Hi,

I am trying to repair windows XP home edition using my computer supplied recovery disk SP1. I get the computer to boot off the CD, go through all the correct stages of upgrading windows rather than doing a completely clean install, it says its all going OK. Then it goes to the automatic restart, I ignore as everyone says, the boot off CD prompt, the windows splash screen appears, and then really quickly a blue screen flashes up for a nano-second before disappearing and the computer loops round and round in the start-up sequence - splash screen, flash of blue screen, black screen etc!

Any help on how to get the install to continue would be really really appreciated!

Windows can be a real pain to install, on occasion. I've had so much trouble with trying to install over a system that I've switched to always doing clean installs. Often, even if I can get a repair done successfully, the problem won't be fixed and I end up doing a clean install anyway.

Since you're having trouble, I strongly recommend doing a clean install. If you're trying to recover data that's on the disk, I'll scold you first for not having a backup ☺ and then I'll suggest that you attach the hard drive to another computer and read the data off it in that way. That can be slightly tricky. If you need help with that, please ask.

Well, its my Dad's computer and he has promised me that he backed up all his data. I said I wouldn't start doing any of this unless he did! So you recommend a clean install? I know I will lose all data all the PC (something I was trying to avoid with a repair) but if it works I wouldn't mind doing it. I just want to avoid taking it somewhere and paying a fortune to do something I can really do myself. I've done clean installs before and they have always worked out all right. This is the first time I've done a repair from a recovery disk and sods law it goes badly!

So upshot, do you think the clean installation will work? I'm just worried about the blue screen that's been flashing up and I haven't been able to read.

Thank you.

The blue screen is likely due to a corrupt Registry. A clean install (with assumes a disk format) install a new fresh Registry which would solve that problem.

I can't be sure that a clean install will work. If it's strictly a software problem, I'm sure it will.

It usually takes me 2 days to do a clean install, reinstall all of the programs, and get things configured as I like them, so it isn't easy. Nevertheless, it's what I would recommend. Most likely, you'll end up doing it anyway so it will be less work in the long run.

If the clean install doesn't work, there's probably a hardware problem -- either the MoBo, a hard drive, or the CPU.

p.s. I don't think the information on the Blue Screen will be of much value anyway.

I can't be sure that a clean install will work. If it's strictly a software problem, I'm sure it will.

It usually takes me 2 days to do a clean install, reinstall all of the programs, and get things configured as I like them, so it isn't easy. Nevertheless, it's what I would recommend. Most likely, you'll end up doing it anyway so it will be less work in the long run.

If the clean install doesn't work, there's probably a hardware problem -- either the MoBo, a hard drive, or the CPU.

p.s. I don't think the information on the Blue Screen will be of much value anyway.

Instead of doing a repair install, you should try using the built in Recovery Console, option 2 in the windows setup disk. Log into the local installation with the administrator's password and then at the prompt type chkdsk /r. This will also load a usable version of the Registry in order to get the computer to boot correctly.

Don't doubt the information on the BSOD, it's extremely helpful as it will likely point to a hardware issue, a pagefile issue or a driver issue. To prevent it from shutting down and rebooting in the future, turn off automatic restart in the System Properties\Advanced\Startup and Shutdown. Also click the drop down and tell it NOT to do a memory dump. This keeps the computer on during the BSOD and keeps the information on the screen so you can record and research the issue.