Windows XP problem

Someone I know has turned off her laptop while XP was trying to install some auto update (she did it because it’s installed the same 5 updates the last 5 times she’s used it).

Anyway now when it boots it goes to the screen saying start in safe mode, normal, last known good config etc but when she selects any one of the 5 different options it doesn’t load XP, just returns to the same screen.

What does she need to do??

I can’t think straight. I’ve been out pedalling with shoes full of water and eyes full of mud all day. My best advice was to drop it from waist height 8)

has she got the original install disc that came with the laptop? she could trying putting that in, rebooting and selecting ‘repair’. That should sort it out.

Maybe. Unless it’s preinstalled and she’s just got a recovery disc. I dunno, I’m fried, didn’t even ask her.

If she’s got no disc is there another way? I can’t think. If it doesn’t load XP then surely all she could change up to that point would be bios settings. Is there a secret ‘hold f7 for ten seconds while stroking your left eyebrow’ type function?

sounds like a windows problem through, rather than a physical problem with the laptop, so the bios sounds likes it’s working properly and starting the OS, which is all the bios does really. You can stop the boot up and get in to the bios, it should tell you what key does that as it boots, but you need to be quick. Got a feeling it’s F2 or ‘del’.

If you can’t get in in Safe mode, then it sound like you’d need the disc, but I’m not expert. There’s always Ubuntu if all else fails (the OS that is, not the tropical fruit drink), which she could try if it’s an old laptop, and just wants it for browsing).

if she made a recovery disk then she can do a repair install from that too. if it won’t boot into any windows option from the safe mode etc prompt screen then she needs to have a copy of the same version of XP that’s on the machine (i.e. professional, home or whatever) on a disk in order to sort it, otherwise it’s take it to a repair shop time.

XP onwards knows what hardware it was originally loaded on to, so if you try and use someone else’s disc from another PC or laptop, it will tell you that it’s an illegal copy, even if it’s the same version of XP. A PC repair man, may be able to identify what files (or lack of) are causing the problem, and sort it for her.

Might be worth bumping this thread in the morning, cos there’s lots of Windows guru’s on here.

XP onwards knows what hardware it was originally loaded on to, so if you try and use someone else’s disc from another PC or laptop, it will tell you that it’s an illegal copy, even if it’s the same version of XP

not entirely true. as long as you have an install key for the same version, then you can use anyone’s XP installation disk. you may need to search around for all the drivers for your system though, if you’re doing a clean install. but this situation doesn’t really need a clean install. yet!

but she will need a copy of the same version of XP to solve this.

(i do this stuff for a living, by the way!)

fair enough, when I tried installing xp on to my laptop using the disk from my PC, using the PC serial key, it wouldn’t let me.

Could try a system restore to a previous date?

@jon1973 that’ll probably be down to the licence key, not the disk.

@muddy_bum only possible if they could boot into windows. which they can’t.