[TheGuy]

Hi, recently I have been having issues with windows.

The last time I shut it down and turned it back on, windows would not load. Instead, after the BIO and before that Windows XP loading screen, I got a message that a file was corrupted or missing, and that I could attempt to repair it by booting from the CD and selecting the "repair" option (r). Then when I press any key it restarts back the begining of the BIOS. I did what the message advised (boot from CD), and once I chose which windows to log (there was only one choice) I had that old DOS thing "<C:/WINDOWS>. I typed "help" for a list of commands, and I'm not sure which command to use.

I did get some advice from another board, and that was to create a MS DOS starter disk from a 3 1/2 floppy disk. Did that, and when I had the A: prompt (<A:/>), he told me to type "SYS C:", but when I did that it said it was an "invaild command or file name."

On a further note, this was the second time I got this "file damage blah blah blah" message. Last time I got it I just pressed any key and windows loaded without any trouble.

I don't think it's a virus, as I haven't opened, recived, downloaded any files as of late, and I just scanned with Norton, Spybot, and Ad-Aware a few days ago and it came up clean.

So that leaves me with no idea what to do. So if any of you have ideas based on those two ways, or any new ideas at all to help me fix my computer, it would be much appreciated.

*To explain the obvious, I am typing this on a secondonary computer

 

[TheGuy]

First, don't use a non WinXP bootdisk for repairs, improper use (like the advice you were given about sys c can cause further damage that may not be recoverable.

Okay, boot from the CD again same as before and when you get to the command line type
CHKDSK C: /F
this will check/fix errors on the hard drive.

(need the /F switch for repair, no switches and chkdsk just scans drive and reports)

OKay, I this is what I typed:
<C:\WINDOWS>chkdsk C: /F
Then it tells me the parameter is not valid

Someone also recommended me to use the repair installation from the CD, but the option is not available.

 

[TheGuy]

Even with that, it still says "the parameter is invalid."

When I tried using safe mode, I got the same message after I chose to work in "safe mode"

Any more ideas? Also, do you have a hypothesis on what the problem could be?

 

[TheGuy]

Well, as nice as it would be, I cannot get into safe mode. I have not had any system crashes as of late. I just shut down windows, left for a couple of hours and turned it back on getting this error message.

By the way, if I reinstall windows, would there be a possibility of me keeping some of the items in my documents such as personal picture I took with my camera?