windows xp home

**Shard92** · October 26th, 2004, 04:00 PM

I have a compaq here that in the middle of installing the security update cd ( sp1 at the time ) locked up when something from Hp started up in the background, and locked up the computer. Now the computer will not boot to windows.... no matter what option I choose before it finishes booting it suddenly restarts like you hit the reset key.

The computer originally had a virus on it ( sdbot ) that I removed and then applied the security update cd.....

**arch0nmyc0n** · October 26th, 2004, 04:45 PM

LAst known good configuration doesn't work? can you repair the installation?

**cabal** · October 26th, 2004, 06:58 PM

I would say a repair install is your only chance at this point.

**Shard92** · October 27th, 2004, 11:30 AM

Arch no last known good didn't work either.... same thing... gets to the point where it should switch to the desktop then restarts.

I was hoping to avoid a repair install..... it's a compaq and therefore didn't come with a windows disk.... not sure if my home w/sp1 will work for the repair

**DocPC** · October 27th, 2004, 11:34 AM

Boot to an XP cd and go to the repair console. Type in disable mup. Then type in fixboot, after that fixmbr. When those things are done, type in chkdsk. It should boot after that.

**Shard92** · October 27th, 2004, 11:46 AM

Originally Posted by DocPC

Boot to an XP cd and go to the repair console. Type in disable mup. Then type in fixboot, after that fixmbr. When those things are done, type in chkdsk. It should boot after that.

thanks doc I'll give it a try

**Shard92** · October 27th, 2004, 11:53 AM

Nope same thing..... no joy just shuts off and reboots

**GreenGrime** · October 27th, 2004, 02:09 PM

Have you tried to isolate at which point the reboot occurs during the boot process?

**arch0nmyc0n** · October 28th, 2004, 10:18 AM

never actually looked, does windows xp have a boot log accessable from the recovery console?

**Shard92** · October 28th, 2004, 10:48 AM

Originally Posted by GreenGrime

Have you tried to isolate at which point the reboot occurs during the boot process?

You mean do a boot log? my next question echos arch... can I access that from recovery console? that is the only way I'm able to boot at the moment

**arch0nmyc0n** · October 28th, 2004, 03:37 PM

surprisingly enough that was the exact question I was asking here too. I assume there is something... at first glance I find this:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d...b_tol_rpsc.asp

perhaps this:

http://www.pcanswers.co.uk/tutorials...bsectionid=607

This page is on a paid site, but luckily google had a cached copy of it!

http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:...boot+log&hl=en

That should give you enough info to at least get a look at it perhaps? if for some reason you cannot view the bootlog file you can always copy it to A: and view it on another system... I assumme it's not more than 1.44mb

**Ruslan** · October 29th, 2004, 10:56 AM

If it is relatively new Compaq (1-4 years old), it should come with hidden XP recovery partition on the hard drive... Even manual installation of XP over and formatting the drive during XP installation cannot kill it...

Use the Partition Magic utility to see, if that partition is still on the harddrive... Pressing F10 during boot should start recovery... Then you can try a non-destructive recovery an option...

But if you don't need to save data, you can fix the recovery partition by deleting all the present partitions except for recovery partition, and making that partition "active". Then on next reboot it will start Compaq recovery automatically...

**Shard92** · October 29th, 2004, 11:05 AM

thanks again all. The customer wanted it quickly so we backed up her stuff and did a recovery ( they where on cd... no hidden partition here.. ). By the way nice to see you around Ruslan!!! I hope you are well.

**arch0nmyc0n** · October 29th, 2004, 01:39 PM

Originally Posted by Ruslan

If it is relatively new Compaq (1-4 years old), it should come with hidden XP recovery partition on the hard drive... Even manual installation of XP over and formatting the drive during XP installation cannot kill it...

Use the Partition Magic utility to see, if that partition is still on the harddrive... Pressing F10 during boot should start recovery... Then you can try a non-destructive recovery an option...

But if you don't need to save data, you can fix the recovery partition by deleting all the present partitions except for recovery partition, and making that partition "active". Then on next reboot it will start Compaq recovery automatically...

I had an HP in here the other day with that partition on it... couldn't get it to give me the option for a repair it wanted to do a full wipe and install.. then again the machine was in dire need of a wipe anyways... what really gets me is they figure that's as good as giving you the CDs, but what happens when the drive dies?

**Ruslan** · October 30th, 2004, 03:11 PM

Originally Posted by arch0nmyc0n

I had an HP in here the other day with that partition on it... couldn't get it to give me the option for a repair it wanted to do a full wipe and install.. then again the machine was in dire need of a wipe anyways... what really gets me is they figure that's as good as giving you the CDs, but what happens when the drive dies?

HP/Compaq recovery software gives customers an option to make set of recovery CDs (or DVDs), but only one set per PC... Unfortunately, most of customers never read any manuals and just ignore that an option... till something bad happens...

Also, an older versions of that recovery software (1.3, 1.8) didn't have that an option (creating CD sets) available...

But it is always possible to make a copy of that recovery partition using third-party drive imaging software just in case if something bad will happen to harddrive...