Xp installation blank out...

[the_enthusiast]

well, im kind of new here, but anyway...

i was repairing my xp installation with the xp disc, but now when it enters windows, it just blanks out. and its still in the middle of the installing it.

im pretty sure its got nothing to do with my hardware configuration, coz it was working fine before.

what can i do without wiping my whole hard drive (which i foolishly didnt back up )?

thanks.

[Panama Red]

Rather than try to troubleshoot a bad install or repair attempt, you may be better off removing the hard drive and slaving it to another computer so you can extract the files you want to keep. Then put the hdd back in and do a fresh install. Probably a good idea to run the hdd maker's diagnostic software to check the drive before you do the fresh install. Get the files off first tho.

[the_enthusiast]

well, thats the another problem. coz its 120 gigs worth of 3 years school work and alot of sentimental stuff like photos, and i dont have another comptuer with anywhere near that amount of free space. and niether does anyone else i know.

[pam123]

You don't need a ton of free space you just need a computer with a decent burner with it's software ( bonus points if you can use a DVD burner).
You burn the pictures, and then the text, to disk as you go along.
If you're borrowing a friend's machine for this you're the one who supplies the media and just make sure it's the type your optical drive will read later.

[Panama Red]

Pam's idea or buy another hard drive, set up a fresh install on it, add the old hdd as a slave and save all your files. Then test the old drive and if it's good, format it to clean it out. Then copy all your files again to give yourself a back up. If it doesn't test good, buy another drive to keep this from happening again. Good luck.