-=PCTechTalk=- Re: " Situation Now All Fowled Up "

Teri,
    Since this addy was never subscribed to the group, your post came first 
to my admin addy as a message awaiting approval/rejection.  I subbed the 
netzero addy after approving your post.  Once we get your main system fixed, 
let me know and I'll put this one on Vacation mode so you don't get 
duplicates of everything.       :O)


    I'm curious as to what happens when you try firing up the computer with 
the Recovery CD in the CD drive.  Do you get any kind of menu?  If it's 
still hanging, try booting up the system without the CD in the drive and see 
what happens.

    Since you're already at the point where you've started the Recovery CD, 
restarting the computer should normally allow you to restart where it left 
off after the hang.  When that doesn't happen, your best bet is to Format 
the drive again and start the Recovery CD again.  How easy or hard it is to 
do that depends on a couple factors.  Specifically,

How many volumes (hard drives and their partitions) were present, not 
counting floppy or optical drives (CD/DVD) in the PC before the attempted 
reinstall?  OEM computers often have two partitions on a single hard drive. 
The first partition holds everything you normally use while the second is 
most likely hidden and reserved for the company's support files.

What file system is the installation drive using (FATxx or NTFS)?  If you're 
not sure, ask someone with a Win98 system to create a startup disk for you. 
Start up your system with the floppy in the drive and select 'no CD 
support'.  Once you see the prompt flashing after "A:\>_", type in "C:" and 
press Enter.  If you get an error message, chances are very good that it's 
formatted with NTFS since a Win98 operating system does not recognize NTFS 
volumes.


If it comes down to using your retail WinXP install CD as a last resort, we 
should be able to make that work, but it will consist of installing twice as 
you mentioned.

Incidentally, Fred's instructions are geared for retail install CDs. 
Recovery CDs don't follow the same installation procedures, so there's never 
any 'R' to press.  Also, there absolutely no reason to wipe the drive with 
1's and/or 0's before a reinstall.  All the drive needs is a "Format C:" to 
clean it well enough for that.  True wiping is only suggested if you're 
giving away an old drive and you don't want curious eyes to try and 
reconstruct what you had on there before formatting it.

Peace,
GMan

"The only dumb questions are the ones that are never asked!"

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <mytoybox1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "pctalk" <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2007 5:30 PM
Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- " Situation Now All Fowled Up "


> Hiya ... I writing this from my mail account using NetZero dial-up ... 
> yoike`s is it slow compared to the DSL that I have been using ( groan ) .
> Anyway`s ... I had several strange thing`s occuring with my XP Home 
> operating system on my Dell Inspiration 2400 ... so I decided to try a 
> re-install of Windows XP ... using the instruction`s that I saw on Fred 
> Langlas site .
>
> I put the OEM Reinstallation CD that came with my computer into the CD 
> drive and it booted up ... and informed me that the total installation 
> would take about 51 minute`s ... so I brought over some cookie`s and hot 
> chocolate and pressed ( Install ) .
>
> It was going pretty good although I was not given the " Press R " choice 
> ... and it proceeded to install Windows XP over my old origional XP system 
> .
>
> I got to the last 7 minute`s of the install and was asked if I wanted to 
> register and re-enter the internet accessability ... and I pressed " Yes " 
> ... I should have chosen " No " but I did`nt ( dummy me ) .
>
> It asked me for my registration information ... which I entered then 
> pressed " Next " ... then it just hung up and refused to budge ... I 
> waited for 30 minute`s ... and nothing ... so I shut the PC off waited for 
> 30 second`s and powered back up with the Windows Re-Intall disk still in 
> the CD drive ... it was still hung up ... so I shut the machine off and 
> called Dell Tech Support .
>
> I got a female and male support staffer`s whom I could not understand ... 
> so I thank`d each one of them and hung up and redialed the support number 
> ... and finally got a nice male whom I could understand ... although I 
> could tell that he was a bit perturbed that I had gotten myself into this 
> situation ( another groan ) .
>
> I was told that I should have first installed the " Drivers and Utilities 
> " from the CD ... no where in the operating instruction manual does it 
> mention this proceedure ... nor does it even mention how to re-install 
> Windows should it ever fail ( pout ) .
>
> So I thanked him for trying to help and hung up .
>
> I got to thinking that I still have this IBM back up PC to make a floppy 
> of the " Eraser " program to erase everything on the Dell hard drive 
> overwritten with 1`s and 0`s to give me a new start ... also I can make a 
> floppy of the Boot disk from the Windows XP system to use on the Dell to 
> give me the necessary file`s to accept the re-installation CD for the Dell 
> .
>
> I also have a full version installation Window XP-sp2 CD that I bought for 
> the IBM back-up PC when I changed it from Windows Melenieum (sp?) to 
> Windows XP ... could I use it to re-install Windows XP on the Dell and 
> then use the Dell re-install disk to install over that installation so as 
> not to violate the Microsoft Users License Agreement against using the 
> same disk on two different machine`s ?
>
> Sorry that this mail is so lengthly ... " I have never been known for my 
> brevity " ( grin ) .
>
> LiL OL Me
>
> Teri Lee 

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