Computer will only load Windows XP Recovery Console

[infamousantho]

I had previously been running Windows XP, then decided to install Windows 7.
Everything went great, Windows 7 was beautiful looking, but I decided that I'd be better suited to just stick with what I know and love - XP.

I wasn't too sure what I was doing, but I restarted my computer, and played around with the settings in the boot screen, thinking that I would eventually find my way back to re-installing XP.

Long story short, I ended up *accidentally* switching the partitions on my drives, and now my computer will only boot to the Windows Recovery Console.

I keep logging onto C:/Windows, but I can't figure out what to re-enable/toggle with whatever it is that I messed up - which, I'm not exactly sure what I messed up...

Any help would be fantastic, and I'll be sure to check back often if anyone needs any particulars about my setup.

Thanks,
Anthony

[hot dog]

Long story short, I ended up *accidentally* switching the partitions on my drives, and now my computer will only boot to the Windows Recovery Console

I keep logging onto C:/Windows

I'm not sure what you mean by these.  When you turn on your computer, does it give you an option to choose which Operating System you wish to boot to, including Recovery Console?

[patio]

Long story short, I ended up *accidentally* switching the partitions on my drives, and now my computer will only boot to the Windows Recovery Console.

Where is your XP OS installed to ? ?

From the RC type in fixboot and hit Enter...
Re-boot.
If no joy-joy repeat the process this time type in fixmbr and hit Enter...
Again re-boot.
Good Luck.

[infamousantho]

I would imagine that the XP OS is just installed to the default location.
The C: drive?

I tried those commands and they didn't work.
=/

I appreciate the tips though.

I think I screwed this up pretty bad...

[infamousantho]

I'm not sure what you mean by these.  When you turn on your computer, does it give you an option to choose which Operating System you wish to boot to, including Recovery Console?

When the RC boots up, it lists the drives on your computer.
And then it tells you to pick which one you want to log-on to.

In my case, I have 3 options:
1) C:\Windows
2) D:\iniNT
3) D:\I386

And what happened is that I logged-on to either 2) or 3), then switched the partition (something to do with the boot sector?) away from 1). Now I can't figure out how to reverse whatever it is that I did. I would think that commands posted by 'patio' would do the trick, because it did tell me that I was switching the boot sector back to C:/Windows, but when I reboot my computer, all I've got is the RC...

[patio]

So you have yet to try my recommendations...

[infamousantho]

So you have yet to try my recommendations...

My posting at 5:33pm today was in reply to your recommendations.
Sorry, I'm just not quite familiar with how to post on this site.

[dahlarbear]

1.  Hard Drives.  How many hard disk drives are attached to the system?  Did you keep them as "basic" disks or did you change them to "dynamic"?

2.  Partitions.  How is each drive partitioned?  Primary partition(s), extended partitions, logical volumes within extended partition, something else?  Which primary partition is set "active"?

3.  Windows 7 Boot Loader.  Did you make any effort to remove the Windows 7 boot loader or attempt to restore the Windows XP boot loader?

4.  Recovery Console.  Is this the Windows XP recovery console?  And at some point you installed it to the hard drive?

[infamousantho]

1.  Hard Drives.  How many hard disk drives are attached to the system?  Did you keep them as "basic" disks or did you change them to "dynamic"?

2.  Partitions.  How is each drive partitioned?  Primary partition(s), extended partitions, logical volumes within extended partition, something else?  Which primary partition is set "active"?

3.  Windows 7 Boot Loader.  Did you make any effort to remove the Windows 7 boot loader or attempt to restore the Windows XP boot loader?

4.  Recovery Console.  Is this the Windows XP recovery console?  And at some point you installed it to the hard drive?

Oh boy.
Where to begin...
Some of the things you've asked, I'm not even sure what they mean/are.

1.  2 hard disks, C:/ and D:/, C: is Windows and D: is some kind of HP recovery console that was pre-installed on the machine. I never switched anything with the disks, that I know of. So I imagine that they'd just be "basic" discs.

2.  I know that C:/ was the primary partition, then I accidentally switched it to something on one of my D:/ -- In the RC, there are 3 options for me to log on to:
      1) C:\Windows
      2) D:\iniNT
      3) D:\I386

What I did was switch the primary to either 2 or 3, now cannot seem to get it back to 1, despite using the commands. It says that I've switched it back when I type certain commands (fixboot, fixmbr), but when I reboot my computer, nothing has changed, i.e., only RC will load.

3. Did not make any attempt to do anything with the boot loaders, although, my original intention was to go back to XP; but, in regards to what you're asking, no. I did not remove or restore any boot loaders.

4. This is Windows Recovery Console, and I did not install it to the hard drive myself. It must have come preloaded like that.

[dahlarbear]

1.  Model Number.  OK, you have an HP computer.  Can you give us the complete model number from the sticker or plate (which also has serial number and Product ID)?

Is this a desktop or laptop?

2.  Hard Drives.  Are you sure you have two "physical" hard drives?  I'm beginning to think you have one physical hard drive with two logical drives on it; "C:" and "D:".

3.  Windows 7.  Where did you install the operating system to; the "C:" drive?  Did you uninstall it, delete its partition, or remove it?  How ? ? ?

Was it a "dual" boot machine; i.e. did you have the option of booting to either Windows XP or Windows 7 (when everything was working well)?

[infamousantho]

1.  Model Number.  OK, you have an HP computer.  Can you give us the complete model number from the sticker or plate (which also has serial number and Product ID)?

Is this a desktop or laptop?

2.  Hard Drives.  Are you sure you have two "physical" hard drives?  I'm beginning to think you have one physical hard drive with two logical drives on it; "C:" and "D:".

3.  Windows 7.  Where did you install the operating system to; the "C:" drive?  Did you uninstall it, delete its partition, or remove it?  How ? ? ?

Was it a "dual" boot machine; i.e. did you have the option of booting to either Windows XP or Windows 7 (when everything was working well)?

1.  This is a desktop PC.

     Model # - Pavilion a1560n
     Product # - EXQ78AA#ABA
     Serial # - MXX6220752

2.  I'm not sure at all if there are two "physical" hard drives. It's just the standard HP computer, so if they don't come with two physical drives, then I would imagine that they're probably "logical" drives.

3.  I installed Windows 7 to the default location, which I would imagine is "C:" drive. Basically, when I opened the .exe for Windows 7, I just clicked install, and... installed it.
Did I uninstall Windows 7?? I don't think I messed with it at all. What happened is that when I rebooted my computer (while Windows 7 was still working), it would make me physically click to load Windows 7 from the boot menu, as well as there being other options, and something about Windows XP which is what I clicked on thinking I would find myself being able to reinstall that, and somehow I ended up messing with the menu I've mentioned (1. C:\Windows , 2. D:\MiniNT , 3. D:\I386), and entered a command into either 2. or 3. and that switched something away from C:\Windows (the boot sector, or partition).

To my knowledge, it was not a dual boot machine. Like I said, I would have to choose Windows 7 from the boot menu, but I obviously couldn't get into Windows XP (as I thought I might be able to...).