Windows won't boot

[cpals]

Hi all

One stick of my 256MB DDR crucial ram seems to have went dead on me and now whenever I try to boot into Windows XP it says there is something wrong with my windows/system/config directory or something and it says to repair it.

How do I repair my windows? I went into the windows setup and pressed 'r' but it just brings me to a dos looking dialog and I'm not sure what to do... I was looking at the commands and saw fixmbr and fixboot but I didn't want it to wipe out my files... what's the best way to get windows back up?

Thank you.

 

[cpals]

Sitting here staring at my monitor.....

 

[cpals]

Doh... still staring at my wonderfully blank screen.

Where's the love?

 

[RedShirt]

Same thing happened to me... I gave up and reformated and called crucial to get an RMA....

I tried to chkdsk, but it didn't fix it.....

 

[Budman]

From the At FAQ Helping Windows Survive a Motherboard Upgrade, This is for a mobo swap but in the bold letters is how you try to repair a OS,you might want to try this.

Misc. Notes:

- Reportedly, Windows 2000 and XP can be tricked into doing this stuff for you. The procedure is this: Shut down, install your new hardware, power on, and enter your system BIOS. Make sure your First Boot Device is set to CDROM. Insert the Windows 2000/XP setup CD and boot from this disk. (You may have to "press a key to boot from CD" as the prompt says.) Skip the initial prompt asking to repair your existing installation. Then proceed to the screen where you select a partition, and choose your existing Windows partition. Setup will detect your existing installation and ask you to repair. Say yes. When Windows Setup is complete, you should have a fully working installation with all your old user and application profiles. Everything should be intact, except your hardware and driver settings, leaving it fresh for your new motherboard.