windows xp

[bill of oz]

im looking to buy a retail version of windows xp seeing as i dont have the disc that came with the computer and i need to repair a windows problem.....

i see them listed with service pack 2 or 3 ???

what does this mean? which one do i need to buy? which is most recent?

 

[Bodaggit23]

Service Pack 3 is the most recent.

Even if you bought XP with SP2, you could still update it to SP3.

 

[kimsland]

im looking to buy a retail version of windows xp

On a recent thread you stated you had a "compaq v3000 notebook"
These computers usually come with Recovery discs or Recovery Partitions (the partition usually accessible by pressing the appropriate key like F10 or something at system startup)

To purchase this "Restore" disc, you can contact HP here:

Note you can purchase a "Retail" XP SP3 CD (at higher cost than your Recovery disc) here:
XP Home: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116511
XP Professional: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116515

You can also find more information (and download link) on XP Service Pack 3 here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsxp/sp3/default.mspx

 

[bill of oz]

What do I do with the recovery partition? I don't understand, I know a bit but not a lot,

Windows won't boot, if I boot with a windows xp cd it says no hard drive found,

If I boot with a windows 98 cd I can access my c: drive but the only directory listed is a "recovery" directory, can I do something with this?

Why doesn't it list the entire contents of the c drive?

 

[johnb35]

Windows 98 can't see ntfs partitions, your recovery partition is fat32 I believe. You will need to contact your laptop manufacturer on how to recover your OS. You may be able to look in the laptops owners manual on how to recover the OS since you have a recovery partition. You will either have a recovery cd to use or you will have to boot into a special recovery partition on the hard drive.

 

[wildbill]

99% of the time, the recovery partition or the so-called recovery discs will leave you hanging. Get a retail version and your good to go.

 

[Bodaggit23]

99% of the time, the recovery partition or the so-called recovery discs will leave you hanging. Get a retail version and your good to go.

Hmm. Not so, unless the user corrupts them by formatting.

I find the recovery partition a must for new computer users.

Crash due to mega virus?

Press F10 upon Reboot to enter Recovery. Voila. Back to new. :good:

 

[kimsland]

99% of the time, the recovery partition or the so-called recovery discs will leave you hanging.

I don't understand what you mean?
It is true that if you use a Recovery disc on an OEM computer that has had extra Ram cards or even an addon aftermarket PCI card, that the Recovery image may "hang". Therefore just remove these added components

Otherwise the Recovery Partition is an excellent idea
I do recommend that you contact your manufacture on a Recovery disc though, much much easier (and way cheaper than purchasing a retail version of Windows

Edit:
Oh Bodaggit23 replied

 

[wildbill]

Get a Windows XP SP 3 disc.

 

[kimsland]

Maybe I'll be clearer wildbill. Don't do this

 

[wildbill]

Hmm. Not so, unless the user corrupts them by formatting.

I find the recovery partition a must for new computer users.

Crash due to mega virus?

Press F10 upon Reboot to enter Recovery. Voila. Back to new. :good:

I don't understand what you mean?
It is true that if you use a Recovery disc on an OEM computer that has had extra Ram cards or even an addon aftermarket PCI card, that the Recovery image may "hang". Therefore just remove these added components

Otherwise the Recovery Partition is an excellent idea
I do recommend that you contact your manufacture on a Recovery disc though, much much easier (and way cheaper than purchasing a retail version of Windows

Edit:
Oh Bodaggit23 replied

Sounds like the both of you had better luck than I did, along with a dozen other people I know.

 

[kimsland]

Recovery discs (and partitions) work for every single new OEM computer sold
I hope you are not suggesting that it doesn't?
I suspect that in your case, you had a hardware conflict, as I stated above

 

[bill of oz]

okay so i have a windows xp retail version.....i put it in and boot up.....sometimes it will boot up with the disc and the blue screen comes up.....i hit R for repair and it says no hard drive is detected????

other times when i boot i hear the cd turning for a min and then it tries to boot from the hard drive and gives me the same error messege????

i went into BIOS and tried to do a hard drive test.....the test didnt even get to 1% before it stopped and came up with this....."test#1 - 07 failed".....does this mean my hard drive is toast??

the hard drive is seagate and i also downloaded and performed their hard drive test and it failed that one miserably and was not able to repair it.

 

[Bodaggit23]

does this mean my hard drive is toast??

Yes, probably.

 

[kimsland]

Compaq Presario V3000 CTO Notebook PC

Download this Hard Drive controller driver: http://downloadmirror.intel.com/14796/eng/f6flpy32.zip
Unzip it
You will need 1 blank (preferably new formatted) floppy disk
Place the floppy in the drive
Double click on the extracted file (which will then copy the files to the floppy disk)

When installing the "Retail" version of XP, you will see a prompt that says "Press F6..."

• Please press F6 key
• When prompted, select 'S' to Specify Additional Device.
• Put your driver floppy disk in (that you just created), in the drive
• At this point you should be presented with a selection for one of the following depending on your hardware version and configuration:
  • - Intel(R) 82801GBM SATA AHCI Controller (Mobile ICH7M)
  • - Intel(R) 82801GR/GH SATA RAID Controller (Desktop ICH7R/DH)
  • - Intel(R) 82801GR/GH SATA AHCI Controller (Desktop ICH7R/DH)
  • - Intel(R) 82801FR SATA RAID Controller (Desktop ICH6R)
  • - Intel(R) 82801FR SATA AHCI Controller (Desktop ICH6R)
  • - Intel(R) 82801FBM SATA AHCI Controller (Mobile ICH6M)
  • - Intel(R) 82801ER SATA RAID Controller (Desktop ICH5R)
• Highlight the selection that is appropriate for the hardware in your system and press Enter
• Press Enter again to continue. Leave the disk in the system until the next reboot as the software will need to be copied from the disk again when setup is copying files.

Continue Windows Setup
Note: the "Controller Driver' that you select is dependent upon which hardware you have, you can contact HP here: to confirm, which one, if unsure.

By the way, the "Restore disc" will not have this issue

 

[bill of oz]

thank you kim for your help, but i dont have a floppy drive on my desktop computer or the laptop im trying to fix.....is there any other way to do it by cd???

 

[kimsland]

http://www.megafileupload.com/en/file/139619/Burn2CD-zip.html

Sorry for the stupid page
But just click the link
Wait (don't do anything for 30secs)
Then click on the "Download" button

Once downloaded, extract it
Then burn the files to CD

By the way I usually use www.savenow.com (as my file server) but they're "under construction". I had to resort to the horrible megafileupload ooo yuk!


Edit:
Oh in case the link goes down for any future users searching for this:
I ended up downloading Winimage (trial only, I don't pay for any program ) then I used that to extract the IMA file from the original link

 

[flalynda]

Get SP2, but the recent is SP3, if you get SP2 you can get updated to SP3, or you can directly get SP3.

 

[bill of oz]

thanks for all your help,

a little update, without using your file i somehow got the computer to boot with a windows xp disk now, then i click on the "R" for recovery,

after i hit the R it does a few tests on the hard drive (at the bottom of the screen some writing comes up) then after about 30 seconds the blue screen disappears, it goes to a black screen and sits at the C:/ prompt,

if i type in "dir" it comes up with some error like it cant read the drive,

the only way possible i can somewhat access my c: drive is to boot with a windows 98 cd that i made,

from there i have tried to run bootcfg programs but it wont let me, comes up with some error again,

i tried running scandisk from there and it starts and checks out the drive and fixes some errors, but when it gets to the "file system" part it gets stuck a 2%

i have tried it many times and stays at 2% i even left it overnight,

are there any other recovery programs i could use? do you think ordering an hp recovery disk is worth the price? cause im kinda thinking the drive is toast,

if i try to install windows xp it will erase the drive contents, correct?

opinions? thanks

 

[bill of oz]

further update.........

now when i boot with the hard drive it comes up and says "missing operating system" in the top left corner and thats it......all of my partitions are gone, is there any way to get this drive going again to be able to recover my files on it??

i tried scandisk and now all it says is "scandisk can not examine drive C"