Things you can do when Windows XP didn't Boot up.
Hello there, today i would like to share some useful information about windows XP boot up. Although Vista is the main Os in many computer nowadays. But for me I prefer XP because in Xp have a lot of advantage that was hidden by Microsoft.
Let's back to the main topic. What you gonna do when you XP wouldn't boot after turn on your pc? For those who have experienced before or have some knowledge with them probably know what to do with this situation occur. But what about those who didn't know anything about this? I'm quite sure that you will panic and probably will hold the button to restart back their pc. What if the same problem occur eventhough you have press the "on" button many time?
When your pc appears to power up okay, but the operating system (OS) won't boot properly, you have tostart a troubleshooting expedition that includes getting into the OS, determine the problem and then try to fix it. To help you get started, here things you can do when Windows XP won't boot.
Use a Windows startup disk:
This is the first things you should do when troubleshoot the Windows XP boot problem. This floppy disk can come in handy if the problem is caused when either the startup record for the active partition or files that operating system uses to start Windows have corrupted.
To create a Windows startup disk, insert a floppy disk into the drive of a similarly, working Window XP system, launch My Computer, right-click the floppy disk icon and select the Fprmat command from the context menu. When you see the Format dialog box, leave all the default settings as they are and then click the Start button. When the format operation is complete, close the Format dialog box to return to My Computer. After that, double click the drive C icon to access the root directory and copy the following three files to the floppy disk:
- Boot.ini
- NLTDR
- Ntdetect.com
Last Known Good Configuration :
You can also try to bot the OS with the Last Known Good Cofiguration feature. This feature will allow you to undo any changes that caused problens in current control set registry key, which defines hardware and driver settings. This features will replaces the contents of the current control set registry key with a backup copy that was last use to successfully start up the OS.
How to use the Last Known Good Configuration feature? To use this features, firstly, restart the computer by pressing [Ctrl][Alt][Delete]. When you see the message Please select the operating system to start or hear the single beep, press [F8] to display the Windows Advanced Options menu. Select the Last Known Good Configuration item from the menu and press [Enter].
Always remember that you get only one shot with the Last Known Good Configuration feature. In other words, if it fails to revive your Windows XP on the first attempt, the backup copy is also corrupt.
System Restore
Another tool that might be helpful when Windows XP won't boot is System Restore. System Restore runs in the background as a service and continually monitors system-critical components for changes. When it detects an impending change, System Restore immediately makes backup copies, called restore points, of these critical components before the change occurs. In addition, System Restore is configured by default to create restore points every 24 hours.
To use System Restore, first restart the computer by pressing [Ctrl][Alt][Delete]. When you see the message Please select the operating system to start or hear the single beep, press [F8] to display the Windows Advanced Options menu. Now, select the Safe Mode item from the menu and press [Enter].
Once Windows XP boots into Safe mode, click the Start button, access the All Programs | Accessories | System Tools menu, and select System Restore. Because you're running in Safe mode, the only option on the opening screen of the System Restore wizard is Restore My Computer To An Earlier Time, and it's selected by default, so just click Next. Then, follow along with the wizard to select a restore point and begin the restoration procedure.
Disable automatic restart
When Windows XP encounters a fatal error, the default setting for handling such an error is to automatically reboot the system. If the error occurs while Windows XP is booting, the operating system will become stuck in a reboot cycle—rebooting over and over instead of starting up normally. In that case, you'll need to disable the option for automatically restarting on system failure.
When Windows XP begins to boot up and you see the message Please select the operating system to start or hear the single beep, press [F8] to display the Windows Advanced Options Menu. Then, select the Disable The Automatic Restart On System Failure item and press [Enter]. Now, Windows XP will hang up when it encounters the error and with any luck, it will display a stop message you can use to diagnose the problem.
Restore from a backup :
If you can't seem to repair a Windows XP system that won't boot and you have a recent backup, you can restore the system from the backup media. The method you use to restore the system will depend on what backup utility you used, so you'll need to follow the utility's instructions on how to perform a restore operation.
Perform an in-place upgrade :
If you can't repair a Windows XP system that won't boot and you don't have a recent backup, you can perform an in-place upgrade. Doing so reinstalls the operating system into the same folder, just as if you were upgrading from one version of Windows to another. An in-place upgrade will usually solve most, if not all, Windows boot problems.
Performing a Windows XP in-place upgrade is pretty straightforward. To begin, insert the Windows XP CD into the drive, restart your system, and boot from the CD. Once the initial preparation is complete, you’ll see the Windows XP Setup screen (shown earlier in Figure A). Press [Enter] to launch the Windows XP Setup procedure. In a moment, you’ll see the License Agreement page and will need to press [F8] to acknowledge that you agree. Setup will then search the hard disk looking for a previous installation of Windows XP. When it finds the previous installation, you’ll see a second Windows XP Setup screen
This screen will prompt you to press R to repair the selected installation or to press [Esc] to install a fresh copy of Windows XP. In this case, initiating a repair operation is synonymous with performing an in-place upgrade, so you’ll need to press R. When you do so, Setup will examine the disk drives in the system. It will then begin performing the in-place upgrade.
Fixboot [drive]
Where [drive] is the letter of the drive to which you want to write a new partition boot sector.
Fix a corrupt master boot record :
The master boot record occupies the first sector on the hard disk and is responsible for initiating the Windows boot procedure. The master boot record contains the partition table for the disk as well as a small program called the master boot code, which is responsible for locating the active, or bootable, partition, in the partition table. Once this occurs, the partition boot sector takes over and begins loading Windows. If the master boot record is corrupt, the partition boot sector can't do its job and Windows won't boot.
If you suspect Windows XP won't boot because the master boot record has been corrupted, you can use the Recovery Console tool Fixmbr to fix it. First, boot the system with the Windows XP CD and access the Recovery Console as described in #4.
To use the Fixmbr tool, from the Recovery Console command prompt, type
Fixmbr [device_name]
Where [device_name] is the device pathname of the drive to which you want to write a new master boot record. For example, the device pathname format for a standard bootable drive C configuration would look like this:
\Device\HardDisk0
** After you perform an in-place upgrade or repair installation, you must reinstall all updates to Windows.
