S
Sunthar
Could anyone offer advice on restarting/reinstalling
Windows XP Prof with some damaged configuration files? It
seems that most (if not all) the programs and their data
are otherwise intact.
I have XP installed on an HP XH365 laptop since 2 years
with no problems till now. 3 days ago I was attempting to
cancel out (by repeatedly clicking on the Cancel button)
in the middle of an accidental folder copy operation
within MS Outlook (with a huge unarchived .pst file) and
eventually succeeded. The next time I attempted to restart
Windows, I received disk error messages - chkdsk was
launched automatically but kept going around in circles
after a specific % of checking. Though it did keep fixing
a number of invalid or crosslinked clusters (esp. in the
Recycle Bin) it never completed. However, the OS still
allowed me the (though discouraged) option of exiting
before chkdsk started each time. On one occasion, I let
chkdsk run the whole night and I found the Windows logon
screen displayed the next morning. This way I've been able
to startup Windows twice (once each over the last 2 days)
and use my various installed programs normally for much of
the day without any apparent data loss anywhere. From
this, I conclude that the hard-disk has not failed
physically but that only a few files crucial for startup
have been corrupted.
The first thing I noticed during chkdsk was that the
pagefile.sys notified an invalid link. Both times, I
entered Windows, the OS automatically created a temporary
(256MB) page file as it could not find the existing one.
Each time, I tried to change the pagefile size but this
did not go into effect when Windows restarted. I also
tried going back to a last known good configuration
(before startup) but got an error message that
c:\windows\system32\software\config was corrupt. Attempts
to reinstall XP (both upgrade and new install options)
have invariably failed because Setup does not recognize
the existing installation.
The attempt to run Setup from within Windows the last time
has resulted in a choice between starting and installing
XP (neither option works) during the startup sequence.
However, chkdsk no longer launches automatically (I've
also run it several times with the Windows Recover Console
with the -r option) with the option to exit (I've not
risked using the FIXBOOT or FXMBR commands as I'm not
familiar with them). Which means that I can no longer get
into Windows even through the back-door.
Can you suggest any work-arounds for resolving this
startup problem, short of imaging and reformatting the
drive for fresh install?
Your help would be most appeciated as my work has come to
a standstill!
Sunthar
Windows XP Prof with some damaged configuration files? It
seems that most (if not all) the programs and their data
are otherwise intact.
I have XP installed on an HP XH365 laptop since 2 years
with no problems till now. 3 days ago I was attempting to
cancel out (by repeatedly clicking on the Cancel button)
in the middle of an accidental folder copy operation
within MS Outlook (with a huge unarchived .pst file) and
eventually succeeded. The next time I attempted to restart
Windows, I received disk error messages - chkdsk was
launched automatically but kept going around in circles
after a specific % of checking. Though it did keep fixing
a number of invalid or crosslinked clusters (esp. in the
Recycle Bin) it never completed. However, the OS still
allowed me the (though discouraged) option of exiting
before chkdsk started each time. On one occasion, I let
chkdsk run the whole night and I found the Windows logon
screen displayed the next morning. This way I've been able
to startup Windows twice (once each over the last 2 days)
and use my various installed programs normally for much of
the day without any apparent data loss anywhere. From
this, I conclude that the hard-disk has not failed
physically but that only a few files crucial for startup
have been corrupted.
The first thing I noticed during chkdsk was that the
pagefile.sys notified an invalid link. Both times, I
entered Windows, the OS automatically created a temporary
(256MB) page file as it could not find the existing one.
Each time, I tried to change the pagefile size but this
did not go into effect when Windows restarted. I also
tried going back to a last known good configuration
(before startup) but got an error message that
c:\windows\system32\software\config was corrupt. Attempts
to reinstall XP (both upgrade and new install options)
have invariably failed because Setup does not recognize
the existing installation.
The attempt to run Setup from within Windows the last time
has resulted in a choice between starting and installing
XP (neither option works) during the startup sequence.
However, chkdsk no longer launches automatically (I've
also run it several times with the Windows Recover Console
with the -r option) with the option to exit (I've not
risked using the FIXBOOT or FXMBR commands as I'm not
familiar with them). Which means that I can no longer get
into Windows even through the back-door.
Can you suggest any work-arounds for resolving this
startup problem, short of imaging and reformatting the
drive for fresh install?
Your help would be most appeciated as my work has come to
a standstill!
Sunthar