[B Gallagher]

Hello all,

Just trying to help out a friend with some computer issues - SP 3 of XP wouldn't install on her laptop, it just comes up with a blue screen saying:

STOP: c0000139 Unknown Hard Error
Unknown Hard Error

upon booting.

So... Does anyone know if there's any way to boot from XP off a CD? I'm looking for a way to copy her files off the HDD.

Thanks.

[Big Mac]

From my understanding there's no way to boot on an XP CD that would give you access to copy files off the drive. You can only perform installs. That's why PC people have to resort to Linux live CDs or hacked boot CDs. I looked into the issue when my Dell had a Windows problem, and after failing to get my Dell hard drive to mount in Unbuntu I gave up. . . and ended up putting the drive in a USB enclosure and connecting to my Mac to get files off of it.

[B Gallagher]

Damn.. thanks for the quick reply though!

So, the only way to get access to the files on the hard drive if it's not booting from the install of XP is to use a hacked boot CD or chuck the drive in an external case?

[ghporter]

If your friend is using a Mac, remember that OS X can read both FAT32 and NTFS partitions, so if it sees that partition or drive, you can use it to copy your files.

If it's a PC laptop, then you may have to pull the drive (it's often nearly trivial to do) and put it in an enclosure or use an adapter cable (which does the same thing as the electronics in an external enclosure) to copy the data.

[B Gallagher]

It's a PC... but she's wanting to get a new laptop. Hopefully this will help me convince her to buy a Mac!!