Alright. Here's my problem. I was playing a game last night when my
computer froze up. Unable to do anything, I ended up having to turn my
computer off (not shut it down). When I went to restart it, Windows wouldn't
load. It would get to the loading screen and then my computer would restart.
I was upset because I just had my computer in the shop less than a month ago
for a system restore and a new harddrive and didn't want to have to bringit
in again. So, I mention to a friend of mine my problem and that I was
thinking of just doing the system restore that was on my comp but he saidnot
to, that he could fix it.
Well, he didn't, he made it worst. What he ended up doing from what hetold
me, he downloaded the Setup Disks from the Microsoft site in order to run
some recovery thing. However, what it ended up doing was starting a new
install of Windows (he says) that ended up needing the Windows XP
installation disc. Which of course I don't have since my computer camewith
it installed. Now, when I try to start my comp, I get "NTLDR" not found.
And I can't even run the Compaq system restore like I originally wanted to.
Okay, here's my questions: How screwed up am I now? and How do I goabout
fixing this?
Alright. Here's my problem. I was playing a game last night when my
computer froze up. Unable to do anything, I ended up having to turn my
computer off (not shut it down). When I went to restart it, Windows wouldn't
load. It would get to the loading screen and then my computer would restart.
I was upset because I just had my computer in the shop less than a monthago
for a system restore and a new harddrive and didn't want to have to bringit
in again. So, I mention to a friend of mine my problem and that I was
thinking of just doing the system restore that was on my comp but he saidnot
to, that he could fix it.
Well, he didn't, he made it worst. What he ended up doing from what he told
me, he downloaded the Setup Disks from the Microsoft site in order to run
some recovery thing. However, what it ended up doing was starting a new
install of Windows (he says) that ended up needing the Windows XP
installation disc. Which of course I don't have since my computer came with
it installed. Now, when I try to start my comp, I get "NTLDR" not found.
And I can't even run the Compaq system restore like I originally wanted to.
Okay, here's my questions: How screwed up am I now? and How do I go about
fixing this?
The ungraceful shutdown (power off) would is most likely responsible
for your symptom and it is generally not too hard to fix - if you
would have stopped with the first paragraph. .
I am sure your friend had good intentions, but it is never the first
thing to try with this relatively common issue.
It depends on how far the "new" installation got. Maybe not very far
at all. If you don't have a bootable XP installation CD for your
environment, you should start trying to find one. You can perhaps
borrow one.
On a problem that did not have the second paragraph with no bootable
XP media, I would do the following:.
Eliminate or repair possible file system corruption from a power
failure, ungraceful shutdown or aborted restart.
Have any of these events occurred? (Yes for you).
You should first boot your PC into the XP Recovery Console using a
bootable XP installation CD or a bootable CD with the XP Recovery
Console on it.
You can make a bootable Recovery Console CD by downloading an ISO file
and burning it to a CD.
The same XP Recovery Console commands can be run from the bootable
Recovery Console CD.
The bootable ISO image file you need to download is called:
xp_rec_con.iso
Download the ISO file from here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?ueyyzfymmig
Use this free and easy program to create your bootable CD:
http://www.imgburn.com/
It would be a good idea to test your bootable CD on the computer that
is
working.
You may need to adjust the computer BIOS settings to use the CD ROM
drive as the first boot device instead of the hard disk. These
adjustments are made before Windows tries to load. If you miss it,
you will have to reboot the system again.
When you boot on the CD, follow the prompts:
Press any key to boot from CD...
The Windows Setup... will proceed.
Press 'R' to enter the Recovery Console.
Select the installation you want to access (usually 1: C:\WINDOWS)
You may be asked to enter the Administrator password (usually empty).
You should be in the C:\WINDOWS folder.
This is the same as the C:\WINDOWS folder you see in explorer.
RC allows basic file commands - copy, rename, replace, delete,cd,
chkdsk, fixboot, fixmbr, etc.
From the command prompt window run the chkdsk command on the drive
where Windows is installed to try to repair any problems on the
afflicted drive.
Running chkdsk is fine to run even if it doesn't find any problems.
Assuming your boot drive is C, run the following command:
chkdsk C: /r
Let chkdsk finish and correct any problems it might find. It may take
a long time to complete or appear to be 'stuck'. Be patient. If the
HDD light is still flashing, it is doing something. Keep an eye on
the percentage amount to be sure it is still making progress.
Remove the CD and type 'exit' to leave the RC and restart the
computer.
You do not have to adjust the BIOS again to boot on the HDD since the
CD will not be present.
