Hi, I need help desperately

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Thats OK

When you know the device name and model #.
I go to ATI for my video drivers.
Some though examine the computers needs so you can't do it for someone
elses in that case.
EG: Windows Update.
Maybe thats off topic,sorry if it is.
:wave:
 
ok so I may have found someone with recovery discs.. Windows xp ...now does it matter if thier computer is different my roomates pc ( which I am using )is a compaq and I have his rcovery discs right here in my hands (7 of them) or does it have to be gateway?
 
there should be one that is for windows and the rest would be for drivers software and that type of stuff. What we can do is reinstall windows then manually download the drivers can you post the name of each disk
 
Yes they say as follows
disc1- 7Compaq System Rcovery-Windows XP Home Edition... then on the side it says "This CD can ONLY be used on a Compaq PC...distributed only with a new Compaq Pc..... support for these products provided by Compaq
 
I cant say if it will work but it does not hurt to try worst case you format the Hard Drive and reinstall windows. Try only the xp cd
 
it keeps saying These system rcovery discs do not support compaq model.. I press a key to cntinue anyway and nothing has changed it still just loops through from gateway screen to Windows and then shuts dwn to start again... and again... Im so depressed!!!!!lol
 
Zipperman.. I guess Im lost in your meaning.. your asking for device name and model # ... all I know at this point is I am confused and hate my computor...lol not really. appreciate the effort
 
Finally! I found an image file you can download and burn to CD so we can create a bootable Windows Recovery Console disk (you'll need to use a friend's computer, obviously)
  1. Click this link to download the file rc.iso and save it to disk. This is a .iso formatted mage file we'll use to create the bootable CD.
  2. See this link for steps on how to burn an .iso file to CD using Windows XP
  3. Now see that you can boot your computer using the CD just burned
    • It’ll run Windows setup
    • During setup, it may ask about if you need special drivers for your hard drive. Don’t do anything. It’ll timeout waiting for a response and continue.
    • You’ll see a Welcome to Setup screen. Press R to repair XP using Recovery console
    • It will then list the Windows installations it finds (only one for you). When it asks which Windows installation to log onto type 1 then Enter
    • After a few seconds it will ask for the administrator password, enter it. If you never set one, there is none. Just hit enter.
    • You should now see the C:\Windows prompt.
Let me know if you get to this point and that it all works and you get the windows prompt. Then we can run a tool to try and cleanup your hard drive corruption. No guarantee it'll fix your specific problem. But often does.

And zipperman's remark about drivers was to me (part of the side conversation we had in your thread)
 
KaleeAnnMarie

Kept meaning to add the following info to my post above:

If the computer you're burning the CD on has some software package to do (e.g. from Nero or Roxio), these packages usually already come prepared to burn .iso images. Check their documentation for iso may save you many steps from using the other method (in my post)
 
ok Im kind of lost here I did follow the first link and little box popped up saying it could not find the file it came from. I used the Web to find the appropriate site and this Windows page came up with this on it:

File Type: CD-ROM Image

File Extension: .iso

Description: This file is a CD-ROM image.

Software or information available at:
Gilles Vollant Software WinImage
GoldenHawk CDROM Recording Software
IsoBuster
Padus DiscJuggler

also the only discs I have are hp cd-r 52x 700mb/80 min is this going to be ok to use or do you suggest something else
Thanks for the help you obviously did some reall digging ..appreciate it.
 
Hmmmm,

Odd the link didn't work for you but here's a link to the web page which referenced the download link (I thought it would be less confusing to just give you the download link. Well, that's computers for ya!).

Look for last sentence of the opening paragraph on the web page "Download the image file from here." Click on that word here to start downloading rc.iso

Your hp cd-r CDs should work just fine to burn and then use on your computer.
And note the info i had just added couple posts back, i.e. if friend's machine has a software suite (like from Nero or Roxio or others) it probably already handles .iso type files for burning already. Llook in its documentation index for iso or maybe under creating CDs - iso since it probably handles it already. You still use the steps to burn it in the link i offered if you can't find anything on there to do it

btw, just fyi: AS rule of thumb, is generally not good idea to try and take install disks from OEM1 and use them to install on OEM2 brand computer.
  • A file by file comparison between install disks from OEM1 and OEM2 would reveal some variations mostly due to
    • Added value - the OEM will have additional hooks and functions into the XP software. These could be extra info or Troubleshooting info and diagnostics. Things that help differentiate its XP install from a competitor.
I knew trying to do XP install from the wrong OEM wouldn't work well for those wrongs. I was just hoping the Windows Recovery Console portion (which is identical for all OEMs) wouldn't be impacted. But obviously it was. But no matter as we found another approach to this problem
 
Lookingaround.. sorry but the same thing happend. I followed your directions and clicked the link ... clicked "here" opened the file and the little box popped up stating that Windows needs to know the program that created the file . windows can go online to look it up or I can do it manually etc. not sure what to do next. I looked at the programs on the computer but not sure at this point what Im doing ... just following your lead.
 
Just in case you never get it going, I suggest you take out the hard drive, mount it in another friendly computer and copy off the private data for safe-keeping. Then carry on repairing the start-up.

In my experience, after a power-out type of stop, there will be corruption on the HDD which can be cured by running ChkDsk. The corruption will often be in the windows startup sectors.

Also a HDD 6 years old will not necessarily be done for, but not far off - it mostly depends on how many stop-start cycles it has been through. I suggest a new HDD and a simple clone from the old HDD to the new (make sure you get clone software with the drive and they are the same type IDE most likely) and not too much bigger. For that age of PC, there might be trouble recognising a more than 137Gb drive for instance.
 
Sorry. When you posted you a had a problem with the first link I didn't realize the problem you were actually having (which i do now.) Shouldn't be a problem to fix but will have to get back to with the info (just wanted to let u know now)
 
OK... The problem is that the computer you are using to download the .iso file doesn't yet know what an .iso file is. My original instructions should have reversed steps 2 and 1.

So you FIRST do step 2 to download and install the ISO Recorder Power Toy (which will also define .iso files for Windows.)

And NOW you should be able to click the link and do the download.

btw... the instructions to install the utility describes how to check which version of Windows is running on the computer you're using (so you select the right version of the Recorder power toy). Aso let me know what the version is on that computer as an fyi.
 
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