the following four folders if they appear: All Users, Default User, LocalService and NetworkService. Once in a “username” folder, you probably want to copy the Desktop (may contain only shortcuts but some people save files there), Favorites and My Documents (may be called Username's Documents) folders. Save those onto the hard drive your USB enclosure is connected to. Do this for any other user you may have.

Also if you use Outlook Express for email and want to save your email and address book you can. These are located in hidden folders, to be able to see hidden folders, click on “Tools” in the top menu of Windows Explorer, then click “Folder Options”, click the “View” tab, go down and click to select “Show hidden files and folders” and click “Ok”.

To save your address book, still within the “Local Settings\username folder, go to “Application Data”, then “Microsoft” and then copy the “Address Book” folder.

To save your email, again within the “Local Settings\username folder, go to “Local Settings”, “Application Data”, Identities”, next folder is a big long number like “{0C99E7CD-2119-4A33-8C58-FF498AAA4A0B}”, “Microsoft” and copy the “Outlook Express” folder.


If you get or can get to Windows XP boot menu:

Try selecting “last known good configuration”

Boot to Windows “safe mode” preferably with “network support”, this way most antivirus and antispyware programs will let you download updates and then you can scan your system for viruses, spyware and adware.

In safe mode you can restore your system to an earlier date. Click “Start”, go to “Programs” or “All Programs”, then to “Accessories”, “System Tools” and click on “System Restore”. Pick a earlier date hope it works.

Also in safe mode you can disable many startup applications by clicking on “Start” then “Run” and type “msconfig”, click “Ok”. Click the “Startup” tab, you can uncheck all items for now. Also click on the “Services” tab, then at the bottom, check “Hide all Microsoft Services” and uncheck the rest, click “Ok” then click “Restart” and cross your fingers.

If “Last known good configuration” or “Safe mode” don't work for you, try “Safe mode with command prompt”. Once at the command prompt you can try running system restore from there by typing “cd C:\WINDOWS\system32\Restore” and press “Enter”, then type “rstrui.exe” and press “Enter”. This should start the System Restore interface where can try restoring your system to an earlier date.


If the above is not an option or didn't work for you, you can try some commands from the Recovery Console depending on your problem.

The following has helped me fix some customer's systems with problems like missing files on Windows startup such as missing NTLDR or C:\windows\system32\config\ files.

Boot from the Windows XP CD (see post #2 in this thread if you can't boot from CDROM). Press “R” to select the option that says “To repair a Windows XP installation using recovery console”. It will then ask you which Windows installation you want to log onto and should show one with the number 1 so press “1” then “Enter”. If it asks you for an administrator password and one exists, enter it, otherwise just press “Enter”.

There are a few things we can try here to attempt a repair on your hard drive.

First try running the CHKDSK command. The CHKDSK command checks the specified drive and repairs or recovers the drive if the drive requires it. The command also marks any bad sectors and it recovers readable information.

Type “CHKDSK /P” then press “Enter”. This does an exhaustive check of the drive and corrects any errors.

Also try “CHKDSK /R” them press “Enter”. This option locates bad sectors and recovers readable information and can take a long time to complete.

You can try and see if this fixed your problem by rebooting now, type “Exit” then press enter to reboot.

If your system still won't boot. Boot from the Windows XP CD to the recovery console again as mentioned above and try the following commands.

Type “FIXBOOT” then press “Enter. This command writes a new Windows boot sector code on the system partition.

Also try “FIXMBR” and press “Enter”. This command repairs the MBR of the boot partition.

For more details on the above commands, see http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;314058.

The above may help you if your problem is software related. Don't forget to check for hardware problems as mentioned by Rick in post #1.

Hard drive and RAM problems are fairly common causes for Windows not booting. On several occasions I have seen bad RAM causing Windows to generate misleading error messages like missing files and such.

Also incorrect CPU and RAM clock speed settings in the BIOS can also cause similar problems. Sometimes a dead CMOS battery, a surge or power loss and reset the BIOS to default values which may not have the right settings for you CPU and RAM or boot order.

Power supplies can also fail. And most people would expect them to either work or not, but they can sometimes get damages by a power surge or overheating so this may be something else to check.

A failing video card can is also possible. If your screen is messed us from the very first boot screen, that's a good clue to change the video card. I've also seen corrupt video drivers causing a blank screen when booting to Windows normal mode, in this case you can boot to safe mode and uninstall the driver and let Windows re-install a driver on next boot.

Worst component to fail would be the motherboard in which case you would have to replace it. This is the main component in your system and is the most time consuming to replace as you must re-install Windows XP or at least run a repair as mentioned in post #1.

Hope this helps at least some of you, good luck to all.

hey guys,

I am new to this forum. I have been reading through as much info as I can. I think this is the correct post for me to be in. Anyways...My computer will not boot up, it goes to a screen with options safe mode, last known configuration, and boot windows normally. I have tried all these, this results in it going to the windows xp loading screen but then it doesn't load windows, it goes back to the same screen with the options of safe mode, etc.

I have all my info backed up luckily so I would just like to reformat the hard drive. I try to load the windows xp cd. I go to the setup at the very beginning and change it so it is supposed to boot the cd. I exit and save changes, then it goes to the screen with the options of safe mode, etc. It then repeats the same cycle and goes back to the options of safe mode, etc.

I have a laptop, Toshiba Satellite M55-S135. I am running Windows XP home. Any help would be great. I don't mind if i have to wipe the hard drive as long as everything will load back up okay.

Thanks,
Jim

missing or corrupt \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

hi guys... so ok i have this common problem, missing or corrupt \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM...

so i did pop up the win xp pro cd. and when i got to the screen selection i chose "R" for repair... then it said cannot perform coz hard drive is not detected...
now i'm back to my old problem... i have a 160gb hd wit an asus P5LD2-VM motherboard. when i 1st try and install the xp the HD is nowhere to be detected, i've done everythin i know with my limited knowledge. then my friend told me to format the HD first, which i did, but i could only format 2gigz... and then i cant even install SP2 coz of the limited space... so i went to a professional tech and paid for him to install it... he had only 1 partition with all the 160gz...
afterwards i checked it and asked why is the HD not detected in the bios setup, he said it's normal like that and it's in the system... things run perfect till i got that system32 error...
i would want to reformat or re-install the windows but i'm afraid i'm goin to encounter the same problem again...

could anyone please be kind and cool enough to help me... also posting the dos commands for partition and everything step by step and accurately would be very helpful as i don't know much about computers but i could learn very fast.... thank you very much....


(edit) o yeah before goin to the technician, i tried to piggy back it and put it in the same cable wit the cd-rom as a primary and the rom slave, but it's not very fast. i dunt like that set up... as my motherboard got another ide slot, and i dunt know much about ide slot...

Xp won't boot after installing updates from microsoft

Hi all, my system was running smooth, i did an update from microsoft and now the system on reboot goes into the win xp logo (the progress bar does not even start up) and xp does not load at all - i tried booting up in safe, and this works fine. I have tried reparing the system with the win xp cd, i booted into the cd and it took me as far as to say windows cannot load setup ( or something similar)..short - i cant boot in - i cant repair from cd,, all this from a few stupid updates from microsoft.
Anyone got any ideas?

Thank you, thank you, thank you ...

I was having this very problem and I researched it on the web, but this was the only site that had a response that a non-computer type could understand. The fix worked like a dream. Thank you so very, very much!

Pc so slow after XP home repair

I did a XP home repair as detailed here to try and fix some problems I had with incomplete windows activation code and problems with outlook express and now my pc's so slow. It's slow even from initial boot. Seems like the processor's running at 10% speed. Anyone have any ideas?

Hi

I'm new to this forum and need some major help please. I have this same problem of not being able to boot into windows, so I took the steps to get into the windows setup page with my cd-rom. As soon as I am at this setup page I get a blue warning screen stating PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA and STOP: 0x00000050. It basically stated that there is something wrong and I can go no further. Any idea what's going on?

winxp won't install

sorry if this has been asked already, I didn't want to browse through all 12 pages of this thread

I have the winxp CD, and tried repairing first, but it just stayed with the "checking current configuration" at the bottom forever

so then I went to just install it, and it's staying at the "please wait..." going on 10 minutes now


my computer won't even start up, i get an error about a driver being not_less_than_or_equal

it's not the memory, because it works on my friend's computer so I know that's not it. any ideas?

I had this problem for the past few days and was unable to backup any information due to the frequent restarts that were hardly under my control. I did a "non-destructive" HP System Recovery and recently found out that everything that was in my "My Documents" folder was erased. Everything else remains. Is there any way to retrieve this lost data? I had some very important information on there such as manuscripts (in draft form), organizational planning, term papers, etc. I'm even considering getting a Mac.

Why was it this particular folder that was wiped?

still get stop 0x00000024

I still get the stop error 0x00000024 when trying to do the install!

Same Problem

Im having this exact same problem can someone please help me?

I just installed a new vid card (Radeon 9250) and set that as primary display adapter in Display properties instead of my onboard video card. My question is if my new Card fails(which is a PCI) or I remove the PCI vid card, will windows automatically detect that there is no PCI card and will switch back to my onboard as primary display adapter? Or am I royally screwed?

0x00000024

I get the stop error message 0x00000024 etc when trying to boot up windows. i cant run in safe mode or previous good configuration. cant loada windows at all.. ahhh.. i want to try to fix problem without losing all my data. if anyone knows how please help

I tried to boot from CD. It asked me wether to repair existing installation or new installation. No matter what option i choose the screen seems to hang. it doesnt come up with the screen asking to press f8 to continue. Im running windows xp home edition and when i try to boot up windows i get the stop error message and i cant even run in safe mode. need help badly!! thanks

Computer Came With Restore Disk Rather Than The Original Xp2000

How Do I Boot My System With The 6 Floopy Disk Xp Boot Disk Didn't Work. System Crashed And Is In The Loop..

Hey, im not sure if this has been posted, sorry if it has:

I have a problem of XP Pro not booting past the splash screen, it gets up to it, where i have to choose safe mode or whatever, but then just restarts.

I read in this topic earlier about booting up from the CD and choosing repair, but when i set my CD to my first boot device, it says booting from CD, then nothing else and tries to boot up windows again.

Also i tried using F11 and selecting CD ROM, but then it just did the same thing.

Im not sure how i am supposed to repair or anything if i cant properly boot from the CD..

I am having trouble booting into WinXP. It loads up and recognizes my HDD. but, whenever it should be loading windows it just has a black screen for a few mins. and then says that Windows could not load because the file C:\Windows\system32\config\system is either missing or corrupt. and it says to use the cd to repair it. I tried booting from cd but when i go to the install screen, it shows that what's on my HDD is unknown. is there anyway that i can get windows back up without completely reinstalling? because i don't want to lose my data. would it be possible to just copy the files over for the system directory? i can get into the actual repair console. please help.

nevermind. it just worked all of a sudden after like the 10th try. it recognized my windows in the installation menu.