I have noted several times when dealing with someone else system, that I may not be contacted until the system is no longer bootable. Without a good rescue disc, access to several of the above tasks are not possible. This can be created by burning an appropriate ".iso" onto a CD, DVD, and with the right software, on a usb drive. Once you have a good rescue disk, with the software appropriate to the system you need to repair, your tech life will be much simpler.