System files missing - any recourse possible?

[johno]

Hi,

Here's a real blooper, somewhat embarrassing. This is what can, and sometimes does, happen when I should take a break from the computer to clear my head.

I was working on my old machine, neatening up my files. I had forgotten that I had system files set to be visible. Normally they are hidden. I don't remember why I changed it. Plus, I was working in the C: directory, which I normally don't do. Usually I'm at least a couple of levels deep in the file system.

I saw some files there called ntldr, boot.ini, ntdetect.com, autoexec.bat, config.sys, io.sys, and msdos.sys. In a royal bleary-eyed blunder, I moved them to a new folder on the C: drive. Next time I started the machine, guess what? Bad news. The PC is basically dead.

The first time I tried booting from other drives it would boot, but for some reason after that the system will not boot anymore. Just a black screen. When I booted from the XP SP2 CD, I logged in to the Windows directory in DOS mode. It would have been a simple matter to copy the files from the new folder back out to the root directory, but access was denied to all but system folders.

I copied these files from the C: directory of my new PC (also WinXP SP2) to a floppy in the hope that these would work. I booted the sick machine from a WinXP boot floppy, then switched diskettes and tried to copy the files to the C: drive, but kept getting an error that the C: drive was not a valid drive.

As I said, all subsequent attempts to boot from any drive have failed. One time I let the screen be black for about 5 minutes, and a message finally popped up telling me to insert disk. I think it was looking for the C: drive.

I've been searching around in the Microsoft knowledge base, but haven't found anything yet that will fix the no-boot problem. Can't do Recovery Console because I can't install it. Don't know if I could do anything with it, anyway.

Does anyone know if there is a way to save this installation? If not, how can I reinstall Windows?

Thanks.
johno

[RickyF]

You may be SOL (which is an old English expression, but not Olde English.)

At this point rather than wasting time...

Try reinstalling Windows - I assume you have an installation CD.

You have two choices in reinstalling -

• - a complete reformat of c:\, or
  
  - using the existing partition and some or all of the directory structure.

If you opt for the second choice you will preserve data and program files, but the programs may not work as they may not be properly installed in the new registry. Along the way the Windows XP CD may tell you that have a previous version of Windows installed in c:\windows. It will ask you if you want to overwrite that directory.

I see no compelling reason not to do that since you have screwed up the system. This might salvage the installed applications, it might not.

Please recognize that your system will most likely always have artifacts from this "dual install" that may cause issues prospectively. If you want the best possible install reformat the drive.

Either scenario is sub-optimal, but trying to undo the damage you have done requires lots of skill, knowledge and time which is more involved and probably won't work anyway. Therefore, IMHO, either reinstall scenario is superior.

Oh yeah, when you get it back up I advise you to take a breather of a week or two from screwing with the OS, for both our sakes.

[johno]

This is just a quick response for now.

There is a handful of files on the system disk I would really like to recover. That is the only reason I want to save the installation. Other than that, I certainly plan on reformatting and doing a clean install. When I have time I will try booting to the XP SP2 CD, but I'm pretty sure I'll just be faced with the black screen again. For some reason, it booted to the CD and the floppy on the first attempt, but won't do it anymore.

[RickyF]

Your computer may be suffering a more significant issue than the OS being screwed up if it won't boot from a bootable CD.

• Try downloading and burning  http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/.
  Test the new CD on another machine first
  Test if the non-working machine will boot from this CD.

If it does not boot, the problem is not the OS, since it is not booting from two different CDs.

If your machine is not booting from either CD then perhaps you need to adjust the BIOS settings for the boot device sequence. They may have been scrambled for some reason I don't understand.

[johno]

RickyF,

So far I've installed Active@ ISO Burner to use for burning the UltimateBootCD ISO to CD, and burned it. I haven't tried it on the sick system yet. I started an intensive 6-month course of study today and am swamped. Plus I only have one monitor, so I have to shut down, switch out, etc.

Just wanted to get back to you sooner than later. I haven't given up on it; it will have to wait for now. I'll make sure the boot sequence is set to CD first, if I can make it to BIOS setup.