XP home won't start

[satx78223]

Hopefully someone will have an idea. My system reset itself while doing an auto update. Now I can't start windows (or get to the c: prompt). I can F8 and get to the different starting options (safe mode/normal/etc), but none of them work. I made a bootable floppy disc from a XP Home computer, but it wouldn't boot because it couldn't find a hal.dll file. I made the 6 floppy discs to try and get to the recover program, but it said it was missing a file, but I could see the file name on the floppy. I got bootable floppy with command.com on it. I could get an prompt at a: but I couldn't get to c: prompt. This floppy also had the boot.ini and the other two files HT...

If I can get a XP home installation disc, what should I do so I don't lose my files. Should I try to recover/new installation/upgrade? Should I rename the directory when windows wants to insall to keep the orginal one there?

Hope this makes sense......Thanks...John

[rjfvillarosa]

Using an XP home install CD try doing an over the top repair. Change the bios settings to boot from the CD drive then put the XP disk in the CD tray and restart the machine. Hopefully setup will detect your old installation and offer you the repair option.
What make and model is your computer, and where is your XP install CD or is your copy of XP on a partition on your hard drive? do you have a recovery CD that came with your computer?

[satx78223]

I have a HP ZE1250 laptop. The system came with four disc recovery set. This will wipe out everything and load everything the system came with a couple of years ago, so I'm trying not to do this.

[rjfvillarosa]

Do your four disks not give you the option of a nondestructive reinstall?

[satx78223]

No, it's either complete rewrite or nothing. That's why I'm trying not to use them. If worse comes to worse, I'll have to buy the XP home software. I'm asking around if anyone has the install discs. They only ones I've found so far is for XP Pro.

[rjfvillarosa]

I don't think pro can do an over the top repair for home but somebody here might know. For the time being I would carry on trying to borrow a home CD if I were you, purchasing another copy of XP when you already have one is a little harsh. Maybe after you have recovered your machine you might want to consider creating the XP disk following the onsite instructions of your laptop's manufacturer, I am sure you don't want to be in this situation again.

[satx78223]

On the floppy disk I was using, the boot.ini was setup for two partitions - partition(2). I only have one partition on my hard drive. I've changed the boot.ini to partition(1). I'll try it when I get home tonight to see if this will let me in.

It's hard when your computer(only one) is at home, and you have to use your computer at work for researching problems

[satx78223]

Was able to borrow a copy of XP Home and was able to do a restore. Took a little while to get things back the way I had everthing set up. I had borrowed a copy of XP Pro, but it wouldn't give me the option to do a restore. Going out this weekend to get something so I can make backups of everything so I won't have to go through this **pain** again. Thanks!!