Failure to Boot

[kyle_godfrey]

I own a Compaq Presario 900 with XP HE, and for the 3rd time now in about 2 months, the notebook has failed to boot up. The other two times I took the computer to a local repair shop, payed $200 for labor and gotten it back in working order. Something seems fishy though as the computer has no virus or any other "foreign entities" that should cause a such failure. When I turn the computer on I get this message: "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt. <windows root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe. Please re-install a copy of the above file." Does anyone know why this could be happening and what I can do about it.

 

[tamtam777]

Insert your Xp disk into the CD drive, choose "boot from command prompt" when the menu appears.

Type in the following at command prompt

copy d:\I386\Driver.cab c:\system32\ntoskrnl.exe /v

if D is the letter of your CD drive, use whatever applies

press enter

Take the CD out when complete and reboot.

 

[kyle_godfrey]

I believe I sent you a pm, but let's see. Thanks for the advice tamtam. I have another question. How do I save files that are on the computer before I do this process, or do I need to. Will they still be there after I do this process? Thanks.

 

[Alvin.C]

Re:

Hello,

...tamtam's fix will only replace (restore) the ntoskrnl.exe, nothing else. So there is no need to backup (however you should frequently even though ure PC works fine )

However, just a warning...have you recently installed SP2? I don't think the ntoskrnl.exe file on the Windows XP with SP1 Installation CD is compatible with SP2. Trying won't harm it though ...

 

[kyle_godfrey]

Thanks guys. I've got to wait a couple of days to get my cd's mailed to me from Atlanta, but I'll keep ya'll updated on what I can do. Thanks again.