System Restoration CD not being read

M

mamcdonald

New Member
Hello.

I literally just registered for this site a minute ago because I basically just need to ask one question and get some advice.

I have two computers: an HP desktop, which was my only computer for a while but I have been using it for the last year or so as an audio production computer (I'm a musician), and my IBM ThinkPad, which is now my "general usage" computer.

The HP is around 5 years old or so and, as I received it when I was much less informed about spyware/virus'/etc., some features have become less friendly to work with if they work at all. Alot of my .dll files are missing somehow, my recycle bin is messed up as is my file/folder search function and, to the point of this thread, my disc drives appear to be screwed up.

On multiple instances I've tried to run the system restore discs but when following the instructions, they don't seem to work correctly. The instructions are to put the disc in the computer (either drive, I assume [I've tried both]), turn it off, wait a minute, then turn it back on. The system restore screen is supposed to pop up but it hasn't. It almost seems like the drives don't really start working until I'm completely booted up/logged in/etc. When I go to My Computer, it recognizes the disk but I don't believe I can run the system restore once the computer has been completely booted up.

Basically I just need to start my OS from the beginning and system restore won't work. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.
 
If you are currently running XP and have a full install disk onhand you could easily perform a "install to repair" of Windows where the basic system files are reinstalled without effect on the main files, folders, and programs you already have installed. The method is described in detail at http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

With the system restore disks only the condition of main Windows system files at this point suggests the need for a totally new installation of Windows will probably be needed. Without the full installation disk you would need to order one to have onhand in order to reformat the drive which is probably well overdue for the new copy of Windows to be installed.

The best advice here is to backup any important files you want off of the drive before going any further. If the drive is failing you would lose everything. That could another reason for the problems you are now seeing.
 
Yes, I have XP and I believe I have the CD for it around here somewhere. But I would like to do a COMPLETE reinstall of everything. You say it can keep files, folders, and programs in place but I want to restart completely and make this computer solely for audio recording. Thus, I want to get rid of all the erroneous apps and programs that have been installed on it in years past; they're just taking up "space".

Everything that's important has been backed up (which is very little) so if I have the system restore and a copy of the original OS software that came with the computer, how can I "start from scratch" (keep in mind, this was written after just skimming through that link posted).
 
If you have everything already saved elsewhere and have a full install disk your problems are pretty much solved. You would simply boot from the installation disk to see the initial screens come up until you arrive at one screen where you have a coice between pressing the "R" key to go to the recover console in order to repair the current installation or start the installer.

By pressing the enter key at that time you look for the detected drive/partition on the next. Once that comes up you press the "L" for delete the current option and after the "D" key when prompted for deletion of the current partition. That wipes the drive. Upon a return to the first screen you now start the installer after to create the new primary partition when the installer shows the total drive space detected. The installer will then partition and format the drive once you confirm that Windows is to be installed.
 
You may just need to check your BIOS to see if the first device it will boot from is your CD. often times, it's setup to look at the HDD before the CD device so your disks would go undetected as you reported.
 
On many HP and other complete systems the option to boot from the cd drive is a quick press of the F8 or other assigned key when the post tests are just completing and before Windows starts loading. If you are unable to boot from the cd there you would then go into the bios setup to assign the cd rom as the first device and disable everything else. That will force the system to boot from the cd only.
 
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