[Odisey]

Hello - I have a DELL Dimension 4700 running WINxp w/ sp2 and sp3. The warranty ran out 12/19/08. The PC crashed today!

I want to repair windows from the disk. I boot from the disk and select R for repair. It asks what installation I want to repair and I select 1 - it is the only installation. Then it asks for an admin pw. I don't know this. I called DELL and they want $50.00 to fix it..., no options. It's the last DELL... probably the last PC...

Can I get around this somehow? I went into setup and changed the ADMIN pw to admin. Went back to the boot screen and entered the password.. It took me to a DOS prompt. I have not tried DOS since 1986.

Can someone provide some help... I would greatly appreciate it.

I did extract the HDs and I harvested all the files I need to another machine... a MAC!

Nonetheless, I would like to repair the OS without a reinstall if I can...

Thank you,
Marc

[new tech guy]

You need to explain what happens when you try to boot the machine. What errors appear on the screen? Does it bluescreen? Does last known good config/safemode work? etc. Describe what happens with the pc.

[DoubleHelix]

It's a 4-year-old computer well out of warranty. It's very reasonable to expect the company to charge for tech support. All computer manufacturers would have the same policy.

In any case, I doubt Dell could help you with the Administrator password. That's something you would have set, not Dell. And this site can't help with passwords.

If you don't know the Administrator account password, your only option is a full reinstall. That may or may not work depending on your definition of "crash". If the hard drive physically failed, reinstalling the operating system won't work and won't resolve the problem.

[Odisey]

I installed Windows Live Mail and logitech web cam. All went amiss. After one day I got a blue screen. The message said if this is the first time you have seen this restart PC, otherwise uninstall new software, antivirus programs, run disk check.

So, I did all they above.

Got the blue screen again.

Malware program kept crashing,,,,

Finally, misfortunately, I deleted some files on the C:/ drive that were vital for the operating system. This is my fault of course... not sure if I can repair it now.

I deleted the sysconfig boot.ini, etc... from C drive thinking it was OK..... Yeah... stupid..

So.... got to move forward... And it is an experience in learning how this stuff works under the hood... I don't have Fort Knox on it.... I do have some email I would like to recover...

So.. I am trying to repair the system from the CD boot.

I switched the boot sequence. Inserted the CD and pressed 'anykey' to boot.

I have two options... One is a total reinstall. The second is R or repair.

When I select R it asks for the admin password.. I don't have this.... it's a DELL.

So I went into setup and changed the admin password to admin.

Tried again... selected R and then entered admin....

As mentioned I go to a DOS prompt.

Not sure how to proceed...

Thank you,
Marc

[Odisey]

Hello,
When I got the PC the OS was already installed. DELL has some master pw or perhaps a unique pw set when the OS was installed - I am assuming. I did not set any admin pw on the system.

Yes. It is out of warranty by 8 days! Pretty good timing... arugggggg....

Thank you for our help.

[WhitPhil]

How to Perform an XP Repair

The R has taken you to the Recovery Console not to the Repair side.

[new tech guy]

The password could be blank--usually a system default. You could just hit enter at that prompt if its where your stuck. But a complete wipeout doesnt sound necessary. What you could try in that prompt is typing chkdsk /r into the prompt as it should run a chkdsk and may even do the necessary repairs. If you can then get into safe mode or similar, you could log into an account and run sfc /scannow. That should patch up the operating system. From then we could tackle your other software issues.

[new tech guy]

Come to think of it, a quicker way to get windows booting again is to try running fixboot. Confirm prompts (do all that in recovery console) and type exit to reboot. then try to get into safemode and do the scannow command i mentioned.

[Odisey]

OK... I figured it out with some help...

I almost did the fixboot from the cli and moved on.

R is the wrong selection... I pressed ENTER... I am following the links to guide me in the repair.

Thank you guys for quick responses.. I will let you know what happens...

Marc

[DoubleHelix]

I would be very cautious in using recovery, repair, or installation options if recovering data is a concern. Selecting the wrong option can quickly wipe out the drive.

[Odisey]

I have followed quite a few online instructions for XP repair... I've configed the boot up files and I finally got the window asking what OS I want to start. I may have my boot.ini which I wrote configured wrong. The OS list has three options. ALL of which are in the boot.ini I wrote from an online example. I set the rdisc to a value of 1 and the partition to a value of 2. I figured 1 is for the main disc. Ahhh.... maybe that is it. IN the BIOS the main disc has a value of 0 (zero). OK, I will reset the boot.ini and try again.

This is the first time I've taken the gloves off and dug in under the hood. Either I get it, or reinstall.

The only thing I want to harvest if at all possible is my email folder in windows LIVE MAIL. Can I do this? I can mount the drive to my other system and grab files. I already went into the programs folder and grabbed the WINDOWS LIVE MAIL folder. Nothing looks like email. I am wondering if I copy it to my other system's program folder and then install WINDOWS LIVE MAIL on the other system if my mail will mysteriously appear.... Yeah I know....

Any ideas there before I wipe this HD...?

I will try to boot.ini first...

Marc

[Odisey]

I am a technician...

Not that kind of technician... I am a developer... All day I was saying... "..the computer will absolutely refuse letting me fix it..." Nonetheless I pooled all my troubleshooting programming patience and hung in there...

I reedited the boot.ini file again... I had copied and recopied files following different instructions from 3 online non-geek experts.... and .... finally .... the system is actually going through the repair process as I type... I started at 8AM... it is now 7:30PM.

I've wiped the small tears of joy forming in the corners of my eyes... and I am preparing to rip the box from the wall and throw it from the balcony when the process freezes... It's a 20 story fall.. I am absolutely sure that will fix it proper...

Thank you for your help here...

In all seriousness we actually did it..

Cheers [BOOKEDMARKED]

Marc

[WhitPhil]

Great to hear.

In case you didn't note it in the Repair instructions, you now need to re-install all MS patches.

Also, for future reference, in Recovery Console is a url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058]BootCfg [/url] command to aid in Boot.ini issues.

[Odisey]

You guys, gals...

After all the help and two days of trouble shooting... I gave up and reinstalled.

I followed every thing I could find on it... It refused to budge at 35 minutes. I checked the setupapi.log, peripherals, RAM, BIOS, and numerous things others found to work to no avail....

LESSON -- BACK UP EMAIL!!!! All I lost was mail fortunately...

Thank you for your enormous help!

Odisey