Windows XP Booting in Circles

[amullan]

guys,

i should have told you already but last weekend after knoppix didnt work i decided to give in and installed win xp from the recovery cd and lost all my stuff.

i guess there was a partition problem. but if anyone is stuck i recomend knoppix cause it is a great problem to try and recover data!

 

[RedwunX]

So when you say you have to hard boot it again to get it to work, does that mean it actually boots up goes into windows after doing this?

Nope, I cannot get into windows, but I can reboot to access the bios or boot from windows xp cd.

 

[Skinz]

I suggest you do as previously been said on here and use knoppix to copy all your data over and then reload from scratch. At least then you know you've got a clean install with no gremlins lurking in the darkness

 

[RedwunX]

I suggest you do as previously been said on here and use knoppix to copy all your data over and then reload from scratch. At least then you know you've got a clean install with no gremlins lurking in the darkness

We've wiped both my harddrives clean a number of times... :/

edit: As of now, we've concluded that my CPU is failing.
Reasons for this:

1) No way 4 different harddisks could all be dead
2) PSU works in 2 different systems
3) Harddrives work in different systems
4) Same symptoms on a different motherboard

 

[timwater]

I had the same problem. Its the MRB corrupted . Just replaced the Hardisk and set the old one as a slave, and was able to recover all the data.

 

[kel]

Hello to all, I have arrived at this thread due to a similar problem, ie, xp booting in circles. A quick lowdown of my system:
compaq presario r3200 notebook system, amd athlon 64, 512 mb ram,nvidia onboard graphics, running windows xp sp2.

I have had the laptop only a year, and so far the main problem I have been having is with the cd/dvd +rw combo that comes with this notebook as default, other than that its been fine. So what the hell happened?? I have no idea!...

Back to problem solving...I am able to boot from an XP DISC to the screen where you are offered the option to either do a clean reinstall or repair the xp installation using recovery console..(tho I must add, I have to manually shutdown after changing the boot order to cd-rom, for the machine to actually boot from cd-rom..)..
Due to the explanations above, I know about knoppix, which I also have on disc somewhere, but I'm hoping it wont come to doing a clean install!

Okay, so I have tried using the "FIXBOOT c:\device\harddisk0\partition1" command which apparently was done successfully but on rebooting I had the same booting in circles problem...no change...
I now am considering using the "FIXMBR" command but on typing help for this command , it says that fixmbr is only supported on x86-based computers! Excuse my lack of understanding on this matter, but I have an AMD processor, does that mean its not an x86 based computer??
Other questions are bothering me also like, can u get a virus from using someone elses unsecured wireless network?
The laptop doesnt have a floppy drive, so I cannot boot from that medium.
I have not installed any new hardware recently to this notebook. The last activity before loopdown was burning a disc using nero6 and it failed halfway through and went into the "we apologise..." spiel...
Oh yeah , I have just seen that it says the same thing on "FIXBOOT" (only for x 86 based computers") and that already appeared to work...or not...well it seemed to try and do something...but it didn't work!!???
Anyones who wants to offer some more advice on this...

 

[kel]

update on kels dilemma

Quick update here...

Just tried "FIXMBR" command , switched to boot from harddisk, powered down and fired her up again...to no avail...

Tho isnt the fixmbr command supposed to ask for confirmation? It didn't do that if so..Dunno why...

Now I'm back to booting in circles...any other things I can try before resorting to using knoppix to reytrieve me files? Also, how do I use knoppix to retrieve files??? Never used it before...

 

[kel]

Also forgot to add...

I forgot to mention that prior to all this, the first thing I tried was going into the Phoenix Bios setup and using the hdd test thing there to test the hard disk, I ran the short and the long test, both with the same results...FAILED!

wHAT DOES THIS MEAN? The test failed, or the hard disk is not working?

I wish they'd expolain a bit more...

 

[Skinz]

Knoppix is a bootable version of Linux which will load all or most of your drivers for your PC and peripherals. This will then allow you to either copy over the network or onto CD etc. You will need to download an ISO image of it and then burn it to CD then boot to it from your machine.

As for the fixmbr i'm not too sure, although is doesn't say so here -

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/bootcons_fixmbr.mspx

 

[kel]

Thanks for replying..

Hiya, well I've luckily got a bootable knoppix on disk, but I think theres a problem...


"cqant find KNOPPIX filesystem, sorry. Dropping you to a (very limited) shell.Press reset button to quit.

Additional built-in commands available:
cat
insmod
mount
rmmod
unmount
lsmod

knoppix"

what do i do now?

 

[kel]

Hmm...what?

Okay...well I'll go check out some knoppix forums for help on this one..thanx...

 

[Skinz]

Hiya, well I've luckily got a bootable knoppix on disk, but I think theres a problem...


"cqant find KNOPPIX filesystem, sorry. Dropping you to a (very limited) shell.Press reset button to quit.

Additional built-in commands available:
cat
insmod
mount
rmmod
unmount
lsmod

knoppix"

what do i do now?

I woud guess maybe the CD or Disk isn't quite in tact, I would download the newest version as it will have later drivers on etc. Unless of course you are on dial up then I would phone a friend.

 

[kel]

iM ALREADY THERE...

Yep...thats what I thought, having seen some screenshots of what the knoppix desktops supposed to look like, this has to be an error from the cd...

But looking thru the knoppix forum...

http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=11

...theres a list ofl aptops that are compatible with knoppix...mines not listed...

Still...I havn't given up hope and as I write am DLING knoppix v4..wshould be down in 2 hours...

I will post a report as to wether it works or not on my system so others can benefit from this in some way..

Cheers..

 

[Skinz]

If not there are other options for getting your files off of your laptop, Windows PE will get most onboard network cards going. So if Knoppix doesn't work then thats worth a go too.

Let us know how you get on.

 

[kel]

coincidence?

Funny you said that, cos I just downloaded PE BUILDER...created a bootable xp disk...it seemed to work fine, but probably due to my lack of use of this program, I couldnt work out how to access my hard drive...

Anyway, I just finished downloading knoppix v4, and am about to try that out..

 

[TECHGUNS]

Linux Slax is another live CD OS or boot from USB drive.

It has the KB3 burner ya can use for recovery and it reads NTFS.

http://slax.linux-live.org/

Another way to recover is to plug the drive into another PC with a burner using NTSF. All ya need is a cable, an adapter and set the jumpers. But a laptop might be too much work and ya might never get it back together.

Dont do that to a laptop unless ya really know what yur doing.

 

[Skinz]

Funny you said that, cos I just downloaded PE BUILDER...created a bootable xp disk...it seemed to work fine, but probably due to my lack of use of this program, I couldnt work out how to access my hard drive...

Anyway, I just finished downloading knoppix v4, and am about to try that out..

Wow spooky

I know when I used Windows PE it took me to a command prompt where I found out I had a IP address and was able to map to a network drive from there. Then I was able to browse to my hard drive and copy everything to the mapped drive!

 

[kel]

knoppix worksa treat!...

Just to let ya'all know that knoppix v4.0 works great on my COMPAQ PRESARIO R3200 NOTEBOOK (AMD 64/512 MB RAM)...

Its very impressive for an os thats completely run off disk! It connects to the net instantly and also to my desktop on my indoor network - to which I am transferring the files I wanted to salvage! Problem solved!!

My only gripes with this OS, is the security factor, it seems that by default all access to the programs software is locked by a password... Im stillnot quite sure how the system works, but you are warned NOT to write to your harddrive if yourold system is in NTFS, as this OS writes in FAT32...I think...!??
Like I said, Im still working it out...but its a definate solution for recovering files from your hard drive after a WINDOWS crash!!

Fair play to the whole team for coming up with this bitof software....!

 

[kel]

How d'ya unlock the burning software on Knoppix v4.0??

Hey Tech guns, do you know how to sort the password thing out on knoppix v4.0...cos then I could just burn off a cd instead of transferring files over me wireless....

 

[kel]

oh i see...

Well I sussed out finally that the k3b cd/dvd burner on knoppix v4.0 DOESN'T require a password to operate it, its just that I was opening the k3b setup program which requires some sort of admin password....??? It was a bit late last night..!

Anyway, having figured that out, my new dilemma is that some of the files I am salvaging off my notebook via knoppix and transferring via wi-fi to desktop are over a gig so this is where burning software would come in handy...problem is, I'm running knoppix off of the cd which is occupying the only drive on the notebook.. As far as I am aware, I cant eject knoppix to burn a cd/dvd as the software to do this is on the disk I would be ejecting!!..So, I suppose this means I can only use the k3b burning application if I install knoppix to the hard disk... Is this true, is there another way??

If this is true, I then need to create a partition (or resize the existing partition) to allow for knoppix v4.0 to install on my notebook hard disk in fat32 format...? Is this correct?
I know knoppix can read ntfs files, hence being able to see them,but what format does the partition have to be in for knoppix to install correctly and is there a program that can help me create/resize my existing ntfs partition????

Thanks in advance!