XP Pro wont start

D

david miles

New Member
Hello.
I have a problem with my elderly XP Pro operating system. At switch on, all I get is a blank screen. By using F5 at start up, I can get into bios etc. I have tried to get into safe mode by selecting floppy drive and using an XP recovery disc that I found. I have tried selecting the cd drive and using both of the os cd,s that I have for my os. I have tried selecting hdd drive, but all I get is 16 lines of driver info. I even left these on the screen overnight, hoping that it would eventually go into safe mode, so that I could use system recovery. Anyone any idea's what else I can do, to get back to a time before my daughter tried to download music from pirate bay, and everything went wrong.
Thanks for any help.

David
 
Does it say anything out of the Ordinary in the BIOS>? You could put Linux on it (the USB stick and the system) using backtrack and a USB Stick, you'd have to change USB to first priority in the BIOS, then install XP via Linux; there is probably a simpler solution.

Try taking it apart and putting it back together again:P
 
Last edited:
Hello fastdud101.
Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately, your answer is beyond my capability. I hope to be able to find an easier way!
David
 
Sorry, I admit my wording was not brilliant.
Basically what I was trying to say:
You can get into the BIOS, right? :)
Your computer prioritises various bits e.g. On most computers, the system will read any USB storage device before it starts to do all its stuff With the Hard Drive :) If this is not the case, then you can change the order of things that the computer reads in the BIOS, under >BOOT :)
If you downloaded a version of Linux (A free OS) via another computer, onto a USB mass storage device
i.e. a memory stick
Then plug it in to your dead computer, and voila, you have Linux
Then insert your WinXP recovery disk and install in the Linux GUI :)

You'll need a Memory Stick, and a copy of BackTrack software- get it @
http://www.backtrack-linux.org/

Was that any clearer? I'm hopeless at explaining myself :o
 
hello.fastdude101.
Thank you for getting back to me, but I have now found out that my hard drive is toast. Thank you for your help.
David
 
david miles said:
hello.fastdude101.
Thank you for getting back to me, but I have now found out that my hard drive is toast. Thank you for your help.
David
Click to expand...


Ouch. You have 2 options now

1.) Buy a new Hard Drive, and try the steps above
2.)Buy/Build* a new system ~ sometimes it's good to have a change

*my personal favourite :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top