Windows XP will not let me format from dos

[Burner]

Ok my friends computer is running under windows xp home edition. one day they tell me that the computer keeps restarting and they keep getting a error message. The message says "sorry for the inconveniance(sp) blah blah blah" Then gives the options, start in safe mode, start with networking, start with command prompt, start with last known configuration, start windows normally. So I hit start windows normally and it starts to load windows, but when it gets to the desktop there is all blue and some writing in the top left hand corner. I can not even read this because The system then restarts about 1/2 a second later. None of the other options work, and safe mode does not even get to the blue screen. When I try to read the blue screen all I can make out is "sys" or it could be "system".

I tried fixing this many ways and I even went through the trouble of making sure all the hardwere was placed correctly and made sure it was showing up in the BIOS. Then I told them to give me thier disk that will restore the computer to factory condition. They told me they did not have it, so I brought mine over, but it does not run. When it gets to being recognized it gives me a red screen saying "please call compaq" for the recovery cd, and a green and red screen with weird characters like you might see if you tried to view a webpage in japanese without the plugins and at this screen it freezes up and I need to push the power button.

They had a windows 95 boot disk so I put that in and got to dos and tried to tell it to format via C:\ then Format C: somone told me I was missing CD\ after C:\, but no matter what I do if I try to access anything on the C drive it tells me some type of error occured abort retry fail? I feel lost and confused because i can not figure out how this happened. They told me that something was getting downloaded, one of them go scared unplugged it from the wall, and it worked for awhile, but then this started to happen.

I am stumped fully please help, thanks.

 

[roho]

Slap the XP disc into the CD drive and run the recovery console. If you dont have the original XP CD then you can get a set of XP Boot floppies here (set the BIOS to boot from A:

http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...ticles/q310/9/94.asp?ID=310994&NoWebContent=1

If the Hd is formatted in NTFS DOS commands will not work.

You need to turn off (untick) the reststart option in System Props/Advanced/Start Up and Recovery/Settings/Auto Restart to be able to read the BSOD or it will keep rebooting on all errors.

Have you tried booting into Safe Mode and doing a system restore?

By the way the blah, blah, blahs can be very useful if they relate to anything same goes for the BSOD.

 

[Lostman]

Did you run a virus scan prior to this? Sounds like you picked up a bug.

 

[Burner]

The error message basically tells me it can be anything "A recent hardware or software change may have caused this" then just tells you to choose start windows normally if you do not know what the others do, or use the start with last known good configuration. Safe mode will not work because it does not even get me to the blue screen. It loads up all the items then plops out after getting stuck on one.

The virus is probably a no. I come over every other day and do maintenance and always have the norton auto-protect on.

I tried the boot floppys. I get to the fourth disk and it gives me this error and tells me to turn off the computer.

File hideusb.sys caused an unexpected error (512) at line 5882 in d:\xpclient\boot\setup\setup.c.
Press any key to continue.

After any key it restarts. Oh and this is a HP if that matters.

How would I turn off the reboot if there is a error thing if dos commands will not work and there is no way to get into windows?

The main problem is I have to work without windows, no way to get to it and I have tried many. I want to format, but the commands are not registered and tell me either "access denied" or "a error has occured" and this is when I put in the windows 95 boot floppy.

Please help this is frustrating and I really do not want to tell them they need a new hard drive.

 

[ekÆsine]

They told me that something was getting downloaded, one of them go scared unplugged it from the wall, and it worked for awhile, but then this started to happen.

it sounds like your problem had something to do with that. maybe whatever they downloaded was configuring their sysem and when they pulled the power out the update corrupted their operating system. tell them never pull the power out abruptly unless they have a very good reason. that can also cause data corruption on the hard disk.

ok so to your problem, win95 boot disk would probably not see any partitions as roho said i bet the partitions are NTFS so DOS wont be able to access it. simply using your restore CD from your own compaq computer wont work because they have an HP computer. restore CD's usually are images of a partition on a hard disk where the Operating system resides. restore CD's are specially made for one type of computer only. do not tell them they need a new hard disk. im sure there is nothing worng with it.

you have several solutions 1) visit HP website or call HP and request a replacement restore CD for their specific computer model 2) use a windows XP operating system CD to install a fresh copy of winxp

it sound like you've never done this before so i'd suggest you get someone who knows what they are doing to help you. and remember most importantly backup all their data before you continue to do anything else. if that means installing their hard disk to another computer to save data than do it. they will be angry if you lose their data, trust me i know this lesson well

 

[Burner]

Thanks for the information. My teacher today in my computer repair class told me almost the same thing. She told me to call HP and ask them to guide me through it. I would like to know more about this "replacing the hard drive to save the info" thing. I would like to not erase all their info, but they did give me the "ok" as long as it saves their computer.

I believe the problem will be fixed soon though. First I am going to try a boot floppy I made with my computer (I was assured it would not work by my teacher though because my hardware is different then thiers). Second I am going to proptly call HP for a new recovery cd. Third....Everything should be good so no third.

I thought I could just fix this on my own, and figured if I was going to learn anything I would need to figure this out on my own. If I went into this field then somone brought this problem into me, what would I tell them?

Anyway I will go ahead and post back when I finally get this fix.

 

[ekÆsine]

Their are several way to backup their data, but i will tell you the easiest way to avoid confusion for you AND myself (mostly for myself).

you will need to install the HP hard disk in another computer that runs either windows 2000 or windows XP since it seems the HP computer was formatted with an NTFS partition. if you dont know how to install a second hard disk ask your teacher or let me know and i will describe it to you. copy the data to the other computer. after you fix the HP machine install it back so you can copy the data back to the HP hard disk.

as for the boot disk i dont think windows 2000 or windows XP uses a boot disk like windows 98 does for security reasons, not certain about that so don't take my word for it.

if you can't get the HP restore CD you will need to use a windows xp operating system CD or whatever operating system you want to install. im sure your teacher can help you with this if you can't afford to buy a new operating system.

the most important thing is ask your teacher if he can help you with all this OR if there is a way for you to instant message me on another computer while you work on the HP i will be glad to help as i have too much free time on my hands.

 

[Burner]

Thank you for the offer for help, thankfully it will not come to this. I am glad you told me how to fix the computer if all else fails.

So here is what happened. I used my floppy and it did not work, like predicted (btw to create a boot floppy you put in a floppy, right click the a drive, format, then at the options check create a ms-dos startup disk. I do not know if this matters though.). So my next step was to call HP (wich was very busy). When I got through they told me the warrenty was out of date and that tech help as far as repairing would cost money etc. He did tell me though that factory disks and windows xp disks were on a partition of the hard drive. By hitting F10 repeatedly (F1 is the bios on this HP) I was able to access that partition and reinstall windows =). Everything was there still, but windows updates had to be redone naturally and a few passwords that were stored were missing i.e. AOL instant messanger's password and settings. So it is fixed=).

As I said thanks for telling me how to fix a computer if it does not have this as a option. I am sure it will help me in my class and on some occasions in the future. Thank you all for your responses to this problem and I hope that this does not happen to you, and if it does I hope it is easier then what I did.....of course if I was less "Oh I can fix it" and more" Maybe we should call someone" I would have solved this sooner. But then again thats kinda why I was here.

P.S. The reason the disks were on the drive was because according to the tech rep "To many people end up losing the cd's and we end up sending more out". So it is most likely more cost effective to do it this way.

 

[Apokalipse]

see if you can use another OS CD (like Windows 98) just to format the drive, or you could temporarily move his HDD to your computer to format

 

[microsoftne]

use fdisk, to delete all partitions, then make a new one/or utilize the full drive, set it to active, reboot, from a: format c:\
that should take care of it. Make sure the bios, are set so that it will search for cd-rom, and boot from the cd.