dthomas31uk
asked on
Windows cannot start
Hi, Hope someone can help!!!!!
Have a problem with my PC
When I boot up my PC get an error message 'Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt
Windows\AppPatch\drvmain.s
You can attempt to repair this file by starting windows set up using original set up CD-Rom'
So I have inserted my set up CD and select r to repair.
Then a screen loads up in DOS showing me the 1. C:Windows........With the question...Select one of the above to repair...so I select 1 and press enter. The next question asks me to enter the adminstrators password which I enter.........after I enter this nothing happens all I get is a prompt.......Windows: or something like that....what is going wrong.....
How come it does not run the repair????Any ideas about the missing file Windows\AppPatch\drvmain.s
??????????? What could the problem be because over the last week or so my PC keeps freezing on me when I leave it standing for a while??????? I recently put in a new HDD into the PC could there be a problem with the HDD.........faulty or something????
Hope someone can help..cheers
Have a problem with my PC
When I boot up my PC get an error message 'Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt
Windows\AppPatch\drvmain.s
You can attempt to repair this file by starting windows set up using original set up CD-Rom'
So I have inserted my set up CD and select r to repair.
Then a screen loads up in DOS showing me the 1. C:Windows........With the question...Select one of the above to repair...so I select 1 and press enter. The next question asks me to enter the adminstrators password which I enter.........after I enter this nothing happens all I get is a prompt.......Windows: or something like that....what is going wrong.....
How come it does not run the repair????Any ideas about the missing file Windows\AppPatch\drvmain.s
??????????? What could the problem be because over the last week or so my PC keeps freezing on me when I leave it standing for a while??????? I recently put in a new HDD into the PC could there be a problem with the HDD.........faulty or something????
Hope someone can help..cheers
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SOLUTION
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Check this out - I think this is a solution.
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/20952294/Dell-Latitude-C600-Crashed-During-Windows-XP-Patch-and-Won't-Reboot.html
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/20952294/Dell-Latitude-C600-Crashed-During-Windows-XP-Patch-and-Won't-Reboot.html
You could boot to safe mode and copy the file from the I386 directory from the XP CD to Windows\AppPatch\
I agree with tengage, it looks like you did an update or when you installed your o/s, that was one of the files it needed with regards to maybe your IDE controllers or something like that and you just need to get that file back into that directory. I am not exactly sure what that file does, but I am sure once it is back there it will work fine.
ASKER
How do I get to safe mode and what do I need to do then...just locate the file on the operating system cd and copy it over??????????
Press F8 before Windows starts to load (usually right after the beep indicating that the BIOS finished loading) to break into the Boot menu for Windows. There you should be able to select Safe Mode and then continue with your diagnostic.
Good Luck!
Good Luck!
dthomas, if you goto the link I have in my above post, it shows you the correct method to do a repair install. What you mention doing is taking you to the Recovery Console. Goto the link I gave you and it will tell you exactly what to do step by step with pictures.
Once you get to the prompt, you can "repair" the system by simply copying a "fresh" drvmain.sb from the install CD over the top of the bad drvmain.sb.
First, for grins, backup the old drvmain.sb by copying it to drvmain.osb or something like that.
Second, find the "fresh" drvmain.sb on the install CD. It may be named drvmain.s_. In that case, you need to run the expand.exe utility and expand it out. Here's how:
expand e:\i386\drvmain.s_ c:\windows\apppatch\drvmai
like I said, if it's not compressed, then just: copy e:\i386\drvmain.sb c:\windows\apppatch\drvmai
First, for grins, backup the old drvmain.sb by copying it to drvmain.osb or something like that.
Second, find the "fresh" drvmain.sb on the install CD. It may be named drvmain.s_. In that case, you need to run the expand.exe utility and expand it out. Here's how:
expand e:\i386\drvmain.s_ c:\windows\apppatch\drvmai
like I said, if it's not compressed, then just: copy e:\i386\drvmain.sb c:\windows\apppatch\drvmai
ASKER
DoTheDew335 I followed your link and followed the instructions......went through the recovery process........and pressed f8 for end user licence agreement and then entered r for repair.......The following screen then told me that it could not delete certain files press escape to skip this (recommended) so I did this and also had to do it with roughly another 500 files that it could not delete. Then at the end it said that system recovery could not be acheived.........What should I do now any ideas..I do not want to lose any data from the disk. When I switch the PC on now I get the message System cannot boot insert system disk.
ASKER
Dan7el keep getting message saying system cannot find file specified....was not sure what my cd-rom drive is so have tried it using d,e and f still know luck tried the expand tag also still know avail. It is not allowin me to cpoy anything from the CD
Any ideas
Any ideas
sounds like a hard drive failure. but you can always try to use another copy of the OS to repair it, but i think its a hard drive issue. hope you made backups and if not you might want to try to recover as mutch from your hard drive as possoble either by one of the norton utilitys or even a free coppy of knoppix to try to burn files to a disk that you can access. http://www.norton.com
http://www.knoppix.org
(knoppix is a version of linux that runs from a CD without haveing to install anything on your hard drive)
http://www.knoppix.org
(knoppix is a version of linux that runs from a CD without haveing to install anything on your hard drive)
dthomas31uk, you are using the incorrect option...read my post above.
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1. take another computer
2. connect the Hdd to that other computer as slave (do not boot from the disk with the corrupt OS!)
3. boot up the other Pc and copy the missing files to the Hdd wit the corrupt OS
4. shut down the other pc
5. connect hdd to original pc and bootup
6. see what happens
2. connect the Hdd to that other computer as slave (do not boot from the disk with the corrupt OS!)
3. boot up the other Pc and copy the missing files to the Hdd wit the corrupt OS
4. shut down the other pc
5. connect hdd to original pc and bootup
6. see what happens
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forgot to mention it might ask for the xp cd if it needs to repair files.
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Also realize that your system may not function properly until all previous Windows updates have been restored. Any drivers other than those native to Windows must also be reinstalled. Programs and data will remain intact.
Repair The Windows XP Installation
Note: You will forfeit all MS Updates.
Configure your computer to start from the CD-ROM drive. For more information about how to do this, please refer to your computer's documentation or contact your computer manufacturer.
Insert your Windows XP compact disc (CD) into your CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart your computer.
(You can also boot with a Windows 98/Me Startup disk with CD support and run WINNT.EXE in the I386 folder on the CD)
When the "Press any key to boot from CD" message is displayed on your screen, press a key to start your computer from the Windows XP CD.
When you see the following message displayed on the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER: To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.
At this point an option to press R to enter the Recovery Console is displayed. Do not select this option.
On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen, press F8 to agree to the license agreement. Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP is selected in the box, and then press the R key to repair Windows XP. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete Setup.
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