Windows XP Recovery Console

[t.hilchey]

I am trying to resote my fathers computer. He has XP Pro SP2.
It crashed and won't boot to hard drive.
When I run the XP disk and load the repair option it's all good untill I get
to the Recovery Console screen.

From most of what I've read online, it supposed to look like this:

"The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality."
"Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer."
"1. C:WINDOWS"

But this says:

"The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality."
"Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer."
"The path or file specified is not valid."
"C:\>"

Do you think the "WINDOWS" director may be corrupted?
If so, how do I repair that?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

"t.hilchey" <t.hilchey@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:ABE6B21D-E1B1-4E02-AA3E-374B8386915B@microsoft.com...
>I am trying to resote my fathers computer. He has XP Pro SP2.
> It crashed and won't boot to hard drive.
> When I run the XP disk and load the repair option it's all good untill I
> get
> to the Recovery Console screen.
>
> From most of what I've read online, it supposed to look like this:
>
> "The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality."
> "Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer."
> "1. C:WINDOWS"
>
> But this says:
>
> "The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality."
> "Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer."
> "The path or file specified is not valid."
> "C:\>"
>
> Do you think the "WINDOWS" director may be corrupted?
> If so, how do I repair that?
>

We can't tell unless you post full details about what happens
during the normal boot process, what you see on the screen
and how it gets.

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

You haven't yet proven that the hard drive itself can be read. If you get
the C:\ prompt, do a DIR command and see what it returns. Specifically, what
directories?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"t.hilchey" <t.hilchey@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:ABE6B21D-E1B1-4E02-AA3E-374B8386915B@microsoft.com...
>I am trying to resote my fathers computer. He has XP Pro SP2.
> It crashed and won't boot to hard drive.
> When I run the XP disk and load the repair option it's all good untill I
> get
> to the Recovery Console screen.
>
> From most of what I've read online, it supposed to look like this:
>
> "The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality."
> "Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer."
> "1. C:WINDOWS"
>
> But this says:
>
> "The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality."
> "Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer."
> "The path or file specified is not valid."
> "C:\>"
>
> Do you think the "WINDOWS" director may be corrupted?
> If so, how do I repair that?
>
>
>

 

[t.hilchey]

It says:

Boot Failure
Insert BOOT diskette in A:
Press any key when ready


"Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:

>
> "t.hilchey" <t.hilchey@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:ABE6B21D-E1B1-4E02-AA3E-374B8386915B@microsoft.com...
> >I am trying to resote my fathers computer. He has XP Pro SP2.
> > It crashed and won't boot to hard drive.
> > When I run the XP disk and load the repair option it's all good untill I
> > get
> > to the Recovery Console screen.
> >
> > From most of what I've read online, it supposed to look like this:
> >
> > "The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality."
> > "Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer."
> > "1. C:WINDOWS"
> >
> > But this says:
> >
> > "The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality."
> > "Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer."
> > "The path or file specified is not valid."
> > "C:\>"
> >
> > Do you think the "WINDOWS" director may be corrupted?
> > If so, how do I repair that?
> >
>
> We can't tell unless you post full details about what happens
> during the normal boot process, what you see on the screen
> and how it gets.
>
>
>

 

[t.hilchey]

when I do that it shows nothing, just the c:>


"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

> You haven't yet proven that the hard drive itself can be read. If you get
> the C:\ prompt, do a DIR command and see what it returns. Specifically, what
> directories?
>
> --
> Gary S. Terhune
> MS-MVP Shell/User
> www.grystmill.com
>
> "t.hilchey" <t.hilchey@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:ABE6B21D-E1B1-4E02-AA3E-374B8386915B@microsoft.com...
> >I am trying to resote my fathers computer. He has XP Pro SP2.
> > It crashed and won't boot to hard drive.
> > When I run the XP disk and load the repair option it's all good untill I
> > get
> > to the Recovery Console screen.
> >
> > From most of what I've read online, it supposed to look like this:
> >
> > "The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality."
> > "Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer."
> > "1. C:WINDOWS"
> >
> > But this says:
> >
> > "The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality."
> > "Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer."
> > "The path or file specified is not valid."
> > "C:\>"
> >
> > Do you think the "WINDOWS" director may be corrupted?
> > If so, how do I repair that?
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

You should now determine if your hard disk is intact. You can
do it like so:
1. Boot the machine with a Win98 boot disk from www.bootdisk.com.
2. Run the command ntfsdos.exe (www.sysinternals.com).
3. Check if you have the usual folders on your hard disk.


"t.hilchey" <thilchey@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:941502AD-6971-474D-95E9-23757034D4A2@microsoft.com...
> It says:
>
> Boot Failure
> Insert BOOT diskette in A:
> Press any key when ready
>
>
> "Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:
>
>>
>> "t.hilchey" <t.hilchey@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:ABE6B21D-E1B1-4E02-AA3E-374B8386915B@microsoft.com...
>> >I am trying to resote my fathers computer. He has XP Pro SP2.
>> > It crashed and won't boot to hard drive.
>> > When I run the XP disk and load the repair option it's all good untill
>> > I
>> > get
>> > to the Recovery Console screen.
>> >
>> > From most of what I've read online, it supposed to look like this:
>> >
>> > "The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery
>> > functionality."
>> > "Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer."
>> > "1. C:WINDOWS"
>> >
>> > But this says:
>> >
>> > "The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery
>> > functionality."
>> > "Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer."
>> > "The path or file specified is not valid."
>> > "C:\>"
>> >
>> > Do you think the "WINDOWS" director may be corrupted?
>> > If so, how do I repair that?
>> >
>>
>> We can't tell unless you post full details about what happens
>> during the normal boot process, what you see on the screen
>> and how it gets.
>>
>>
>>

 

[t.hilchey]

It says "The path or file specified is not valid."


"t.hilchey" wrote:

> when I do that it shows nothing, just the c:>
>
>
> "Gary S. Terhune" wrote:
>
> > You haven't yet proven that the hard drive itself can be read. If you get
> > the C:\ prompt, do a DIR command and see what it returns. Specifically, what
> > directories?
> >
> > --
> > Gary S. Terhune
> > MS-MVP Shell/User
> > www.grystmill.com
> >
> > "t.hilchey" <t.hilchey@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:ABE6B21D-E1B1-4E02-AA3E-374B8386915B@microsoft.com...
> > >I am trying to resote my fathers computer. He has XP Pro SP2.
> > > It crashed and won't boot to hard drive.
> > > When I run the XP disk and load the repair option it's all good untill I
> > > get
> > > to the Recovery Console screen.
> > >
> > > From most of what I've read online, it supposed to look like this:
> > >
> > > "The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality."
> > > "Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer."
> > > "1. C:WINDOWS"
> > >
> > > But this says:
> > >
> > > "The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality."
> > > "Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer."
> > > "The path or file specified is not valid."
> > > "C:\>"
> > >
> > > Do you think the "WINDOWS" director may be corrupted?
> > > If so, how do I repair that?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

Do what Pegasus said. Sounds to me like the HD isn't accessible. Could be
the drive gone bad, could be a loose cable (there are two), the motherboard
controller might be bad...

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"t.hilchey" <thilchey@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:8317F5C7-FDC9-42D2-B09D-0AF13E0DDF9D@microsoft.com...
> It says "The path or file specified is not valid."
>
>
> "t.hilchey" wrote:
>
>> when I do that it shows nothing, just the c:>
>>
>>
>> "Gary S. Terhune" wrote:
>>
>> > You haven't yet proven that the hard drive itself can be read. If you
>> > get
>> > the C:\ prompt, do a DIR command and see what it returns. Specifically,
>> > what
>> > directories?
>> >
>> > --
>> > Gary S. Terhune
>> > MS-MVP Shell/User
>> > www.grystmill.com
>> >
>> > "t.hilchey" <t.hilchey@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> > news:ABE6B21D-E1B1-4E02-AA3E-374B8386915B@microsoft.com...
>> > >I am trying to resote my fathers computer. He has XP Pro SP2.
>> > > It crashed and won't boot to hard drive.
>> > > When I run the XP disk and load the repair option it's all good
>> > > untill I
>> > > get
>> > > to the Recovery Console screen.
>> > >
>> > > From most of what I've read online, it supposed to look like this:
>> > >
>> > > "The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery
>> > > functionality."
>> > > "Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer."
>> > > "1. C:WINDOWS"
>> > >
>> > > But this says:
>> > >
>> > > "The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery
>> > > functionality."
>> > > "Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer."
>> > > "The path or file specified is not valid."
>> > > "C:\>"
>> > >
>> > > Do you think the "WINDOWS" director may be corrupted?
>> > > If so, how do I repair that?
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> >
>> >
>> >