One partition on HD goes "unformatted"?

I shut down my box and restarted - when I did, the Windows XP installation
on the G: partition (FAT32) had disappeared (I have a multiboot box with
WinNT4, Win98SE, and Win2K as the other OSes). I checked it with a DOS boot
disk and DOS can still see all the files - so can Win98 - but Win2K sees the
partition as unformatted. I've run ScanDisk both from DOS and Win98 on the
partition and they corrected a reported free space error and a couple of
reported file length errors only. I then ran Norton DiskDoctor on the
partition and again got a reported free space error which was corrected.
I've run Western Digital's disk checking utility's Quick Check test and it
reported no problems. Win2K still sees the partition as unformatted while
Win98 and DOS see it normally. VoptXP (a disk defragmentation utility from
http://www.goldenbow.com) also sees the partition as unformatted. I'm also
having other wierdness with this drive - I'm getting an
Inaccessible_Boot_Disk stop error in NT so can't boot the machine at all to
NT.

I'd prefer not to reinstall WinXP as I just did it - any suggestions? If I
do have to reinstall what can I do to check the partition before I install
so that all errors are repaired and this doesn't happen again?


Best regards,
Marc Erickson

Hi

See the method as described on this web page below to access the "recovery console"

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/rep...ess%20the%20Rec
very%20Console

Once at the recovery console command prompt, type in

bootcfg /rebuil

Hope it helps

Pete

----- Marc Erickson wrote: ----

I shut down my box and restarted - when I did, the Windows XP installatio
on the G: partition (FAT32) had disappeared (I have a multiboot box wit
WinNT4, Win98SE, and Win2K as the other OSes). I checked it with a DOS boo
disk and DOS can still see all the files - so can Win98 - but Win2K sees th
partition as unformatted. I've run ScanDisk both from DOS and Win98 on th
partition and they corrected a reported free space error and a couple o
reported file length errors only. I then ran Norton DiskDoctor on th
partition and again got a reported free space error which was corrected
I've run Western Digital's disk checking utility's Quick Check test and i
reported no problems. Win2K still sees the partition as unformatted whil
Win98 and DOS see it normally. VoptXP (a disk defragmentation utility fro
http://www.goldenbow.com) also sees the partition as unformatted. I'm als
having other wierdness with this drive - I'm getting a
Inaccessible_Boot_Disk stop error in NT so can't boot the machine at all t
NT

I'd prefer not to reinstall WinXP as I just did it - any suggestions? If
do have to reinstall what can I do to check the partition before I instal
so that all errors are repaired and this doesn't happen again


Best regards
Marc Erickso

Thanks for the suggestion - but the Recovery Console does not see an
installation of Windows XP on the G: partition (it's FAT 32) to log on to.
The only OSes that can see the partition as formatted and containing files
is Win98 and DOS (off of a boot floppy).

Marc

> Hi,
>
> See the method as described on this web page below to access the "recovery
console".
>
>
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/rep...ss%20the%20Reco
> very%20Console:
>
> Once at the recovery console command prompt, type in:
>
> bootcfg /rebuild
>
> Hope it helps.
>
> Peter
>
> ----- Marc Erickson wrote: -----
>
> I shut down my box and restarted - when I did, the Windows XP
installation
> on the G: partition (FAT32) had disappeared (I have a multiboot box
with
> WinNT4, Win98SE, and Win2K as the other OSes). I checked it with a
DOS boot
> disk and DOS can still see all the files - so can Win98 - but Win2K
sees the
> partition as unformatted. I've run ScanDisk both from DOS and Win98
on the
> partition and they corrected a reported free space error and a couple
of
> reported file length errors only. I then ran Norton DiskDoctor on
the
> partition and again got a reported free space error which was
corrected.
> I've run Western Digital's disk checking utility's Quick Check test
and it
> reported no problems. Win2K still sees the partition as unformatted
while
> Win98 and DOS see it normally. VoptXP (a disk defragmentation
utility from
> http://www.goldenbow.com) also sees the partition as unformatted.
I'm also
> having other wierdness with this drive - I'm getting an
> Inaccessible_Boot_Disk stop error in NT so can't boot the machine at
all to
> NT.
>
> I'd prefer not to reinstall WinXP as I just did it - any suggestions?
If I
> do have to reinstall what can I do to check the partition before I
install
> so that all errors are repaired and this doesn't happen again?
>
>
> Best regards,
> Marc Erickson
>
>
>
>