Z
zag
Guest
Here's the story -
* XP was working fine on my laptop
* nothing (apparently) was changed, but it was being used earlier today
* when I tried to boot up this evening I got what looked like a display driver problem as the screen was pure black but the machine appreard to be running in the background
* the startup bit came up and offered safe mode, last known good and normal
* last known good seemed to be enough to kill the thing off altogether and instead of proceeding through the boot process (visible disk activity with dead display) it now hangs immediately upon selecting either safe mode/last known good/normal
The display itself is working because I can see as far as the startup loader - safe/last/normal . . .
I know the disk itself is OK because I am currently copying stuff off it on another machine.
I think my next move is to load the recovery console if I can dig the CDs out.
I am also downloading knoppix at the moment (thank goodness for broadband) in case there is something there that is of use.
Does anyone else know how to begin un-f'ing an XP install when you can't get past the initial boot phase ?
Cheers,
z
* XP was working fine on my laptop
* nothing (apparently) was changed, but it was being used earlier today
* when I tried to boot up this evening I got what looked like a display driver problem as the screen was pure black but the machine appreard to be running in the background
* the startup bit came up and offered safe mode, last known good and normal
* last known good seemed to be enough to kill the thing off altogether and instead of proceeding through the boot process (visible disk activity with dead display) it now hangs immediately upon selecting either safe mode/last known good/normal
The display itself is working because I can see as far as the startup loader - safe/last/normal . . .
I know the disk itself is OK because I am currently copying stuff off it on another machine.
I think my next move is to load the recovery console if I can dig the CDs out.
I am also downloading knoppix at the moment (thank goodness for broadband) in case there is something there that is of use.
Does anyone else know how to begin un-f'ing an XP install when you can't get past the initial boot phase ?
Cheers,
z