Need help for friend's PC
 

A friend has phoned to say that his computer has an error message. As far as I can make out the message (on a black screen) says that windows32/system needs installing or is missing. He can't get out of this screen. Will phone him back shortly to find out exactly what the message says. Can someone tell me if we can get the computer to start in safe mode i.e. by tapping F8, would a system restore work, or is it something more serious? Please don't get all technical on me, I'm a simple soul.:erm:

Re: Need help for friend's PC
 

You need to try and boot it into safe mode and then back up the data and then reinstall windows easiest way i would say

Re: Need help for friend's PC
 

Thanks Darth for your speedy reply. Easier said than done in this case, as my friend is a complete beginner, and won't have a clue how to backup data, let alone reinstall windows. Looks like I am going to have a large phone bill.

Re: Need help for friend's PC
 

Does your friend live that far away from you then?

Re: Need help for friend's PC
 

A fair bit.

Re: Need help for friend's PC
 

Get friend to phone you, you're good enough to give your time, no reason why you should foot the phone bill too.

Re: Need help for friend's PC
 

Sounds like he may have an 'NTLDR' issue.

First thing to check is that he hasn't left a floppy or blank CD in a drive. That can cause a boottime error.

FYI:

"When your computer starts, the BIOS attempts to find the primary hard drive's active partition to read the first sector for the MBR (Master Boot Record), it uses that info to load the rest of the OS. For Windows NT4/2k/XP the MBR is pointed to the NTLDR (New Technology Loader) and it takes it from there. If you get the "NTLDR is missing, press any key to restart" what's most likely going on is the BIOS either didn't look for the right drive, didn't find the right partition, it wasn't active, didn't find the MBR, or the MBR didn't list NTLDR in the right place, the location of NTLDR changed, or you are looking at a hardware failure situation (memory/cables/drive/motherboard/etc)."

This may be more info than you want to know but it's always impressive to baffle your friends with science..

Re: Need help for friend's PC
 

might need a trip to recovery console (boot from xp cd if that is whats being run) try fixboot and fixmbr commands if these do not work a recovery install is your next step

Re: Need help for friend's PC
 

If the system's complaining that it's missing NTLDR you can boot from a Windows or Linux Live CD, do a search of the drive for a copy of it (Windows normally maintains multiple redundent copies of this file), and then move it to the location that the error message says it's missing from.

Re: Need help for friend's PC
 

i take it its ntrldr is missing press ctrl + alt + delete only way i ever fixed that was reinstall but you could risking his harddrive put it in your pc and copy over your ntldr file worth a try

Re: Need help for friend's PC
 

Many thanks for all your replies, which are well above my head. However my friend did phone me back and I tried to explain how to start in safe mode. He tried it a couple of times but no joy, whether he was doing it right I don't know. I told him best to take it to the doctors. Apparently his nephew is coming over to see him today, and he is going to have a look. So no longer my problem, tried my best. :dunce: Thanks again all!!!!!

Re: Need help for friend's PC
 

Probably the best option to be honest. This is more than a 'quick fix' situation and not something I would happily try to fix remotely. There are too many variables and unknowns.

Re: Need help for friend's PC
 

That's true Dave, also on reflection if he managed to get it going in safe mode, and something else went wrong I would feel very guilty.:erm:

Re: Need help for friend's PC
 

Easiest way is as DF said, use fixboot / fixmbr, if that doesn;t cure it then use the 2nd repair option (boot with xp disk, select install (not repair) F8 the EULA and then when it comes up with the installed disks/partitions it should let you then select repair...

That'll then go through a full install but will keep all of your old apps/settings, the only thing you'll need to do after that depending on the XP version is servicepacks/updates..

Re: Need help for friend's PC
 

You're too clever for me Kymmy, thanks anyway!:dunce:

Re: Need help for friend's PC
 

I don't know if the poor soul with the problem even has an XP disk. The only clue I see is reference to a system restore way back at the beginning. So possibly it would need a tech or someone with the right flavour of MS media available.

Also there are so many possibilities with an issue like this. Hardware failure, dirty mains power, case full of cat hair..

This is one I'd really want to have in the workshop.