so recently, my mom's computer crashed. it was an old HP slimline running xp home, but it was in good shape.
it's stuck in a rebooting loop atm, and I've tried to run a system recovery from the recovery partition, but the whole process stops at around 90% giving me a billion error warnings about files that could not copy (all from the i386 folder). Same thing happens when I try to recover AND reformat from the recovery discs.

at the end of the process, it always says that it completed successfully, then when I restart it, I get "NTLDR IS MISSING. PRESS ALT+ CTRL+DEL"

soooo I'm not really sure what to do. looks pretty clear that we won't be getting XP back. we don't have the original OS discs, we had to make our own recovery discs and I'm not paying HP for the original ones. At this point I'm considering just installing ubuntu for my mom instead, though she doesn't take well to big changes so I'll prolly have to mod it to look like windows.

does anyone have an alternate solution? x(
also, any possible way to get our files back at this point, or can I assume they've been wiped in the failed recovery/formatting process?

If you've attempted to reformat and reached 90%, chances are that your data are gone. You could try getting a copy of Windows XP through other means. Put the installation file on a USB, boot up and load from USB to install.

If you have to install a linux distro that kinda looks like Windows, don't give her Ubuntu with Unity. Give her Linux Mint or something with KDE.

He did a system recovery not a reformat so the data could still be there. It seems as a bios error/corruption/missing

According to this link it is missing the boot file or it is corrupt
http://support.microsoft.com /kb/318728

As suggested in one of the options pop in the windows disk and repair that file. As shown in this vid for XP it works
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FifJkeLzR0

You could try doing a factory reset. Spam f8 (it's some fkey from f5-f12) and it should have a restore to manufacture settings.

The easier way is to just download xp burn it to disk and repair it. Make sure when you go into bios the cd drive is first priority

Please don't install XP. Just....don't.

Install a newer version or something.

lol, in all honesty I would really rather not. my mom only uses the computer for web browsing, listening to music and occasional word processing anyway, so it doesn't matter what operating system she uses, except she's one of those people who get attached to an old system and dislike upgrading no matter what, as though "old is best" or something.

Originally Posted by Leeoku

She did a system recovery not a reformat so the data could still be there. It seems as a bios error/corruption/missing

and unfortunately, I did already try to reformat the drive via the recovery discs, but it also stopped at 90% and the same thing happened.

if I knew 100% that the data was already lost, I'd give up on reinstalling xp altogether... I don't have the activation key written down and I don't have the original xp discs (hp didn't include them).
so I'd have to obtain xp by other means... which just makes ubuntu that much more appealing.


p.s. does ubuntu give you the option to recover all your files if something like this happens again? (stupid question I know) I'm a complete newb as far as linux goes.

OH snap
there's actually a sticker on the side of the pc with the activation key on it

well. this changes everything.

Originally Posted by ooburii

lol, in all honesty I would really rather not. my mom only uses the computer for web browsing, listening to music and occasional word processing anyway, so it doesn't matter what operating system she uses, except she's one of those people who get attached to an old system and dislike upgrading no matter what, as though "old is best" or something.

and unfortunately, I did already try to reformat the drive via the recovery discs, but it also stopped at 90% and the same thing happened.

*snip*

p.s. does ubuntu give you the option to recover all your files if something like this happens again? (stupid question I know) I'm a complete newb as far as linux goes.

As far as ease of use goes, I would recommend Ubuntu since it's just so easy to install but, much like Afzal mentioned, Unity's hit or miss (just like caches! /banhammer). I find Ubuntu is easier to use simply through its GUI interface, compared to other distro's. It helps that the company's trying to develop an OS that could replace Windows/OSX and that they're focused quite a bit on user friendliness.

((Functionality aside, of course, as some would argue for Debian or Fedora and I'd be incline to agree.))

As for the post scriptum, this seems relevant but I'm not entirely convinced.

My only gripe with giving casual users Linux is that they really can't use all of its capabilities if they refuse to grasp the fundamentals of the terminal - and a lot of people find the 'code' involved to be an issue.

Just my two pence.

Originally Posted by Zachary

As far as ease of use goes, I would recommend Ubuntu since it's just so easy to install but, much like Afzal mentioned, Unity's hit or miss (just like caches! /banhammer). I find Ubuntu is easier to use simply through its GUI interface, compared to other distro's. It helps that the company's trying to develop an OS that could replace Windows/OSX and that they're focused quite a bit on user friendliness.

((Functionality aside, of course, as some would argue for Debian or Fedora and I'd be incline to agree.))

As for the post scriptum, this seems relevant but I'm not entirely convinced.

My only gripe with giving casual users Linux is that they really can't use all of its capabilities if they refuse to grasp the fundamentals of the terminal - and a lot of people find the 'code' involved to be an issue.

Just my two pence.

man, recovery looks entirely too stressful. looks like if I did install ubuntu, I'd play on the safe side and make constant backups on an external drive or something.

in terms of the coding, I don't think that's a problem here as my mom doesn't use or touch anything she doesn't need to. as long as the basic functions have been maintained and she can find them easily, it's fine. on that note I've thought about installing kubuntu instead of ubuntu since it's more similar to xp in that sense.

but for now, I'm going to reattempt an XP install and see if that works.

Originally Posted by Afzal

Please don't install XP. Just....don't.

Install a newer version or something.

I only install XP on computers since the serial code can be used an infinite amount of times so it's handy when selling old, reformatted computers gathered from old parts. For someone that wants something decent, I completley agree with you :p

xp installation was successful!

thanks for the input though, guys looks like I avoid using linux for yet another day.

Originally Posted by ooburii

xp installation was successful!

thanks for the input though, guys looks like I avoid using linux for yet another day.

Glad to see it worked out.

That said, and I mean this in the nicest possible way: that phrase would make one of my professors laugh his head off.

Originally Posted by Zachary

Glad to see it worked out.

That said, and I mean this in the nicest possible way: that phrase would make one of my professors laugh his head off.

sadly, linux has a steep learning curve and you can't expect everyone to want to dive into its technicalities when all they want to do is browse the web/use the basic functions of a computer. xD or if they want to run programs that aren't linux compatible yet.


edit: unless you're talking about android xD
in which case, yeah I guess that'd be a pretty funny irony.
I don't own any android devices though

Originally Posted by Afzal

If you have to install a linux distro that kinda looks like Windows, don't give her Ubuntu with Unity. Give her Linux Mint or something with KDE.

lol I dunno man, Unity seems to be really good for people who don't know computers at all. I put Ubuntu on my grandma's computer after she messed it up for like the 9000th time, and she hasn't had problems using it since.