Pc wont start :-(

[Mosher]

Hi folks im hoping some1 can help me sort out my pc. I just started a dtp course and hav very little knowledge about pc's. I was working on it earlier this morning en shut down with no errors. Then when i started it up this afternoon it started giving me error msgs "invalid boot.ini" en it takes me to the windows xp installation screen. En asks for the sp2 cd. I dont hav the cd i downloaded it from ms website en burnt it onto a cd en its not booting from that cd. I put in my xp pro cd en it re installs windows en asks me for organisation name etc. I took the cd out en restarted the pc fearing this would wipe out all the stuff i got on the pc.
I looked for help online en it gives solutions about starting the RECOVERY CONSOLE. im really dof when it comes to this can some1 please help me. Thanks

[lancelot]

Most of the technical people will be on in the morning, with luck some may come on tonight.

[Tander]

Sounds like the boot sector has failed.

It also sounds like you've already started the repair install, in which case it's asking for for the XP CD with SP2 on it.


Correct?

[po10cy]

when you restart your pc and boot from the cd, it will ask you to press R to view the recovery console or press enter to continue installing windows...press enter...

it will then search your pc for a previously installed version of xp, which it will...once it detects the install, it will ask you to continue with a new install...or repair the current install..

choose to repair it. it will then run thru the process of installing windows and might look like a clean fresh install but it isnt..it will save all your files and program settings and just replace whatever is damaged or missing from the operating system.

give that a go it should work just fine.

edit: if you already chose to start a new install, and it reaches the point of asking what organisation you are from, then im afraid it already wiped all your information. but trying the repair wont harm.

[Mosher]

Yeah it asks me to put in my xp cd.
It doesn give me any options about booting from a disk. It just starts up. Then while still in the blk screen the error msg saying invalid boot.ini shows up. Then it goes straight to the xp installation screen. With a window popping up saying i must put in the sp2 cd en hit ok. When i hit ok another window comes up saying "the file 'asms' on windows xp pro service pack 2 cd is needed" en i must type the path where it is on the cd. En i hav to hit cancel. En it keeps restarting.

I tried pressing R while its restarting en it still takes me to the screen where i hav to put in the sp2 disk

[Mosher]

Ok. This sp2 file is an self extracting cabinet. Im gonna try open it with winrar quick

[Mosher]

That asms folder is there. I need to try get it onto my other pc. Will be back inabit

[Mosher]

This other pc doesn hav a burner. Gonna hav to wait till my mates get back from work. Since its not giving me options to boot from cd like it should be im just tryin to avoid having to put organisation name etc. In an effort to save my stuff im just gonna try sort it out by giving it the sp2

[po10cy]

ummm..ok, sounds like you have a damaged disk? it shouldnt ask you to browse to a file unless it cant read that file on the disk.

when your pc starts up, BEFORE it starts trying to load windows, press f8 so you can see the boot menu, when it asks to boot from cd or hard drive, chose the cd...

then go thru the steps i have listed.

[Mosher]

Ok gonna try that now. Thanks mate. Will be back a bit later. When it rains it hails- my fone also broke this morning. So im kinda using my bros fone to come online. Will get a chance to come online again 2night.

[Mosher]

Oh boy. Where do i start.... Ok all the stuff i was gonna do didnt work. Been trying out many other things all this time no avail. Then it finally hit me. Make the hardrive a slave on my other pc en save my stuff en then format the hardrive to fix the boot problem!

done this a while ago but now i got another problem. (these problems keep spawning,mutating en spawning) i wanna save but the stuff thats in my documents thats on the slave hardrive but because my account on it is an admin account. Im not allowed access into the folder. Does any1 know a way of getting around this ...? Please help

[Tribble]

That should not cause a problem at all. The path would be (drive letter):\documents and settings\Administrator\My Documents

You should be an admin on the other computer too - is there a reason why you are not?

[garp]

You need to take owernership of the files... This is a post from Jamin_za from a while ago. (so all credit goes to him)

1. Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.

2. Click the Security tab, and then click OK on the Security message (if one appears).

3. Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.

4. In the Name list, click your user name, or click Administrator if you are logged in as Administrator, or click the Administrators group. If you want to take ownership of the contents of that folder, select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.

5. Click OK, and then click Yes when you receive the following message:
You do not have permission to read the contents of directory folder name. Do you want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you Full Control?
All permissions will be replaced if you press Yes.
Note folder name is the name of the folder that you want to take ownership of.

6. Click OK, and then reapply the permissions and security settings that you want for the folder and its contents.

You should be able to access the folder and sub folders fine after that