XP Home

[hawkida]

I have a computer that went screwy after the last XP update. It no longer boots, not even in safe mode (It constantly cycles after blue screening so fast I can't read the error, or in safe mode it gets stuck after loading "mup.sys" and does nothing). So I want to boot it from a CD and tell it to do a repair. Except I don't actually have an XP disk. I do have a legit XP serial for the machine and I was under the impression that I could download the software legally from Microsoft themselves. Well, if I can, they're making it bloody difficult to work out how. Best I can find is some version that's suitable for putting on floppy disks. Am I wrong? Do I have to search my entire house in the hope of finding an XP disk, or go down the dodgy torrents route? Or am I just failing to see something that's right under my nose?

Comments

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

I would run a Linux Live CD to check that the hardware is ok. It might also be worth using it to transfer any data off that hard disk.

It may be that an XP disc "repair" may work, but then again it may not.

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

There's no useful data on the disk, but it runs XP Home tablet version and had a whole bunch of interesting freebie software on it, too. It's a Fizzbook Spin and it was cute and handy until Microsoft killed it...

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

> XP Home tablet version

I didn't even know that existed! You may find that you will need an XP CD specifically for the tablet edition before it will repair.



PS As an aside I found that http://ninite.com/ can be helpful in installing a bunch of windows freebie applications with just a few clicks.

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

The license sticker on the machine says it's an XP home license. I think the tablet stuff is hidden in there somewhere on xp home disks anyway and just doesn't install on non-tablet machines.

I don't need ninite, I only want VLC and Firefox on top of what came with the machine.

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

sorry that didn't answer the question you asked.

> Do I have to search my entire house in the hope of finding an XP disk, or go down the dodgy torrents route?

I suspect you will eventually need a proper XP disk - one which is the *same* version as what you have installed now. No - don't go down the dodgy torrents route. Do you know people who could lend you one for a few days?


Goodluck

[tadeous.livejournal.com]

I have XP discs, but probably not XP home. I'll bring one along on Tuesday, it may help?

Would this have happened around about the 11th Feb?
http://www.infoworld.com/d/security-central/windows-patch-cripples-xp-blue-screen-users-claim-954?source=rss_infoworld_news

If so, fix is
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistawu/thread/73cea559-ebbd-4274-96bc-e292b69f2fd1/#e9b28c45-635c-4adf-8d24-817bf39c207b

Still needs a CD though.

Si

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

Cheers Si. It could well be that - the symptoms look the same. It happened last Friday, but it may just have been that I'd put off the update in between times. I hadn't switched off the auto-updates and it was nagging me that there was new stuff to install. I'd been telling it to wait, but then I left the machine on and unattended for a bit and heard it rebooting and now rebooting is pretty much ALL it will do.

Annoyingly I know I HAVE an untouched XP Home CD somewhere that I found the other week and went "huh, that could be useful sometime, I'll put it away safely"...

[tadeous.livejournal.com]

Any XP disc should get you to the recovery console.

You would need the same edition for the automatic repair/recovery stuff.

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

If you could bring one along on Tuesday then, that'd be really helpful. Thanks.

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

I managed to find a disk at home this evening.

Sadly, it's helping about as much as a coaster might. I can't boot even from the disk - although at least it's possible to read the error message on the blue screen going down that route. Seems the hard drive has been killed. I bought it as a refurb off ebay, I'm trying to get my money back... Bah. Thanks for the pointers though.

[tadeous.livejournal.com]

Nuts.

Have you got another drive?

Fingers crossed for the refund.

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

No laptop sized drives, and I'm reluctant to open it up before I know for sure I'm lumbered with it. I understand Paypal tends to come down on the side of buyers if there are problems, so I'm fairly confident of getting my money back, although it'll probably take a while. And then I'll go to a proper shop and buy a normal laptop.

[epideme.livejournal.com]

May or may not work, but if it's a legit copy, have you tried phoning MS support?

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

I haven't, I was hoping to avoid it.

[silks-ic.livejournal.com]

Yeah it's worth installing Linux to check it's not a hardware thing, if so then worry about getting a disk.

[liam-on-linux.livejournal.com]

XP Tablet Edition is a special, separate release, based off XP Pro. No, a vanilla XP disk, of any other ordinary edition, will not install the tablet extensions.

Sounds to me like you need a new hard disk, possibly, /and/ a copy of XPTE.

Notebook hard disks are quite cheap now. All you need to know is if you need PATA or SATA. I'd give up hope of any of the freebies on the original CD, though.

But if you can get your money back, go for it.