disk boot failure

[johnq86]

I have windows xp and i recently used the windows recovery.For some reason i woke up today and when i try to boot the pc i get the disk boot failure message.I do not have a floppy drive and my pc did not come with a xp install cd it came pre installed.the first screen that comes up has f1 for setup,esc for boot menu,and f10 for system recovery.I can press esc and f1 but when i press f10 it does not go into recovery.What the heck happened and what can i do.I am using my friends pc at his house so maybe someone can help me before i go home.

[mbucari1]

How many hard drives does your computer have? If you have more than 1 HDD and the one with your MDR is not the first to boot, then you might get that error (might be same error, definitely won't boot). If you change them in the bios and it still won't boot, then reinstall your OS from an ordinary XP installation disk. You can find one VERY easily on public bittorrent search engines such as btjunkie.org. Make sure it has service pack 2 integrated with it and go for the one with the most seeds.

[johnq86]

i have only one hdd.what can i do please help anyone

[peat moss]

What happens at Esc. for Boot menu ? Can you Start with last know good config .? Or tried f8 for Safe mode ?

@mbucari1 , I know you mean MBR ? Sounds like John fucked something up as why the System Recovery try ? Your right tho with out a Windows install disk he's kinda stuck .

[johnq86]

I have no idea what was wrong but for some reason i turned it on and it loaded fine.I did not fuck it up my brother downloded some pic of a damn transformer and it had a virus so i deleted the virus and did a system recvery to be safe.Thanks for the help tho u guys are the best

[Demigod]

i have only one hdd.what can i do please help anyone

You have to be more specific as to what the error message was. There are a few possibilities as to what happened:

1) Harddisk failure: Pray to god this isn't what happened because this means that your HD is somehow screwed up. To fix these problems, you will have to replace the HD or do a low-level format (you need utilities from the HD factory to do this).

2) Boot sequence is messed up. I'll recommend trying to get into Windows with Safe Mode and reverting to an even early System Restore point.

If you can, try doing a scandisk and see if that reveals anything.

Good luck.

I have no idea what was wrong but for some reason i turned it on and it loaded fine.I did not fuck it up my brother downloded some pic of a damn transformer and it had a virus so i deleted the virus and did a system recvery to be safe.Thanks for the help tho u guys are the best

How did you delete the virus? Maybe it infected an important system file and by deleting that file, you've caused Windows to not be able to boot up.

[mbucari1]

Probably the easiest thing to do at this point is to download a copy of xp corporate. Boot the disk and enter the recovery console. From there, you can perform diagnostics such as chkdsk. If there are no bad sectors, then it is a system file or MBR (yeah, thanks peat moss). You can attempt to repair the installation, but there can be problems with repairs. I'd suggest that you do a clean install. Also, if you do a clean install be sure to perform a FULL format and not a QUICK format. The full format will check your disk for errors.

[Demigod]

Probably the easiest thing to do at this point is to download a copy of xp corporate. Boot the disk and enter the recovery console. From there, you can perform diagnostics such as chkdsk. If there are no bad sectors, then it is a system file or MBR (yeah, thanks peat moss). You can attempt to repair the installation, but there can be problems with repairs. I'd suggest that you do a clean install. Also, if you do a clean install be sure to perform a FULL format and not a QUICK format. The full format will check your disk for errors.

mbucari1, I know you're trying to help but formatting the hard drive is definitely not the choice to choose here. Let's try to fix the problem and not just delete everything (which may not even fix the anything if the problem truly is with the HD). I mean, if you were asked to fix someone's computer, you wouldn't just go and format right away? At least, try to back up the data (which can be done by using a partitioning software to set aside another partition and then moving the data over to that partition).

If the HD is messed up, the last thing you'll want to do is to erase the file allocation table (thus, eliminating any chances of recovering the present files). There are much better ways of checking for disk problems.

If the problem is that a system file has been deleted, then doing an upgrade of XP should fix the problem.

Once again, be more specific as to what the error message is.

[mbucari1]

Probably the easiest thing to do at this point is to download a copy of xp corporate. Boot the disk and enter the recovery console. From there, you can perform diagnostics such as chkdsk. If there are no bad sectors, then it is a system file or MBR (yeah, thanks peat moss). You can attempt to repair the installation, but there can be problems with repairs. I'd suggest that you do a clean install. Also, if you do a clean install be sure to perform a FULL format and not a QUICK format. The full format will check your disk for errors.

mbucari1, I know you're trying to help but formatting the hard drive is definitely not the choice to choose here. Let's try to fix the problem and not just delete everything (which may not even fix the anything if the problem truly is with the HD). I mean, if you were asked to fix someone's computer, you wouldn't just go and format right away? At least, try to back up the data (which can be done by using a partitioning software to set aside another partition and then moving the data over to that partition).

If the HD is messed up, the last thing you'll want to do is to erase the file allocation table (thus, eliminating any chances of recovering the present files). There are much better ways of checking for disk problems.

If the problem is that a system file has been deleted, then doing an upgrade of XP should fix the problem.

Once again, be more specific as to what the error message is.

Well, if it was my pc, I would already have everything backed up on internal drives and nothing irreplaceable would be on the windows drive.

If he wants to backup data first, perhaps he should download a copy of BartPE live xp so that he has a gui to backup files. An external HDD would be preferable for backup. You can also use a network cable to transport files to another PC. I would not suggest using partitioning software while in a PE. I tried once and it severly damaged my FS. I had to run a full chkdsk with /r to be able to read the HDD again. Yet another option is to physically remove your HDD from your case (as I have had to do before) and hook it up to a friends computer. Access your user folder and then take ownership of the subdirectories of interest (my docs, app data, etc.); then copy to your friends drive.

After you have backed up everything, DO A FRESH INSTALL.

My point is that in my lengthy and diverse experiences with boot failures, it's not worth time to attempt to fix it. There is most likely little you can possible do. And I already mentioned that I dislike windows restore (has messed up on me before). I think that a clean install is your best option, but that's just my advice. Please explore other options before choosing a course.

Cheers

[Demigod]

mbucari1, I know you're trying to help but formatting the hard drive is definitely not the choice to choose here. Let's try to fix the problem and not just delete everything (which may not even fix the anything if the problem truly is with the HD). I mean, if you were asked to fix someone's computer, you wouldn't just go and format right away? At least, try to back up the data (which can be done by using a partitioning software to set aside another partition and then moving the data over to that partition).

If the HD is messed up, the last thing you'll want to do is to erase the file allocation table (thus, eliminating any chances of recovering the present files). There are much better ways of checking for disk problems.

If the problem is that a system file has been deleted, then doing an upgrade of XP should fix the problem.

Once again, be more specific as to what the error message is.

Well, if it was my pc, I would already have everything backed up on internal drives and nothing irreplaceable would be on the windows drive.

If he wants to backup data first, perhaps he should download a copy of BartPE live xp so that he has a gui to backup files. An external HDD would be preferable for backup. You can also use a network cable to transport files to another PC. I would not suggest using partitioning software while in a PE. I tried once and it severly damaged my FS. I had to run a full chkdsk with /r to be able to read the HDD again. Yet another option is to physically remove your HDD from your case (as I have had to do before) and hook it up to a friends computer. Access your user folder and then take ownership of the subdirectories of interest (my docs, app data, etc.); then copy to your friends drive.

After you have backed up everything, DO A FRESH INSTALL.

My point is that in my lengthy and diverse experiences with boot failures, it's not worth time to attempt to fix it. There is most likely little you can possible do. And I already mentioned that I dislike windows restore (has messed up on me before). I think that a clean install is your best option, but that's just my advice. Please explore other options before choosing a course.

Cheers

I agree that an external HD is the best way to back up his data but he mentioned on the third post that he only has one HD so unfortunately, that's not an option.

Once again, please be more specific as to the error message. These errors don't just decide to pop up. My guess would be that you've somehow deleted a system file. System Restore shouldn't (in theory) cause boot failures unless you've installed some new piece of hardware between the present and that last restore point.