Cannot boot to Safe Mode or otherwise.

[DocBrown]

I have a Gateway laptop I'm working on for a friend so I don't have complete
history. The computer will not boot even when I try to boot to Safe Mode. It
gets past the place where is lists all the drivers that were loaded, then
goes to a blank screen.

I tried a Repair install, with no change in behavior.
I tried the process from MS in article Q307545 to recover from a corrupted
registry, still no change.
I added the /bootlog option to the boot.ini file so I could see the full log
of the attempt to boot to Safe Mode.
I have backed up the disk in my desktop and then did a full install from my
copy of WinXP Home SP2. That did work and I could boot. This tells me I have
a good system hardware wise.(unless I'm overlooking something)


Problem with this solution is:
1. I don't have the original install disks so I'd loose all apps on the
laptop.
2.I can't use the product key on the labtop because I believe the key is
only valid for an OEM version of Windows.
3. My key is already in use on my desktop system.
4. Is there a way to rebuild the MBR when the disk has the D:\Recovery
partition on it?

The ntbtlog.txt file is not helpful any further.

Questions:
1. Are there procedures to troubleshoot further into the boot process?
2. Is there more detailed logging that I can access from the disk? I have a
way to remove the disk and mount it on my desktop.
3. Is there a registry key or keys that I can gleen all the files required
for booting the system? I have a backup of the good boot partition so I could
peruse that if possible.

My last desperate attempt was to move all the \Windows\system32\drivers to
another location and then put only those that list as loaded in the
ntbtlog.txt file back into the drivers dir. Well, I'm sure there are required
files that aren't there. So now it just reboots at about the point it would
hang. I can put all the files back.

Any suggestions for troubleshooting this?

Thanks,
John S.

 

[peter]

Sounds like the only thing you have not tried
is a full recovery with the original OEM CD/recovery partition.
Which should work as your copy of XP Home SP2 worked.

Be aware that it will erase everything on the drive.

peter

 

[Daave]

I agree with Peter, Doc, especially since you don't have a "complete
history" of this laptop. Cut your losses.

Check the documentation to make sure there is a hidden recovery
partition. Be sure to copy all the data first, of course. If this model
didn't come with a hidden recovery partition, you can have your friend
contact Gateway for replacement of recovery media. Or get it from this
site:

http://www.restoredisks.com/

Then again, if you have a generic OEM copy of XP Home, you may use that
to perform a Clean Install. Just use the Product Key from the laptop's
COA sticker. The types match (XP Home and OEM, and it doesn't matter if
his is a branded OEM; OEM is OEM as far as Product Keys and licenses are
concerned).

P.S., In the future, if you want to rule out hardware, try booting from
a live Linux CD like Knoppix or Ubuntu. Or try booting from rescue CDs
such as Bart PE or UBCD4Win.

 

[DocBrown]

The recovery partition is present, but not complete. I tried to recover from
it and was prompted me for the recovery CD, which I don't have. I also don't
have any OEM copies of XP Home. The one I do have is a retail upgrade I put
on my desktop.

Again the problem I have is that I don't have the application disks either.
I'd like to try and preserve those, but it's not looking hopeful. I do have a
backup now so I won't loose any data. I connected the disk to my desktop with
an adapter and ran Acronis True Image on it.

I'm beginning to think that there may be a subtle hardware issue. Sometimes
the DVD drive will 'disappear' or stop responding to the eject button. It
happened when I did a new full install from my Home XP Disk. It got to the
place where it was loading the network drivers and it prompted me to insert
the XP disk, which hadn't been removed from the drive. I did finally get the
install to finish, but it definately had a strange feel to the process. So
now it boots with the clean install.

I've also seen where the boot from Bios will sometimes hang for awhile where
it's looking for the disks. Is it possible that the battery is going and it's
pulling down the voltages? I've had it almost always plugged in to the power
adapter.

I wish I had better diags. Is there a way to 'overwrite' the files on the
disk that won't boot? I know, I'm probably asking for trouble. But thanks for
you good ideas.

John S.

 

[Jose]

I have a Gateway laptop I'm working on for a friend so I don't have complete
history. The computer will not boot even when I try to boot to Safe Mode.It
gets past the place where is lists all the drivers that were loaded, then
goes to a blank screen.

Any suggestions for troubleshooting this?

Thanks,
John S.

There is malicious software that once you add things to the boot.ini
file using msconfig, your computer will never boot again. That is the
way the malicious software works and it does this on purpose.

That is how this particular malicious software thinks - infect the
system, then fix it so if anything is added to the boot.ini file, to
help remove me, the system will never boot again. Moderately clever,
but not difficult to fix.

Since folks that have problems often start with msconfig and adding
switches to the boot.ini (like /SAFEBOOT - did you do that), what a
fine place to insert ones maliciousness!

You need to boot into the Recovery Console, fix, rename or delete the
boot.ini by hand and start again. XP does not require a boot.ini to
boot, it will complain, but generally still boot. When you are
booted, you can fix the boot.ini, then boot normally (with no msconfig
switches), then remove the malware the right way instead of just
trying a bunch of things.

You can boot RC from your Windows CD or you can make a bootable RC CD
if you don't have a genuine XP installation CD.

Doesn't this sound better than doing a reinstall of anything or losing
everything on your drive?

 

[Jose]

There is malicious software that once you add things to the boot.ini
file using msconfig, your computer will never boot again.  That is the
way the malicious software works and it does this on purpose.

That is how this particular malicious software thinks - infect the
system, then fix it so if anything is added to the boot.ini file, to
help remove me, the system will never boot again.  Moderately clever,
but not difficult to fix.

Since folks that have problems often start with msconfig and adding
switches to the boot.ini (like /SAFEBOOT - did you do that), what a
fine place to insert ones maliciousness!

You need to boot into the Recovery Console, fix, rename or delete the
boot.ini by hand and start again.  XP does not require a boot.ini to
boot, it will complain, but generally still boot.  When you are
booted, you can fix the boot.ini, then boot normally (with no msconfig
switches), then remove the malware the right way instead of just
trying a bunch of things.

You can boot RC from your Windows CD or you can make a bootable RC CD
if you don't have a genuine XP installation CD.

Doesn't this sound better than doing a reinstall of anything or losing
everything on your drive?

Oops - you said you already reinstalled... too late for my idea.

I'll just watch.

 

[Daave]

Oops - you said you already reinstalled... too late for my idea.

I'll just watch.

Not necessarily.

He said he had imaged the hard drive prior to doing that. (Furthermore,
it was more of a test since when he installed XP clean, he used a Retail
version of XP rather than an OEM version along with the Product Key on
the COA.)

He can always restore the image. And then try your suggestion. I wonder
if he could instead mount the image, repair boot.ini, and restore the
new image...

FWIW, I suggested he perform a Clean Install since he didn't know the
history of the PC. But I think it's definitely worth trying your
suggestion first.

 

[Daave]

Jose has a good idea you should check out.

You can also either boot off a rescue CD (once you restore the image!)
or slave the hard drive to another PC and scan for malware.

But you might still need to perform a Clean Install in the end. Once
more, your friend can contact Gateway to get the recovery CD for his
model or try restoredisks.com .

But you can also create an installation CD for him (and make it an OEM
one at that). Links:

http://www.thetechguide.com/howto/setuppini.html

http://www.howtohaven.com/system/createwindowssetupdisk.shtml

The important part:
Pid=51882OEM

 

[DocBrown]

Daave,

Thanks a bunch for those links! I'm going to look at them in detail and see
what I can make work. I have created a slipstream of my XP Home SP1 disk that
now contains SP2. It sounds like I'll be able to make a disk that will work.

I'll post if I get it to work.

Thanks!
John S.

 

[DocBrown]

I'm not seeing anything wrong with Boot.ini. I never used msconfig to edit it.

Here's the Boot.ini from the image I saved. I added the /bootlog before I
took the image:

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /bootlog

Could there be something in the MBR causing havoc? If so, how do I rebuild
that given that I have the recovery partition? Hmm, I don't really care about
that recovery partition in partition (0) at this point. So...

How about this? I wipe the disk and repartition it setting the partition
active. Then use recovery console to rebuild the MBR. Then restore my image
to the new partition and reset the boot.ini to boot from the correct
partition.

I also need to take the system in and have a thourough HW diagnostics run.
Although I did download and create Ultimate Boot CD Diagnostics, I didn't
find anything that pointed to HW. Any on know of anything better I could get
my hands on?

Although I can get a full install to work and boot from BartPE, it's acting
a bit squirrley. Sometimes the DVD drive won't eject. Another time in the
middle of the second phase of install, the DVD drive 'disappeared' and Setup
could not find files to copy. Other times the BIOS will hang at the point
it's looking for the drives.

Thanks for all the great info. This is a very productive learning experience
for me.

John S.