[dacryptnoob]

When I boot up my computer I get BSOD, so i restarted and booted from XP CD but the Welcome to Setup screen never appears. It goes straight into loading the installation files and goes to the list of partitions from which to install xp. In the list of partitions the C drive is listed but is listed as completely empty. Does this mean the data on my C drive is unrecoverable?

[mocks1]

Your files are most likely still there. Hopefully you stopped at the screen that showed list of partitions and didn't go through the install process.

Start computer up and repeatedly press the "R" key on your keyboard until a screen comes up with a list of options

Choose Safe Mode or Safe Mode With Networking (to see if you can access Internet to further repair/download files etc)

That should take you to a limited looking view of your Desktop and than you can browse around to make sure files are still there

Go to Start>Program Files>Accessories>System Tools and choose System Restore

Than choose "Restore my computer to an earlier time" selection

Choose a date and time a day or two before you had the BSOD and restore

Hopefully that will cure problem

If not, post back and one of us (and me) will help you further

[dacryptnoob]

I have tried all the Safe Mode options but all get stuck at the iomdisk.sys and then goes to the BSOD...

[mocks1]

If you get the BSOD error in Safe Mode than you will need to download one of the millions of CD/DVD Boot Discs such as Windows PE, BartsPE, Live CD, Knoppix(Linux based). They all will start up your computer from the CD or DVD drive and than you can access your files and copy them somewhere else over a network because many of them can set up Internet access connection

Many of them are custom PE (pre-installation environments) that also are loaded with diagnostics, virus checking, backup, partitioning, you name it

I have used BartsPE and Knoppix over the years and my most useful one has been MiniPe by Digiwiz (has tons of fix-it software). There are tons of free, legal Live CDs/Boot Discs out there and lot's of illegal, commercial software packed custom versions out there (download and use at your own risk)

Search Google for: Digiwiz

If your in a jam and you need to fix it quick, use Bit Torrent filesharing technology and search on this site for boot discs:

www.demonoid.com

Hope this helps

[dacryptnoob]

I tried to use one of these before (Hiren'sBootCD) but to no avail. To be honest im not sure which tool to use to repair the BIOS.

But I am downloading MiniPe now so I will try that. Is it just a boot from cd procedure for MiniPe ? And which "tool" should I use?

[mocks1]

Did you get an option to "Repair" your Windows installation or did it go right to a different screen rather than the usual way?

I believe you can do a type of System Restore from the command line after starting Windows Recovery Console repair mode

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

http://wiki.lunarsoft.net/wiki/Syste...me_Information

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545

Be careful there are two types of repair modes --one brings you to a command prompt and the other looks like a fresh install process that actually does what's known as an in-place, repair installation but it could overwrite and delete some of your files

Google "Windows Repair Install" and "In-Place Upgrade" and how to get to command prompt repair steps

If this is old news to you, than I apologize, it's hard to gauge how much experience you have from your short post and you are a new member

I also like to list the options and steps in case a future forum member is reading this and is not as experienced---that will point them in the right direction should the thread go cold

[dacryptnoob]

There was no repair option when I booted from XP CD. The only options were Press F6 to install RAID drivers etc. and F2 for Automated System Recovery. I did try the second but it required a floppy disk strangely. Once the two options had flashed up it began loading installation files and came to the partition screen which I mentioned before.

And yeah sorry, its also hard to explain how much experience I have had.

[dacryptnoob]

Do you still suggest I carry on with downloading and using MiniPe..?

[mocks1]

Try this link it might help:

http://forums.techguy.org/windows-nt...s-iomdisk.html

[mocks1]

Yes, MiniPe is a great tool to have for emergencies

Please list your computer specifications when you make a new topic post/thread such as: manufacturer, model #, operating system, ram memory size,video card if you installed one, etc

It helps everyone figure out the problem better

Also I need to get an idea at what part of the boot process the BSOD comes up--how far do you get when it comes up?

[dacryptnoob]

I checked the thread you linked however I cannot create the floppy, that was used, as none of my computers take them anymore however I will carry on with your previous suggestions.

[dacryptnoob]

Which tool do you suggest to use to repair....

http://rapidshare.com/files/207501464/minipe.txt.html

Here is the list of tools.

[mocks1]

Just load MiniPe and let it boot to desktop

navigate to the Windows/system32/config folder

copy the whole config folder somewhere safe as a backup

than go to C:\System Volume Information folder or whatever your boot drive letter is

Look inside for a folder like "_restore{46DE8xxx--xxxxx-xxx-xxxx--x}

Inside is a folder like "RP37" choose an RP folder with a date a day or two before you had BSOD issue

Go into that folder and copy the following files:

[dacryptnoob]

Following files?

[mocks1]

Go into Snapshot folder inside RPxx folder

copy these five files to the windows/system32/config folder:

_REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM

This is a manual way to do a system restore

Read next post for final instructions