If Windows XP does not start, and you receive one of those lovely Blue Screens (also known as BSOD - Blue Screen of Death), then you will definitely want to pay attention to this guide because it could be your saving grace. This fix has saved me from a reformat and reinstall so many times.

The fix is to repair the ntldr (the ntldr is the boot loader) and the ntdetect.com (the ntdetect.com is responsible for detecting basic hardware)

To do this fix you will need a Windows XP CD.

Stick the Windows XP CD in, and boot your computer from the CD (if you need help getting your computer to boot from the cd, check out this excellent tutorial, http://www.windowsnetworking.com/j_helmig/bootcd.htm ).

Once you have booted up, you will see a Blue Screen like this:

Hit R, To go into the Recovery Console. You will have to type in the Admin password (If you don’t recall setting a password for the Admin, try leaving it blank then hit enter, if you get an error, that means that there was a password. You will need this password to continue)

Once in the recovery console, type the following (note my CD Drive is letter D: so change this to whatever your CD Drive is and my Windows is on C: so change that drive to whatever your Windows is on):

copy D:/i386/ntldr C:
(then hit enter, if it asks you if you want to replace a file, say yes)

copy D:/i386/ntdetect.com C:
(then hit enter, if it asks you if you want to replace a file, say yes)

Next type: fixboot

Then type: fixmbr
When you see the message are you sure you want to write a new boot sector, say yes

Then Reboot.

FixMyXP.com

Comments (6)

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Mr
written by Adex, March 31, 2008

how can i repaire or fix my computer that is not satrting up whenever i on it

Dont Know My Password
written by KieDSFX, March 11, 2008

i have no idea what the password is or what it could be, is there a way around this?

dont want to lose any data
written by trod, September 25, 2007

Instead of the blue screen, mine goes to black and then restarts, I'm thinking of trying this to fix it, do you think it will work? Also, I am very concerned about losing any of my files. When it asks if I want to write a new boot sector and I say yes, does that mean that it will delete any of my stuff? Thanks for the help.

Recovery
written by Heidi, September 18, 2007

I am trying to get throught the recovery consul but it is asking for codes. I have no idea what to put. I am trying to locate my Product Id somehow because as soon as my computer comes on it asks for it and I don't know what it is.

is t his applicable when i change chip set?
written by MonCorp(r), August 11, 2007

i want to change my mainboard with different chipset without reinstalling my xp os.. is this applicable?

how we can change color of setup xp mode ms-dos ?!
written by null, February 08, 2007

how we can changed color of setup xp mode ms-dos ?!
we need change color yellow and bleue by outher color if that can...
thanks

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