windows problem

[ripster435]

I went to unstall a windows file to replace midway through when i was redownloading it i had a power failure. now i cant boot up my windows xp. i treid putting in the xp disk to redo it but the disk wont come up. is there some way and either redo my harddrive or transfere the info that i have on this hard drive over to the one that windows isnt working on.

[mikeandike22]

when loading the xp cd did you make sure that your bios was set to boot from cd. And if you have another had drive then take out the one with windows in it boot from cd and install windows onto that HD. Then put your old drive in the second slot and transfer any programs or personal data that you want then wipe it clean.

[BinaryMayhem]

hold on... wait a second... you may not need to wipe the drive or lose any data.

when booting up, does windows try to load at all and then fail with some error like "device in accessable" or something.
I would pop in your bootable cd or set of floppies and run the repair console (c). when you get to a dos prompt type in chkdsk C: /r. when that completes reboot and see what happens... if that doesn't work... boot from the cd again, and run the repair windows instalation (r). that will check all your critical windows files and make sure they exists and are the right version. if not... it will copy them over. (the only down side of this is you lose your windows updates)

btw, what file were you messing with?

[vicec64]

Binary sounds about right. Good advice. You might also need a cmos clear since you had a power failure (consult your manual). Try just the repair first.

[mikeandike22]

binary if you didnt notice in the post all he would have lost was windows files he didnt need anymore not personal data and if he does a reinstall he would still need to reinstall some programs that need to be in the registry to run.

[vicec64]

If it's just a power failure usually you can clear CMOS and get it up and running again. Check your power supply too. If it has a reset button then reset that, then you may need to clear CMOS. I have done it many times for customers that brought in a unit with a power failure and it was non-operational and it usually works. If you do get it up and running with a CMOS clear be sure to be tapping the F8 key and get into safe mode, then when in windows I would pick a restore point of the last known good operational state. If the power failure was due to lightning or such and you had no surge protector you can have dead memory and video and sometimes the mainboard ATX connecore is also dead (burnt). CMOS clearing is easily done. Jusy check your manual for the approprate jumper (usually right beside the CMOS battery).