Question:
I have a system that will not boot windows at all.
Anyone know of a good boot repair program that will boot from the CD drive
and run floppy like diagnostics?
Answer:
If you state exactly how far the boot process goes and
what messages you see on the screen (verbatim, please!)
You should be able to boot from your Windows CD and run a repair on the
drive. I've never seen this work successfully, but Microsoft must think
it'll work or they wouldn't put it there, right?
The reader should exercise normal caution and backup the Registry and
data files regularly, and especially before making any changes to their
PC, as well as performing regular virus and spyware scans. I am not
liable for problems or mishaps that occur from the reader using advice
posted here. No warranty, express or implied, is given with the posting
of this message.
This has not been our experience. We have performed dozens of Repair
installs and have had a good rate of success doing so in that the Repair
install frequently got the system back to a bootable functional state. Did
it "work" 100% of the time? Of course not. But certainly frequently enough
that it's nearly always worth a try in many situations. And very little to
lose other than the user's time.
You are absolutely correct, a repair install only fixes the operating
system, won't do a darn thing for a broken hard drive.
You would get the drive diagnostic program from the drive manufacturers
web site to determine hardware damage.
