I am having a problem w/ my laptop. This happened once before, sometime in the last year or two, but not like this. Last time I had this problem i was able to repair windows. This time it required Windows xp sp2 cdrom to reformat my C drive and then install Windows. It took a couple hours to do all of that (cdrom did it). My computer worked like normal. I turned it off and Then about 2 weeks later I turned it back on realized the internet part wasnt working, so I turned it off to deal iwth it another day. So a few days later, today, got my usb stick to install the dell drivers so it will notice the wireless card and then my wireless netgear. But the computer again acted like it wasnt working. Dell screen came up, windows screen came up and then went to black, boot disk mount error came up super fast and then back to black screen, and basically it keeps doing that over and over. Will not go back to last known best configuration (tried that the first time as well.). Tried to reinstall windows xp but it doesnt seem to let me. when I select "R" for repair, it acts like its working but then the blue repair screen goes away andsome other screen says
"MS Win XP Recovery Console
The recovery consol provides system repair and reccovery. Type EXIT to quit the consol and restart the computer.
1:C\WINDOWS
Which windows installation would you like to log on to. (To cancel, press ENTER)?
and I tried to select "1" to see if that worked, it didnt let me type in the full info above, so I have no idea what to do. This question has never come up before. when I press "1" it just goes to a C:WINDOWS prompt and I dont know what to do after that. HELP please. ...
Also, Just wondering if I should be concerned this is the mother board? and Not a windows issue?? let me know what you suggest. Ive got a Knopix cdrom to access my D drive (where i keep my data) and can move it to an external if I need to. Not sure if I should be concerned about that drive as well. Only got the Knoppix cdrom to save my data from the laptop when it happened last time, so I know nothing of Linux OS. Though I thought about using it on the laptop if windows xp keeps giving me problems. But would require a lot of time to learn and I just dont have it right now.
