If are good at solving computer problems PLEASE HELP!!!!

[MenThor]

Good congrats

that was the Hard way but now find why it happen

 

[mfriedl1]

How do you get to the command prompt form the the recovery console (I'm assuming the recovery console is what comes up when you hit F11)

 

[pascalos11]

if you laptop is recent enough here is how to get a command prompt


-format a usb key on another comp
-install on it any system (dos or anything,commander ...)
-enter the boot menu of your laptop,and choose boot on usb card ...

here you are .

 

[mfriedl1]

can I install straight from the computer to the USB drive? - or do I need to have a disk? none of my computers came with a physical disk.

 

[orion_pt]

Dude it's not registry corruption, they edited boot.ini via msconfig and it is stuck in a safe mode loop. NOT UNCOMMON.

http://www.computing.net/answers/windows-xp/xp-install-safe-mode-reboot-loop/158671.html

"Just for the records, what I ended up doing was installing a dual boot version of XP, then when I could access the boot.ini files through msconfig, I removed the /safeboot from the boot.ini for my XP boot that was looping. I did that the long way - looks like I could have just loaded the recovery console and modified the boot.ini to remove /safeboot from there. oh well, it works now."

The boot.ini is causing the loop, the original problem might be related to registry corruption, not 100% sure about that, just posted what a quick search returned.

 

[akfirsttry]

hey dude...there are solutions for these kind of problems. There is a virtual OS which you can boot from a cd. Once it boots up you can see all your drives in it and can attach an external drive to copy all your important files. I don't remember the name of the software but if you want to do this kind of a thing then let me know and i will let you know the name of the software and can even provide you with a link to download the image file for the cd.

 

[mfriedl1]

I guess I'm going to try and download the ISO file and burn it to a disc and follow Unravelled 's instructions....He is right...it is not a hardware or a sotware issue...it was a self imposed problem...I changed the BOOT.INI settings, so it was totally my bad...just gotta get it back up and running right...then I think orion's post might help me fix what ever the issue is with safe mode....I guess i'm just one of those guys that knows just enough to screw things up really bad....

 

[mfriedl1]

so, I burned the ISO file to a disk and the laptop won't recognize it.

 

[tony-raymondo]

My laptop would not boot in safe mode using F8 at start up.!

This has hapenned to me 3 times.

In all cases, I unplugged my USB keyboard, and I plugged in the 'old style' ps2 keyboard.

Then I was able to get into safe mode by pressing f8.

And run the antivirus software.

Trojans/Viruses/Spyware (whatever) corrupt the keyboard mapping and disable the USB interface. But you can bypass them with the hardware if you have the ps2 style keyboard.

of course, if you have a laptop, you can't use this route

 

[andreasx]

OK what happened is boot.ini is now saved with the /safeboot switch since you modified msconfig....

Since you're posting this I'm assuming you have access to another computer, so the easiest way would be to just download and burn any linux live cd in another computer, boot your windows box from it, and you can simply fix the boot.ini. If you have no spare disks to burn then try booting from an USB drive.

 

[popzzz]

so, I burned the ISO file to a disk and the laptop won't recognize it.

When it boots go into setup (delete, F1, etc) and change the boot order to
CD drive first then save and reboot .....

It obviously has the HD drive first .....

HTH .... :cool2:
​

 

[mfriedl1]

OK...do an update...
The problem was with the boot disk...I used a differnt ISO burn program and the laptop saw the disk fine.

BUT...
After the xp disk goes through its paces, and gets to the "windows setup is starting" part, I get an error that it can't find any working harddrives

Now, I would suppose its possible that my harddrive died at the same time that I changed the boot.ini through msconfig, but seems like a kind of unlikely coincidence...

Is there anything that I can do at this point?

BTW, I really appreciate everyone's input...Really, everyone on this forum is awesome!

 

[mfriedl1]

anyone have any ideas?

 

[popzzz]

anyone have any ideas?

Can you see it from the bios setup utility or not ..... ?

If you can it shouldn't be dead .....

If you don't need any data from the drive burn a linux OS to CD and boot to it and format the drive then reboot back to your windows setup .....

HTH .... :cool2:
​

 

[mfriedl1]

After googling for a while, I'm pretty sure its a communication issue between the boot disk and the hard drive, I CAN see the hard drive in the BIOS which further confirms that the drive is probably not dead....

 

[jongor]

find sata option on your laptop bios
if set AHCI or Raid
set to IDE

 

[mfriedl1]

Worth a shot, once I figure out where that is!

 

[jongor]

try to press f1 / f2 / f10 / del when first booting to enter bios setup

 

[mfriedl1]

O.k. I got the disk to see my hard drive ,but when the set up starts, thre is no "repair" optioin...it just asks you what partition you want to install XP on...

 

[popzzz]

O.k. I got the disk to see my hard drive ,but when the set up starts, thre is no "repair" optioin...it just asks you what partition you want to install XP on...

If you don't need any data from the drive burn a linux OS to CD and boot to it and
format the drive then reboot back to your windows setup .....

PROBLEM SOLVED .....

WHY continue this insanity ..... :brick:

HTH .... :cool2:
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