WinXP not booting

Status
Not open for further replies.
To put it simply, WinXP Pro won't boot up. What happens is as follows: computer turns on, goes through the basic checks and starts the boot agent. As soon as the agent checks for any floppies or cds, it (i'm assuming it does, at least) attempts to start XP. At which point it outputs something like this:

L 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 ...(with 40's continually being output)

I have installed Debian, which works fine, and the last (big) thing I did before the problem came along was to delete my former linux swap partition and a larger (linux) partition using the XP Pro administration tools and turn them into one FAT32 logical drive, which I then moved a few things onto. It was all fine until I rebooted. I have one hard drive, so both of the (former) linux partitions were on the same drive that XP is on.

Tell me if you need more info and thanks for any help that I get.
 
L 40 40 is an error with your LILO boot loader, which makes sense since you deleted your Debian partition.

What you need to do is repair your XP boot sector (or replace it with a boot loader of your choice). For windows XP, boot from the XP CD and begin the preinstallation. After a couple of minutes, it will give you the option of Continuing or using the Recovery console.. Choose Recovery Console.

Type in FIXBOOT to repair your boot sector.

If, for some reason, your boot files are damaged or missing, you may also replace those with fresh copies by typing in: COPY CDROM:\i386\NTLDR C: and COPY CDROM:\i386\NTDETECT.COM C:

Lastly, if it still does not boot, you can attempt to repair your XP setup. Go through the preinstallation again, only this time do NOT choose recovery console. As you continue, it will appear that you about to install XP - But don't worry - You won't be... not really. :)

You will be given the option to "Install Windows XP" or "Repair a Windows XP installation" directly after a screen that says, "Searching for previous versions of Windows". Choose "Repair". It will guide you through the rest, which will be just like installing Windows XP all over again. But it retains your settings and files.

Do keep in mind that your system files and drivers will be restored to their defaults - Which may or may not cause problems.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back