S.o.s. Can't Go Beyond Windows Xp Pro Screen

A friend's computer wasn't starting, it only turned on to a black screen indicating a missing or corrupt file… After doing some reading thru some troubleshooting articles from Microsoft, determined that the error was "a corrupted registry that was preventing Windows XP from starting" (Article ID 307545), so we decided to try an fix it following the article's instructions with the Recovery Console… Everything went ok during Part One, but went restarting to go on to Part Two, we couldn't get passed the login window, since there it showed my friend's name as the login, but my friend does not remember what password to type in. So after many tries we decided to give it a break and try to bypass the login window, we tried the "CTRL+ALT+DEL" x 2 trick but couldn't get by the new login window using "administrator" or "admin" as the login nor any other login… We restarted again with a CD and opened the recovery console trying to find some help, but it only made things worst, now when restarting without the CD the computer won't go farther than the Windows XP Pro splash screen, right after it shows it, it restarts… If we put the CD, it will restart with it, so we tried to reinstall Windows again but the F8 key is still disable and does not work when asked to press it in order to agree with the terms and go on with the installation. The only keys that work are the keys to say that "I do not agree", and the "cancel" one… We can not boot in safe mode since somehow the F8 key gets disabled at startup, and the F1 can be used but does not help us in going there… It is leaving me with an option, to remove the hard drive from that tower and install it in another one as a slave, that way I may be able to access it and try to recover some files that my friend needs and then reformat the hard drive to start from zero by doing a clean install, or… Is there another way for us to sort this out before attempting the Hard Disk Extract Mission… Any help will be very much appreciated, hopefully it won't be too late…

edit: hold on lemme post back when I am sure…. windows doesnt make xp boot disks…..

Ok try going through these steps:
1. boot off of the cd
2. hit "r" at the appropriate time to enter teh recovery console (you can do this right?)
3. hit enter 3 times at the password prompt
4. You should get a command prompt now.
type these things in exactly: (make sure to hit the enter key after each line)
md tmp
copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\software c:\windows\tmp\software.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\windows\tmp\sam.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\security c:\windows\tmp\security.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\default c:\windows\tmp\default.bak

delete c:\windows\system32\config\system
delete c:\windows\system32\config\software
delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam
delete c:\windows\system32\config\security
delete c:\windows\system32\config\default

copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default



then restart your computer. see if you can get into windows. If you can, report back, because we have more work to do

hope this helps,
wng

(reference article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545)

Already did what you are telling me to before posting my prob and led me to where I was… I found those steps in Microsoft and followed them.. When I restarted right after deleting and copying those files, I got to a login window, once there nothing worked and couldn't go further. The owner tried different passwords with no luck so after some looking around found out that I may be able to bypass the login with the CTRL+ALT+DEL but no luck… After trying for some time went back to the Recovery console and I must have clicked on something that when restarted again the computer didn't go further than the welcome screen, went to black and restarting, like in a loop… So I posted my prob and since nobody gave me any hints in quite a while I just took the drive, set it up as a slave, recovered the owner's files and reformated the HD, and now I just installed Windows again but I'm now having trouble trying to get the computer to connect to the internet via ethernet. For some reason it does not detect the LAN and I'm stuck again… The computer has an Intel D865GBF motherboard with the RJ45 Jack… Any clues to this new issue?… Thanks for your help!

oreofudge, are you repairing computers and charging for your services?

If you read the first line you will see that is a friend's computer, he thinks that I know more than him about it, so asked for my help which I am still trying to give, at no charge…

try here:
http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/bf/bf_drive.htm

Went there already, but anyways reinstalled them today and worked. Thanks for your help…

Glad to help

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