Before I reformat this computer...

[FOBSIDE]

Windows XP Home will boot as far as loading the Windows background. At this point, nothing else will load and a task manager will show 100% CPU usage by explorer.exe, and there seems to be no way around this. The same occurs in safe mode, so I can't even get into Windows to run an SFC. Since DOS can't read NTFS partitions, there is no way I can run an SFC outside of Windows as far as I know. Curse Microsoft for moving completely away from command line. Is there anything I can do from the recovery console to try and fix this before reformatting?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Nothinman]

You could try SFC from a BartPE disc.

 

[Rapidskies]

Before reformatting you could repair the existing installation. Windows will see your existing install and ask you if you would like to try and repair this or install a fresh copy. Try the repair. Good luck.

 

[Smilin]

Use a repair copy of your registry.

If it boots fine, find a system restore point registry that works.

If it doesn't boot fine, put down a parallel install, patch it and driver it then copy the contents of the system32 and system32\drivers folders over to the original install (just the folder contents, no subfolders).

 

[rkoenn]

Did this happen just recently and did it happen after the system seemed to be running OK? Like the system was OK the previous shutdown and now it won't boot? If so, I would recommend going to this web link and following the procedure. It is hands on intensive but I have recovered a number of machines doing this. Only try it if my first questions were answered with a yes. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307545