Win XP boot issue

G

Guilin28

Member
Hi All,

Need help to fix the Win XP issue that I have been struggling a few days ...

First, the background - I have Win XP, Vista & Win 7 in my Intel system - a triple boot system. I need them to check out my software product (develop during my spare time).

All OS was running smoothly till XP intermittently freezes during last weekend. At first I thought it was my application but later even browsing using firefox also freezes. So, I looked up on the internet about how to repair the XP.

The problem -

Taking cue from http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm, followed the option:

boot up with Win XP CD > Set up Win XP > Repair (R)

XP repair installation went smoothly till after the "Finalizing Installation" , it goes to black screen with an error statement (unfortunately, could not remember exactly the statement).

Reboot the system with Win XP CD as above, now have the following error (black screen in background):

Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

So, I did more searching and follow suggestion from: http://www.aade.com/XPhint/XPrecovery.htm

This time using Recovery Console and choose the XP directory

boot up with Win XP > Recovery Console > follow above suggestions via DOS.

Now able to boot up XP via boot menu (after completing Part 1), BUT after displaying Win XP splashcreen, it goes to black screen and a mouse pointer at centre ... and stays there.

At this stage, I can still re-boot to Vista and Win 7 per normal, AND I can view the Win XP directory and data.

Before I take it further, I hope the experts here can provide guidance. I'm trying to avoid re-installation and cause further damage.

Do I need to edit/repair the Win XP boot.ini? How would this affect my triple booting menu? (don't want to mess it up further)

I'm using the EasyBCD boot loader from NeoSmart.

Thanks in advance.

PS: Sorry for long message.
 
kairozamorro said:
You're using Windows bootloader, EasyBCD is a Windows application that configures it :smile:
You may try repair installing XP. A repair install won't wipe out user applications/files.
Click to expand...
I do believe that's what he already did, per this statement..
Guilin28 said:
boot up with Win XP CD > Set up Win XP > Repair (R)
Click to expand...
...
Do I need to edit/repair the Win XP boot.ini? How would this affect my triple booting menu? (don't want to mess it up further)
Click to expand...
No. From the description, its getting well past the boot but failing after the windows xp startup screen. Editing the boot.ini would have no affect on your triple boot menu though (that comes from the BCD file). The boot.ini stores your XP NTLDR menu.
 
Thank You for replying.

Things are getting more complicated now, and I lost access to both Vista and Win7 as well (boot menu not shown). Following is what I did that caused boot menu not appearing.

I tried to do a Repair again

boot up with Win XP CD > Set up Win XP > Repair (R)

Installation went smoothly, but after reboot, the system showed the following and stop there:

Boot from CD/DVD
Press any key to boot from CD .....

It didn't reach WinXP splashscreen (aka startup screen).

So, I tried again the Repair option, now the WinXP setup showed:

Setup has already attempted to upgrade the following Windows installation:

D:\Windows "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition"

Setup will try to complete the upgrade again.

o To retry upgrading to Windows XP, press ENTER
o blah, blah blah

I continue with the repair ... and same thing happened - system just stop at:

Boot from CD/DVD
Press any key to boot from CD .....

What should I do? How do I gain back access to the boot menu - at least I can get back my Vista and Win7.

Any help appreciated. Thank You.
 
It will re-establish Vista/W7 bootloader's control, but it won't help fix XP.
Try running chkdsk /r against the XP partition before attempting the XP repair install again.
Each time you install (or repair install) XP It will regress the boot, (unless XP is on a separate HDD and you disconnect V/W7 before the install) and will need to be followed by the Vista/W7 boot repair to put the newer boot manager back in charge (XP's NTLDR can't be made to boot newer OSs)

(You can find more detail about how it all works in the sticky thread)
 
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Actually, Terry, doing a repair install doesn't touch the MBR. I just did one recently, and it left my BootIT NG boot manager untouched. When I do a full install, it rewrites the MBR (but not the EMBR), and requires having to "re-activate" BootIT NG, which I guess is equilivant to putting BootIT NG's MBR back. But I didn't have to do that with the repair install.
 
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Terry60 said:
But it will regress the PBR, so still needs to be fixed.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure if it even does that, per this statement...
Guilin28 said:
Taking cue from http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm, followed the option:

boot up with Win XP CD > Set up Win XP > Repair (R)

XP repair installation went smoothly till after the "Finalizing Installation" , it goes to black screen with an error statement (unfortunately, could not remember exactly the statement).

Reboot the system with Win XP CD as above, now have the following error (black screen in background):

Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

So, I did more searching and follow suggestion from: http://www.aade.com/XPhint/XPrecovery.htm

This time using Recovery Console and choose the XP directory

boot up with Win XP > Recovery Console > follow above suggestions via DOS.

Now able to boot up XP via boot menu (after completing Part 1), BUT after displaying Win XP splashcreen, it goes to black screen and a mouse pointer at centre ... and stays there.

At this stage, I can still re-boot to Vista and Win 7 per normal, AND I can view the Win XP directory and data.
Click to expand...
As you can see by the bolded statements, I do believe he still had his Vista or WIn 7 boot menu even after the repair install. :wink:
 
Guilin28 said:
Installation went smoothly, but after reboot, the system showed the following and stop there:

Boot from CD/DVD
Press any key to boot from CD .....

It didn't reach WinXP splashscreen (aka startup screen).
Click to expand...

I think you're on a continous cycle booting from CD. If the CD drive is first in your BIOS boot sequence select the hard disk instead. Now is XP booting?
 
Terry60 said:
It will re-establish Vista/W7 bootloader's control, but it won't help fix XP.
Try running chkdsk /r against the XP partition before attempting the XP repair install again.
Each time you install (or repair install) XP It will regress the boot, (unless XP is on a separate HDD and you disconnect V/W7 before the install) and will need to be followed by the Vista/W7 boot repair to put the newer boot manager back in charge (XP's NTLDR can't be made to boot newer OSs)

(You can find more detail about how it all works in the sticky thread)
Click to expand...

Sorry Guys for coming back this late.

Per Terry suggestion, putting in Vista CD allows me to get back Vista & W7, but does not fix XP.

Guess what - finally decided to re-install XP after several failed iterations. No point in trying to "save" it given too much time loss and headache :rage:

Now happy :smile: ... off course, need to re-load back WHAT I really need for my apps. Blessing in disguise actually, opportunity to clean up your unwanted apps with 3 years in use.

Thanks for all the help & suggestions.

Cheers!
 
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