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Thread ID: 108618 2010-04-05 01:43:00 Boot up problems with Compaq Notebook straka01 (310) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
872982 2010-04-05 03:24:00 Recovery CD's wont do anything apart from put the system back to how it was when brand new, wiping all data along the way.

Booting the recovery CD's doesn't shouldn't have any effect because of the current state of the reg, as you are running from the CD's NOT the HDD. You would get all sorts of warning about wiping data thats all.

When you say pressing R errors with corrupt reg hive files, is this the second time you press R as in doing a repair install or the very first time you have the option after pressing F8 - You dont even have to have a OS on a Drive to boot into the recovery console from the XP CD - as long as the drive is formatted it will load it fine.

Note: The Recovery Console from the XP CD and the repair option as per the recovery CD's are two different things.
wainuitech (129)
872983 2010-04-05 03:41:00 The Recovery CDs - when I install the 1st one - comes up with 3x options: 1/ REPAIR, 2/ FORMAT & RELOAD BACK TO ORIGINAL FACTORY CONDITION and lastly 3/ QUIT. Pressing 'R' for repair brings up the same error: STOP: C0000218 {Registry File Failure} etc.

When I try to boot from the XP OS CD I can get to the 1st blue screen with the 3x options - 1/ REPAIR, 2/ INSTALL OS or 3/ EXIT. (This is the 1st window to press R). Again, the result is the same STOP error code if I press REPAIR.
If I press INSTALL - it says it can't because there's no Hard Drive!
straka01 (310)
872984 2010-04-05 03:45:00 Any way you can slave the hard drive to another system. It may be dead or dying. Driftwood (5551)
872985 2010-04-05 03:51:00 How do I do this on a laptop?? straka01 (310)
872986 2010-04-05 04:16:00 Remove it then install it in a desktop Speedy Gonzales (78)
872987 2010-04-05 04:18:00 You have to remove the hard drive & you will need an adaptor.
It may not be the problem, but it will ellimate the possibility.
Driftwood (5551)
872988 2010-04-05 04:35:00 If its SATA change it to IDE mode in the BIOS. Then it may work Speedy Gonzales (78)
872989 2010-04-05 05:04:00 Just out of Interest, when the Laptop boots, can you look at the display, and see CD drives etc, as well as the HDD being listed. Sometimes it flashes past quickly, other time you may have to tap the tab ( or some other key) to tell it to show.

IF the standard XP CD cant see the drive, it may be sata, a few things - either do what speedy suggested, or you will have to slipstream the sata drivers into a CD, or get the sata drivers from compaq.

If its a sata drive and you want to try and fix it Via another PC, you wont need an adapter, only a PC what has a spare sata port on the board, 1 sata cable and power plug.

If you can get it to boot into the recovery console system restore may repair the damaged reg files (with instructions) as long as system restore has not died as well.
wainuitech (129)
872990 2010-04-05 05:52:00 No CD drives or HDD is listed at boot - it doesn't get that far.
I tried changed the mode to IDE - no luck.

I have another identical Compaq laptop of my own that's working fine - can I get the SATA drivers off there, load them on a CD or flash drive and install them somehow? When I can't boot to the HDD, is there a way of loading them on?
What's the name of the drivers I'll need?
straka01 (310)
872991 2010-04-05 06:25:00 No you have to download the sata drivers, and either extract them to floppy, or slipstream them onto a windows CD. You have to find out WHAT chipset that thing uses Speedy Gonzales (78)
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