How to Perform Windows XP Boot Fix?

Windows XP doesn’t boot? Here are 10 things you can do before the last drastic step of formatting your computer.

1) Use a Windows XP start-up floppy disk: To create this disk, format a floppy in a similarly configured working Windows XP system. Copy Boot.ini, NTLDR, and Ntdetect.com from the C drive of the working computer. Insert the floppy disk into the afflicted computer’s floppy drive and then boot your PC from the floppy.

After your computer boots up, you may perform various tasks, such as scan and remove any virus infections from Master Boot Record (MBR), fix issues with Boot.ini files, and/or check your hard disk for errors.

2) Use last known good configuration that worked: This replaces the key values in the Current Control Set registry to a good backup copy that was last used to boot Windows. If it doesn’t work then the backup is corrupt too.

3) Use the system restore tool: The system restore utility runs in the background and makes backup copies of critical system files. Before important changes are made restore points are created and it is possible to roll back all settings to the previous state. To use system restore boot Windows in Safe mode and launch the system restore utility from Start – Accessories – System Tools – System Restore.

4) Use the Recovery Console: If the above methods do not work, you may need to use Recovery Console that helps in performing several corrective tasks to recover corrupt Windows XP. To launch Recovery Console, boot your PC with the Windows installation CD. Follow the prompts on the screen and press R to launch recovery console when the option shows up on the “Welcome to Setup” screen. The following are some of the commands that you can use to perform Windows XP Boot Fix.

• Fix a corrupt boot.ini: If you suspect that the boot.ini file may be corrupt, then you can fix this by running the “bootcfg” command in the Recovery Console. To use this command in Recovery Console, type bootcfg/rebuild and then press Enter.

• Fix a corrupt partition boot sector: Sometimes, the boot partition of the hard disk might get corrupt in which case it becomes important to fix it. To fix this, on the Recovery Console command prompt, type Fixboot [drive] and then press enter. Here drive is the letter of the drive to which you want to write the new boot partition.

• Fix a corrupt master boot record: MBR occupies the first sector on the hard disk and it initiates the boot procedure. To remedy problems related to a corrupt MBR, in the Recovery Console window, type Fixmbr [device_name] and then press Enter. Here, device_name is the pathname of the drive to which you want to write the new master boot record.

5) Disable automatic restart: Sometimes, when an error occurs during system boot up, Windows tries to reboot and may go into a reboot cycle. Press F8 during boot up to display the Windows Advanced Options menu. Here, select the Disable the Automatic Restart on System Failure option. Hopefully, next time you will get an error message that you can use to diagnose the problem.

6) Restore from a backup: If you have a recently taken a full system backup along with, you can roll back to it by booting from the media the backup is on.

7) Perform a Windows upgrade: Upgrade or reinstall Windows installation from the Windows boot CD. This creates a new windows folder and removes all installed updates etc.

If these steps do not help you, your best bet is to consult Microsoft customer care or a software technician. At times, malfunctioning hardware may cause Windows XP boot issues. In this case, to perform Windows XP boot fix, you will have to get your PC checked for faulty hardware and then get this hardware replaced.