MY CD DRIVE NOT READING ANYMORE. THE OS GOT CORRUPTED AND NOT LOADING IN ANY MODE EVEN IN COMMAND PROMPT. I WANT TO INSTALL OS BUT CD DRIVE NOT READING. CAN I BOOT FROM EXTERNAL CD DRIVE. IF SO, HOW? HELP

First you need:
To enter Recovery Console in Windows XP, you will need to boot from the Windows XP CD.

Watch for a Press any key to boot from CD... message similar to the one shown above.
Press a key to force the computer to boot from the Windows CD. If you do not press a key, your PC will continue to boot to the Windows XP installation that's currently installed on your hard drive. If this happens, just restart and try to boot to the Windows XP CD again.

1. Enter Windows XP Recovery Console. The Recovery Console is an advanced diagnostic mode of Windows XP with special tools that will allow you to restore the boot.ini file.

When you reach the command line (detailed in Step 6 in the link above), type the following command and then press Enter.

bootcfg /rebuild

The bootcfg utility will scan your hard drives for any Windows XP installations and then display the results. Follow the remaining steps to add your Windows XP installation to the boot.ini file.

The first prompt asks Add installation to boot list? (Yes/No/All).

Type Y in response to this question and press Enter.

The next prompt asks you to Enter Load Identifier:.

This is the name of the operating system. For example, type Windows XP Professional or Windows XP Home Edition and press Enter.

The final prompt asks you to Enter OS Load options:.

Type /Fastdetect here and press Enter.

Take out the Windows XP CD, type exit and then press Enter to restart your PC.

Assuming that a missing or corrupt boot.ini file was your only issue, Windows XP should now start normally.

As you are able to access command prompt, you can run the "System File Checker" tool to repair/ replace the corrupted ntfs.sys file. To do this, follow the instructions below:
1.Restart your system and tap F8 key repeatedly until you see Advanced Boot Options menu on your screen. If you miss reaching the screen in the first attempt, repeat this step until you reach the screen.
2.On the Advanced Boot Options screen, select "Safe Mode with command prompt"
3.In the command prompt window, type "SFC /scannow" (without quotes).
Note: There is a space between C and / in the command above.

This will scan all your protected system files and replace the corrupted files with a cached copy stored in your system.
Important: Please do not close the command prompt window until the verification is 100% complete. After the process is completed, the scan results will be displayed on your screen.

To know more about System File Checker, you can refer to the following Microsoft support page:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833

Hope this will help you.

GuruAid.com

Assuming a couple of things:
1. Your OS is Windows XP
2. This is the error message you are getting -
"Windows NT could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
Winnt_root\System32\Ntoskrnl.exe
Please re-install a copy of the above file."

To reinstall notskrnl.exe, do this:

Start the computer by using your Windows XP CD-ROM. Press any key to boot from the CD.

After the setup files are finished loading press R to repair using Recovery Console.

When you are in the recovery console, select the installation to log on to (usually number 1), and then press ENTER.

Login to the Administrator account by typing the password for this account, and then press ENTER.

At the recovery console command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

For Uni-Processor systems: expand <cd-drive>:\i386\ntoskrnl.ex_ <hd-drive>:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
For Multi-Processor systems:expand <cd-drive>:\i386\ntkrnlmp.ex_ <hd-drive>:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
Note In these two commands, the <cd-drive> placeholder represents the drive letter of your CD drive, and the <hd-drive> placeholder represents the drive letter of the hard disk on which windows is installed.

If you receive a prompt to overwrite the file, press Y.

Type exit, and press ENTER at the command prompt.

You should now be able to boot up properly.

Symptoms seem to indicate either corrupted or missing driver files (probably other corrupted files on hard drive as well).

You can boot into Safe Mode, then run Command Prompt, and type the following to try to correct corruption on the hard drive:
chkdsk c: /r

You will get a message telling you the drive is in use, and would you like to run on next restart. Type "Y" and hit enter, then restart the computer. Depending on the size of your hard drive, this could take hours to run, but be patient.

If this does not resolve your problem, the next thing to try is (in Command Prompt again) "sfc /scannow". You will need your installation disks as this program does a full System File Check and will ask for your installer CD/DVD to replace any missing or corrupt System files it finds.

I hope this helps...

To resolve this problem, replace the missing or corrupted Ntfs.sys file:

1. Use the Windows Vista startup disks or the Windows Vista CD to restart your computer.
2. When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to select the To repair a Windows Vista installation using Recovery Console, press R option.
3. Type the number of the Windows installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console, and then press ENTER.
4. Type the administrator password when you are prompted, and then press ENTER. If no administrator password exists, just press ENTER.
5. At the command prompt, type the following commands (press ENTER after each command): cd \windows\system32\drivers
   
   ren ntfs.sys ntfs.oldNote This step renames the corrupted Ntfs.sys file to Ntfs.old. If the Ntfs.sys file is not found, the file is missing.
6. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER: copy cd:\i386\ntfs.sys drive:\windows\system32\driversWhere cd is the drive letter for the CD-ROM drive that contains the Windows Vista CD, and drive is the drive where you installed Windows Vista .
7. Remove the Windows Vista CD from your CD-ROM drive, type quit at a command prompt, and then press ENTER to quit the Recovery Console.
8. Restart the computer.
9. rate me 4 thumbs up please

This problem may occur if the Ntfs.sys file is missing or becomes corrupted when you convert your hard disk to NTFS To resolve this problem, replace the missing or corrupted Ntfs.sys file:

1. Use the Windows XP startup disks or the Windows XP CD to restart your computer.
2. When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to select the To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R option.
3. Type the number of the Windows installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console, and then press ENTER.
4. Type the administrator password when you are prompted, and then press ENTER. If no administrator password exists, just press ENTER.
5. At the command prompt, type the following commands (press ENTER after each command): cd \windows\system32\drivers
   
   ren ntfs.sys ntfs.oldNote This step renames the corrupted Ntfs.sys file to Ntfs.old. If the Ntfs.sys file is not found, the file is missing.
6. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER: copy cd:\i386\ntfs.sys drive:\windows\system32\driversWhere cd is the drive letter for the CD-ROM drive that contains the Windows XP CD, anddrive is the drive where you installed Windows XP.
7. Remove the Windows XP CD from your CD-ROM drive, type quit at a command prompt, and then press ENTER to quit the Recovery Console.
8. Restart the computer.I hope this helps.The other thing I can think of is maybe your harddrive needs a raid driver.If this is a sata drive and an old version of you os,the sata driver may not be already on the disk and you will have to insert one.Let me know if the first solution works,if not we can try the raid driver.

Hi,
There are so many reasons boot up; i.e if system files corrupted by virus or hard disk index tables corruption or hdd partions corruption.

So as a initial trouble shooting try to do following things to resolve problem.

Option 1:

1. Power ON your computer and Press F8 key to have Windows boot menu option

2. Select "Safe Mode with Command Prompt" and Press Enter
3. When command prompt loaded then type follwing command and press enter

chkdsk /r c:

(If this command is not working in "safe mode with command prompt" then start computer with Bootable CD and Press "R" key when first time asked. It will open recovery console and type this "chkdsk /r "command again to repair disk.)

This command will scan your hdd and repair disk errors.

Option 2 :

To repair your windows without losing your data.
Start Computer with bootable CD
Press R when it is asked to press.
It will repair windows.
Note : Please read Status Bar and screen messages /nstructions carfully (while Booting computer thru Bootable CD)

hi, your windows explorer is corrupted. to solve this, simply insert the xp installation cd and boot from it. then run repair to fix the os. note your files will not be lost

With this kind of problem, you must put in the Windows software disk and boot. Then select repair Windows from the list. This option will attempt to correct the problem.
If you do not have the disc, boot into the repair / diagnostic mode from the boot screen. See if there is an option to create boot disks.

Try to boot from the Resource CD by selecting the <F12> key and select boot from CD/DVD drive. If you tried to run the "Diagnostics" option from the <F12> boot menu and it went to command prompt, there might be an issue with your hard drive or the "Diagnostics" partition is corrupted or missing. If all tests pass using the Resource CD, then your OS is probably hosed. As for the 9 LED light, that just indicates that your numeric keypad is enabled.