Win XP media center stratup problem

[piyushp_20]

hi buddies,
i have a hp laptop which was running perfectly till yesterday, the problem is that, on the login screen when i click to a user then it says "loading personal setting" after a sec it loggs off, and i cant even go beyond login screen even in safe mode
please assist me for the solution.

[s18000rpm]

did you try "Restore the PC to Last Known good configuration"?

if that didnt help, pop-in the Recover Disk, & run STANDARD RECOVERY (not Full System recovery).

XP will be re-installed (but no data will be lost).

[piyushp_20]

the problem is that NO CD's were shipped with the laptop and i also tried "last known good cofiguration" but that also didnt help me out.
as far as system restore is concerned ther's only one option and that is destructive recovery in which the laptop will go into the factory shipped settings.

so is there any other method

[s18000rpm]

does your system have a Recovery Partition?

[piyushp_20]

ya buddy
i do have the recovery partition, i tried the recovery through that also but it has only 3 options viz destructive recovery, microsoft system restore and delete recovery partition, and m not in any mood to loose a single file coz they are really really inportant to me.
i tried the option microsoft system restore but for that also u need to logon to windows and i m stuk on the login screen only.

[s18000rpm]

if you have the Recovery Partition, then you HAVE the OPTION of Standard System Recovery, which'll re-install XP MCE without any data loss. (all the folder/files in C: Drive [except system files] will remain intact).

read the Manual or call HP Customer Support - 1800 114772

[rakeshishere]

Offtopic:

Hey,In case How do i Remove "Recovery Partition" on HDD? Will it Go in case A complete Format is done of the hard drive?
I just thought those HP Guys have fixed certain amount of space for RECOVERY PARTITION when they have got the hardware manufactured?

[s18000rpm]

you can just right click on Recovery Drive OR use the Recovery Disk to DELETE the Recovery Partition.

[rakeshishere]

Originally Posted by s18000rpm

you can just right click on Recovery Drive OR use the Recovery Disk to DELETE the Recovery Partition.

Does it arise to any problem? I seriously dont get what is the actual use of it?

[s18000rpm]

its really useful if your PC has spyware/virus trouble (nooby browsing habits).

if say some system file goes kaput or XP itself goes crazy, you can run the Standard recovery (possible ONLY if you have Recovery Partition) & XP gets re-installed (with NO data Loss). you can run sfc command & you dont even need the XP Install CD.

if you delete it, tthen you'll be left with only ONE option, that is the Full System Recovery, which completely erases the HDD.

[piyushp_20]

thanks buddy i think ill have to call HP tech support,
btw i just wanna know which system file has been affected and is causing this prob.
what i did last on my laptop was installation of pc tools registry mechanic and it showed at least 1500 errors, so i just repaired it and when i restarted it, BANG.

[s18000rpm]

that s/w has corrupted your Window's registry.

only option wud be "restoring to last known good configuration", but as you cud'nt do it, when you reboot, you'll have option to run "Recovery Process", go in & see whether there's an option to run Standard Recovery.

best thing IMHO is to call the HP guys (1800 114772) & ask their assistance.

next time use TuneUp Utilities 2007. works flawlessly with OEM windows.
i also tried to clean registry with CCleaner, but same thing happned, but the restoring worked for me.
==========

once when i was creating partitions on my HP desktop, a HP guy talked to me thruout the whole process (creating a tools cd, numerous rebooting, creating partitions...,)which took about 30minutes to complete.

[Liggy]

**rakeshishere ** Like s18000rpm stated, I agree and would strongly recommend NOT to delete that partition, because it will reload windows and all sf that came with the system when you bought it. it takes about 20 min and everything including correct drivers are installed. unless you like to take an hour plus to reload win and all drivers, then not to mention all other software.
As for piyushp_20 , There is a way to access your data without having to reloaded everything ( i just can't remembere at this time) provided you can boot to command prompt? please tell me that options works. if you want it done right call HP like s18000rpm said they should be able to help you, please tell me you can boot to comand prompt..... ( if you can browse for a folder I386 might be c:\I386 or c:\windows\I386)
gotta watch out for those 'cleaners/fixers' as they are designed for MS OEM windows versions. ACER/Dell/HP etc OS's are slightly altered to run specific for the company's request, so the registry will look a little different. if last know good config didn't work, sysrestore more then likely will not either. and by the sounds of it you don't wanto to do a PC restore......

[piyushp_20]

ya buddy i booted to the cmd and went in the I386 folder but when i tried to reinstall the xp by typing "winnt" it gave me an error saying that some swap file is missing (or something like that).

[Liggy]

what are you typeing? try this %windir%\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons
should get you to recovery console, mind you if you get into recovery console and do a repair it is strongly advised to backup ur data, cuz I would not rely on the OS much longer. trying running a chkdsk /r .

[piyushp_20]

Liggy, I tried everything even the chkdsk /r command but nothing is helping me solve the problem.

now what i am thinking is that ill install a win XP pro and overright my existing win xp media center, by this ill b able to access the HDD and then attach an external HDD and transfer all my data to that and then running a destructive recovery on my system by which ill get my media center back with all the drivers installed and then transfer all the data from the external HDD to my system.

please tell will this work 4 me or not.

[s18000rpm]

you have Recovery Partition. so any other XP (home/Pro...) will NOT Work.

it'll get installed, but will not boot, to have second XP in HP systems, you've to get rid of that Recovery Partition.

if you can take out your HDD, then connect it in someone's PC/Laptop & get your data saved.
or delete the Recovery Partition (thru XP Pro Installer console, i did it this way) & install XP Pro in that partition (i guess partition=6-7GB).

i still say get in contact with HP guys, maybe there's still a way.


next time dont forget to make Recovery DVD's.

[Liggy]

Originally Posted by piyushp_20

Liggy, I tried everything even the chkdsk /r command but nothing is helping me solve the problem.

now what i am thinking is that ill install a win XP pro and overright my existing win xp media center, by this ill b able to access the HDD and then attach an external HDD and transfer all my data to that and then running a destructive recovery on my system by which ill get my media center back with all the drivers installed and then transfer all the data from the external HDD to my system.

please tell will this work 4 me or not.

You can try installing XP pro ontop. dispite what a lot of people say, it does work... 99.999999% of the time it doesn't. I woas going to suggest something else but s18000rpm beat me too it. try to install HDD in friends computer. then back the data up there. I would suggest to make another partition at friends house but I think if you do that your recovery partition may not install properly. so try the pro, if that don't work try friends (will work for backup purposes...) hold on were are you getting pro from? will SFC work with pro disk?

[s18000rpm]

sfc can directly work on HP systems, no need for XP /Recovery Disk.
as the Recovery Partition acts as the Installer Disk.

[Liggy]

the Recovery Partition is an image file. if it is anything like the Dell systems it only gives you three selections, which piyushp_20 gave us "...3 options viz destructive recovery, microsoft system restore and delete recovery partition..." A lot of the times the recovery partition Image is bad so even though you did do the recovery a few days/weeks later one could run into the same problem. depending on your warrenty piyushp_20, you could try contacting HP to see if they will send out a Win MCE CD to you for software troubleshooting purposes, or buy yourself a new HDD and install an OS on there, then you could recover your data.

[piyushp_20]

Huuurrrrrrreeeeeeeeeee.

my problem is solved.

what i did was, i took a USB to HDD connector and installed the XP pro on top of media center and then i successfully logged into XP and then by connecting an external HDD, transferred all my data to that and then ran the destructive recovery which formatted the system and brought back to its original factory settings and then copied all the data back to my system.

newayz thankx to all of u guys, u all really helped me a lot

[s18000rpm]

good to hear that your problem's solved.

btw go make RECOVERY DISKs.

[piyushp_20]

buddy i had already made the recovey DVD's when the laptop was shipped to me.

[Liggy]

Originally Posted by s18000rpm

good to hear that your problem's solved.

btw go make RECOVERY DISKs.

I think what he is referring to was to buy Ghost or something simmilar, then make a more uptodate ver. Cuz now you have to get all those damn dirty windows updates, other drivers, reinstall software...etc. Glad to see that it did work for you... and i'm glad to see you then backed up your data then wiped it all.

[piyushp_20]

thanks buddy,
but the idea just clicked into my mind as i loaded the winxp pro cd, and saw the option of "leave current file system intact".

[cooldudie3]

i 'd agree with u go to hp fixing center and if they can't fix it buy a sony vaio!!!
Hp's pretty bad!

[piyushp_20]

no buddy u cant say that HP is bad but the thing is that no company takes a guarantee for any data loss, if this problem happened on vaio then also the company's service center would say "NO GUARANTEE FOR ANY DATA LOSS".

[Liggy]

aren't sony's way over priced too, compared to HP who's had home PC's out for a while now.