Do I need a boot disc?

[freakzilla3333]

Sorry, this isn't about my xbox, it's my laptop. Although when my laptop's not working, I can't ftp from my XBOX, so it's related in that way. It is a modern one with Windows XP. Could really do with MartinC for this one I think.

I turned my laptop off, next time I turned it on, it had a black screen saying that it may be a hardware or software change.. it also gives ptions of booting in safe mode, safe mode with network enabled, and last configuration that worked, and start normally. None of the last two work. I didn't try the others as I thought this wouldn't make any difference. It goes to the XP logo and then goes back to the black screen.

I am thinking, although it doesn't say that I need a boot disc, a Windows XP boot disc should work right, just so I can get into xp and sort out some files before taking it to a pc shop forthem to install xp again. I need to get to my files first.

Thanks in advance.

 

[freakzilla3333]

bump

 

[mattydread]

bizarre i had the exact same problem the other night with my pc.

got a sneaking suspicion its that msn messenger 7.0 as it happened the next day after installing it.......

Anyways
My last known config worked and booted ok, i would give safe mode a go worth a try.

i then went to,
windows update,
it checks your system and it discovered my ATI graphics card needed a new driver, which was ready to download there and then....

ever since no trouble.

Hope this helps.

 

[Cra41g]

Sorry, this isn't about my xbox, it's my laptop. Although when my laptop's not working, I can't ftp from my XBOX, so it's related in that way. It is a modern one with Windows XP. Could really do with MartinC for this one I think.

I turned my laptop off, next time I turned it on, it had a black screen saying that it may be a hardware or software change.. it also gives ptions of booting in safe mode, safe mode with network enabled, and last configuration that worked, and start normally. None of the last two work. I didn't try the others as I thought this wouldn't make any difference. It goes to the XP logo and then goes back to the black screen.

I am thinking, although it doesn't say that I need a boot disc, a Windows XP boot disc should work right, just so I can get into xp and sort out some files before taking it to a pc shop forthem to install xp again. I need to get to my files first.

Thanks in advance.

Oh dear - that's not too good!! Why not try a Windows 98 startup disk?

 

[freakzilla3333]

Thanks alot guys. I'll try that startup disc later and post results. Thanks again.

 

[freakzilla3333]

I tried making a boot disc with nero6, (I downloaded and extracted the .zip file posted above and put this in the disc contents). and nero said that I need either a bootable floppy disc or a bootable image file. I think this is to make the disc "boot". Does anyone have a bootable image file that I could have please? Thanks.

 

[Cra41g]

I tried making a boot disc with nero6, (I downloaded and extracted the .zip file posted above and put this in the disc contents). and nero said that I need either a bootable floppy disc or a bootable image file. I think this is to make the disc "boot". Does anyone have a bootable image file that I could have please? Thanks.

The files in the zip file are to be put onto a floppy disk. You should be able to boot to a DOS prompt using this.

Please let me know how you get on. I also have a boot disk maker for Win2K (4x IMG files).

 

[freakzilla3333]

My laptop doesnt have a floppy disc drive, will my usb stick work?

Also, how do I delete files from my laptop with DOS? Is it complicated?

 

[Floppy Mohawk]

Do you still have the rescue discs that came with the laptop?

Floppy

 

[freakzilla3333]

I don't think I had any discs with it, I'll have another look.

I just tried it with the usb stick and it said "not bootable device in atapi cd-rom".

 

[freakzilla3333]

I found something..xp home edition, unopened, I'll try it.

 

[freakzilla3333]

Just opened it up and it was just a user guide, no disc.

 

[freakzilla3333]

So I dont think there's a disc that came with it. I tried all the options that the black screen gives and nothing works.

 

[Floppy Mohawk]

I can guarantee you it came with a disc. Unless you bought it second hand.

You can't even boot in safe mode? What kind of laptop is it?

Floppy

 

[freakzilla3333]

My mom's brand new PC didn't come with a disc either. My laptop was brand new and no disc with it. It won't boot in safe mode, it's a Packard Bell, Celeron 2.8GHz Windows XP Notebook.

 

[freakzilla3333]

I just bought a disc from ebay that is supposed to be able to repair xp no matter what. It can even go into password protected accounts. I hope it works. I need to get to my files at least cos if I have to take it to a pc repair shop, they can't see my xbox stuff and certain software

 

[Chipmonk4604]

if you are using windows xp a win9x boot disc will not work. xp runs on a completely different file system. if you are running xp you should have made a good config save, and then u can revert to it when things go wrong... or you need to boot into safe mode pull the files and then reinstall xp, there is no need to goto a pc repair shop, unless you want to spend money. just put in the xp disc and follow instructions, just dont think that in safe mode you can do what ever you want, cuz u cant, just get the files you need and be doen, this is a simple problem to fix, if you have some computer experience. what were you doing before this problem occured?? all you need is the xp install disc, which you should have gotten with you laptop/notebook just bootup with it in the drive, and do a repair. that should take care of you problems, if not, you can email me and i will help you.

 

[freakzilla3333]

Thanks for the info and offer chipmonk4604, I ordered a windows xp engineers disc that is supposed to boot to an environment where I can repair the files. Hopefully I should get it tomorrow.

Before this thing happenned: I was trying to backup a css dvd with anyDVD and cloneDVD. AnyDVD alters settings for the D drive to ignore css. BUT, this has been fine for ages and my laptop still worked after I gave up trying to back up the dvd and restarted (it's very fussy about when it will oversee the css protection). The laptop worked fine. Then the next time I turned it on and it had the black screen with boot options. So anyway lets hope this engineers disc works.

I'm really annoyed that my laptop didn't come with a disc, if I ever buy a pc again in future, I will demand a disc. Note: Curry's are not giving discs that should be supplied as standard.

 

[freakzilla3333]

When I was tring to backup the css dvd, it had a blue screen with error codes on it flash really quick and restart the laptop. Then it said windows XP has encountered a serious error, send error report, yes, no I read an error report and it said it was an internet thing. My laptop isn't connected to the internet, so what I think it could have been is that AnyDVD (trial version expired but still works) was stopped working during copying because it was trying to connect to the internet to register. The laptop doesn't have internet, so then the copy protection is found by the dvd drive and a big error occurs.

However, like I said my laptop worked fine after it restarted. Then I turned it off. Then I turned it on the next day and that was when the black screen showed up.

 

[freakzilla3333]

Strangely, I tried backing up the css DVD with my XBOX using dvd2xbox, and it worked fine. Every other css dvd I tried with a file explorer has been scrambled. I think I used the "vorbis" encoder with dvd2xbox. So maybe if I was to set xbmc to use the vorbis encoder, css dvd's will copy?

If this is true then my xbox really is starting to become better than my laptop.