Hey guys

Hoping that you can help me out here. I currently have a laptop that we are trying to repair, however we have hit a problem. We know that there are Windows files missing, so we have been trying to use the Windows Setup menu i.e. booting it from the recovery disk that came with the laptop, to repair the files. The problem is that is will get to the screen where it says hit enter to format, r to repair etc. but when we press any key, it just stops dead . We've tried using recovery points but they all come back incomplete

We've even tried using different Windows XP disks but the same happens with them. Can anyone help out? We've basically been given permission to do whatever to it (so the idea of throwing it out the window and claiming criminal damages is possible lol) so we've even tried formating it by selecting format in Windows, but to no avail.

It was originally taking...wait for it..... 45 minutes to boot so we originally thought a virus. Now we've removed everything program wise, its only 15 minutes (but that's the length of time mines take so to me that's normal).

We're running out of ideas, so I guess it's over to you guys.

Thanks in advance from all concerned

i dont know if this is possible but if you could open the laptop, remove the hard drive, connect it to a desktop(without any other hard drive connected) and use Dban to wipe everything out .. then you'd insert the hard drive back into the laptop and install windows from a normal windows cd

My doubt is if laptop hard drives connect by normal ide ports

If possible I want to avoid removing any components phically from the laptop.

hmm.. i guess you can also use dban in the laptop as long as you can boot from a cd / floopy.. just burn dban into a cd / floopy and use it there then install windows.. will that work ?

Can you boot the computer normally or in safe mode?

Case then try to do this -> go to start>run and type sfc /scannow

This will scan for missing windows files and will attempt to repair them, if it can't it will copy the file from the cd.

Do you need to get any files off the PC, or are you just going to blow the whole lot away and start from scratch?

One alternative that has served me well in the past, is to use a Linux distro which boots and runs from CD. This could a root to getting access to the files etc on the HD without taking the drive out of the machine. 2 distros that spring to mind are Ubuntu and Knoppix (easily found on Mr G. Oogle )

If you could give more details on what exactly you are trying to achieve, it might help to work out how best to do it

We copied the necessary files just in case we had to format anyways.

We'll give your idea a try Ezra and get back to you

I'll give the shortened version: We want to repair/replace the files that are missingso hopefully it will work. Failing that, we're doing a complete format and starting from scratch.

I apologise for double posting, but I thought that instead of starting a new thread, I would add the problem here since it's related.

The laptop now boots up in 3 minutes so the the suggestion made by Ezra worked so thanks for that. The problem we now have is that when we boot the laptop we are presented with a screen that asks if we want to load Windows XP or to go to the Window XP Setup. It is automatically set on Windows XP setup and if we don't select it in time, it comes up saying that there is a missing file hal.dll (I think that is the right file). How do we stop this screen from appearing (i.e. to stop asking us to make the choice).

Also, how do you rid yourself of a partition on the hard drive?

Thanks once again

quote:

---

Originally posted by Vazza
How do we stop this screen from appearing (i.e. to stop asking us to make the choice).

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Vazza
Also, how do you rid yourself of a partition on the hard drive?

---

Is that the only way to remove a partition? We were asked to see if we could remove it so we could format the whole drive and do a fresh install but if is then don't worry

right click on "my computer" and select "Manage". Then go to "Disk Management", select the partition you want to delete, right click again and select "Delete".

Concerning the boot menu: right click again on "my computer" and select properties. Go to the tab "Advanced" en click in the "Startup and Recovery" section on the button "Settings". In the section "Startup Settings" you can select the default OS from the list. After hitting apply, you can click on the "Edit" button to edit the boot.ini file by yourself. Remove the line, which mention the XP Setup and save the file. Now you pc should startup XP by default, without bothering you with a menu asking which OS you want to start .

Hope this helps!

I'd like to add, Once your using windows xp after you've got files replaced etc.

it is very unstable and generally it comes up with more problems and stuff.

reason your get the coice between setup and default xp install is because you booted from CD and went whole way thru the options there for xp looks if its doing a new install.

I'd highly recommend that you format your laptop and start over again.

After stuff like whats happened your laptop will suffer preformance drop, and there will be other corrupted files about that will result in other stuff not working.


You have nothing to lose so why waste time patching a laptop that will result in a preformance drop??

Only reason you need to do that is if you have important stuff on it that you need from your posts you got of what you needed so just format it.


You can format by runnning thru the xp install.

it will take you to select which drive to install xp on but before you do that. select the C; drive and delete it usually dont by

hit D then takes you to another screen you hit L then you hit enter(some where along those lines)

select the unparititioned drive you just created press enter. select to format quick using NTFS.

and of you go just fill in what ever else is needed when it comes up.

CD key default Lang ,Lapop name and so on

Thanks guys but I think we've actually handed the laptop back for her to get a "professional" to fix it.

It was still hanging when we got into the XP setup and selected anything so we reckon that there is something else going on that we don't know about. We did what we could for her, probably making it worse, but hey, what can I say?

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mike

Try doing this:

Start -> Run -> msconfig -> BOOT.INI -> Set Windows XP as a default boot source -> Set timeout to 1 second -> OK

This wont really get rid of the screen, but it will autoselect windows xp after one second.

---