[bkellogg]

So here is my problem, About a week ago I reformatted my computer. Everything worked wonderfully and my computer ran great. Then 3 days ago at the end of the night I went to shut it down and it said "install updates and shut down." So, I told it to install and shut down. The next day when I went to turn it on, for the first time since that shutdown, it froze on the XP loading screen. I manually turned it off, then tried again and selected to start windows normally. It came up fine, and ran just great since then, with a couple of different shutdown and restarts in between. Last night, it again said "install updates and shut down." I clicked for it to install and shut down. Now this morning I can't get past the XP loading screen. I have tried 4 different times. I don't know what to try. I also, don't know if the "install and shut down" is part of the problem or just a coincidence. If anyone can help that would be great. Thank you all for your help.

[Phantom010]

Try booting from your XP CD and using the Recovery Console. Then, run a Fixboot.

[bkellogg]

Originally Posted by Phantom010

Try booting from your XP CD and using the Recovery Console. Then, run a Fixboot.

Will using the recovery console and fixboot cause me to lose any files on my computer? and what exactly is fixboot?

[Phantom010]

You will not lose folders or data by using Fixboot. Fixboot writes a boot sector to the system partition. It fixes damage in the Windows boot sector. The Fixboot command is only available in the Recovery Console.

[bkellogg]

Originally Posted by Phantom010

You will not lose folders or data by using Fixboot. Fixboot writes a boot sector to the system partition. It fixes damage in the Windows boot sector. The Fixboot command is only available in the Recovery Console.

Thank you, I will try that when I get back home to my pc. The only other question I have is, does it matter that I have XP SP3 installed, but my windows cd is SP1?

[bkellogg]

I tried the fixboot. I put in my Windows XP disc, went to the recovery console, and typed "fixboot c:". It said something about the bootsector being corrupt and that it fixed it...I'm not too sure the exact words. Anyway, now it just gets to the part that says "Verifying DMI Pool Data......." (before windows loads) and it just says "a disk read error occurred Press Ctrl +Alt +Del to restart". What do I do? I don't want to reformat again...I just did that a week ago, and don't want to lose some stuff I had downloaded and saved since then but haven't backed up.

[Phantom010]

You could try a chkdsk /r, again from the Recovery Console.

[bkellogg]

Originally Posted by Phantom010

You could try a chkdsk /r, again from the Recovery Console.

When I try the "chkdsk /r" in the recovery console, it comes up and says "the volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems" What does that mean?

[Phantom010]

Might be saying that your hard drive is failing.

[Rich-M]

Yes that is a dying hard drive...