I am going to attempt a repair install of Windows XP on a SATA HDD, hoping that I do not have to make a raid driver disk for my new mobo (MSI K9MM-V)... but my question is if I do this, I had pictures and some other files on my C: drive...(In the Shared Documents folder)... Will these files get deleted? The files on other partitions will be safe wont it? What DOES get erased?..my programs? Please advise me before I continue...thanks!
When you run Windows XP Repair, only the system files are rewritten I believe. I have done it before, and even what was on the desktop stays the same. Your programs will still be there, but will be unusable, as they are now "detached" from the new Windows installation. The only way I know of fixing that is by reinstalling each individual program. I wouldn't recommend running a Windows repair, it is the dirtiest option in the book. If Windows won't load, toss in the Windows XP disk, and at the first screen where it asks if you want to run "Recovery Console Press R" do it. After it loads the DOS like Recovery Console, type the following one after another: 1. "fixboot" 2. "fixmbr" 3. "chkdsk /r" If this gets you back into Windows, I would suggest running a memory test, and downloading and running your hard drive manufactures testing utility, if you don't know what hard drive you have, and you are feeling lazy, just run the Maxtor one, it works just as well. A broken Windows installation is commonly caused by failing hardware, like memory, hard drive, or power supply. All else fails: backup your documents and settings folder and anything else that is important, format, and reinstall Windows from scratch. Hope that helps.
hey there, tried all that man... my failing hardware has been replaced, and files on the Cdrive have been saved so i was ready to reinstall (after 2 frozen attempts at it which leads me to believe is the cause of my current problems)...until when Windows asks me which partition to install XP on, i no longer see all my other partitions (which was there before)...instead I see a Cdrive which is FAT format...and unable to install unless its formatted first.... Where did my other partitions go? and what will happen now? This is such a pain....
Hmm, your partition table is messed up. I hope you didn't move that important data from your Windows partition to another partition on the same drive. If you have another hard drive this is when you would want to clone everything from the current hard drive to another hard drive. That way you can play around with the partition tables, and still have a fall back option. You are going to need to do some partition repair, and use a program you can find on either a MiniPE boot disk, or a Hirens repair disk. Try Active Partition Recovery, and the like. Man, I had this problem just like 3 weeks ago, and I am trying to remember the path I took to fix it. What you could always do however, is clone the drive, and then just recreate new partition tables on your messed up drive, and install Windows. Then you could use file recovery software (Can be found on a Hirens disk) to restore the files off of the cloned drive.
On top of all that, when you are ready to install Windows, delete the current partition, set up your other partitions first, and then set up a new one with the size you want your Windows partition to be, then format in NTFS. The partition table and the file system are obviously messed up pretty bad. Remember, if you have your important data backed up, it is the best option to completely format the hard drive, and start from scratch.
Chris, I am working off a new format now (for some reason my C was showing up as FAT, and had to reformat to do anything.) Now for some reason my mobo has my windows installation in a loop. always booting from CD first, I dont press anything and it still boots the CD. I change boot sequence in the BIOS and it loops over and over from the mobo screen to the post, then restarts...its one problem after another I tell you.
