XP reinstallation

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bill
  • Start date Start date
B

Bill

A register error occured after a gaimng software update
was installed. The "blue screen" is all that would
appear, not even allowing a safe mode operation.
I have started to reinstall XP Pro over itself from the
CD, and it stops during driver installation, and won't go
any further. Rebooting takes it to the same stopping
point.
What can I do to complete the installation?
 
Assuming you have an actual XP CD as opposed to a recovery CD, try a Repair
install as follows:
NOTE, while a repair install should leave your data files intact, if
something goes wrong during the repair install, you may be forced to start
over and do a clean install of XP. If you don't have your data backed up,
you would lose your data should that eventuality occur.

Boot from the CD. If your system is set to be able to boot from the CD, it
should detect the disk and give a brief message, during the boot up, if you
wish to boot from the CD press any key.

Once you have pressed a key, setup should begin. You will see a reference
asking if you need to load special drivers and another notice that if you
wish to begin the ASR (Automatic Recovery Console) depress F2. Just let
setup run past all of that. It will continue to load files and drivers.

Then it will bring you to a screen. Eventually, you will come to a screen
with the option to (1) setup Windows or (2) Repair Windows Installation
using the Recovery console.

The first option, to setup Windows is the one you want and requires you to
press enter. When asked, press F8 to accept the end user agreement. Setup
will then search for previous versions of Windows. Upon finding your
version, it will ask if you wish to Repair your current installation or
install fresh. Press R, that will run a repair installation. From there
on, follow the screens.

If you only have a recovery CD, your options are quite limited. You can
either purchase a retail version of XP will allow you to perform the above
among other tools and options it has or you can run your system recovery
routine with the Recovery CD which will likely wipe your drive, deleting all
files but will restore your setup to factory fresh condition.

If, on the other hand the repair install fails as did the reinstall attempt,
it would appear your setup is irretrievably corrupt which will necessitate a
clean install as follows and note, a clean install will wipe your system:
Boot with the XP CD in the drive. When you see the message on the boot
screen to "Press any key in order to boot from the CD," do so.

After loading drivers and files, you should be taken to a screen with
the following:

To Setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.
To Repair a Windows XP Installation using Recovery Console press R.
To Quit setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

In your case, press ENTER.

Agree to the License agreement by pressing F8.

You will then be taken to a screen with two options.

To repair the selected Windows XP installation press R.
To continue installing a fresh copy of Windows XP without repairing,
press ESC.

This will bring you to a partition map where you
can delete, create and format partitions.
Select the drive you wish to format, delete the partition, then create a new
partition, format as desired and continue with XP installation.
 
message
My son-in-law's PC is failing to start XP, giving a message that
windows/system32/config is corrupted or missing. He has the XP Home upgrade
disc used originally to instal XP over W98. To use the disc, we made the CD
the first boot device in BIOS (otherwise it was not found).
Assuming you have an actual XP CD as opposed to a recovery CD, try a Repair
install as follows:
NOTE, while a repair install should leave your data files intact, if
something goes wrong during the repair install, you may be forced to start
over and do a clean install of XP. If you don't have your data backed up,
you would lose your data should that eventuality occur.

Boot from the CD. If your system is set to be able to boot from the CD, it
should detect the disk and give a brief message, during the boot up, if you
wish to boot from the CD press any key.

Once you have pressed a key, setup should begin. You will see a reference
asking if you need to load special drivers and another notice that if you
wish to begin the ASR (Automatic Recovery Console) depress F2. Just let
setup run past all of that. It will continue to load files and drivers.

Then it will bring you to a screen. Eventually, you will come to a screen
with the option to (1) setup Windows or (2) Repair Windows Installation
using the Recovery console.

The first option, to setup Windows is the one you want and requires you to
press enter.
Click to expand...

It all happens like that so far, although it seems illogical to select
"setup" at this point when we just want to "repair" and that choice is also
being offered. We actually tried both options in turn, with the same
negative result.
When asked, press F8 to accept the end user agreement. Setup
will then search for previous versions of Windows. Upon finding your
version, it will ask if you wish to Repair your current installation or
install fresh. Press R, that will run a repair installation. From there
on, follow the screens.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, that doesn't happen. The existing XP installation is not
found, and we get a DOS-like screen with a list of commands, none of which
is anything like "repair.exe" (which would have been nice). We are also
invited to insert a qualifying disc, and we tried his old W98 CD, but this
was not recognised. We found the corrupted / missing directory listed on
the XP CD, and tried to use the available "COPY" command (from e: to c:),
but all we got was a "file not found" message. So at the moment we can't
repair or reinstal XP, even though we apparently have all the necessary
discs. We would prefer not to reinstal, if possible, if that definitely
means losing non-system data saved from programs like Photoshop. Any
suggestions gratefully received.

Trevor Morris

[...]
 
Trevor Morris said:
message
My son-in-law's PC is failing to start XP, giving a message that
windows/system32/config is corrupted or missing. He has the XP Home upgrade
disc used originally to instal XP over W98. To use the disc, we made the CD
the first boot device in BIOS (otherwise it was not found).
Assuming you have an actual XP CD as opposed to a recovery CD, try a Repair
install as follows:
NOTE, while a repair install should leave your data files intact, if
something goes wrong during the repair install, you may be forced to start
over and do a clean install of XP. If you don't have your data backed up,
you would lose your data should that eventuality occur.

Boot from the CD. If your system is set to be able to boot from the CD, it
should detect the disk and give a brief message, during the boot up, if you
wish to boot from the CD press any key.

Once you have pressed a key, setup should begin. You will see a reference
asking if you need to load special drivers and another notice that if you
wish to begin the ASR (Automatic Recovery Console) depress F2. Just let
setup run past all of that. It will continue to load files and drivers.

Then it will bring you to a screen. Eventually, you will come to a screen
with the option to (1) setup Windows or (2) Repair Windows Installation
using the Recovery console.

The first option, to setup Windows is the one you want and requires you to
press enter.
Click to expand...

It all happens like that so far, although it seems illogical to select
"setup" at this point when we just want to "repair" and that choice is also
being offered. We actually tried both options in turn, with the same
negative result.
When asked, press F8 to accept the end user agreement. Setup
will then search for previous versions of Windows. Upon finding your
version, it will ask if you wish to Repair your current installation or
install fresh. Press R, that will run a repair installation. From there
on, follow the screens.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, that doesn't happen. The existing XP installation is not
found, and we get a DOS-like screen with a list of commands, none of which
is anything like "repair.exe" (which would have been nice). We are also
invited to insert a qualifying disc, and we tried his old W98 CD, but this
was not recognised. We found the corrupted / missing directory listed on
the XP CD, and tried to use the available "COPY" command (from e: to c:),
but all we got was a "file not found" message. So at the moment we can't
repair or reinstal XP, even though we apparently have all the necessary
discs. We would prefer not to reinstal, if possible, if that definitely
means losing non-system data saved from programs like Photoshop. Any
suggestions gratefully received.

Trevor Morris

[...]
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

In answer to my question, I found a lot of useful stuff here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm#advise

Print it all out while your machine is working, and keep it safe with your
XP disc!

TM
 
Did Michael Stevens site resolve the issue or are you still stuck. If you
are still stuck, now is the time to use the Recovery Console as follows
using the command at the end of these instructions:
boot from the CD. If you see a message to hit any key in
order to boot from the CD, do so, otherwise, assuming your system supports
it, the system should boot from the CD on its own as it can't find
an OS on the hard drive.

XP Setup will begin by examining your system, don't worry, just let it run,
it's just copying some files to a temp folder. Ultimately, you'll be
brought to a menu. Choose, "Repair a Windows XP installation using the
Recovery Console, press R.

You will be asked for an administrators password. This is not any of the
accounts you've created for XP. It's a hidden system account for which
users are asked only to create a password during setup. Most leave this
blank. If you left it blank, when asked for a password, just leave blank
and press enter.

At the prompt type bootcfg /rebuild and press enter.

If the above doesn't work, it would appear your setup is irretrievable
corrupted and there's not much you can do but start fresh.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

Trevor Morris said:
Trevor Morris said:
message
My son-in-law's PC is failing to start XP, giving a message that
windows/system32/config is corrupted or missing. He has the XP Home upgrade
disc used originally to instal XP over W98. To use the disc, we made
Click to expand...
the
CD
the first boot device in BIOS (otherwise it was not found).
CD,
it if
you
Click to expand...
you
to
press enter.
Click to expand...

It all happens like that so far, although it seems illogical to select
"setup" at this point when we just want to "repair" and that choice is also
being offered. We actually tried both options in turn, with the same
negative result.
When asked, press F8 to accept the end user agreement. Setup
will then search for previous versions of Windows. Upon finding your
version, it will ask if you wish to Repair your current installation or
install fresh. Press R, that will run a repair installation. From there
on, follow the screens.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, that doesn't happen. The existing XP installation is not
found, and we get a DOS-like screen with a list of commands, none of which
is anything like "repair.exe" (which would have been nice). We are also
invited to insert a qualifying disc, and we tried his old W98 CD, but this
was not recognised. We found the corrupted / missing directory listed on
the XP CD, and tried to use the available "COPY" command (from e: to c:),
but all we got was a "file not found" message. So at the moment we can't
repair or reinstal XP, even though we apparently have all the necessary
discs. We would prefer not to reinstal, if possible, if that definitely
means losing non-system data saved from programs like Photoshop. Any
suggestions gratefully received.

Trevor Morris

[...]
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

A register error occured after a gaimng software update
was installed. The "blue screen" is all that would
appear, not even allowing a safe mode operation.
I have started to reinstall XP Pro over itself from the
CD, and it stops during driver installation, and won't go
any further. Rebooting takes it to the same stopping
point.
What can I do to complete the installation?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

In answer to my question, I found a lot of useful stuff here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm#advise

Print it all out while your machine is working, and keep it safe with your
XP disc!

TM
Click to expand...
 
Michael Solomon (MS-MVP Windows Shell/User) said:
Did Michael Stevens site resolve the issue or are you still stuck.
Click to expand...

His instructions gave quite a lengthy process, so I did not want to risk
trying to get them right first time on someone else's system, given that his
professional data for the last ~2 weeks would be at risk if I got it wrong
(it may have been lost already, of course, and he will now always remember
back up more often... ). So I chickened out and advised him to get
professional help, and I await the result.
If you
are still stuck, now is the time to use the Recovery Console as follows
using the command at the end of these instructions:
boot from the CD. If you see a message to hit any key in
order to boot from the CD, do so, otherwise, assuming your system supports
it, the system should boot from the CD on its own as it can't find
an OS on the hard drive.
Click to expand...

Hm. To get as far as the hit any key message I had to force it to look at
the CD first via BIOS, otherwise it did not get there after trying the HD.
XP Setup will begin by examining your system, don't worry, just let it run,
it's just copying some files to a temp folder. Ultimately, you'll be
brought to a menu. Choose, "Repair a Windows XP installation using the
Recovery Console, press R.
Click to expand...

Yes, we got that far, with R producing an DOS-like screen where we had to
guess which of the listed commands to try.
You will be asked for an administrators password. This is not any of the
accounts you've created for XP. It's a hidden system account for which
users are asked only to create a password during setup. Most leave this
blank. If you left it blank, when asked for a password, just leave blank
and press enter.
Click to expand...

No password was asked for.
At the prompt type bootcfg /rebuild and press enter.
Click to expand...

Ah! The secret comand! Thanks for that: if it ever happens on my own
machine, I will certainly give that a try.
If the above doesn't work, it would appear your setup is irretrievable
corrupted and there's not much you can do but start fresh.
Click to expand...

Shudder... (Like Bart S. when asked to kiss Aunt Selma... :>) )

Thanks for the info!

Trevor Morris
--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

Trevor Morris said:
Trevor Morris said:
message
My son-in-law's PC is failing to start XP, giving a message that
windows/system32/config is corrupted or missing. He has the XP Home upgrade
disc used originally to instal XP over W98. To use the disc, we made
Click to expand...
the
CD
the first boot device in BIOS (otherwise it was not found).

Assuming you have an actual XP CD as opposed to a recovery CD, try a
Repair
install as follows:
NOTE, while a repair install should leave your data files intact, if
something goes wrong during the repair install, you may be forced to start
over and do a clean install of XP. If you don't have your data
Click to expand...
backed
up,
you would lose your data should that eventuality occur.

Boot from the CD. If your system is set to be able to boot from the CD,
it
should detect the disk and give a brief message, during the boot up, if
you
wish to boot from the CD press any key.

Once you have pressed a key, setup should begin. You will see a reference
asking if you need to load special drivers and another notice that
Click to expand...
if
you
wish to begin the ASR (Automatic Recovery Console) depress F2. Just let
setup run past all of that. It will continue to load files and drivers.

Then it will bring you to a screen. Eventually, you will come to a screen
with the option to (1) setup Windows or (2) Repair Windows Installation
using the Recovery console.

The first option, to setup Windows is the one you want and requires
Click to expand...
you
to
press enter.

It all happens like that so far, although it seems illogical to select
"setup" at this point when we just want to "repair" and that choice is also
being offered. We actually tried both options in turn, with the same
negative result.

When asked, press F8 to accept the end user agreement. Setup
will then search for previous versions of Windows. Upon finding your
version, it will ask if you wish to Repair your current installation or
install fresh. Press R, that will run a repair installation. From there
on, follow the screens.

Unfortunately, that doesn't happen. The existing XP installation is not
found, and we get a DOS-like screen with a list of commands, none of which
is anything like "repair.exe" (which would have been nice). We are also
invited to insert a qualifying disc, and we tried his old W98 CD, but this
was not recognised. We found the corrupted / missing directory listed on
the XP CD, and tried to use the available "COPY" command (from e: to c:),
but all we got was a "file not found" message. So at the moment we can't
repair or reinstal XP, even though we apparently have all the necessary
discs. We would prefer not to reinstal, if possible, if that definitely
means losing non-system data saved from programs like Photoshop. Any
suggestions gratefully received.

Trevor Morris

[...]

Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

A register error occured after a gaimng software update
was installed. The "blue screen" is all that would
appear, not even allowing a safe mode operation.
I have started to reinstall XP Pro over itself from the
CD, and it stops during driver installation, and won't go
any further. Rebooting takes it to the same stopping
point.
What can I do to complete the installation?
Click to expand...

In answer to my question, I found a lot of useful stuff here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm#advise

Print it all out while your machine is working, and keep it safe with your
XP disc!

TM
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
"Ah! The secret command! Thanks for that: if it ever happens on my own
machine, I will certainly give that a try."

LOL

Hey, we have a secret handshake too!


--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

Trevor Morris said:
Michael Solomon (MS-MVP Windows Shell/User) said:
Did Michael Stevens site resolve the issue or are you still stuck.
Click to expand...

His instructions gave quite a lengthy process, so I did not want to risk
trying to get them right first time on someone else's system, given that his
professional data for the last ~2 weeks would be at risk if I got it wrong
(it may have been lost already, of course, and he will now always remember
back up more often... ). So I chickened out and advised him to get
professional help, and I await the result.
If you
are still stuck, now is the time to use the Recovery Console as follows
using the command at the end of these instructions:
boot from the CD. If you see a message to hit any key in
order to boot from the CD, do so, otherwise, assuming your system supports
it, the system should boot from the CD on its own as it can't find
an OS on the hard drive.
Click to expand...

Hm. To get as far as the hit any key message I had to force it to look at
the CD first via BIOS, otherwise it did not get there after trying the HD.
XP Setup will begin by examining your system, don't worry, just let it run,
it's just copying some files to a temp folder. Ultimately, you'll be
brought to a menu. Choose, "Repair a Windows XP installation using the
Recovery Console, press R.
Click to expand...

Yes, we got that far, with R producing an DOS-like screen where we had to
guess which of the listed commands to try.
You will be asked for an administrators password. This is not any of the
accounts you've created for XP. It's a hidden system account for which
users are asked only to create a password during setup. Most leave this
blank. If you left it blank, when asked for a password, just leave blank
and press enter.
Click to expand...

No password was asked for.
At the prompt type bootcfg /rebuild and press enter.
Click to expand...

Ah! The secret comand! Thanks for that: if it ever happens on my own
machine, I will certainly give that a try.
If the above doesn't work, it would appear your setup is irretrievable
corrupted and there's not much you can do but start fresh.
Click to expand...

Shudder... (Like Bart S. when asked to kiss Aunt Selma... :>) )

Thanks for the info!

Trevor Morris
--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

Trevor Morris said:
in
message
My son-in-law's PC is failing to start XP, giving a message that
windows/system32/config is corrupted or missing. He has the XP Home
upgrade
disc used originally to instal XP over W98. To use the disc, we
Click to expand...
made
the
CD
the first boot device in BIOS (otherwise it was not found).

Assuming you have an actual XP CD as opposed to a recovery CD, try a
Repair
install as follows:
NOTE, while a repair install should leave your data files intact, if
something goes wrong during the repair install, you may be forced to
start
over and do a clean install of XP. If you don't have your data backed
up,
you would lose your data should that eventuality occur.

Boot from the CD. If your system is set to be able to boot from
Click to expand...
the
CD,
it
should detect the disk and give a brief message, during the boot
Click to expand...
up,
if
you
wish to boot from the CD press any key.

Once you have pressed a key, setup should begin. You will see a
reference
asking if you need to load special drivers and another notice that if
you
wish to begin the ASR (Automatic Recovery Console) depress F2.
Click to expand...
Just
let
setup run past all of that. It will continue to load files and drivers.

Then it will bring you to a screen. Eventually, you will come to a
screen
with the option to (1) setup Windows or (2) Repair Windows Installation
using the Recovery console.

The first option, to setup Windows is the one you want and
Click to expand...
requires
you
to
press enter.

It all happens like that so far, although it seems illogical to select
"setup" at this point when we just want to "repair" and that choice is
also
being offered. We actually tried both options in turn, with the same
negative result.

When asked, press F8 to accept the end user agreement. Setup
will then search for previous versions of Windows. Upon finding your
version, it will ask if you wish to Repair your current
Click to expand...
installation
or
install fresh. Press R, that will run a repair installation. From
there
on, follow the screens.

Unfortunately, that doesn't happen. The existing XP installation is not
found, and we get a DOS-like screen with a list of commands, none of which
is anything like "repair.exe" (which would have been nice). We are also
invited to insert a qualifying disc, and we tried his old W98 CD,
Click to expand...
but
this
was not recognised. We found the corrupted / missing directory
Click to expand...
listed
on
the XP CD, and tried to use the available "COPY" command (from e: to c:),
but all we got was a "file not found" message. So at the moment we can't
repair or reinstal XP, even though we apparently have all the necessary
discs. We would prefer not to reinstal, if possible, if that definitely
means losing non-system data saved from programs like Photoshop. Any
suggestions gratefully received.

Trevor Morris

[...]

Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

A register error occured after a gaimng software update
was installed. The "blue screen" is all that would
appear, not even allowing a safe mode operation.
I have started to reinstall XP Pro over itself from the
CD, and it stops during driver installation, and won't go
any further. Rebooting takes it to the same stopping
point.
What can I do to complete the installation?


In answer to my question, I found a lot of useful stuff here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm#advise

Print it all out while your machine is working, and keep it safe with your
XP disc!

TM
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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