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

I tried to repair via the windows CD that came with our PC (Dell) and at first it failed, and then I retried and now I am in the screen that looks like the standard windows install (I believe it's still the repair) and it has gone through
Collecting Information
Dynamic Update
Preparing Installation
It is stalled on Installing Windows, it has said setup will complete in 34 mins for an hour or so now, and the green boxes at the bottom are still moving, as well as the text on the right side that tells me the lovely features I'm getting, but the installation bar hasn't moved in a long time. It has prompted me to verify devices then nothings been going for a bit.

Any idea on what I can do, I'm debating on playing russian roulette and just hitting the power button, but I fear it may still be going very slowly.

Edit-After going out to dinner its at 33 minutes left to go, do I just let this sit?
 
Thanks

hello well this is the first time that i have been in this forum...thanks for the information that you provided...with out this forum and info i could have lost all my church documents and accounts...nice explainations too.
 
repair with xp cd doesnt work-say it isnt the end

ive read through most of these pages and do not think my particular problem has been addressed...
after a slow running sys, i rebooted to the user log on screen (which i never have enabled) and after clicking my user, it would briefly load and then go back to the user selection screen... somehow i get stuck being locked out without my admin PW. i find a security loop on a message board that allows me to reset the PW by pressing SHIFT+F10 when "installing device" appears in the repair phase of the cd fix, and i did succesfully change the password. but when it finished repairing, it boots into a blue screen of death loop, with error 0x0000007B (INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE). this is where all the solutions ive found so far have stopped working. any help would be appreciated thanks
 
Hello and welcome to Techspot.

Have you tried a complete reformat and reinstall?

When did your problems first appear? have you changed any components recently?

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:
 
i have not done a complete reinstall bc i really need all the files on my HD and that is last resort, problems started just when i rebooted from a crashing program. only thing ive changed recently is updated pc cilin to newer version. can i hook up the HD to another computer to recover files?
 
Yes, hooking up your hard drive to another computer will enable you to backup your important files. You`ll need to connect it to the other computer as a slave drive. This means, you`ll need to alter the hard drives jumper to the slave position.

Regards Howard :)
 
Emergency Repair disk

Hi all. Currently my computer wont boot Windows 2000 as a system file is missing. All I need (I hope!) is the Emergency Repair disk. Can upload or provide a link as to where I can download the files of this disk?
Many thanks.
 
Amy

I am having troulbe I shut the computer down and then went to restart it, but I am int he endless loop of Windows can not start, it goes to the windows screen briefly then says it will not load, i have tried all the options it offers and none will work, I have tried to change teh BIOS but it will not load the CD to run it from that. I have a Dell (customer service is useless) I have had no problems what so ever with this computer before this. I do not know how to run the scan disk to check for errors.

UPDATE:
Ok after kicking and yelling at the CPU it finally booted from the CD and started windows up but now (like posted earlier) I have no internet connections, so how do I got about getting these back, I have SP2
 
The Big Black Hang Screen

Like most of these postings, my system hangs after the splash on a nice black screen. I’ve tried the ‘in-place upgrade’/system repair, as suggested at the beginning of this thread, choosing the first option for XP Pro setup and not the “recovery console.” After I press F8, the following options appear:

The following list shows the existing partitions and unpartitioned space on this computer. Use the UP and DOWN ARROW keys to select an item in the list.

• To set up Windows XP on the selected item, press ENTER.
• To create a partition in the unpartitioned space, press C.
• To delete the selected partition, press D>

76431 MB Disk 0 at Id0 on bus 0 on atapi [MBR]
C: partition1 (Kahiau) [NTFS} 76332 MB (36761 MB free)
Unpartitioned space 8MB

5860 MB Disk on disk [MBR]
Unpartitioned space 39MB
D: partition1 (KAHIAU’S IP) [FAT32] 5820MB (1996 MB free)

What should I do next? I’m afraid to set up XP again or delete a partition and risk losing my data on the drive. Thanks in advance for your help!
 
XP CD and Harddrive boot problems

Hello,

I seem to have a very weird problem with my Harddrive... i think...
I'm trying to repair my WinXP Pro Sp2 installation, but after the
"Setup is now inspecting your computer's harware configuration..." screen, the screen goes blank.
I tried several different bootable XP cds and this is what happend...

WinXP Pro SP2 (copy/slipstream) BLANK SCREEN
WinXP Pro (Genuine) BLANK SCREEN

2 x WinXP Home (both genuine) BLANKSCREEN

Any other Windows CD ie, Win 2000, Win ME etc.. WORK perfectly.. so basicly any bootable win XP CD didnt get past the "Setup is now inspecting...." screen.

A lightbulb went off in my head.. (which was swiflty turned off)... And i removed the harddrive that the previous XP installation was on..

All my XP CDs including the slipstream one worked fine with my secondary harddrive, which has never had an OS installed on it...
So basicly i figure the problem lies with the harddrive...
AnyIdeaZ?
 
Re:

kahiau1 said:
Like most of these postings, my system hangs after the splash on a nice black screen. I’ve tried the ‘in-place upgrade’/system repair, as suggested at the beginning of this thread, choosing the first option for XP Pro setup and not the “recovery console.” After I press F8........
Click to expand...

Just wondering... isnt there a "repair a Windows Installation" Option.. or sumfin lyk that???
 
Ack, something else to throw in. I couldn't find it in the previous 15 pages, but I am having a problem with Windows loading. Now my last resort is finding a buddy who has SATA connections as well, and hooking my HD up as a slave and modifying the files in my windows/system32/config folder, or at the very least getting some of the major stuff off... whatever. I was wondering, if there was a way, that I can get into my HD and replace 5 files in my windows/system32/config folder, that have seemed to get corrupt as a result of a friend bumping the power cord while it was starting up. Thus hindering my attempts to reboot and restart... Now it just tells me that there are files that are corrupt or missing. I can't boot into safe mode because apparently safe mode even uses those files, and I can't boot in the Recovery Console because when I select the volume it doesn't even ask me for a password, it bumps me to a BSOD telling me I have a registry error, I freaking know! So is there any way I can get around this?
 
m412491 said:
Ack, something else to throw in. I couldn't find it in the previous 15 pages, but I am having a problem with Windows loading. Now my last resort is finding a buddy who has ....
Click to expand...

All the problems with my harddrive started after a series of power failures in my area... so i'm guessing my problem is similar to yours... i have the same syptoms anyway..
i dont have a UPS.. i know its stupid, but i swear i'll get around to getting one..
anyway, tomora mornin.. well in a few hours, i'm headin off to da comp swap meet and getting my self one of thoes USB harddrive connectors - External Drive Enclosure, (and mabey the long over due UPS)...
i think they retail bout $55 US for the External Drive Enclosure... i'll connect it to my laptop which also has XP Pro SP2 and i'll try copy the required files... i'll keep you posted...
 
This is from Microsoft Q an A.

How do you perform a reinstallation of Windows XP, sometimes called a repair installation?

Configure your computer to start from the CD-ROM drive. For more information about how to do this, refer to your computer's documentation or contact your computer manufacturer. Then insert your Windows XP Setup CD, and restart your computer.

1.
When the Press any key to boot from CD message is displayed on your screen, press a key to start your computer from the Windows XP CD.

2.
Press ENTER when you see the message To setup Windows XP now, and then press ENTER displayed on the Welcome to Setup screen.

3.
Do not choose the option to press R to use the Recovery Console.

4.
In the Windows XP Licensing Agreement, press F8 to agree to the license agreement.

5.
Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP is selected in the box, and then press R to repair Windows XP.

6.
Follow the instructions on the screen to complete Setup.
 
copyin didnt work...

i couldnt fix my XP by copying the hal.dll file, or any other file from another version of XP... i end'd up reformating..oh well..

btw, sometimes the option to repair a current version of XP does not come up for some reason???
 
It's normal for Windows.

By the way, the hal.dll file (or any other file) has to be for the same version of Windows, and the same version of the file (if it has been updated with a hotfix, both computers need to have the same hotfix installed).
 
ye, i kinda expected that, so i try'd to find the exact same version.. but i didnt seem to work.. i think windows edits the file on itz own, without the hotfixes, and becus of that, no two hal.dll's are the same?? any truth to that?
 
This looked as though it would solve my problem, but when the PC attempted to reboot it did not complete. I followed the process to repair windows but it still will not boot. It continues to stop on the Windows Professional Starting Up screen.
I don't know if this will help, but the last thing I did was download and install itunes for my ipod. The next time I rebooted my machine, it wouldn't.
I can't even get it to boot in Safe Mode. This just gives me the stop error message on the blue screen.
Any help anyone can provide would be appreciated.
 
NTLDR missing...

Is this msg, or something like it comin up?

"NTLDR is missing, press any key to restart"

Your problem happened to me, the hanging windows loading screen, ... and after i a while, i got that msg... but apparently, there is a solution. it didnt work for me.. but lots off people on other forums seem to have had sum success with it. anyway, heres da url.. hope it helps...

http://tinyempire.com/notes/ntldrismissing.htm
or
http://ntldrismissing.com
 
Doing the repair using an old XP disk?

I have an XP Pro CD only, but my system is using XP SP2, can I do the repair with only the XP Pro CD? Am I going to lose SP 1 and SP2 if I do that? Is there a way to make a bootable CD for SP2 to do the repair?

Thanks.
 
well.. i've neva done a repair before, so i dont no what happends to all the updates and serviz packz... but just to be on the safe side, you might as well do it the slipstream way.

it makes sense that the updates would get lost if you use your normal XP Cd.. cause importaint files are probably being replaced by older files...
 
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