DOS mode

[skippy]

Hi,
I'm sorry if this post is in the wrong spot but I am desperately needing some help, my laptop (family laptop) recently got a little messed up and I'm not quite sure what the problem is. I am suspecting that it is in DOS mode but I'm not sure how to get it out of that. I'm not sure that is the problem but i have a strong feeling that it is. Sorry for asking such a dumb question but I am pretty illiterate to many of these things. I would really appreciate some help.
Thanks!

[nox-Hand]

Well, I'll need some more info than that :) Normally, you wouldn't have DOS on your PC if you use Windows XP - do you?

When you boot your PC, try pressing F6 or F8, one of them might give you some bootup options. Before I can help more, I'll need more info about your setup and the problem itself :)

[welshsteve]

The first thing to do, is to make sure you have no floppy disk in a drive (if there is one) and no CD in yur CD drive. Then restart the machine and enter the BIOS by pressing the relevant key. This is usually F1 or DEL, but can be any key. When you first turn on your machine, it does a RAM check, you'll notice at the bottom it will say something like "Press F1 to enter setup". The key stated here is the key you need to press.

Once in there, there will be various options. Under the CMOS Setup, there should be a boot sequence. Make sure this is set to begin with C drive. You may need to refer to the motherboard manual to find out exactly how to do this, as there are many different versions of the BIOS.

If you machine still does not boot, then Windows might be damaged an need repairing. Go back into the BIOS again as before, but this time, change the boot sequence to begin with CD-ROM. Then pop your windows disk, or recovery disk that came with the laptop, and restart the machine again. The machine will then try and boot from the CD ROM, and this should take you into the Windows Recovery Console.

A good tutorial on using this can be found HERE (http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/wxprcons.html).

Failing all of this, the hard drive might be damaged, in which case, I'm afraid you'll need to replace it.