Major Computer Help needed?

John: Major Computer Help needed?
I woke up today to find my “boot.ini” file is corrupt. As a result, I tried getting to the recovery console in the windows xp installation cd. The CD hangs. It displays a message “Setup is inspecting your computer’s hardware..”. The message does pass, but after that the install hangs at a black blank screen. I do not know what to do, as I do not know how to replace or edit my boot.ini. I do not have a floppy drive or anything either.
By the way, I’m using an Asus A8n-SLI Deluxe Motherboard with their latest BIOS installed. CD is set to boot first. Running a Sony CDRW Cd Drive, and all other bootable-cds I have tried work. Please note, I’ve tried several different copies of Win XP CD trying to fix it (including a gateway xp cd, a normal xp cd, and a slipstreamed SP2 cd)

Answers and Views:

Answer by Jake
get a pc technician to look at it, the same thing happened to my uncles pc. hope u backed up your files

Answer by coymelancon
If you have a program such as StyleXP that lets you modify your boot screen that is most likely the cause. Try reinstalling Windows XP instead of recovering it. DO NOT reformat though or you will lose everything on your computer. Just reinstall Windows over the exisitng one and it should replace all the system files but all of your programs/documents etc should still be there.

Answer by JJ
What’s the make and model of your computer? What is the BIOS and version number? Can’t tell you anything unless you provide more information.

The problem is in the BIOS and has nothing to do with Windows. Some people are no help at all. How can he reinstall Windows if he can’t even get through booting or setup?

UPDATE – I’ve had the same problem with my Dell recently.

First – Make sure you have the latest BIOS for your motherboard. They may have updated it.

Second – Try booting it up with all your cards (sound, graphics, etc.) removed. Unplug the CD-ROM. Sometimes having a different configuration will “kick-start” the BIOS setup program. If it does, configure it, then shut it off and plug everything back in.