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Windows help

Lurid Archive

20:57 / 05.02.03

I know there are lots of computer savvy people out there and I was wondering if one of you could help me.

I recently had a power failure while starting up my windows xp (you can take it as read that I am Satan's concubine) and it seems to have created a problem that stops me booting into windows. I get a blue window saying that an error has been detected and startup has been aborted in order to avoid damage. It then advises me to run chkdsk.

However, if I have my windows cd in the drive I can get to my computer
without problems - its just booting from the hard disk that seems a problem. So I've run chkdsk, I've gone to a restore point and I've reinstalled windows. No luck.

One complication is that I have a dual boot linux/windows machine with the linux on a separate hard drive and windows as the default boot. I
reinstalled linux, but still no joy.

help?

Linus Dunce

20:05 / 06.02.03

You've been stuck here alone for a while so I'm going to answer. But you should know first that my knowledge of XP and dual-boot systems is solely theoretical.

So, assuming that you have two seperate physical disk drives, not just one pretending to be two (partitioned, what I would do is:

1. If there is something like bootlog.txt on the Windows c: drive, have a look at it to see if I can work out where it fails and therefore which file is bad, then fix it/copy that file from the CD (it may be compressed on the CD but I'm guessing there'd be an uncompressifying thing on there too).

2. Give up on this after two hours because it's waaay too complicated. Copy the all the novels, works of art, memoirs etc. I want to keep onto the Linux disk and completely rebuild the Windows one, format and everything, not just reinstall.

Sorry, it's all I have for you. Hope it works out or that someone else has a better idea.

Lurid Archive

20:41 / 06.02.03

Thanks IJ. I've since completely uninstalled linux - harder than I thought - and got rid of the loader in the hope that it might fix things. I couldn't find bootlog.txt, but I have used xp utilities to repair the master boot record. Nothing, man. I've trying to avoid the thought of a clean install, but its the only advice I've had so far from all the people I've asked. *sigh*

w1rebaby

21:29 / 06.02.03

It sounds like something in your boot sector has been corrupted. If you can get hold of a copy of Partition Magic you might be able to fix it with that. However, I seriously would advise reformatting the whole disc and starting again. It doesn't take all that long, even with XP... the long part is putting everything back and updating all your configurations (you do have a CD writer, right?)

I'm seriously considering getting an external HD to keep my data on. Not only are they quite cheap, you can switch them between computers.

Lurid Archive

22:54 / 06.02.03

Hmmm. Well I do have a zip drive - not so good. But I also have a second hard drive which used to hold linux. Its small, but it might be enough. But then I'd have to work out how to move my data, format the original and move it back. Doable, but sounds like a pain.

Any other obvious ways to repair the boot sector?

w1rebaby

23:26 / 06.02.03

When I've had problems in the past, I've usually used the fdisk utility (found on Win98 startup discs, not sure about pure XP systems). There are a number of different flags you can use; the one to repair the boot sector in case of viruses etc is fdisk /mbr. You could try that from a command prompt. However, I'd still try to back stuff up first.

Lurid Archive

00:48 / 07.02.03

ahhh. I already did that, as it seemed to be needed to remove my linux boot loader. Didn't help. I'm really going to have to do that clean install. Ah well.

De Selby

01:19 / 07.02.03

Well, in the past the Windows CD's have had an option in the setup for repair, which you can tell to repair your boot sector.

I dunno about XP though...

Tezcatlipoca

05:55 / 07.02.03

I get a blue window saying that an error has been detected and startup has been aborted in order to avoid damage.

Exactly When during the bootup sequence do you get this? I ask because it will shed a whole pile 'o light onto which section of the startup is having problems. If you don't get it until Windows itself starts loading you may be able to reset the PC and keep pressing F8 during the bootup. This will open some software that will let you boot Windows in safe mode. If you can get that far, try that.

It then advises me to run chkdsk.

Have you? What happened?

Lurid Archive

08:12 / 07.02.03

When during the boot sequence:

It detects that windows hasnt booted up properly last time and asks me if I want to start normally or in varoius flavours of safe mode. I've tried them all. What happens is that the windows logo then goes up for a split second and then goes to the blue screen.

I ran chkdsk. The first time it detected some errors and fixed them. The second time there were no errors. But it didn't help.

Also, xp has a recovery console that has options to write a new boot sector and repair the master boot record. No help, I'm afraid.

I'm resigning myself to big backup and clean install.

Tezcatlipoca

09:29 / 07.02.03

Hmmm...well the Good news is that it's Windows that's buggered, and not your BIOS. The Bad news is that it's looking like a reformat and clean install is going to be the only option open.

Lurid Archive

19:44 / 07.02.03

Cheers everyone, I really appreciate your help. I've started to prepare the back up - what a pain - but now its time to drown my sorrows. oh yes.

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