| When you press the power button on your | | | | When making a boot disk make a mental note of |
| computer and it just sit there with none of | | | | the files being copied.This will give you |
| those clicking and beeping sounds along with | | | | added knowledge when you will need to help in |
| the monitor still having that blank | | | | making their boot disk.To make a boot disk, |
| screen,you know that you're going to have a | | | | perform the following. |
| bad day. | | | | |
| | | | Place a blank formatted floppy disk in your |
| A computer that fails to boot can be one of | | | | floppy drive and go to My Computer in Windows |
| the most pain staking things that can happen | | | | XP.Click the hard drive icon and on the |
| to a pc user.And in most cases, the user | | | | toolbar, click Tools, Folder Options, and |
| don't have a clue as to what procedures they | | | | then click the View Tab. |
| can take to get the PC up and running again. | | | | |
| | | | And scroll down and check "Show hidden files |
| When you do experience pc bootup failure, | | | | and folders" and just below uncheck "Hide |
| always start your troubleshooting by checking | | | | protected operating system files |
| the obvious.It the cord plugged into the wall | | | | (recommended). Now we're getting a little |
| outlet and is the other end securely plugged | | | | slower. |
| in the rear of the system unit. | | | | |
| | | | Take note of this process and as you become |
| In many cases the cause is a corrupted | | | | more familiar with this task, you'll be able |
| startup file which prevent the computer from | | | | to make a boot disk for others in no time and |
| going through the bootup from start to | | | | help them save on down time. |
| finish.In this case, an easy way to start | | | | |
| your PC is to have an emergency boot disk | | | | After unchecking "Hide protected operating |
| handy. | | | | system files, click OK.Some grayed out files |
| | | | will now be visible in the drive window.These |
| A Boot Disk contain copies of critical files | | | | files are protected system files. |
| needed for startup that you should have made | | | | |
| earlier.To use the floppy disk, all you need | | | | Now you're ready to select the boot, the |
| do is to place it in the floppy drive and | | | | NTDETECT, and the ntldr files.Now |
| reboot the computer. | | | | right-click, click Send To, and select Floppy |
| | | | ( A: ).When you have copied all files to the |
| As the computer start the boot process, | | | | floppy, you now have a Windows XP boot disk. |
| Windows will use the good files to get itself | | | | |
| going.The Windows XP boot disk will enable | | | | You should make two or more boot disks and |
| you to resolve a corrupt Ntbootdd.sys driver, | | | | place them in a safe place away from any type |
| missing or corrupt Ntdr or files. | | | | of magnetic or static charges.Before putting |
| | | | them away don't forget to label your life |
| These files are used by Windows XP and are | | | | saving floppy disks. |
| crucial to its startup and configuration.The | | | | |
| boot disk have also repair a damaged MBR or | | | | Should you be unfortunate enough to have to |
| Master Boot Record. | | | | put one of your boot floppies to use, |
| | | | remember to replace the startup files on the |
| The MBR is a small program executed when the | | | | hard drive with the ones on the floppy. |
| PC boots and resides on the first sector of | | | | |
| the hard driveIt looks up the partition on | | | | If you overlook this critical step, you'll |
| the hard drive.You can create a MBR with the | | | | have the same boot up problem every time.Take |
| FDISK /MBR coomand | | | | your time as you copy the files and be sure |
| | | | not to reverse the copy procedure. |
| A damaged boot sector can also be corrected | | | | |
| with the boot disk.Your Windows XP boot disk | | | | This is why its important to make two or more |
| will be a life saver when you have pc bootup | | | | boot disks. This way should you have an |
| failure and you need that file for your next | | | | accident with one disk, so what, you paid |
| interview. | | | | attention here and made several copies. |
| | | | |
| A sector is the smallest unit that can be | | | | You've done it.You're now armed with a repair |
| accessed on a disk.When a disk is low level | | | | tool should your XP computer fail to boot.All |
| formatted, it will be divided tracks and | | | | Windows 98, 2000, and Me users also have the |
| sectors | | | | resources to create a book disk. |
| | | | |