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XP Pro corrupted

By leoforward ·
I recently attempted to add another USB device using an available USB port that I had never used. Unknown to me there was a fault in that port. As soon as I plugged in the device, there was a pop and the PC shutoff immediately like a power failure. When I attempted to reboot, it went through the DOS portion of the boot up to the point of showing the manufacturers logo where it stops and never advances. I found my XP Pro cd but cannot find my key, which is really not the main concern, it's somewhere in my office.

There are two hard drives. The smaller one is the C drive and contains the operating system and most program files. The larger one, F, has a lot of stuff that I would rather not lose although the absolutely essential files were backed up daily.

Can I avoid reformatting my hard drives or at least the F drive?

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by 3xp3rt In reply to XP Pro corrupted

You don?t need to format the drive. You don?t need even the CD key.
Just put the Windows CD in CDROM, boot from it and select repair Windows.
If this doesn?t work, you can install windows over the old installation and will remain all the settings.

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by leoforward In reply to

Thanks. Good information.

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by TheChas In reply to XP Pro corrupted

The short answer to is you data safe, is almost certainly.

From your description, you are not getting through the POST portion of the BIOS boot sequence.

My best guess is that when the USB port shorted out, it damaged the motherboard to the point where it cannot finish the POST, and therefore, won't boot.

The easiest way to check your hard drives is to place them in another PC and see if you can access all of the files.

If so, the drives are fine, and it is additional evidence that the motherboard is damaged.

Chas

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by leoforward In reply to

I wondered about that too. I suspect you are right. If so, I'll have an excuse to build a new PC.

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by leoforward In reply to XP Pro corrupted

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