Want to repair Windows xp - facing several issues

[GLE3]

Ok, my son got one of those cheapy gateway laptops with no floppy or cd drives.

The machine cant boot on its own as it is telling me a system32 file is corrupt.

I have an external cd drive that I can get windows to boot to but when I get into recovery console it is giving me a list of devices to choose from as if it needs the drivers for my specific cd drive. Here is the exact message it gives after I choose R for recovery console:

Setup has recognized the following mass storage devices on your computer

<none>

It gives the option to choose S to pick the device out of a list

or

Just push enter to bypass mass storage device. I choose this option and it says it cant find the hard drive.

The thing is... I don't have the ability to use a floppy drive to get the drivers on it. I'm kinda turning circles here and some direction would be very much appreciated! Thanks in advance.

[aedipuss]

can it boot into "safe" mode, usually f8 at the beginning of boot. or is there a recovery partition on the hard drive? maybe f11 or f12 at boot start.

[Bjs]

When you boot from cd watch the bottom of the screen for the F6 question ... if that system has a sata hd installed you might need to hit F6 and install sata drivers for that systems motherboard before the mass drive is recognized.

Check bios for sata related entries ... a 50/50 chance these days if they can be set to IDE mode or not ... if not then you need those motherboard specific sata drivers ... unpack and burn to cd and swap when required.

[GLE3]

can it boot into "safe" mode, usually f8 at the beginning of boot. or is there a recovery partition on the hard drive? maybe f11 or f12 at boot start.

Can't boot into anything. Safe mode, last good know config, etc....

[wulf109]

Will it let you do a complete new install of XP? Google the model number and see what drivers are available.

[pepegot1]

Where is your image backup? It's time you got one.

[Nelson37]

You may be able to get into Recovery Console from the main drive. Check for a prompt.

It's not the CD drivers you need, that's working or you wouldn't see anything at all. You need to boot from something that let's you see the hard drive, you could try a Linux boot disk or an Ultimate boot cd.

There is a backup directory for all the config files, you can just copy over the ones you need. If it's not one of those, a re-install is probably necessary. There's a page at Microsoft that covers this, just Google the error and it will be one of the first few links.

Usually on such machines they can be configured to boot from or at least recognize a USB drive, you can use a memory stick to get the Sata drivers loaded if you have to go that way.

It could also be that the HD is toast, is it still under warranty? What you've got should be good enough for a HD replacement under warranty, might not be a bad idea.

[Cornucopia]

Find out if your BIOS is new enough to support booting from a USB device.

If it isn't:
you'd likely have to remove the HD and attach it to another PC (possibly in a temp external enclosure) as an additional HD. Then, remove ALL your important data off there, wipe it clean, and reboot with a Windows install disc and reformat the drive, putting a system on it so it'll boot, and also putting all the Windows install files in a temp directory on the HD. Then, reboot and install from its own HD.

If it is:
Make/Get a boot CD/DVD of Ultimate Windows Boot disc (or similar live CD alternates) and boot up via that disc. Then, copy your important data off to a flash device or networked drive and then wipe the drive. Then, boot using a Windows install disc and install onto the HD (reformatting as well).

Trying to pin down WHICH file(s) is/are corrupt is going to take more time than doing it this way, and this way you know your remaining sectors on the drive are good and that you have a clean install, plus nothing is lost.

Scott

**NOTE**: I have successfully done both of these options on a number of machines with similar problems to yours, so I know these are valid solutions. Make sure you've DL'd & burned to disc the Device-Specific drivers first. That'll make your Windows install much easier, more complete and like an original installation (plus they're good to have lying around for future emergencies).

[CobraPilot]

My experience may help you avoid reinstalling Windows . . . .

I recently had a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) when I booted a Windows XP computer, with an error message telling me "corrupt master file table."

Doing online search, it looked like I might as well accept that I may lose everything on that hard drive (if it would work at all), have to re-partition, reinstall Windows, etc., etc., ad nauseum . . . . Not a happy picture.

HOWEVER, I found a solution that has, as far as I can tell, restored my PC to 99+% operation with minimal hassle.

I downloaded the Trinity Rescue Kit software, burned it to a CD, and ran it as a self-booting CD. It confirmed that the hard drive *was* working! (I had to adjust the BIOS at startup to allow for booting from CD; I'm leaving it that way for future use, since that options only slows normal boot-up by a few seconds when no bootable CD is found and it might come in handy again.)

http://www.trinityhome.org/Home/index.php?content=TRINITY_RESCUE_KIT____CPR_FOR_YO UR_COMPUTER&front_id=12&lang=en&locale=en

There are several options on the disc, but the one that produced the results was the F-Prot antivirus option. During its analysis of the "sick" hard drive, it reported "Unclean file system" and then "Fixing" (reassuring). It never reported "Fixed" (less reassuring), but it then conducted a full virus scan on the HD, reported a virus (in spite of my running virus software 24/7/365), cleaned that, found some corrupted files (none vital, so far) and then finished after about an hour.

I rebooted to Safe Mode, but the system hung at the loading of a file called "giveio.sys." I thought I was sunk. However, I hard rebooted (power off/on) *not* into Safe Mode and, upon reboot, Windows ran CHKDSK and reported all checks good.

It then completed the boot (although it took awhile to get through to the desktop) and all is well so far after several days. (I had jotted down the names of several of the "corrupted" files and found most of them were install files of software that is easily replaceable. In this, I may have just been *very* lucky.)

So, if you can download the ISO file and burn it to CD, it may solve your problem, too. Can't beat the price, and there are many tools available on the disc.