XP Home will not boot after installing SP3

[Guest Archivist]

My mothers pc will not boot up after SP3 was installed.

 

She gets to the screen before XP Home boots asking if she wants to go to

Safe Mode, etc. But when a option is selected it states to insert the setup

disc and press "R" to try to correct a corrupted or missing system file.

 

She is looking for her installation disc. Is there a way to correct this

without having to purchase a new one?

[Guest Eduardo Cerejo]

Re: XP Home will not boot after installing SP3

 

Archivist wrote:

> My mothers pc will not boot up after SP3 was installed.

>

> She gets to the screen before XP Home boots asking if she wants to go to

> Safe Mode, etc. But when a option is selected it states to insert the setup

> disc and press "R" to try to correct a corrupted or missing system file.

>

> She is looking for her installation disc. Is there a way to correct this

> without having to purchase a new one?

 

You can use console, the following article was written for sp2 but it

should be similar to sp3.

 

http://support.microsoft.com/KB/875350

 

--

"It's OK to hate your job"

http://www.alljobssuck.com

[Guest Patrick Keenan]

Re: XP Home will not boot after installing SP3

 

"Archivist" <Archivist@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:AB6DD94E-97B7-430D-9CBD-101F9CDED2D7@microsoft.com...

> My mothers pc will not boot up after SP3 was installed.

>

> She gets to the screen before XP Home boots asking if she wants to go to

> Safe Mode, etc. But when a option is selected it states to insert the

> setup

> disc and press "R" to try to correct a corrupted or missing system file.

>

> She is looking for her installation disc. Is there a way to correct this

> without having to purchase a new one?

 

Does it mention which system file? This is a very important detail.

 

If the displayed filename really does end with "system", this is one of the

registry files, and there's a relatively easy fix.

 

However, you need a bootable XP CD to do this, or a bootable Linux CD (such

as the Ubuntu Live CD) or you can attach the drive to another working XP

system to do the file manipulations.

 

When I say a bootable XP CD, your OEM system recovery disk won't work.

However, *any* bootable MS XP CD of any version will work. You can borrow

one for the occasion, just be careful to follow the directions exactly.

You are looking for the Recovery console, and you'll know you are there when

you see a black screen with this prompt:

 

c:\windows

 

From there, follow the directions here, and read them carefully first:

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

 

If the system has a floppy drive, take advantage of the directions for

saving the text to file. This can save you a lot of time and typing.

 

If you cannot get a bootable XP CD, you can use other means for accessing

the drive, and you will have to adjust the directions accordingly.

 

HTH

-pk