Need Help with using XP CD Repair option

[quiq]

I booted up today and after the bios logo showed up it went to a black screen that said Boot Disk Failure, Insert CD....

I put in my XP CD and it booted up to the blue menu and I hit R for Repair.
.
Then it goes to a black screen that says

1: D:\Windows

Which Windows Installation would you like to log onto?

So I enter "1"

"Type Adminstrator password:" I typed in the password I use to log into windows and it said "NOT VALID" RETYPE

So I knew I entered the right password but it didnt accept so I just hit enter and then it said

D:\windows>

And thats where I'm at now.....


I rebooted with CD and when I got to the blue menu, instead of hiting R, I hit Enter to go to the Install Windows mode....It showed my disk partitions and it showed that I had 2 gigs of free space remaining on the C: drive...So it shows that I have all my data being on the disk....

Any help please to fix my windows and save my data from being erased?

 

[MrCoffee]

is your XP CD a SP2 version? if so you can quite easily do a repair install (different to the repair console), just select install then the same directory as your current windows installation then when propted opt for repair installation.

From the repair console you can try repairing the boot sector & MBR etc. with commands like fixmbr and fixboot.

 

[quiq]

Unfortunately, the CD just says XP HOME version 2002 (but I purchased it just last year).

Could i try what you said anyway? SP2 was installed on my windows before my computer crashed today, and I also have an SP2 cdrom, but its not really an actual XP Windows CD

I'm now at the screen where it says "XP HOME SETUP"

And it shows my D: partition1 [NTFS] 152617MB (2697MB Free)

(^ but that should be my main c: drive, its calling it D: instead though)

To set up XP on the selected Item, press Enter
To Create a partition in the unpartitioned space, press C
To delete selected partition, press C

It also shows below a C: Partition1 (New Volume) NTFS 238474MB (191429 MB FREE)

But that is actually my second hard drive that I named M: that I installed just to store media files.

 

[quiq]

I've been in this situation before, where my XP CD helped me get back into windows after a disk boot problem...But I cant remember what I did. Is just hitting enter from the menu I typed above safe? Or do I need to try something else?

 

[Osiris]

when it asks you for the password. press enter. you more than likely dont use the default admin account even thou you are an admin on the machine

 

[quiq]

when it asks you for the password. press enter. you more than likely dont use the default admin account even thou you are an admin on the machine

I did, I just hit enter and it just displays a D:\windows>
which doesnt seem incredibly helpful.

I was wondering if I could just try installing windows on the existing drive/partition that xp is already on and it will just reinstall whatever's corrupted and keep my existing files...Or will it erase everything?

 

[Osiris]

why dont you try using the repair feature instead of recovery console?

 

[quiq]

why dont you try using the repair feature instead of recovery console?

what's the difference between the two?...When I boot from cd I can either hit R or hit ENTER....I tried the R, is that the recovery console?

 

[Osiris]

XP Repair install

Please read carefully and make sure you followed the warning links before initiating the Repair Install. You can print a text version for reference. repair.txt

Boot the computer using the XP CD. You may need to change the boot order in the system BIOS so the CD boots before the hard drive. Check your system documentation for steps to access the BIOS and change the boot order.
When you see the "Welcome To Setup" screen, you will see the options below
This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft
Windows XP to run on your computer:

To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.

To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

Press Enter to start the Windows Setup. do not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R", (you Do Not want to load Recovery Console). I repeat, do not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R".
Accept the License Agreement and Windows will search for existing Windows installations.
Select the XP installation you want to repair from the list and press R to start the repair.
Setup will copy the necessary files to the hard drive and reboot. Do not press any key to boot from CD when the message appears. Setup will continue as if it were doing a clean install, but your applications and settings will remain intact.

 

[quiq]

I got to the part where it list the partitions of my hard drives. I highlighted the one where XP is currently installed, there was no "R" option on the menu so I hit ENTER.

Then it says "Setup will install windows xp on partition
D: PArtition1 {NTFS] 152617 MB (2697 MB Free)

it lists 3 options...

"format partition using NTFS file system (quick)"
"format the partition using the NTFS file system"
"leave the current file system intact (no changes)"

So I select the "leave current file system intact" Am I right?