RE: HELP!!!! XP Service Pack 2 Crash

From: Blane (a-blclar_at_online.microsoft.com)
Date: 10/11/04 

Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2004 13:25:06 GMT

It is unlikely that the loading of SP2 and the "crash" are related. If you
heard metal parts banging against each other, odds are you suffered a
serious hardware failure. You were able to get to a DOS prompt with the
Norton Systemworks because it boots into its own operating system off of
the floppy disk. My recommendation is if possible, boot off of the XP
CD-ROM and go into the recovery console. Use the following article to get
into the recovery console:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314058

Now that you are in the recovery console see if you can access some of the
data on the disk, do a "dir" command and see if you can see files on the
disk.

Next type "map" and see if you see output that looks similar to the
partitions (drive letters) that you had before the crash. This is to
verify that data is still there and check the boot record of the disk.

Also you can try a fixboot, which might create a new partition boot sector,
the command for this "fixboot c:" (assuming your system drive is assigned
the drive letter c:). Now see if the system will boot.

Finally if the system hasn't come up you can try a "fixmbr". However, be
warned that this could potentially be damaging to the disk if the current
Master Boot Record is not formatted correctly. You run the risk of
corrupting data on the drive if the MBR is not correct. I would use this
option as a last resort.

If this is a hardware error, I would contact the vendor of your system and
see about warranty repair work. If it is not under warranty check around
your area for a PC specialist and they can provide some hands on help.

Best regards,
Blane Clark

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
You assume all risk for your use.
(C) 2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved

Relevant Pages