Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (
More info?)
Hi, Richard.
Thanks for the additional detail about your computer. Since I've never
owned or dealt with a Samsung or a laptop, I'll not try to give specific
advice. I hope your repair shop has such experience; if they have some
connection to Samsung support, so much the better.
Repair shops vary from very good to very bad. Since I don't know your shop,
I'll assume it's average. ;^}
Since WinXP was preinstalled by Samsung, it is most likely Samsung's OEM
version, which is licensed only to your specific computer. Your repair shop
should be able to boot into the Recovery Console, if not from your recovery
CD then from a generic WinXP CD that the shop should have and be authorized
to use to repair customers' systems. If the shop is unable to revive WinXP
without deleting your applications, then the in-place upgrade may be your
only way to go, and you may need to buy a retail WinXP CD-ROM to do that.
> Odd - the article comes up in reasonably sound English for
> me! (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-
> us;103673). The article you mention is more extensive, but
> seems (to my woefully untrained eye) to adopt the same
> basic approach (ie getting at the boot.ini).
Hmm... When I copy'n'paste this URL, I get it in English, too. Your
earlier post just mentioned the number, so I went to support.microsoft.com
and asked for that number - and got the Portuguese version.
Yes, editing boot.ini is the standard approach, because we have to make it
point to where ntoskrnl.exe really is on your computer - today, as we
discussed earlier. Your Drive C: is most likely formatted NTFS, since WinXP
was pre-installed. This means that booting into MS-DOS won't help you, but
booting into RC from the WinXP CD will work - if it's on your Samsung CD or
you can borrow a retail CD.
Let us know how it works out for you.
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@corridor.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
"Richard" <richard.percival@lawcommission.gsi.gov.uk> wrote in message
news:c15e01c489c3$25519c70$a401280a@phx.gbl...
> Odd - the article comes up in reasonably sound English for
> me! (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-
> us;103673). The article you mention is more extensive, but
> seems (to my woefully untrained eye) to adopt the same
> basic approach (ie getting at the boot.ini).
>
> Before I go any further, the answer to your questions are:
> (a) Its a Samsung Q [something - 7?];
> (b) It came with XP Professional, and I don't know how the
> c: drive is formatted;
> (b) No, it didn't come with a full set of XP discs - just
> a manufacturer's disk called a recovery CD. This says it
> will restore the operating system, but threatens that use
> will require me to re-install all of my applications, and,
> surprise, I don't have the discs for them, either. It
> won't run automatically, but anyway, frightened by the
> warning, I didn't change it to look at the cd drive first
> (which I assume I could do in setup).
>
> So the problem is booting it so as to do the editing - and
> I've now handed it over to a repair shop! I hope that that
> will provide the cure, in that I hope that they will be
> able to use the recovery console, but in any event I'm
> going to point them towards this exchange,so if you have
> any further thoughts, I'd still be very grateful!
>
>
>>Hi, Richard.
>>
>>KB article 103673 is in a language that I'm not sure I
> recognize
>>(Portuguese?) There are many KB articles about
> ntoskrnl.exe; Google finds
>>359 such pages in English on support.microsoft.com.
> Ntoskrnl.exe is, as the
>>expanded name NT Operating System Kernel suggests, a most
> basic file; WinXP
>>can't run without it. Every version of Windows since at
> least WinNT4 has a
>>file with this name. But, as you might expect, the file
> contents vary with
>>the Windows version, so the WinNT version is not likely
> to work well - or at
>>all - with WinXP. Including "xp" in the Google search
> still gets over 100
>>hits (in English).
>>
>>I think the WinXP English version of the KB article you
> are looking for is
>>this one:
>>Error Message: Windows Could Not Start Because of a
> Computer Disk Hardware
>>Configuration Problem
>>http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-
> US;314477
>>
>>In most cases when that "missing or corrupt" message
> appears, the file is
>>neither missing nor corrupt, but the computer is looking
> for it in the wrong
>>place. That's the reason for the suggestion to edit
> C:\boot.ini; this is
>>the file that "points to" the boot folder (\Windows, by
> default) in some
>>partition on some HD in your computer. If it points to
> the wrong place,
>>then whatever the computer finds there looks like a
> corrupted version of the
>>file it is looking for; it doesn't know what to do, so it
> panics and puts up
>>that "missing or corrupt" error message. It even
> suggests replacing the
>>file, but that is seldom the right solution and often
> just messes things up
>>further, especially if the replacement is the wrong
> version of the
>>same-named file.
>>
>>The DOS prompt suggestion is most likely a red herring in
> your case. There
>>are better ways to edit C:\boot.ini if WinXP is running,
> but if WinXP won't
>>boot, then we need to use other editing tools, such as
> booting to MS-DOS on
>>a floppy diskette or - much better - by booting to the
> WinXP Recovery
>>Console from the WinXP CD-ROM. Many OEMs (including
> notebook makers) fail
>>to include a full WinXP CD-ROM, leaving the user with no
> option except to
>>boot from a MS-DOS boot floppy. But even that doesn't
> work if your "system
>>partition" (almost always Drive C
is formatted NTFS,
> because MS-DOS can't
>>read or write - it can't even SEE - an NTFS partition.
> And computers
>>(including laptops) that come with WinXP preinstalled
> usually are formatted
>>NTFS.
>>
>>All of that brings us back to KB article 314477 - IF your
> laptop
>>manufacturer (you STILL haven't mentioned the make and
> model of your
>>computer) furnished you with the WinXP CD-ROM. If you
> don't have that disk,
>>then you really should be discussing this with the
> computer vendor.
>>
>>Please read 314477, then post back with further
> questions. In your next
>>post, please tell us (a) the make and model of your
> computer; (b) which
>>Windows version came preinstalled on it (and how Drive C:
> is formatted); and
>>(c) did you get a full WinXP CD-ROM with the computer?
>>
>>RC
>>
>><anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>>news:404b01c488f8$2d744cc0$a301280a@phx.gbl...
>>> Thanks for this - I haven't got my XP discs here, but
> can
>>> try it at home tonight (if I can find the bloody
> things!).
>>> I also found an Microsoft Knowledge Base Article which
>>> addresses it (103673), but to follow the procedure, I
> need
>>> to get a DOS prompt! I'd be very grateful if you know
> how
>>> to get one in these circumstances...
>>>
>>>
>>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>>Hi
>>>>
>>>>Try the following article on John Barnett's web site:
>>>>
>>>>http://www.freelanceit.glowinternet.net/how_do_i_rectify
> _a
>>> _missing_or_co1.htm
>>>>
>>>>--
>>>>
>>>>Will Denny
>>>>MVP - Windows Shell/User
>>>>
>>>>"Richard" <richard.percival@lawcommission.gsi.gov.uk>
>>> wrote in message
>>>>news:b40001c488f3$d8616af0$a601280a@phx.gbl...
>>>>> This morning, windows will not open on my laptop.
> After
>>> a
>>>>> long time, it gives me the following message: "Windows
>>>>> could not start because the following file is missing
> or
>>>>> corrupt: <Windows root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe. Please
>>> re-
>>>>> install a copy of the above file." I'd be very
> grateful
>>>>> for advice as to how to proceed. I've copied the file
> of
>>>>> the same name from my work desktop (which is Windows
>>> NT).
>>>>> How do I install it, please? (When I start the
> computer,
>>>>> the manufacturers start page appears briefly, and this
>>>>> allows me to press F2 to get to startup - I don't know
>>> if
>>>>> I should be using this somehow?).
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