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new Windows XP problem

D

diablofish

Member
I'm working on attempting to recover a Windows XP SP2 Pro 32-bit installation on an Athlon 64 system with an MSI nforce4 board and a gig of RAM.

After its most recent shut down, it wouldn't boot and displayed message about some .sys files being missing. I attempted to repair the installation using the XP CD but got nowhere - couldn't repair the install.

Then, I went into recovery console and copied the appropriate directories, (system, software, sam, default) blew them away, and restored the originals from the CD and rebooted. XP began loading and got the the "welcome" screen where you log on as administrator. However, the mouse and keyboard were not recognized and I couldn't log on to restore the settings in XP.

I've tried multiple keyboards and mice on both USB and PS/2 interfaces. With all of them, I can get into the BIOS and use DOS commands in the recovery console, but all of them are locked upon XP getting to the Welcome screen and the "num lock" light is on constantly on the keyboard. I've tried every USB port, tried just using the keyboard by itself, the mouse by itself, etc. all to no avail.

I have not tried the original keyboard and mouse as I don't have them in my possession (it's a friends computer and I just took the box home). Do I really need to have the original keyboard and mouse (Logitech LX700) in order to complete the system recovery?

There are some critical files (Outlook calendars) that need to be retrieved so reformatting is not something I can do at this point.
 
Then, I went into recovery console and copied the appropriate directories, (system, software, sam, default) blew them away, and restored the originals from the CD and rebooted.
Click to expand...

Not exactly sure what you did here, but it sounds like your XP install is hosed.

Here's what I would do.

1. Follow the instructions and build an Ultimate Boot CD. This is nice to have anyway, but it will give you a CD that you can boot with and access all of your files (assuming your hard drive hasn't failed).
2. Backup all of your critical data. Be sure to scan your files with an up-to-date virus scanner.
3. Run some diagnostic tests on your hardware. This includes memory tests and hard drive tests. Critical system files don't just "disappear" unless you've got a virus or hardware trouble. Try and determine if any of your hardware is faulty.
4. Format and reinstall your OS.
 
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