Reinstalling Windows XP Home (Just the operating System) MAJOR TROUBLE - HELP!

Would not hurt . . the XP installation seems to stumble easily when it encounters USB peripherals that it was not expecting.

wrs

No I didn't. But the only thing that was connected to the pc by usb was my printer - which was off.

Should I try the reinstallation again?

That page seems to be for a fresh installation for XP. I only want to reinstall my operating system, and cannot lose any of my files or programmes. And I have no way of getting onto that computer to transfer all the files over! So is that page still ok to follow?

Nope that didn't work. The installation started from the section before it broke, and when it finished and restarted the same thing happened. I did get an error message from the 1st restart after that, but it only flashed up and then the pc restarted and I couldn't read what it said in time!

So anymore ideas please! Thanks for all your help so far though.

go to  www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp  for clear instructions on how to do a reinstallation. Print out these instruction pages, study them first (you will need them during reinstallation).

One of the  first things it will tell you to do;... reboot, tap the F2 key when it comes up during the bootup to get you into your Bios settings, when it comes up, scroll down to Boot Sequence to the #3 item, highlight it, press the (-) key until you have the IDE CD-ROM Devise in the #1 position, do the same with the Dikette Drive to put it in #2 position, and the Hard- Disc Drive C:  #3 position, click to save settings and then exit the Bios.

Next; Insert your XP reinstallation disc into your CD ROM drive, shut down your computer then restart, thereafter follow the instructions from the Supercite info above that you printed out.

Well I tried it again, and before I didn't do the part where you select the file system. But I only have 3, 1 is :- which is only about 8mb. The 2nd is: C:- which has lots of free space on, but all of my data. 3d one has no name and is unpartioned, but that too is only about 8mb. So 1 and 3 are too small, and using 2 would delete all my data, so how can I create some free space from C: to install it on?

Well I get as far as this:

http://www.winsupersite.com/images/showcase/wxp_sg_clean_025.gif

And I don't get anymore of those option screens.

Then I reboot, and I get the XP logo, and then I get the same black screen with a mouse, and then the computer reboots and the whole process starts over (XP logo, mouse, reboot etc!)

edat,

You would need a third-party partitioning program to separate C:\ into one partition holding your data and another with free space for the installation of XP. I don't know of any partitioning program which can run without an operating system and it appears that your installation of XP is not functional.

So what can I do then? Is the fault with the setup CD, or with my computer?

Sounds like pilot error . . you embarked on rebuilding your system and did not back up your data?  Sounds like you have installed a second system . . it probably does not know what to do so it just squats.

Help me understand exactly what you were trying to do and what you did . . I thought you were reinstalling the operating system but it sounds like you were installing it on top of itself.  Did you attempt a repair install first? . . I am lost!

Depending on how important your data is, one alternative is to buy a new drive, perform a clean install on it and get it up and running . . then attach the old drive as a slave and salvage the data . . after that you could format the old one and use it for storage/backup.

wrs

 

I had some virus's on my pc, and it had deleted lots of things, so I put in the windows xp setup disk, and there were 2 options, where you could either format your hard drive and start again, or just reinstall your operating system and keep all existing files and programmes etc. So I chose that, and it started the process, and at the last restart the computer just came up with a black screen as I described earlier.

I didn't back up my data as I thought there would be no need to do it with the process that I was doing.

I didn't try the repair console - didn't know it existed until now! So I just followed the instructions on the screen.

My data is very important, and there is no way I can lose it. And I really need it for tomorrow. I don't think there would be enough space on my other computers to store all my data - as they are quite old, and have very small hard drives compared to the pc with all my data on it.