Fixboot in command prompt- not found??

Late Monday night my computer decided to present me with a black screen and one blinking cursor. The hard drive still works and runs but the computer will not boot past this black screen.

I created a recovery disk and can run the command prompt there but no commands work:

X:/Windows/System32/

I tried chckdsk /r says the drive is write protected and cannot run.

I tried fixboot - cannot run

I tried msconfig - cannot run (actually I believe it says it cannot be found.)

I'm not as saavy with MSDos with the newest version of windows.

I know I need to fix my boot file to get past this black screen but I cannot seem to access it or find the right command to fix it.

I can press ESC when the computer first starts- but that is it. I cannot get to f8 or f11, the only option I have is to use the recovery disk and boot from the disk to access the command prompt. I'm trying to avoid a complete format by making restore disks via my other computer.

Any explanation and help is greatly appreciated.

I suspect you're typing the commands wrong. Can you please list exactly what commands you used and how you typed them?

Bill2 said:

I suspect you're typing the commands wrong. Can you please list exactly what commands you used and how you typed them?

Sure.
I access the command prompt via the recovery boot disk.

It loads:

X:/Windows/System32

I type in "chkdks /r" so it would read X:/Windows/System32/chkdsk /r
It then tells me "The File system is NTFS. Windows cannot run disk checking on this volume because it is write protected."

X:/Windows/System32/fixboot
"Fixboot is not a recognizable as an internal or external command operable program or batch file."

It gives me that error when I try msconfig or any other command as well.

Ok, both those commands syntax is wrong. First chkdsk- you haven't specified the drive letter. If windows is on drive C: then the command will be

chkdsk C: /r

For fixboot, the command is

bootrec.exe /fixboot

Bill2 said:

Ok, both those commands syntax is wrong. First chkdsk- you haven't specified the drive letter. If windows is on drive C: then the command will be

chkdsk C: /r

For fixboot, the command is

bootrec.exe /fixboot

Ahhh, that makes sense. Thank you! It has been a long time since I used command prompt (Windows 98! HA!)

This is going to sound like such a dumb question but can I assume windows is on drive X since it comes up:
X:/windows/system 32

I just ran the chkdsk using
X;/windows/system32/chkdsk c:/r
The test ran and said no problems were found but could not log because of error 50.

So, is it okay to go ahead and attempt to fix the boot file?

If so, is this the correct command to enter?
x:/windows/system32/bootrec.exe/fixboot

or do I have to specify a drive in there?

Nooooooo!! Stop! X: is a ramdrive which loads the recovery image. You need to be sure where windows is installed- so that you don't wipe out any important data on another partition. I really don't want to abet suicide here and really you ought to at least know where windows is installed.

OK, instead of moving to the command prompt, why don't you boot from that recovery disk and select Startup repair? Run it a couple of times, then remove the disk and try boot windows normally.

Yes, its just bootrec.exe /fixboot and theres a space between e of exe and /.

Bill2 said:

Nooooooo!! Stop! X: is a ramdrive which loads the recovery image. You need to be sure where windows is installed- so that you don't wipe out any important data on another partition. I really don't want to abet suicide here and really you ought to at least know where windows is installed.

OK, instead of moving to the command prompt, why don't you boot from that recovery disk and select Startup repair? Run it a couple of times, then remove the disk and try boot windows normally.

Yes, its just bootrec.exe /fixboot and theres a space between e of exe and /.

Thanks for saving me there!

I ran Startup repair about five times since the black screen appeared and it still will not boot regularly. I also tried restoring it to an earlier time.

Is there a way to manually look up what drive windows would be on through bios or anything?

I backed up all my files onto an external drive to be safe.

Should I just make a set of recovery disks and go through that process? I read that will fix the issue but will wipe your hard drive clean. I was trying to avoid that route.

What recovery disks? Is this an OEM computer? If yes, how will you make recovery disks when you cant get into windows?

I can order them from HP or I can make a set using my other laptop, which has the same bit of windows.

I'd prefer not to do that, which is why I was trying to fix it using DOS. Is there a way to find where Windows is installed?