XP restarts...

[Marshal]

XP home ed.
Fuji. Scaleo pc

My father-in-law's computer just restarts.
That is before you can chosse which user you will login with.
Pretty sure its checked off to restart whenever BSOD is happening.
He has already tried to run in safe-mode and last known good.
Since this is an pc delivered from his company, it come's with an restore cd. But,
it only makes a new windows folder on c:\ and adds a line in boot.ini.
So, now we got, c:\windows and c:\windows.1
The computer starts, but doesnt remember any old users or prgs installed ( ie, new reg file or somthing like that.)
Reboot, try the other, (c:\windows) but nope.

How can I fix this ( and is it fixable?), or can I import users and reg setting to this new c:\windows.1 ?

 

[J05H]

Marshal:

The most sure-fire way to keep your previous Windows settings, and get the C:\WINDOWS installation working is to perform a "Repair" install. I have done this many times, and it works beautifully.

To do this, you need the Windows XP install disc, and your CD-key. A restore disc will not work, unless it is actually an XP CD. You can try to follow the steps below, to see if the screen you see at boot is the same.

1. Power off your computer, insert the CD into your CD-ROM and power on. When prompted to "Press a key to boot from CD", press a key

2. Wait until you see the screen titled "Welcome to Setup", "This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft Windows XP to run on your computer:", etc.

3. Press ENTER (do NOT press 'R' for Recovery console)

4. Accept the license

5. Select the C:\WINDOWS from the list and press ENTER
If you are prompted to press "R" to repair the installation, do so. Windows will automatically reinstall, preserving your existing settings and applications.
**HOWEVER** if you are not prompted to press "R", you will lose your settings if you proceed. This is only the case if XP has been badly damaged beyond reparation.

6. Once Setup has copied all files and reboots, do NOT press a key when prompted "Press any key to boot from CD." Setup will proceed automatically.

After all of this is finished, you will have to reinstall SP1 and other hot-fixes ASAP to protect your system.

Hope this helps...