shorty Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 Hi guys! I have a huge problem: Recently I started having troubles on booting my pc. Last week it stopped booting completely. Fearing the boot sector of my hard disc was defect, I used a backup programe to clone my c drive on to an other hard disc. All seemed very well - but when starting my computer with the new disc it turns out the are no boot files. How do I get boot files onto my new c drive? Can I just take them from an other pc? I am hoping to avoid having to make a full reinstall! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dannik Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 If you are using Windows XP, there's a quick and simple way of doing this. Boot sector rebuilding You'll need a physical copy of XP, so this won't help you much if you have an OEM computer with restore disks. In case, though, you don't need your copy of XP, just a working CD, as the repair console doesn't care about versioning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shorty Posted July 3, 2007 Author Share Posted July 3, 2007 Ups - forgot to say my operative system is XP Anyway - I followed the guide in the link. I was told the drive had had a boot sector added and the drive was in NTFS format. On boot I get the same message I have gotten the whole time: "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key". The hard disc is connected - is visible in the BIOS - and is set as master. What the he.. is wrong?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dannik Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 Is it possible that the drive in question isn't selected in the CMOS/BIOS as the boot device, so the motherboard is looking at another drive for boot sector info? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shorty Posted July 3, 2007 Author Share Posted July 3, 2007 Hmmm... just checked the BIOS again: Now Primary IDE Master is "Not detected" ?!? Type; PIO mode; etc is set on auto. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shorty Posted July 3, 2007 Author Share Posted July 3, 2007 This is embarrasing - the cable connecting hard drive and mother board had loosened Have done the fixboot again - but still I get "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CR6 Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Backup all your data and reinstall. It's not that painful with XP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dannik Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Heck, do a repair install. It's even less painful than a full backup/reinstall. You'll lose your service pack(s) if they aren't slipstreamed into your CD, but won't take very long to fix the problem. Sorry we've not been of more help. It's not always obvious how to approach a fairly generic system message without a vast amount of detail, which remotely is hard to collect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shorty Posted July 4, 2007 Author Share Posted July 4, 2007 Well - I have just done a repair install on the old hard drive. But now I am prompted for a password for both my user account and the guest account - and I didn't have one before! And it will not accept me writing nothing!? ARRRRRRGGGHH!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dannik Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Luckily there are many ways to reset Windows XP passwords available. Mind you, this is turning into "the good news is the flood put out the fire", isn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shorty Posted July 5, 2007 Author Share Posted July 5, 2007 Thanx Dannik - I'll give it a try this afternoon when I get back from work. I wasn't familiar with the phrase "the good news is the flood put out the fire" - but YES! With all the time I end up having spend on this - it would have been faster to make a full new install This is getting rather spooky now; I have tried repair and repair install put the new hard drive keeps going "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key"? I have noticed that during repair install on boot it starts all over again instead of going to the windows install screen? I have tried two different XP CDs, bt this problems remains? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shorty Posted July 7, 2007 Author Share Posted July 7, 2007 Located the problem with the new hard drive. The partition was not activated! Once done the repair install worked fine; however now I am prompted for password on this one also! Dannik - I have take a look at the link you posted. As I don't have the diskette, I have tried downloading "Emergency Boot CD" but every time I try I am told "connection refused" to Simtel downloader?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dannik Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 I am told "connection refused" to Simtel downloader?? Odd. I just connected and downloaded with no issues. I wonder if it's an unrelated network issue, just one of those things? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyHaired Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 There's another way to reset your password. This works in XP and XP SP1. I've not tried it with XP SP2. It requires your XP CD and key: Run a "Repair" During the installation, the "Installing Devices" toolbar at the left side of your screen will show at some stage. When this bar shows up, hold the "Shift" key and press F10. In the command prompt you type: NUSRMGR.CPL and press Enter. You have now access to the user accounts and can change or remove passwords. Once done, let XP finish the repair process, do not exit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shorty Posted July 9, 2007 Author Share Posted July 9, 2007 Thanx GreyHared. Actually a friend of mine send me the same advice earlier today. Tried it tonight - but no luck. It will not accept a new password nor can the "control userpasswords2" command remove the prompting of a password. At this stage I have given up - I will make a fresh install and transfer data from the cloned drive. I know what I'll be doing the next days. (sigh!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROCO*AFZ* Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 Was this just the login to xp? Hit Ctrl alt delete about 3 or 4 times till you get the domain like login (not the home one) Type in for user Administrator no password. As long as no one has deleted the hidden admin account your in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shorty Posted July 10, 2007 Author Share Posted July 10, 2007 Hi Roco! After a repair install I am prompted for password to log on when booting both for the administrator and guest account. I'll try your tip when I back from work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shorty Posted July 10, 2007 Author Share Posted July 10, 2007 No such luck. When I push "enter" having typed nothing in the password box, I get the same message I have gotten the whole time - "wrong parameter". It's formatting time dudes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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