XP Pro problems.

[Guest]

Long story short, several days ago I was gaming, and happened to be running a
passive defragmentation utility in the background. Now, I don't know if
either of these, or a combination of the two, happened to be particularly
fatal, but the end result was an XP install that would not boot.

Gave me a generic unbootable error.

I impulsively ran CHKDSK from the XP CD's recovery console. Drive checked
out fine, however, the chkdsk operation took nearly two hours to complete.

I've got an OEM XP CD so I wasn't immediately able to do a repair install,
so I did a parallel XP install on the same drive.

At this point, I had both a Windows and Windows0 folder, the latter being
the parallel install.

I booted to it, and then ran the XP CD from inside the OS, and, following a
reboot, attempted a repair installation - However, the XP CD did not see
Windows, only Windows0.

So, after running chkdsk again, and confirming that the disk was intact, I
rebooted to the original Windows install again, for good measure.

This time I got a hal.dll missing or corrupt error.

I assumed it was either a problem with hal.dll, or boot.ini so I attempted
to re-write boot.ini first, via bootcfg /rebuild in the recovery console..
But it didn't see Windows. Only Windows0.

I later booted to Windows0 and replaced the hal.dll in Windows with the one
from Windows0.

Rebooting again, I still got the error. Checked boot.ini, it appeared to be
fine.

However, as it turns out, I'd forgotten to unset the protection flags on it
the first time, so no changes had been made.

I proceeded to unset them and delete boot.ini from the recovery console.

Input boofcfg /rebuild, and, lo and behold, I get an error stating that the
disk is malfunctioning or the file system is partially corrupt.

However, I can still, at this moment, boot to Windows0 without a hitch.. I
just have no boot.ini and had to rename Windows to Windows1, and Windows0 to
Windows so that it became the default sans-boot.ini installation.

I've got some fairly important data on that drive - But it's tied to that
copy of Windows.

I could get all of the data off, but much of it is useless without hours of
reconfiguring programs to recognize partially-complete files, etcetera.

An interesting side effect I've also noticed is that I can no longer use USB
devices to enter BIOS or the boot menu.. Only a circa '97 Compaq PS/2
keyboard.

This has me royally stumped.. Any help is majorly appreciated.

 

[Guest]

The /rebuild is failing because the original registry is corrupt. You might
find a copy to restore.

Q307545 - How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry that Prevents Windows XP
from Starting:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q307545

 

[Guest]

Attempted that, but access was denied.

Are there any flags that need to be unset on those files before they can be
modified?

 

[Guest]

Try this one if you have not yet:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309531/

And long story short, if you can rename \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM to
System.old, then you have full access without following the above. It is
always good to follow a tested article.

After getting access then follow the other one

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q307545

Let us know if it helped.

Thanks,
Obaid.

 

[Guest]

I was able to back-up and default the registry after correcting the
permissions, however, now when I boot to C:\Windows\ I'm told NTLDR is
missing.

 

[Guest]

Try

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000465.htm

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Attempted that, but access was denied.

Are there any flags that need to be unset on those files before they can
be
modified?

Google "Take Ownership XP". The very first hit is the MS KB article.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

HTH
-pk

 

[Guest]

Replaced NTLDR and NTDETECT.com, checked boot.ini, ran fixboot and fixmbr, to
no avail.

I'm still getting the NTLDR missing error, and am still unable to run
bootcfg /rebuild.

 

[Guest]

So, any more suggestions or am I better off using this older partition?

 

[Guest]

Having given the best try you could at replacing the registry, you should
probably stop wasting time on it, and simply recover data and move on. You
could spend a lot more time on anything else, with no better result. Over
time, knowing what you want off the old partition, you will get most of it.

 

[Anna]

So, any more suggestions or am I better off using this older partition?

Kayuni:
Without delving too deeply into the labyrinth of this thread...

Why don't you simply try a Repair install of the XP OS at this point and see
how it goes? I'm not certain you're familiar with that process so here's
some background on it...

The Repair install would be roughly akin to making a fresh install of the
OS, but in nearly every case your existing programs & user-created data
would be retained. While it would be a rather rare event where data would be
lost as a result of the Repair install, and as unlikely as it may be, it
*could* happen. So if there are any programs and/or other data on your
problem drive that are absolutely crucial to you and that you could not
tolerate its loss, then I would *not* advise undertaking a Repair install
until you either made a clone of that drive or you were able to first access
the drive by some other means in order to access the data you desire and
copy same to some other media.

In order to carry out the Repair install, you will need an XP installation
CD that, in effect, includes this function - a retail version or non-branded
OEM version will work. If you're working with an OEM machine and have
available only a OEM version of the OS provided by the OEM, there may not be
a Repair function available.

There are a number of websites that contain step-by-step instructions for
undertaking a Repair install. Let me assure you that it's not a difficult
process and not terribly time-consuming. If you do a Google search on "XP
repair install", you'll be pointed to many of these sites. Here are a few...
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm#RI
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=138

Assuming the Repair install is successful, you should use your A-V program
to immediately check out your PC for any virus infestation. Also, you will
need to download/install *all* the MS critical updates since SP2. That, of
course, is one of the downsides re using a Repair install. It's usually an
onerous task to download all the Critical Updates from MS especially if you
have a dialup phone connection rather than broadband.

Anyway, consider the Repair install as an option if you're unable to find a
way to bring your HDD back to a bootable state.
Anna

 

[Guest]

I hope it works, but as I understand the Repair option, it must see a usable
registry file, much like the problem with the /rebuilt option.

I was really expecting that 'Guided Help" option on the KBase page to come
thru for him. (It gives me visions of a set of 2 gig thumb drives with
several dates of the entire system drive copied to them.

 

[Guest]

Tried the repair install in past, and, as Mark said, it seems it can't be
done with my registry in its current state.

Seeing as there seems to be no immediate fix for my problem(s), I've fully
migrated to my older Windows install on another drive, and am working on
getting applications to recognize partially-complete data, etcetera, at this
time.

Thanks for the help.