Posted 07 December 2010 - 09:24 PM
First, try using the Recovery Console.
The following is quoted from Microsoft.
"Starting the Windows Recovery Console from the Windows XP CD-ROM
If you have not preinstalled the Windows Recovery Console, you can start the computer and use the Recovery Console directly from your original Windows XP installation disc. If your computer is already in Windows and you want to add the Windows Recovery Console as a startup option, go to the next section "Adding the Windows Recovery Console as a startup option."
1. Insert the Windows XP CD into your CD drive and restart your computer. If you are prompted, select any options required to start (boot) from the CD.
2. When the text-based part of Setup begins, follow the prompts. Select the repair or recover option by pressing R.
3. If you have a dual-boot or multiboot system, select the installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console.
4. When you are prompted, type the Administrator password.
5. At the command prompt, type Recovery Console commands, and then you can refer to the commands that are listed in the "Available commands within Windows Recovery Console" section.
6. At any time, you can type Help for a list of available commands.
7. At any time, you can type Help commandname for help on a specific command. For example, you can type help attrib to display the help on the attributes command.
8. At any time, you can exit Windows Recovery Console by typing Exit at the command line."
If this doesn't work, do a Repair Installation. This will not affect your data or programs that you installed after purchasing the computer.
Boot the computer from the XP CD. You may need to change boot order in the BIOS so that the CD-ROM is the first device in the boot order.
When you see the "Welcome To Setup" screen, you will see the options below
This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft
Windows XP to run on your computer:
To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.
To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.
To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.
Press Enter to start the Windows Setup.
To setup Windows XP now and Repair Install , press ENTER.
You do not want to choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R.
Accept the License Agreement and Windows will search for existing Windows installations.
Select the XP installation you want to repair from the list and press R to start the repair. If Repair isn't one of the option end the installation, this will mean that you will need to do a fresh installation of XP.
The repair will copy the necessary files to the hard drive and reboot, the repair installation will continue after the reboot.
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