Major XP Problem, Help Needed

Helix

have a prob with the gaff pc, think its down to a poxy update from mcafee

whatever happened when she rebooted after updating its loading up windows grand, but its stalling and not getting into explorer

the background is there and so is the mouse pointer but it wont boot fully into explorer

control alt delete works as well and it brings up the running processes but explorer isnt there

so i booted up in safe mode with command prompt and tried to get system restore working from there, but its more of the same, command propt works alright, but the sys restore window opens and stays white inside it, nothing doing at all in that front

tried running the windows setup again from the disc from dos prompt but again no joy, the dialogue window opens but it wont let me click on the install windows icon

normally id just give it a bash at doing a repair after booting from the xp cd, but the **** who fixed me machine last time has put a password on getting into the setup and boot menus, and i dunno it and cant get in contact with him

anyone got any ideas around this? through dos in safe mode appears to be the only way i can get into anything

all the files are still there and all

i cant remember how to do it on xp, but is there any way to restart to boot in dos only?

any help appreciated

slade_x

the best program ive ever used is ntfspro.. normal dos shells cant read ntfs partitions.

all you have to do is dowload ntfspro put it on a cd or whatever and boot from it

Helix

cant boot from a cd tho

as i said theres a password on the setup and boot menus from bootup, and i cant get in to change the order in which the machine boots from, and it would appear that the harddisk is first in the chain

slade_x

then your easiest option is to clear the cmos to wipe out the passwords

some people might say they know of a way without boot disk but it usually comes down to them remembering it or not
& dos is only present when running XP.. that its only emulated under windows.. you will need a removable source to boot to dos
XP isnt like all the other windows where they start in dos first and boot from that to windows

and you can always under windows xp under format floppy disk, check the create an ms-dos startup disk.. i personally prefer to use ntfspro though

gibo_ie

flash the CMOS (its a jumper on the motherboard) and remove the battery for about 10 mins then replace. This should wipe the password from the bios menu in most cases.

Helix

not entirely technically competant when it comes to these things, how do i flash the CMOS?

slade_x

you dont flash it you clear it .. look for a battery inside your computer on the motherboard there should be two pins near it with a jumper on it.. move the jumper across both pins and then move it back

Helix

ok ill give that a go now

nice one!

will report back how it goes

all replies appreciated folks!

Capt'n Midnight

If you can't find the jumper - take out the battery for 15 minutes.
If that does not reset the BIOS password then leave the battery out overnight.
Note: of course the machine should be switched off and left UNPLUGGED from the mains as well other wise it would not need the battery.

If the drive is FAT32 then it can be read/written by Win9x boot disk.
If was formatted as NTFS then NTFSDOS will read it ( to recover files / get folder names etc )

The XP boot CD asks for the PW when it tries to access the HDD. There are ways around that too..

Helix

ok got it all sorted in the end! nice one lads! shes reinstalling as we speak!

thanks all!