XP wont start

The best option that I found (as it happened to me as 
well two days ago), after hours of research, is the 
repair installation of XP. Dont even bother with recovery 
console unless you are an IT guru.

comps 
in 
a 
i 

Try to figure out which STOP code is displayed to 
determine the possible causes. (blue screen)
Most STOP screens occur becuase of:
- Faulty device drivers or system services
- Defective memory or video card
- Mismatched HAL configurations (usually deliberately 
caused)
- Damaged NTFS or FAT file systems
- Damaged Registry files
- Incompatible hardware installed
- Moving a Windows installation to a different computer 
than it was installed on

You may have a corrupted file system.  You can check this 
by: Starting the Recover Console from the Windows XP Setup 
disc.
type:
chkdsk c: [ENTER Key]
CHKDSK can determine if your file system is too damaged to 
start Windows, and can, optionally, repair the damage if 
it is possible.

Hi.

I have an XP Home system I built.  Core hardware is an ASUS
A7N8X-DX motherboard, Athlon XP 2500 CPU (not overclocked),
and a single SATA Seagate 80MB drive.  Remaining hardware
are two 256MB PC3200 memory sticks, GF3, floppy, CDR, CDRW,
and modem.

The system has worked flawlessly for about 4 months but a
few days ago it failed to boot.  I got a message Invalid
BOOT.INI then black screen.  I repaired this problem using
the XP CD repair console BOOTCFG /REBUILD process as on
jsifaq web site.

However, they system still doesn't boot.  After a normal
bios process I get a blank screen, a few seconds of drive
activity which ceases, then nothing.  Keyboard is not
responsive.  Only a button reset works at this point.

No F8 menu options appear to work (including SAFEMODE and
SAFEMODE WITH PROMPT).  The same blank screen comes up with
a little drive activity, then absolutely nothing.  I tried
to get a boot log but I don't see any new text files in
c:\windows.

No repair console commands appear to be of value.

I'd appreciate some help with this!

Thank you.

Jeff

Hi Jay,

Please see:
How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry That Prevents Windows XP from
Starting
 http://www.**--****.com/ ;en-us;307545


~  Please reply to newsgroup ~






am getting this message on start up. windows could not
start because the following file is missing or
corrupt:    \windows\system32\config\system. you can
attempt to repair this file file by starting windows
setup using the original setup CD-Rom select r at the
first screen to start repair

Jay:
"How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry That Prevents Windows XP from
Starting"
 http://www.**--****.com/ ;en-us;307545&Product=winxp
randwulf57

i was working on my computer when it turned off.  when i 
restarted it, it went to start windows normally, in safe 
mode, or back to last settings.  I can't get it to go into 
safe mode, and i did a system restore and that wont work 
either.  windows goes through the whole process of 
starting, then bounces back to that same screen.  HELP  i 
have all my work on there and i can't loose it.  i dont 
know what to do.

I think you and I are having the same problem. Please let 
me know when you find out. I will do the same.

Do you get the windows screen with the little scoll bar 
and then it dorps out and restarts?

Take care
Kevin

into 

Assuming you have an actual XP CD as opposed to a recovery CD, try a Repair
install as follows:
NOTE, while a repair install should leave your data files intact, if
something goes wrong during the repair install, you may be forced to start
over and do a clean install of XP.  If you don't have your data backed up,
you would lose your data should that eventuality occur.

Boot from the CD.  If your system is set to be able to boot from the CD, it
should detect the disk and give a brief message, during the boot up, if you
wish to boot from the CD press any key.

Once you have pressed a key, setup should begin.  You will see a reference
asking if you need to load special drivers and another notice that if you
wish to begin the ASR (Automatic Recovery Console) depress F2.  Just let
setup run past all of that.  It will continue to load files and drivers.

Then it will bring you to a screen.  Eventually, you will come to a screen
with the option to (1) setup Windows or (2) Repair Windows Installation
using the Recovery console.

The first option, to setup Windows is the one you want and requires you to
press enter.  When asked, press F8 to accept the end user agreement.  Setup
will then search for previous versions of Windows.  Upon finding your
version, it will ask if you wish to Repair your current installation or
install fresh.  Press R, that will run a repair installation.  From there
on, follow the screens.

If you only have a recovery CD, your options are quite limited.  You can
either purchase a retail version of XP will allow you to perform the above
among other tools and options it has or you can run your system recovery
routine with the Recovery CD which will likely wipe your drive, deleting all
files but will restore your setup to factory fresh condition.

Assuming you have an actual XP CD as opposed to a recovery CD, try a Repair
install as follows:
NOTE, while a repair install should leave your data files intact, if
something goes wrong during the repair install, you may be forced to start
over and do a clean install of XP.  If you don't have your data backed up,
you would lose your data should that eventuality occur.

Boot from the CD.  If your system is set to be able to boot from the CD, it
should detect the disk and give a brief message, during the boot up, if you
wish to boot from the CD press any key.

Once you have pressed a key, setup should begin.  You will see a reference
asking if you need to load special drivers and another notice that if you
wish to begin the ASR (Automatic Recovery Console) depress F2.  Just let
setup run past all of that.  It will continue to load files and drivers.

Then it will bring you to a screen.  Eventually, you will come to a screen
with the option to (1) setup Windows or (2) Repair Windows Installation
using the Recovery console.

The first option, to setup Windows is the one you want and requires you to
press enter.  When asked, press F8 to accept the end user agreement.  Setup
will then search for previous versions of Windows.  Upon finding your
version, it will ask if you wish to Repair your current installation or
install fresh.  Press R, that will run a repair installation.  From there
on, follow the screens.

If you only have a recovery CD, your options are quite limited.  You can
either purchase a retail version of XP will allow you to perform the above
among other tools and options it has or you can run your system recovery
routine with the Recovery CD which will likely wipe your drive, deleting all
files but will restore your setup to factory fresh condition.

ok this is my first post and i am not too god with 
computers. i e mailed yahoo about not being able to view 
my friends {*filter*} and they mailed me back with this:

1.  Shut down Yahoo! Messenger if it is currently 
running. 

2.  From the Windows Start menu at the left bottom of 
your screen, click
"Run." 

3.  From the input area, type regedit and press "Enter." 
The registry 
editor application should open. 

4.  On the left side, expand the HKEY_CURRENT_USER folder 
(or key), then
expand the Software folder under it and select "Yahoo."

5.  If there is a {*filter*} folder, go to the next step. If 
there is no 
{*filter*} below the Yahoo folder, go to the Edit menu and 
click New, Key, 
and type {*filter*}. 

6.  Select the {*filter*} folder. 

7.  From the Edit menu click on New, DWORD Value, and 
type UseVFW 
without any spaces. 

8.  Double-click on the entry UseVFW and change the entry 
in Value data 
to 1. Then click "OK." 

9.  Exit the Registry Editor application. 

10. Restart your system and you should be all set. 


after i restarted my computer windows failed to start and 
will now only start in safe mode, i have tried all of the 
suggestions in the windows help refering to startup 
problems and so far had no luck and  have also tried 
system restore all to no avail.  could someone perhapes 
oint me in the right direction for fixing this problem, 
thank you very much in advance,

andy

From the Safe mode, go to Start - All Programs - Accessories - System
Tools -  System Restore, take 'Restore to earlier date', and choose a
point made before you did the registry editing.


-- 
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
Bournemouth, U.K.   XXXX@XXXXX.COM  (remove the D8 bit)

The other day I shut down my laptop computer and it asked 
if I wanted to download a windows update and then shut 
down or just shut down, I clicked ok to download then the 
the computer shut down, the next day I turn on my laptop 
and it would not start, it boots up then go's to a blue 
screen that says windos xp.  Can anyone help me. Thanks

Hi,

Load into Safe mode if you can, then run System Restore.

How to start in Safe mode:
 http://www.**--****.com/ #Safe%20mode

If you cannot load Safe mode, try Safe mode with command prompt and load 
rstrui.exe from the C:\Windows\system32\restore folder to load the System 
Restore GUI.

-- 
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
 http://www.**--****.com/ 
Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

I have the same problem.However I have tried your solution and the only thing 
that happens is that a window shows up with "System restore" and it is 
empty!!! Nothing happens after that.!!

Hello everyone

Hopefully someone can help with this problem.Running XP Home
(OEM),C,D,E partitions (NFTS).
Restarted yesterday,straight into black screen with various start-up
options: safe mode etc, last known,start normally...Message; Windows
could not start because file missing or
corrupt;\windows\system32\config\system.
No matter what option I choose, it loops back to the same screen.
With the OEM disc, I tried a repair install but it hangs at "searching
for previous installations of Windows".Going down the recovery console
route it hangs when I select option 1 for the installation to log onto.
Obviously the OEM disc is not going to solve this problem.Is there any
way to delete just the C partition so I could reinstall? I understand
that with fdisk you have to delete the logical partitions first.
I could reinstall on to a new drive.
Can I use the old drive as a slave( to get at the data on D and E ) or
will the fact that it has an active C partition be a problem?
Any suggestions greatly appreciated