Windows XP/System Disk Help Please

[flashheart]

Hello folks, for some unknown reason XP has become totally corrupted and the hard drive needs formatting to reinstall XP (according to a computer repairing expert).

I have been led to believe I need to make a system disk on my wife's computer then use it to boot mine and use the format programme to wipe my hard drive. I can then put XP back on. I cannot do this on mine because it will not boot even in safe mode.

The snag is I cannot find any info on making a system disk using XP. Can anybody help please?

Regards

Flashheart

[agent006]

It should work straght off teh CD. You'll get a prompt to "Press any key to boot from CD".

[slinky]

as Agent says, boot off your XP CD and all will become clear

Best of British..

pop back on here if you get any problems..

slinky

[flashheart]

Have already tried that folks but the real snag is even the chap who repairs computers for a living says that the system is so corrupt that reinstalling it from the disk will not work (confirmed by me trying). He suggests a complete disk format followed by an install is the only way forward hence the need for a system disk. Whenever I put the XP disk in it just tries to install or repair, neither of which have solved the problem. The reason I ask is that I remember making a system disk back in Win98 and it was a fairly easy affair done through File Manager I believe. Formatting the disk was easily done by going to the DOS prompt but I cannot do that at the moment.

>> Edited by flashheart on Monday 21st March 21:25

[slinky]

I'm afraid the chap who repairs computers for a living isn't 100% correct there chap...

When you boot from the XP CD you are given the opportunity to either re-install or create a new installation. It is at this point that you can delete the partitions that exist on your drive already and create a new one (or ones, depending on how you wish to configure your disk) on which to install your choice of operating system.

slinky

[flashheart]

Thanks for that Slinky, it is a bit late now to start this so I shall have a try tomorrow.

Cheers

[flashheart]

Oh dear. Have put the disk in and pressed any key to boot from CD. Didn't need to load SCSI or automated system recovery (tried it and it didn't work) so XP goes through the setup routine. It then asks do I want to repair, setup or quit. If I select repair it immediately comes up with a blue screen saying either PFN_LIST_CORRUPT or IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL depending on how it is feeling. Endex.

If I select setup it does exactly the same, goes straight to the blue screen with either one of the above messages. Endex.

I never get any option to format/partition or do anything slightly technical.

Any ideas? Cheers

[john_p]

Sounds like it could be a hardware problem.

My money's on the memory. Get a copy of memtest and install it to a CD, then run the CD in your computer and let it run some tests.

[pebbledash]

john_p said:

Sounds like it could be a hardware problem. My money's on the memory. Get a copy of memtest and install it to a CD, then run the CD in your computer and let it run some tests.

Would be my guess to,

If the Simms are gold plated then they may just need a clean. The best thing is to use a pencil eraser on them, makes them nice and shiny.

And before anyone flames me for being silly, I have had this one and it does work, the gold gets tarnished, and the black marks in it are caused by the gold surface mating with a tin one (the socket contacts) these two dissimilar materials are known to cause and effect called "Base metal migration".

This effect can be stopped by changing the material that the cold is platted onto (not just the copper etc) but I guess only the expensive branded memorys are likley to do this, The unbranded onse are unlikley to due to cost I would think.

Obviously if the contacts into he SIMMs socket are Gold then ignore this advice

[arcturus]

If it wont boot from the windows cd, there are only two explanations.

1. The CD is damaged. Extremely unlikely, but not unheard of.

2. There is a hardware problem - in 99% of cases, this is the one.

I would agree with checking the memory is seated and the contacts are clean (have had this one myself) and while you are in the box, check all the other cards and leads are seated properly and clean as well.

As well as memtest, Microsoft also do a reasonable memory diagnostic.

[Dr Strangelove]

OK. Assuming you want to reformat the drive.

can you connect a floppy drive to it?

If so, get a copy of MS-Dos. (if you are desperate you will find it somewhere on the net).

fire up the laptop with floppy drive and copy of MS-DOS on it.

Go into the System Bios (Usually the Del key when booting).

Once in the BIOS change the Boot Device order to Floppy.

Save the Bios changes.

re-boot to the floppy.

Install MS-Dos

reboot in MSdos

now run Format command

for help with Format command type 'Format/?'


once reformatted, unhook the floppy drive.

change the bios Device Boot Order to CD

reboot into CD


you're away...

[flashheart]

After doing some serious paperwork hunting last night I have some good news and some bad:

Bad news, just spent 2 hrs on phone with helpline formatting partitions, reinstalling etc - to no avail.

Good news, have discovered the £200 I spent on a guarantee might just have been worth it - they collect the laptop next week to fix it. If they cannot fix it, I get a new one.

The bloke at the help centre suggested there may well be a hardware fault just like you folks suggested. Many thanks for taking the time to reply and for your advice.

TTFN