Ten remedies for XP boot failure (3)

7. Repair the damaged primary boot sector

The primary boot sector occupies the first sector of the hard disk and is responsible for the Window boot process. The primary boot sector contains the disk partition table and a small program called the master boot code, which is responsible for locating activity 0, bootable disk, and partition in the partition table. Once it is destroyed, the partition boot sector will take over and start loading Windows. If the main boot sector is corrupted, the partition boot sector will not be able to do this and Windows will not be able to boot.

If you suspect that the Windows XP system boot problem is caused by the main boot sector being corrupted, you can use the Fixmbr tool in the Recovery Console to fix it. First, start the system with the Windows XP CD and open the Recovery Console as described in #4. You can call the Fixmbr tool like this: At the Recovery Console command prompt, type Fixmbr device_name:device_name is the pathname of the device where you want the new primary boot sector. For example, the device path name is formatted according to the standard bootable drive C drive: \\Device\\HardDisk0.

8. Disable automatic restart

If Windows XP encounters a fatal error, the default setting for handling this error is to automatically restart the system. If the error is generated during the Windows XP boot process, the operating system will fall into an infinite loop of reboots - iteratively restarts and cannot be restored.

In this case, you need to disable the auto restart feature. To do this, when Windows XP starts up, when you see "Please select the operating system to start", or after you hear a beep, press F8 to open the Windows Advanced Options menu.

Then, select to disable automatic restart in the event of a system failure and press Enter. Now Windows XP will hang when it encounters a problem, it will give a stop message that you can use to diagnose the problem.

9. Recovery Backup

If you can't fix a Windows XP system with a boot failure, but have a recent backup, you can restore the system from the backup media. The method used to recover your system depends on the backup tool you use, so you need to restore the system according to the instructions of the backup tool.

10, in-place upgrade

If you can not repair the Windows XP system with startup problems, and recently did not backup, you can perform an in-place upgrade. Reinstalling the operating system in the same folder is like upgrading from one Windows version to another. In-place upgrades can solve at most most of the problems if they don't solve all Windows startup problems. Here's how:

Insert the Windows XP CD into your drive and restart your system from the CD. After the initial preparation is complete, you will see the Windows XP installation screen.

Press Enter to enter the Windows XP installer. Soon, you will see the license agreement page, then you need to press F8 to confirm that you agree to the agreement.

Then the installer searches the hard drive for the previously installed Windows XP. When it finds the previously installed Windows XP, you will see a second Windows XP installation interface appearing on the screen. The interface will prompt you to press R to repair, or press Esc to reinstall a Windows XP.

In this case, repairing the system is the same as doing an in-place upgrade, so you can fix it by simply pressing the R key. After you have chosen it, the installer will check the disk where the system is located and then start an in-place upgrade. After an in-place upgrade or repair system, you must reinstall all Windows updates.