Re: XP Pro won't boot, safemode won't help, recovery console doesn't h
- From: "Pegasus \(MVP\)" <I.can@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:59:47 +0200
"Paul Yeoman" <Paul Yeoman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:EDD041CB-7CDE-4035-96C2-0A9C3AF283BD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi all, I have a desperate problem with my XP Professional system not
booting.
Background info: Win XP Pro installed on a 300GB SATA drive, file system
is
NTFS. When trying to boot it gets to the standard Windows logo and after
~20
secs it flashes up a BSOD (for well under a second so I can't read it) and
restarts.
I've tried all the various options accessed via the F8 key plus all the
safe
mode options. In safe mode it gets to loading mup.sys and then restarts
(I
am informed that this doesn't mean that mup.sys is the problem).
I tried to do a repair install but that option wasn't there (only a
complete
new install, which AFAIK would wipe the drive). I can access the recovery
console using the CD, but I can't do much with it. For example, the Dir
command is unable to enumerate the files, ChkDsk won't run, and FixBoot
tries
but fails, saying that the boot sector is corrupt. The Map command lists
the
disk, but shows its drive letter as '?'.
BTW, it takes well over half an hour to even access the recovery console,
as
the system takes ages at the "examining disk" stage. Maybe this is
because
it's an SATA disk?
The BIOS definitely recognises the disk though. No hardware changes have
taken place and no hardwar errors are reported (via SMART monitoring,
etc).
The only software change was some Windows auto-update which I installed
(July
14th 07), though I can't say for sure that it's relevant to this.
Now I also have another, 60GB standard IDE disk in my machine which I use
as
backup. This has XP Pro installed on NTFS. If I change the boot order in
the BIOS I can boot into this installation and it can see my main disk in
'My
Computer'. However it won't allow me to access the disk - it says
something
to do with 'I/O Error'. I have installed the driver (viasraid.sys) which
should allow me to access the SATA disk.
Anyway, despite having a backup drive, I haven't used it regularly thus
there is no backup of the last few months - data I *need* to get at. I
would
imagine that the data is still intact, seeing as the disk can be accessed
and
the OS does start to load.
To summarise: Main install of WinXP Pro on SATA disk won't boot, safemode
etc no help, recovery console no help, disk can be seen but not accessed
via
other WinXP Pro on same machine. What can I do?
Thanks in advance for your help,
Paul
This is probably the best post on this type of subject I have
read for a long, long time. Unfortunately the quality of your
post does not make it any easier to resolve your problem.
I suspect the key lies in the "I/O Error" you mention. If this
was my machine then I would boot it with a Bart PE boot
CD, then try to access the problem disk. Since it takes a
fair amount of effort to create such a CD, you might want
to copy one from a friend.
If this does not work then you may have to ask a data
recovery company to assist.
I suppose you're aware of the urgent need for you to review
your backup philosophy. A 2.5" USB disk would be a
low-cost but highly effective backup medium that you could
use each week for an automated backup run.
.
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