Corrupted boot file system

[Sunny]

Last night I locked my XP Pro system as usual (did not log out).

When I returned to it this morning, it was frozen - very unusual, this
system has run 7x24 for years, never freezes, very stable and reliable.

I hit the reset button, BIOS screens were normal, but then "NTLDR is
missing"

I rebooted and verified my system disk from the SCSI controller, no
problems found. I then booted recovery console, and got a C: prompt, but
when I typed "dir" it displayed autoexec.bat, boot.ini, config.sys, and
two directories whose names start with "c", then said "error enumerating
directories" or something to that effect.

In other words, all files and folders that begin with the letters a, b,
or c were present, but everything else was gone. Really strange!

The system has a second partition on the boot drive, and three other
SCSI drives. All other data was intact, the problem only affected the
boot partition.

I restored my boot partition from an image backup - luckily this problem
must have occurred sometime after 4AM, since the scheduled 4AM backup
had run so I did not loose any work. The system has been running
normally for the 10 hours or so since it was restored, and numerous
virus and spyware scans have not turned up any nasties. There have been
no abnormal event log messages in that time either.

I'm guessing the MFT got corrupted somehow? Has anyone seen similar
symptoms?

Sunny

 

[Galen]

In Sunny had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Last night I locked my XP Pro system as usual (did not log out).

When I returned to it this morning, it was frozen - very unusual, this
system has run 7x24 for years, never freezes, very stable and
reliable.
I hit the reset button, BIOS screens were normal, but then "NTLDR is
missing"

I rebooted and verified my system disk from the SCSI controller, no
problems found. I then booted recovery console, and got a C: prompt,
but when I typed "dir" it displayed autoexec.bat, boot.ini,
config.sys, and two directories whose names start with "c", then said
"error enumerating directories" or something to that effect.

In other words, all files and folders that begin with the letters a,
b, or c were present, but everything else was gone. Really strange!

The system has a second partition on the boot drive, and three other
SCSI drives. All other data was intact, the problem only affected the
boot partition.

I restored my boot partition from an image backup - luckily this
problem must have occurred sometime after 4AM, since the scheduled
4AM backup had run so I did not loose any work. The system has been
running normally for the 10 hours or so since it was restored, and
numerous virus and spyware scans have not turned up any nasties.
There have been no abnormal event log messages in that time either.

I'm guessing the MFT got corrupted somehow? Has anyone seen similar
symptoms?

Sunny

Actually, take a gander here:

You receive an "NTLDR is missing" error message when you start:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=320397

That *might* be the solution you're looking for.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"I am glad of all details, whether they seem to you to be relevant or
not." - Sherlock Holmes

 

[Sunny]

In Sunny had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:




Actually, take a gander here:

You receive an "NTLDR is missing" error message when you start:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=320397

That *might* be the solution you're looking for.

That problem is supposed to be fixed in SP2. I forgot to mention my
system is fully up to date.

Sunny

 

[Galen]

In Sunny had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

That problem is supposed to be fixed in SP2. I forgot to mention my
system is fully up to date.

Sunny

Hmm...

Try this?

Start with the XP CD in the tray
Select boot to CD
Enter the Recovery Console
Give fixboot a shot at fixing it...

Else...

Hmm...

Repair Installation of XP:
http://kgiii.info/windows/XP/general/xprepair.html

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"I am glad of all details, whether they seem to you to be relevant or
not." - Sherlock Holmes

 

[Sunny]

In Sunny had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:




Hmm...

Try this?

Start with the XP CD in the tray
Select boot to CD
Enter the Recovery Console
Give fixboot a shot at fixing it...

Else...

Hmm...

Repair Installation of XP:
http://kgiii.info/windows/XP/general/xprepair.html

I have my doubts fixboot or repair install would have helped much given
the windows directory wasn't visible to the recovery console, but I will
try your suggestions if this ever happens again - mind you, restoring an
image is much faster.

I just got back from 10 days vacation (hence the delayed reply), left
the system on while I was away so I could access it remotely, still
running fine.

I'm still thinking XP shot itself in the foot somehow, resulting in a
corrupted MFT - which is not repairable as far as I know. I cannot
generate income when the system is down, so I schedule image backups
every 4 hours and keep spare hardware on hand. This episode validated my
recovery strategy.

Sunny