Win XP Prof - Repair

[101RRS]

Defragged my Desktop yesterday and it must have took a hit - system will boot and start to start Win XP then has a dummy spit and reboots - goes on and on and on - will not start in safe mode.

So got out the XP disk - and reloaded the system - kept all the files but I will have to setup the system again and reload all the software etc etc etc

When reloading Xp the option for repair is via the Repair Console - which is completely beyond me.

Is there anyway I can just do a repair rather than full re-install.

Yes I do have a backup but like most of us it is a few weeks old.

Also as I will have to re-install the other software, including Office (incl Outlook Express) where will I find all my old e-mails - I did not loose any of my old "My Documents" files - the re-install put them in a special folder so the e-mails (pst files??) will be there somewhere - I just cannot find them.

Thanks for any help.

Cheers

Garry

[Narangga]

I would have thought that unless there were major issues then you should be able to get away with a repair of the current installation. Not through the recovery console but by the other option which at this hour of the night escapes me.

Have done that before and it did not affect other software as only the operating system (XP Pro) was repaired.

[RobHay]

You can repair your current installation by insert the XP disc and fire up the computer, click boot from disc, and follow the prompts, do not use repair consoul, rather click load XP, then it will detect that there is a current installation and will give you the option of loading a fresh copy or attempt repair on the current one, follow the prompts to repair the current one.Make sure at the end that you remove the disc prior to the system shutting down to reboot otherwise you will find yourself in a Groundhog Day situation:D

[101RRS]

You can repair your current installation by insert the XP disc and fire up the computer, click boot from disc, and follow the prompts, do not use repair consoul, rather click load XP, then it will detect that there is a current installation and will give you the option of loading a fresh copy or attempt repair on the current one, follow the prompts to repair the current one.Make sure at the end that you remove the disc prior to the system shutting down to reboot otherwise you will find yourself in a Groundhog Day situation:D

Thanks

Thats what I would have thought but it never gave me the option to repair - after it detected the current installation it just asked did I want to over write the current one or install a fresh one leaving the current one on the system - I went the overwrite option. Other than the repair console aspect - it never mentioned a repair:(

At the moment - I am reinstalling a 3 month old backup after saving my current files on the backup drive - hopefully that will minimise the number of programs I have to reinstall.

Gee - I hate computers:angrylock:

Garry

[incisor]

Other than the repair console aspect - it never mentioned a repair:(

usually only 3 reasons for that...

the cd you are booting from is not the same operating system you have installed. they may both be pro but one may be a corp edition the other a std oem.

or

you have a write bad sector or file system problem affecting core system files

or you have a virus affecting core system files

is it a brand name computer ?

windows hasnt a clue how to handle a write bad sector and some file system errors so does funny things like shutting down

[101RRS]

usually only 3 reasons for that...

the cd you are booting from is not the same operating system you have installed. they may both be pro but one may be a corp edition the other a std oem.

or

you have a write bad sector or file system problem affecting core system files

or you have a virus affecting core system files

is it a brand name computer ?

windows hasnt a clue how to handle a write bad sector and some file system errors so does funny things like shutting down

Thanks,

The disk is the same as the one I have always used - XP SP1 but the system had been updated to SP3. The computer is one I built a couple of years ago - I did a fresh install about 18 months ago and all went well then - all I can assume this time is that the corruption was so bad that it affected the core system files.

Well did the backup - as usual didn't work - it said it was complete but nothing went back in. Should have set the whole system back up as it was as the backup was of the whole drive, OS as well. I have never had a backup work as adverstised so these days I just copy all relevant files to a spare drive - seems to work better.

Thanks

Garry

[abaddonxi]

There are instructions out there on how to take a download of sp3 and an old xp sp1 cd and make them into a bootable xp sp3 install.

It does need a working computer to create it, though.:(

bootable xp disk - Google Search (http://www.google.com.au/search?q=bootable+xp+disk&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a)

And something like this -
HOW TO: create a bootable XP SP3 CD (http://apcmag.com/how_to_create_a_bootable_xp_sp3_cd.htm)

Ah, usually called slipstream/ing.

Cheers
Simon

[101RRS]

Thanks Simon,

I tried that once before but it was a bit to complex for me - isos, images and required nero that I didn't have.

Once my reloaded system has finished updating itself, I might try it again - it might be easier this time.

Thanks

Garry

[Narangga]

You can repair your current installation by insert the XP disc and fire up the computer, click boot from disc, and follow the prompts, do not use repair consoul, rather click load XP, then it will detect that there is a current installation and will give you the option of loading a fresh copy or attempt repair on the current one, follow the prompts to repair the current one.Make sure at the end that you remove the disc prior to the system shutting down to reboot otherwise you will find yourself in a Groundhog Day situation:D

Yep thanks Rob. That's what I couldn't remember last night.

[101RRS]

Can anyone tell me where my old e-mails are stored when using Outlook Express and how to do I recover them when you do a clean install.

Thanks

Garry