My IBM thinkpad is acting up, need help?

Question

i have a ibm thinkpad, and it is giving me trouble rebooting up to windows XP....it was working the otherday, now it keeps coming up to the screen where it allows me to choose safe mode or normal, but any choice i choose it just keeps restarting and going back to that screen, i can't seem to get past that point...any advice?

i dont have the windows XP cd's anymore.....

i have a windows vista cd from my new laptop would that work?

windows vista doesnt work due to lack of memory

Answer 1

If you want to do a repair, don't choose the repair option first. That is, when you get the first two options:
1. Setup Windows or
2. Repair Windows Installation using the Recovery console.
Choose "Setup Windows" instead.
Press enter then F8 when required to accept the end user agreement.
Setup will then search for previous versions of installed Windows. It will then ask if you wish to Repair your current installation or install a fresh copy. Press R, which will run a repair installation. Just follow the instructions from there.

Why not use the first option? you ask. Well, you may need to use if the setup fails to do a repair as I described it for you earlier due to a damaged boot.ini file. Let us know if that happens and I will describe how to do it.

BUT, wait.. have you tried the option "Last known working configuration"? on that screen you're getting? Try that first.

Answer 2

Try a repair installation of Windows XP. Here's how....

REPAIRING OR REINSTALLING WINDOWS XP


Turn your PC on and insert the Windows XP disk into the CD/DVD drive.

Reboot/restart the PC. This will cause the PC to boot from the XP disk and not the hard drive..

Allow the PC to run the boot up sequence. It will stop at a “black and white” screen and there will be an option to select a “repair” installation or a “full” installation.

NOTE:

If you simply want to repair/fix any and all corrupted and/or problem XP files select the “repair” option. This will only rewrite the XP files and will not affect any of your personal files or software on your PC.

If you want to Format the hard drive and rebuild it completely select the “full” installation option. Be aware that with this option you will “erase” all the files and software on that hard drive.


Select either the “repair” or “full” installation option and simply let the software run. Follow any onscreen prompts that may appear, especially during the “full” installation.

Hope this helps.