Hi,
I'm not going to pretend that I know the exact problem with
your pc. I am very knowledgable with XP though so let me
tell you what I do know and can extrapalate from your post.
~~ You either have a Master Boot Record Virus or a
Corrupted Boot Sector~~
1) Blue screens of death are extremely uncommon in XP. This
usually happens with XP tries to start and is generally
caused by a conflict with devices. Aka. A sound card or
video card is conflicting with an on board sound or video
card that was not properly disabled. Obvioulsy your
problem has to do with the Master Boot Record as it can not
read the FAT Tables.
Did you install a new video card or sound card? You might
want to try to remove the periphial, if you did install one
resently, and reboot.
2) Fixing the MBR (Master boot record is not advised but it
can be done) You do this by inserting your OS disk and
choosing the "Repair" option. It will ask you for your
"Administrator Password" once you enter the DOS enviroment.
If you did not choose a password then there isnt one! This
should be the same for the CD. If it doesn't work try
something silly like entering DOS and using the "Edit"
command to edit the Passwords file". Select the OS that you
wish to work with (usually buton #1) and press enter.
Theres no password when it prompts you for one, just press
enter again.
3) Dos commands: Yes DOS does exist in XP, don't be fooled.
There are some handy little commands that are included in
DOS and these are the only tools available to you in the
"Repair mode". The ones that you are interested in are:
a) CHKDSK: This will scan your hard drive for errors. You
have to add in a switch to recover data from bad sectors.
type <CHKDSK /?> without the arrows to get a list of
switches. You Should be able to type <CHKDSK /R> to do a
scan of your disk and recover errors on bad sectors.
This _might_ solve the issue by automatically fixing the
bad sector.
b) FIXMBR: This utility is suppose to fix the Master boot
record. Aka your FAT tables. There is another DOS that
displays this information
c) HELP: this command will give you a list of all DOS
commands
d) /?: will give you a written description of how to use a
DOS command and what switches will modify the actions of
the comand.
E) A Boot Record virus scanner could come in handy. You
might be able to find one online, but I do not know of a
viable Boot Scanner.
I'm sorry I can not give you an exact How-to on this
problem. What I have posted here "may help" you to
troubleshoot your issue, but your pc has a problem. Its not
a pretty one. You might have to re-format the hard drive.
Since the drive is reading as "healthy" then you can insert
it into another pc and back up all the information and
programs on it except for the "My Document " Files. But
since Windows can not read the FAT table it may not start
again without re-formating the HD.
The FIXMBR and the CHDSK utilities are your only hope to
repair this problem besides a boot disk virus scanner.
If anyone can correct me on this problem then please do.
