help ... computer catastrophe

[joggerjayne]

One of my lappys has crashed and died.

When I try to boot it up, I get this message ...

"The application has failed to start because NTDSAPI.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem."

I've tried running the "CHKDSK /R" repair function from the original installation disk, but it's made no difference.

If I can just get it booted up, I will get the data off it, and then replace it.

Help !!!



System details:
Dell X200
Windows XP Professional
(all MS Service Packs up to date)

[MrBounty]

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=127 4086&page=1

That might help....

[joggerjayne]

Wow, MrBounty ...

... that was quick.

Thank you for replying to my question. You are fab.

I just went to print off the page from your link, and my printer's churning out 10 pages!

I'll give that "fix" a try.

Thanks again, MrBounty.

Jayne x

[MrBounty]

Cant say i've seen that error before.....maybe Chuck or one of the more "hardcore" PC fixers have a better repair for the problem.

Good luck with it.

[joggerjayne]

MrB ...

Me neither.

When I've had boot-up problems before, running the CHKDSK /R from the DOS screen has always fixed the problem.

I'm no tekkie ... it was just something that a guy in a computer shop showed me how to do.

But this time, it didn't work. The CHKDSK /R function got up to a certain point, and then seemed to get stuck, and then jump straight to 100%. Looking at some of the related links from the page you sent me, that seems to have happened to other people as well.

J x

[ACtheTROLL]

crashed and died isn't good
but you say you ran chkdsk - so are you saying it will start?
if yes you can copy the file from one of your other machines

alternatively
if it does ... this is the "official" fix
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922371

if not ... same fix ... but using the console as detailed here
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654

[joggerjayne]

I am trying to do the repair from MrBounty's link, but ...

I'm stuck on ...

"You should find a setting for Boot Order. Reconfigure this so that the CD-Rom device is first"

and

"Start the Recovery Console"

Are these pages written in a foreign language?

Where should I click?

Which key should I press?

HELP !! (again)

[joggerjayne]

Sorry, forgot to clarify ...

Lappy will not start. It looks as if it is going to start, but it only gets as far as a little box, that says ...

"The application has failed to start because NTDSAPI.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem."

[MrBounty]

Basically means boot from your CD - so when you switch on your PC, you boot from the CD and not the Hard Drive.

You dont really need to change the booting order - one of the "F" keys at the top of your keyboard should put you into the "boot from...." option.

Usually, F8 or there abouts....

[joggerjayne]

If it's any use, I do have other lappys sitting next to the broken one

(obviously ... because I'm using one of them now!!)

[joggerjayne]

Okay ... Trying F8 ...

[ACtheTROLL]

does the machine boot to the cd?

if not you need to get into the bios
when you start up (still in black screen) it will say something like press f2 to enter setup

the actual key combination will vary

in there is the boot order
should read
CD
FDD
HDD
xxxxxxxxxxx
then you can start from the cd and continue

[joggerjayne]

AC ... trying that now

[joggerjayne]

I have a screen called Setup Utility.

One of the tabs along the top says "Boot". Is that it?

In there, there is a list that says ...

+Removable Devices
+Hard Drive
CD-ROM Drive
Boot To LAN

Am I looking in the right place?

[ChuckFickens]

Yep thats the right place, move the CD drive to the top position and save changes.

[joggerjayne]

Hi, Chuck ...

Okay, doing that.

[joggerjayne]

Okay ... getting scary now.

I have a window called "Welcome to Setup"

The 1st option is ...

"To set up Windows XP now, press ENTER"

Will this start to re-install Windows, and dump all my data?

[ChuckFickens]

You don't want to setup windows, one of the options should be recovery console, thats the one you want.

[joggerjayne]

Okay ... just clicked "R"

Now ...

Which Windows installation would I like to log on to?

Presumably ... 1 ... which is ...

C:\windows

Yes?

[ChuckFickens]

yep that's the one, that should take you do a black DOS type screen.

once there you need to firstly find what driver letter your CD drive is. so start by typing d: and hitting enter, then type dir and hit enter, look for a folder in the list that is called I386, if you see that then d is your CD drive, if you don't see it then try typing e: and enter, then dir again and again look for i386

[joggerjayne]

Hey, Chuck ... progress (but still scary)

On my "black" screen, I've now got ...

"Directory of D:\"

And a list of stuff that I don't understand.

Then it says ...

D:\>

which is where my cursor is.