Windows stuck after repair install

Discussion in 'Windows XP Help and Support' started by Jenarae, Apr 12, 2013.

  1. Jenarae

    Jenarae

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    I booted the computer yesterday morning and received a windows-corrupt file dialogue box saying the file or directory C:\System Volume Information\_restore (lots of numbers here) corrupt and unreadable. Please run the Chkdsk utility.

    I was unable to click ok close out or anything. So I booted into safe mode tried to reach command prompt to run Chkdsk and can't reach the command prompt because it gets stuck.

    The last thing I have tried is to run a repair install from the windows installation cd. After two tries it gets all the way through the repair install it is stuck on the blue screen and says Windows is starting up.... with the hour glass for the mouse cursor.

    I have run out of things to try. Need help. This is my business computer and can't really afford to do a complete new install of windows and lose a lot of information.
     
    Jenarae, Apr 12, 2013
    #1
  2. Jenarae

    Elizabeth23

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    a repair install will screw up the pc anyway as it will take it to before sp3 was added unless your installation cd says sp3

    here are instructions to burn a cd for Hirens boot cd, from a working pc

    once burned you will run recovery console with the /r parameter

    chkdsk c: /r

    and you will have to run a couple of times

    Courtesy of Jose Ibarra:
    Anywho, to make a Hiren's boot CD, do this:

    I am going to recommend you use Hiren's boot CD (it will also go on a USB drive).

    This is good for you because it has many more tools on it that on the XP Recovery Console CD, does not care about your Administrator passwords and you will not have to futz around in your BIOS if any afflicted system has SATA drives - Hiren's can deal with that.

    You will have a whole bunch of cool tools that you don't have in the XP Recovery Console... a registry editor, password resetter, and a desktop that looks like Windows XP so you will feel comfortable maneuvering.

    You can also easily copy your personal data (documents, images, music.) to an external drive.

    From a working system, first download Hiren's Boot CD from here (it is a substantial download but worth it):

    http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/ (look near the bottom of the page, do not click on any ads).
    http://www.hirensbootcd.org/burning/
    Instructions

    Unzip the Hiren's to some folder where you can find it. There is a Hiren's.BootCD..iso in there that you are going to need next.

    Hiren's has instructions to make a bootable USB that you can use, but it requires you to first burn the .iso to a CD and some other steps, so I suggest another way...

    Download RUFUS 1.20 from here (read some stuff on the page so you can know more about it):

    http://rufus.akeo.ie/

    I will caution you to be careful that you don't accidentally format any of your hard drives - be sure your USB stick is in and know what the drive letter is! This part always makes me a little nervous, so be careful.

    Launch RUFUS and all the defaults should be okay, for the Device, choose your USB drive letter, Quick format, FAT32, label it if you want to and in the Format options box, click the little icon that looks like a CD and a window will open. Navigate that dialogue to point to the folder that contains the Hiren's.BootCD.15.iso that you unzipped earlier and the box should change to say ISO image (RUFUS understands the Hiren's ISO file).

    Double check you have the right Device selected in the top (NOT you HDD) Click Start, acknowledge the warning and let it finish (it will take a little while) as it copies the files. The Hiren's ISO is also good size.

    When RUFUS is done, it will say 'DONE' in the bottom.

    Put the USB stick in the afflicted machine and reset/reboot and press whatever key you need to press to get to a boot menu where you can select the USB as the first boot device (that is F11 for me). If you don't see a boot menu choice, you will have to adjust your BIOS to boot from the USB first instead of the HDD.

    When the Hiren's menu comes up, choose the Mini XP Mode and it will start loading (slowly from a USB drive) and eventually you should see a Windowsy looking desktop. You should recognize that part and feel comfortable, but it is not your desktop - it is the Hiren's desktop!

    Remember: You did not boot on your hard disk - you booted into the Hiren's desktop


    http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd-on-usb-disk
    Hiren’s for flash drive
    ---------------

    after running chkdsk we will see if any problems are still there
     
    Elizabeth23, Apr 12, 2013
    #2
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