New XP Install, Booted Fine, Then Won't Boot

[bozo]

I'm working on an older (2002) Gateway desktop...P4, running XP Home with no service packs.

I noticed some Windows corruption, so I wiped the drive, zero-filled, then re-installed Windows XP Home SP2...all went OK, & I had SP3 on a CD, so I sucessfully installed SP3 as well. System booted up, & seemed to run fine, with the exception of the video. It was apparant that I needed a video driver from Gateway...but the rest of the install seemed to work fine.

I had to move the computer to be able to hook it up online. I un-plugged everything to move it, & connected everything back up. Then I was not able to boot to windows, I would get to the splash screen, then a black screen...no errors. I checked everthing in the bios, & changed a few thing...still a no-go. BTW: I did check the monitor...it was OK, & tested another known good monitor as well.

It appears that this is a windows problem, so I tried a repair install with the Windows XP Home CD. I can get to the "repair" option> select the windows to repair OK, but it then ask me for the "adminstrator password". I have not setup a password when I installed windows. When I sucessfully booted up it would go right throught the password, & start windows.

How can I do a repair install without a password?

I could wipe the drive again, & re-install, but I would like to try a repair first.

Edit: when I was prompted for the password, I just hit "enter", & then got "C:\Windows"

[glc]

Wrong repair choice. Repair install instructions are in the Tips and Tricks forum. You chose repair by using the console, and that's exactly what you see when you do that - a command prompt.

[bozo]

Originally Posted by glc Wrong repair choice. Repair install instructions are in the Tips and Tricks forum. You chose repair by using the console, and that's exactly what you see when you do that - a command prompt.

Yes, I see that now after reading around. I got it by choosing to install XP, then when prompted, did a repair install. Everything works now.

Thanks