How to repair windows xp mce without reformatting?

[Xellos2099]

I got a problem here, my mother friend's pc is not booting into windows and I am trying to fix it. I would say the pc is like 6-7 years old HP running window xp mce. From first inspection some file went corrupted thus window is unable to start. Normally the easiest way to deal with this is to do a fresh install. However, she have a bunch of old program on her computer like wordperfect and quattro pro, which she no longer have the disk to. Thus the ideal way I guess is to prefect a system repair.

The problem is the system didn't come with a restore disk. The onyl disk I have access to is window xp pro. Is there a way to made this work or do I MUST find a MCE disk to do repair?

 

[lxskllr]

I believe you need the MCE disc. You could possibly insert fixed copies of the corrupt files, but that could be tedious. You should also try to figure out why it corrupted in the first place.

 

[Xellos2099]

ok i have access to technet, do I just download the mce or the Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Customer Support and Diagnostics Tools Disc

 

[lxskllr]

Not sure. Can you make sense of the descriptions? If you have a spare drive, I'd image the computer in case things go south. That way you can go back and try again if it doesn't work the first time.

 

[Matt1970]

Does it freeze up or does it reboot? Did you try booting in safe mode?

 

[dawks]

It could be that the hard drive has bad sectors and doing a repair may not help at all.

I think you'd want the actually XP MCE disc, not the Customer Support disc (thats likely for OEM's - I've never tried one though).

You might want to try a program like spinrite if you can borrow a copy from a friend. It can help solve the bad sector problem, and make a computer fully operational again. Saved me several times when I've come across computers that can't boot.

 

[Xellos2099]

it keep rebooting but during one of the reboot say some window file is corrupted and tell em to input the os disk to repair.

 

[Bubbaleone]

it keep rebooting but during one of the reboot say some window file is corrupted and tell em to input the os disk to repair.

A repair install will keep all your personalizations, programs, and personal data intact. Use the XP MCE install disk, not the repair disk, and I highly recommend that you run chkdsk from the Recovery Console first, then reboot and perform the repair installation. Start Recovery Console by pressing the R key as seen on the screen in section (1) below.

(1)

Insert the Windows XP CD, then boot your computer and "Press any key to boot from CD" to load the Windows XP Setup Utility.

After the Windows XP Setup is finished loading you should see the following screen, and then press the Enter key:

(2)

The next screen is the Windows XP EULA. Press the F8 key to continue:

(3)

Windows XP Setup will now search for any previous installations of Windows and will give you the option to repair it. Select your installation of Windows using the arrow keys (if there's more than one) and then press the R key to begin the repair installallation:

(4)

During the repair install, you'll need to enter your Windows XP product key:

You'll need to run Windows Update after the repair install is completed, because it will replace all of the Windows System Files with ones from the CD, and you'll no longer have any Windows Updates that were previously installed.

Try to use a XP installation disk that's got the same service pack as your current installation, or you'll end up having to download and manually reinstall SP3. The easiest method to avoid this is to Slipstream SP3 prior to performing the repair install.


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[Xellos2099]

Thanks but more question. The friend system is HP, which I assume is using HP special version of the os. Will the technet windows xp mce fix the system no problem? I assume that I will need to use technet key for it. Even through if I really want to , I can obtain the hp disk but if technet disk work, I prefer to go with it.

Another thing, I noticed that on technet that windows mce is 2 cd. Do I use nlite to slipstream sp3 on cd1 or 2. Also is there a way for me to fuse the 2 cd as 1 dvd?

 

[Bubbaleone]

Thanks but more question. The friend system is HP, which I assume is using HP special version of the os. Will the technet windows xp mce fix the system no problem? I assume that I will need to use technet key for it. Even through if I really want to , I can obtain the hp disk but if technet disk work, I prefer to go with it.

Another thing, I noticed that on technet that windows mce is 2 cd. Do I use nlite to slipstream sp3 on cd1 or 2. Also is there a way for me to fuse the 2 cd as 1 dvd?

I don't think you'll even be able to get HP recovery disks any longer, and if you did I believe they will simply restore the computer to factory original configuration and she would lose all her installed programs.

This got me curious so I did some checking and discovered that Technet XP MCE CD1 is Windows XP Pro with SP2 that contains a few files that differ from a normal XP Pro installation disk (to make it work with MCE CD2), and CD2 is the Media Center installation files.

What I don't know is whether Technet's XP MCE is a retail or OEM version. If it's a retail version I'm afraid when you attempt to enter the HP OEM product key during the repair install it won't be accepted because XP installation CD product keys are tied to their distribution channel (volume, retail, OEM). This means you would need to enter the Technet product key for the repair install to succeed.

Skip nlite to slipstream SP3, as everything I've just researched says slipstreaming SP3 will break the XP MCE SP2, CD1 installation disk. I don't think Windows installer will ask for CD2 during the repair install, since media center is already installed, but if it does just do as the Windows installer directs.


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[Ketchup]

This is a tough one, as Bubbaleone pointed out, because the HP has an OEM version, which are hard to find. A retail version will not take an OEM key. If you are into torrents, you might find one that way. The HP recovery disks, which you still may be able to order, will wipe the drive.

You could just go some place like eBay and buy a retail version with key. I am sure there are people out there trying to get ride of these.

 

[Raincity]

As long as you have access to a clean image of Win XP Pro with SP-2. You should be good to go. You can change the PID header on the setup.ini file located in the I386 folder on the disc to take either retail or OEM keys. The second disc in MCE is used for a few files needed to finish the setup. Personally I would just find copies of the old apps you mom is using off the net or force her to use something else. A repair install of a OS that old is just a band aide when a proper format and reinstall is needed.

 

[Xellos2099]

Well, I did manage to find a hp oem disk from torrent but there is no promise a file that old have virus in it and technet file are 100% safe. I can just give up one of the mce key, like I am going to use it on my own computer.

 

[Bubbaleone]

As long as you have access to a clean image of Win XP Pro with SP-2. You should be good to go...

I did the research and discovered it's not that simple, unfortunately, as that was my first thought as well. The fact is that the XP MCE CD1 contains a number of files that differ from a standard XP Pro SP2 disk, and running a repair installation with one will end up with the installation being XP Pro SP2 and no longer XP MCE.

If one is technically inclined; the XP Pro SP2 ISO contents can be extracted to a folder, modified with the correct files, and then recompiled as a new XP MCE ISO. The procedure and files are available on the web (after much searching and sorting).

As the OP stated he's got a Technet subscription and can get XP MCE, I didn't mention that procedure because I didn't think he'd need to go that route.


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[Xellos2099]

Well, I took a closer look yesterday. In the beginning the xp disk won'trecognize the hdd so I open up the system to take a look. Sata driver so I have to grab data for floppy drive. The funny thing is that when I try to boot the computer it tell me window is corrupted but in the xp install, it say the drive where xp was is an unknown partition and there is no repair option for me. Is the data completely toast?

 

[Ketchup]

Can you hear the hard drive spinning when the PC is powered on? If it is, and it just "lost" the partition, that is the possibility of being able to put it in another computer, perform a quick format, and then run data recovery.

However, an issue like this is not a good sign. Even if the drive spins up, it doesn't guarantee that there are other internal problems with the drive, which cannot be repaired.

Either way, you might as well let her know that you will not be able to get her programs back, and at most you will be able to save important information saved on it.

 

[Bubbaleone]

Well, I took a closer look yesterday. In the beginning the xp disk won'trecognize the hdd so I open up the system to take a look. Sata driver so I have to grab data for floppy drive. The funny thing is that when I try to boot the computer it tell me window is corrupted but in the xp install, it say the drive where xp was is an unknown partition and there is no repair option for me. Is the data completely toast?

If the boot sector and/or MBR are corrupt, the Windows installer will report an unknown partition which is what you're seeing. I'd highly suggest using the Recovery Console to repair the MBR before assuming the disk is toast, and this Microsoft KB article explains how: Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console for advanced users.

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[Xellos2099]

I took some picture
This is what happen when I try to boot into window
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c86/Xellos2099/IMG_20130523_175241_zps1fdc62a0.jpg

This is the xp install screen
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c86/Xellos2099/IMG_20130523_174618_zpsfa9505ae.jpg

I agree with you, it doesn;t look too good atm.

 

[Ketchup]

I took some picture
This is what happen when I try to boot into window
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c86/Xellos2099/IMG_20130523_175241_zps1fdc62a0.jpg

This is the xp install screen
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c86/Xellos2099/IMG_20130523_174618_zpsfa9505ae.jpg

I agree with you, it doesn;t look too good atm.

Have you tried the recovery console as Bubbaleone suggested?

 

[Xellos2099]

Not yet, I will visit and try to do it in a few days

 

[Bubbaleone]

Not yet, I will visit and try to do it in a few days

Your first screenshot is telling you that \Windows\System32\Config\System is missing or corrupt. What this really means is that the .dat files containing the registry hives are trashed. The good news is that this means the operating system, programs, and user data are all still there.

You've got some fairly technical work ahead of you in order to repair this, but I've successfully done this procedure several times and you just have to be painstaking as you go through the steps to restore the registry.

This Microsoft KB article is the reference I've always used: How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting. Once you've got the registry restored you should be able to run chkdsk, and then perform the repair installation.


EDIT: Do Not neglect to perform "Part Four" of the KB article. The registry you restore via the Recovery Console is from the emergency backup registry hives that were created on the date XP MCE was first installed. Choose the most recently dated restore point available, then chkdsk, then the repair installation.

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[Raincity]

I see that the recovery partition is still intact. Have you even tried doing a repair install with the HP recovery manager by pressing F-11 before windows starts to load.

 

[Bubbaleone]

The HP recovery manager has no capability to perform a repair installation. It can only wipe volume C:\ then restore the original HP factory image.

 

[Raincity]

The HP recovery manager has no capability to perform a repair installation. It can only wipe volume C:\ then restore the original HP factory image.

Do you know that for sure. I was given a HP desktop loaded with XP MCE 2004 that would not boot any more so the owner did not want it. The restore options after pressing F11 had the option of 1 for restore or 2 for system repair. The repair option worked and then I was able to backup the previous owners photos and create a set of restore discs.. I then replaced the drive and reinstalled windows from the factory image and used the machine as a backup pc until I gave it away last year.

 

[Bubbaleone]

Do you know that for sure. I was given a HP desktop loaded with XP MCE 2004 that would not boot any more so the owner did not want it. The restore options after pressing F11 had the option of 1 for restore or 2 for system repair. The repair option worked and then I was able to backup the previous owners photos and create a set of restore discs.. I then replaced the drive and reinstalled windows from the factory image and used the machine as a backup pc until I gave it away last year.

It would be up to the OP whether or not he wants to attempt that option, and I agree with you that it's a viable option for situations such as "ntldr is missing", or corrupt system files that prevent Windows from booting. However, those types of no-boot scenarios imply that the registry is still intact, which in the OPs case it's not. The procedure to restore working registry hives via Command Console is proven, supported, and well documented by Microsoft.

If you know for sure that the Windows installer reported the partition type as "unknown" and that "\Windows\System32\Config\System is missing or corrupt" on the XP MCE machine you sucessfully repaired via HP recovery manager, and that all installed third-party programs and user data were still intact afterward, I'm sure the OP would certainly appreciate knowing that and so would I.

Having procedures and techniques (that were unknown to me) confirmed by my peers, is one of the main reasons I'm a member of these forums.


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