Trying to repair XP Home SP2

[samjohnson]

Alright so I followed the instructions from riks guide to repairing XP/2000. And got to the part where it said to hit R for repair. But I don't have a option for that. He said that if it doesn't come up then you can't do it. But what I am wondering is why you can't hit the repair button on the page where it asks you to either hit enter to go into the xp setup or hit R to repair. So why can't I do the second option, repair? Instead of going into the XP setup to repair it. Isn't it the same thing? Now if it doesn't work that way, meaning if that is the way that makes you lose data or something. Then I would like to try and get data off my computer as soon as possible. I was trying to do the BartPE thing but it has to search for "windows instillation" files but it finds none. So I think I can use this program to get into my HD to get files off of it. But it is not able to find the instillation files, does anybody know how I can get it to find them?

 

[raybay]

What brand and model of computer do you have, and what is the source of your Windows install? Most OEM, Recovery, Academic, and Upgrade versions will not perform the fix adequately or at all... Windows 2000 discs nearly always will.
If your data is valuable, hard drives are inexpensive, with several sites today selling 80 GB SATA and PATA drives for under $50... some as low as $41. So I would install to a new drive, then connect to the old drive as a slave or USB drive to drag and drop the data you need... or to use an inexpensive file recovery program. There are a great many under $30 that are effective.

 

[samjohnson]

I have a Dell E310 that crashed the other day and I am not able to get into it. Here is a link I started in regards to that.

https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic94260.html

I figured out that it was the HD by hooking it up to my good computer (the one that is in the drop down of my specs) and figured out that it did the same thing as when hooked into the dell. So one of the guys in my other thread there suggested I do a repair. I actually was just hooking it up the HD to my other computer to see if I could get into the HD that I know worked then be able to access the one that didn't, and be able to get some files off of it. But I couldn't get it to boot into windows. Probably because I don't have any jumpers on my HDs. So if you know how I could do it that would be a great help. Actually you can get a 160gig for $45 or $50. Can't remember exactly how much it is.
Oh actually as you suggested maybe I should get a external HD case and hook it up via usb. And then hopefully I can access some of my data. I don't think that my HD is dead but it has some problems with the software.

 

[samjohnson]

Ok I went and picked up a external case for the HD. But know I am wondering if someone can help with this problem. I can get my computer to recognize the HD but I can't seem to get into the main partition on it. It just freezes stuff up, once I shut it off though everything is fine. So does anybody know how I could access the main partition or can I not do it? Is there a "back door" I could use instead of just going into "my computer"? I think I can't access it because it may be to corrupted but I hope not. SO if anybody has any suggestions on what to try that would be awesome.

 

[kirock]

Did you try Disc Manager? Rclick on M Computer/manage/Disc Management.

 

[raybay]

You will find it just about impossible to figger out what is rong... but you might get lucky with the right software package.
If you are able to see any of the files on the drive as a slave, you have a good chance of saving your data, images, and email addresses... using software designed to rescue such things.
Otherwise, you must ask yourself how well you know and understand windows and hard drives... and how you are going to deal with the 208,000 files that are on there...
Ask yourself how valuable are they, really. If they are truly valuable, spend $300 for a full version of Windows XP Professional, and run it in repair mode to get it patched up.
If that drive is a Maxtor, Quantum, Samsung, Fujitsu, Hitachi, or Western Digital, it has likely gone bad due to a bad bearing, or bad magnetic media peeling up and flaking away, or a shattered drive plate, or a bad shipe on the circuit board at the back of the drive. If it is a Western Digital or Maxtor, you have good odds of recovering soem or all of the data. If it is a Quantum, Hitachi, or Fujitsu, your odds are very poor.
Of course, we don't have a clue as to what is wrong with the drive, and you have told us almost nothing about it... so this is speculation for fun.

 

[samjohnson]

Ya that is true I really didn't tell you much, my bad. Yes I had tried the disc manager and that didn't work either. So after trying to fool with it for a while I gave up and just did a system reformat.
Thanks for the help anyway.