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View Full Version : Wow!! It keeps getting worse



Don Henthorn Smithville, TX
09-26-2003, 8:49 PM
Got the new mic and was trying it out. Get the low volume recording I got at first with the old mic. Then things went to pieces. The upshot is that I can't boot the computer. I'm using an old laptop for the this post. The computer starts to boot and I can sometimes get to BIOS but as soon as the green hill shows the computer gives me the list of choices and insists that number five is the only one I can make. That choice is "command prompt only," and then I am supposed to run SCANREG. The problem is that when I press enter to make the choice I get the c:\ prompt at the bottom of the page after the message "Cannot find Win.com, unable to continue loading windows." I have no idea how to reload windows. I'm like the guy at the bottom of the well, I need help.

Chuck Wintle
09-26-2003, 9:28 PM
When things went to pieces what happened? If you decide to reload windows, and at this point you might have to, then will will need to go into the computer bios and set the computer to boot from the cdrom. I don't have win xp but if you can get that far there might be some options presented to repair the current installation of windows.

Don Henthorn Smithville, TX
09-26-2003, 9:39 PM
When things went to pieces what happened? If you decide to reload windows, and at this point you might have to, then will will need to go into the computer bios and set the computer to boot from the cdrom. I don't have win xp but if you can get that far there might be some options presented to repair the current installation of windows.

What happened was that before I did anything else I decided I would go into BIOS and make certain I had disabled the on board sound. I had but when I moved out of BIOS the computer didn't continue rebooting. Your suggestion about booting from the CD should have occurred to me but it sure didn't. I expect that If I can get rebooted that I should be able to insert the OS disk and do a reinstall over the existing install. Does that sound reasonable?

Chuck Wintle
09-26-2003, 9:47 PM
That is what I would try if it were me. I have in the past booted up from the cdrom and reinstalled over the existing windows and it worked. You may also have an option to try and repair existing installation. That is what I would do. One step at a time and in the end if nothing works then you may have to do a fresh install. What size hard drive is it and how do you have it partitioned. The problem with a fresh install is you lose whatever valuable files on c. What I have done in past also is I had a small drive with the os on it. I could swap it in if anything happened to my main OS. Then I could recover files of my main drive.

Chuck Wintle
09-26-2003, 9:48 PM
Also you mentioned that you disabled the onboard sound. My kids computer has onboard sound and if not mistaken it does have a mic input. Yours may as well.

Don Henthorn Smithville, TX
09-26-2003, 10:07 PM
Also you mentioned that you disabled the onboard sound. My kids computer has onboard sound and if not mistaken it does have a mic input. Yours may as well.

I changed the BIOS so that the CD ROM is # 1 and it still doesn't load. I get the command prompt C:\ at the bottom but I don't know what the command is to run SCANREG. It says it is a registry configuration error with four files missing or corrupted.

Yes, my motherboard does have on board sound and all the jacks, but when the motherboard was installed the shop put in a Vortex sound card and I don't know what they did to the on board sound. I know it works for some things but I never got a mic to work with it.

Chuck Wintle
09-26-2003, 10:13 PM
Do you have a burner as well as a cdrom? What is the configuration of the ide setup. On most motherboards there is IDE 1 and IDE 2. O would bet that it does not work because your cdrom is not set as master. On my motherboard there is a sperate connection for the hard drive that is not IDE. It uses a seperate chip to control so I have my cd burner setup as master on IDE 1. I use the burner as a cdrom to boot from.

Chuck Wintle
09-26-2003, 10:27 PM
What kind of motherboard is it?

Don Henthorn Smithville, TX
09-26-2003, 10:46 PM
What kind of motherboard is it?

It is a Gigabyte GA 7ZX with an 800 mhz Duron processor. Yes I have a CD and a CD Burner and they are set for master and slave. I aso have two 20 gig hard drves set up as master and slave. I don't think it has anything to do with the general setup of my computer because it has been working ok for quite a while. I just haven't been able to record with the mic since I put in the new sound card.

The failure to boot is a new deal.

Chuck Wintle
09-26-2003, 10:51 PM
Did you try to boot up with the windows disk first in the cdrom, and if it did not work, then the cd burner? The disk needs to be inserted as when the computer is first turned on. Then the computer first detects all the peripherals and continues with booting. Its at that point that the option to boot from the cdrom should present itself. Hit enter to continue at that point.

Chuck Wintle
09-26-2003, 10:54 PM
On mine the boot sequence is CD-ROM, C, A.

Ted Shrader
09-27-2003, 9:41 AM
Don -
Sounds like you are getting a little desperate to get the computer to be something other than a giant paperweight. Do you have all the systems disks and program disks to reload everything? If so, you might go for a total re-load.

Do you have the motherboard manual? You know what kind it is - go to the Gigabyte site downloaded one on your laptop. To the reset the bios to default value, there is a jumper on most motherboards. This is the same jumper that will over ride a bios password that might have been entered. Try that first and see if the system will recognize your HD or CD. Then go for a clean boot. Leave the new sound card in.

You will loose whatever data you had on the HD - address book, bookmarks, other saved items. Starting fresh sometimes is the only route.

Good luck,
Ted

Don Henthorn Smithville, TX
09-27-2003, 11:11 AM
Thanks Charles and Ted for your help. Charles I tried the disk in the burner and got the CD prompt. Got into setup and then the choices of setup or repair. Chose repair but then it gave me a screen which has:

1: d:/WINDOWS

Which Windows installation would you like to log onto
(To cancel, press ENTER)?

It seems that 1: D:\ is the only choice but that is not where windows is. If I make that choice it asks for the administrator password. I didn't know I had a password since I am the only user. Is there a generic password?

I also tried the choice of setup thinking I would reinstall XP over the exisiting. No luck. It says it can't find a prior installation of Windows and wants a full version of XP Home disk. I have the upgrade. If I can't solve the password problem and need to reinstall does that mean that I will have to first install Win 98SE and then upgrade again?

Chuck Wintle
09-27-2003, 11:44 AM
I presume that d:\ is a partition where you keep backup files etc.

It seems that you have lost the C:\ because the boot block has been corrupted.

Have you still got the win98se disk and the floppy disk that is included with it? Let me know that and in the mean time I will try something on my own computer before i post back.

Yes you may need to load win98 first but maybe it can be tricked. To continue with the setup from XP home upgrade it only needs to detect the product first. So first we need to get back c:\ which is why you will need the win98se floppy.

Don Henthorn Smithville, TX
09-27-2003, 11:47 AM
Sorry. My Alzheimers acting up again. Tried setup again and found that I had skipped the line which said I could use the Win98SE disk as validation. Put it in and followed instructions (unusual for me) and WinXPHome is now installing. Thanks a million for putting up with me, guys. Everything seems to be going ok with the install.

Chuck Wintle
09-27-2003, 12:17 PM
Sorry. My Alzheimers acting up again. Tried setup again and found that I had skipped the line which said I could use the Win98SE disk as validation. Put it in and followed instructions (unusual for me) and WinXPHome is now installing. Thanks a million for putting up with me, guys. Everything seems to be going ok with the install.
Let us know how it all turns out! Computers can be a real "bear" when they mess up....i know this as my kids have worked their magic on mine from time to time. Out of curiosity are you reinstalling on c:\ or d:\?

Don Henthorn Smithville, TX
09-27-2003, 2:27 PM
Sorry. My Alzheimers acting up again. Tried setup again and found that I had skipped the line which said I could use the Win98SE disk as validation. Put it in and followed instructions (unusual for me) and WinXPHome is now installing. Thanks a million for putting up with me, guys. Everything seems to be going ok with the install.

The install went OK, but it wasn't a reinstall, it was a total new install which wiped out everything on the disk. So far I have my optcial mouse and dial up re-established. I am typing this on the resurrected computer.

Luckily I have a great deal of my data stored on the other hard disk so it isn't nearly as bad as it could have been. I still have to get McAffee and Zone Alarm reinstalled before I will feel right. Then it will mean the long [process of getting the apps installed and trying to remember some of my recent book marks, etc.

Thanks again.

Chuck Wintle
09-27-2003, 4:43 PM
After you get all your bookmarks back you can then export them to a folder on your d:\ drive as backup in case your computer conks out again. If you use Internet Explorer then go to File....Import and Export.....and follow the instructions.