Hard Drive Full -- Cannot Boot

[Jimbo]

Windows XP will no longer boot on my machine, almost certainly because
the hard drive is too full. I cannot get it to boot in any of the
safe modes, either.

Is there a way to boot from, say, a floppy so I can simply delete a
bunch of files? This is a SATA drive, so I'm not sure if I'd need any
special drivers et al on the floppy.

I would appreciate any pointers and/or URLs.

Thanks,

Jim

 

[Ted Zieglar]

A full hard disk does not prevent Windows from booting.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Instead of selecting Safe Mode select Last Known Good
Configuration off the same menu otherwise

How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654/en-us

Try System Restore if you get access:
http://bertk.mvps.org/index.html

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Ron Martell]

Windows XP will no longer boot on my machine, almost certainly because
the hard drive is too full. I cannot get it to boot in any of the
safe modes, either.

Is there a way to boot from, say, a floppy so I can simply delete a
bunch of files? This is a SATA drive, so I'm not sure if I'd need any
special drivers et al on the floppy.

I would appreciate any pointers and/or URLs.

What exactly happens when you try to boot the computer? Is there any
error message or anything else that is produced?

A SATA drive that is supported in the motherboard's BIOS (e.g. one
that is not on a separate SATA card that you installed) should not
require any special drivers. However if the hard drive is using the
NTFS file system then booting with a floppy disk will not allow you to
access the hard drive.

You do have a number of options.

1, Boot to the Windows XP Recovery Console. If you have a Windows XP
installation CD you can boot with that and choose the Repair (Recovery
Console) option from the menu.

2. Create the bootable diskette set from Microsoft
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=310994
and boot with these. When booted you will be in the Recovery Console.

3. Create a bootable CD using Bart's PE Builder from
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ and boot your computer with that.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[Jimbo]

It does in this case.

 

[Jimbo]

Instead of selecting Safe Mode select Last Known Good
Configuration off the same menu otherwise

How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654/en-us

Try System Restore if you get access:
http://bertk.mvps.org/index.html

Thanks for the help. All commands in Recovery Console fails, probably
due to the full HD: for example, "DIR" responds with something like
"cannot enumerate directory".

 

[Jimbo]

What exactly happens when you try to boot the computer? Is there any

error message or anything else that is produced?

After I enter the BIOS password, the Windows logo displays for awhile
and then restarts (again asking for the BIOS password). When I boot
in the safe modes, it does the same thing but it displays the driver
loads, etc. The restart occurs immediately after displaying the load
of the 'agp440.sys' (video?) driver.

I ultimately installed XP on a second drive at which point I could
clean-up the C: drive. Booting from there then worked, but almost no
drivers started (could not print, could not display any modal dialog
boxes). Reinstalling XP with the 'no format' options did not help, so
I'm formatting the drive as I type.

Thanks for the help, though.

Jim