We had the parts from our other PC: hard drives. motherboard, etc. Worked great. They sat in boxes for about a year. We bought a new tower casing to put the stuff in and the computer would not work. Bought a new power supply. No good. Bought a new motherboard. Still no good, but better. New processor. Now it works but Windows will still not boot up. It shows an error message and offers a few different options for Safe Mode, Last Good Configuration and Start Windows Normally but no matter what you pick, it just comes up the error message on a black screen with the safe mode options. I've tried holding F5 or F8 while it's booting to get into the other options but no matter what you choose, it still does the same thing. We then bought a repair and diagnostics kit that says the start-up files for Windows are missing. What in the world could have caused this and is it fixable without wiping the hard drives and reinstalling Windows? There is stuff on them we want, if we can possibly save it.
2007-07-29 12:35:48 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Desktops
You usually have to re-install Windows. In some (rare) cases, you can do a Windows repair install which will preserve programs and data. Pls. use the following link
to go through the different options available to you.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm.
Another option to consider is to disconnect the current hard drive and install a clean XP from retail disks or restore media to a new hard drive. You can then connect the original hard drive after configuring the jumpers to a slave drive.
You can retreive important files. One thing to remember, if a hard drive has not been formatted or written over by reinstalling, the data is accessabile. The less you access a hard drive after a non-boot episode; the better your chances of retreiving your data.
Hope this helps.
2007-07-29 13:01:01 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you have a Windows install disk for the version on the hard drive, go into the BIOS and set the boot order with the CD first.
Boot from the CD and when the disk starts to install Windows, it will detect the old Windows installation. It will offer to repair it. Choose R for repair and it will write the bootup files to the hard drive.
This process shouldn't effect the data on the hard drive since it is working in the Windows directory.
When it finished, remove the installation disk from the CD drive and the computer should boot from the hard drive.
Considering the amount you have already spent, if I were you I would buy an installation disk if you don't already have one.
2007-07-29 20:02:34 · answer #2 · answered by Fed-up 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Welp you have a couple options. One is to buy a new hard drive and install windows on that and then hook the old one up and copy your files off the old hard drive and onto the new hard drive.
The other option is to try to repair the windows install files. You'll have to do that from (asuming you are using windows xp) the windows installation cd. If you go the cd route you'll have to boot from the cd and then when it loads pick the option for "R"epair. That should reload all of your key windows files.
The new hard drive thing is probably easier and hard drives are pretty cheap these days. Plus you'll have more space for music, photos, etc.
2007-07-29 19:52:02 · answer #3 · answered by Ryan 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
gosh---what a mess...
ok - so i am gonna take the easy road....
and you might not like it but here i go....
purchase a new computer...(yes yes yes i know ---but really get a new one). take it home make sure it works ok...and don't tinker with it...leave all the parts alone.
next if the new pc is working correctly...take the new tower and your old hard drives to your local computer shop.
they have the hardware and the sotware to move your files (that you want) from the old drives to the new tower.
sorry...but this just sounds like the best option i could think of...and i've worked computers since 1980....your issue is sort of like that of a tinkering mechanic....
start fresh...you'll be happier....(oh ya ---and when your done...get rid of all your extra parts).
good luck :)
2007-07-29 19:48:08 · answer #4 · answered by Blue October 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
oh dear... did you not know that if you changed anything like the motherboard, windows will not boot up.. reason being is it does not have the motherboard drivers in it's data base folder. so there for it can not setup windows with the computer
reinstall windows again and make sure you have the new motherboard driver cd handy, when you do
2007-07-29 19:47:49 · answer #5 · answered by Carling 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋