I Forced a Shut Down During a Memory Dump...

[mwieder]

OK, I have made my XP SP2 machine very angry.

Upon recently shutting down, I encountered a BSOD. Needing to leave
swiftly, I did not have time to wait for the entire "Dumping
memory...." so I went to the box and held the power button until the
machine shut down.

Bad idea.

Now, as soon as I turn it on, the motherboard is beeping at me (sounds
almost like a tune from an old video game) and a red failure light is
visible on the MB. It tries to detect the drives and then I get a
"BOOT DISK FAILURE." It allows me to boot from CD, so I put in my XP
installation CD and it starts loading all the drivers. When it gets
to the part about starting Windows, I get another BSOD - error
0000007f.

So, what do I need to do to repair the messed up boot sector on my
HD? Is there a boot utility somewhere I can download and have it boot
from?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

OK, I have made my XP SP2 machine very angry.

Upon recently shutting down, I encountered a BSOD. Needing to leave
swiftly, I did not have time to wait for the entire "Dumping
memory...." so I went to the box and held the power button until the
machine shut down.

Bad idea.

Now, as soon as I turn it on, the motherboard is beeping at me (sounds
almost like a tune from an old video game) and a red failure light is
visible on the MB. It tries to detect the drives and then I get a
"BOOT DISK FAILURE." It allows me to boot from CD, so I put in my XP
installation CD and it starts loading all the drivers. When it gets
to the part about starting Windows, I get another BSOD - error
0000007f.

So, what do I need to do to repair the messed up boot sector on my
HD? Is there a boot utility somewhere I can download and have it boot
from?

I do not think that your problem is related to you
switching off the machine during a dump. It's probably
the other way round: There was a hardware problem
that caused the BSOD and that also prevents you from
booting back into Windows. I also do not think that you
have a problem with your disk's boot sector. The message
you see says something else, namely that your boot disk
is inaccessible. My suspicion is further supported by the
motherboard beeps - they invariably indicate a serious
hardware problem.

If you are experienced with hardware, try posting your
question in a hardware group for advice on how to diagnose
and solve your problem. If you're not then ask your
friendly computer dealer to assist. You might also start
the the BIOS setup program to see if the machine
recognises its disk and if it is of the correct size.

 

[mwieder]

I do not think that your problem is related to you
switching off the machine during a dump. It's probably
the other way round: There was a hardware problem
that caused the BSOD and that also prevents you from
booting back into Windows. I also do not think that you
have a problem with your disk's boot sector. The message
you see says something else, namely that your boot disk
is inaccessible. My suspicion is further supported by the
motherboard beeps - they invariably indicate a serious
hardware problem.

If you are experienced with hardware, try posting your
question in a hardware group for advice on how to diagnose
and solve your problem. If you're not then ask your
friendly computer dealer to assist. You might also start
the the BIOS setup program to see if the machine
recognises its disk and if it is of the correct size.

Thanks for the quick response.

I did a test by swapping out the hard drive with another one and then
the computer boots fine, which tells me either my hard drive is
corrupt or the boot sector on the HD is. The BIOS fails when it tries
to detect the drive size. Is therre a boot utility I oculd try to use
to repair the boot sector?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Thanks for the quick response.

I did a test by swapping out the hard drive with another one and then
the computer boots fine, which tells me either my hard drive is
corrupt or the boot sector on the HD is. The BIOS fails when it tries
to detect the drive size. Is therre a boot utility I oculd try to use
to repair the boot sector?

The BIOS does not care what's on the hard disk and whether
there is a valid boot sector or not. This comes much later.
If your BIOS has a problem detecting the disk size then there
is something badly wrong with the disk - perhaps with the
on-board controller. The experts in a hardware group could
tell you much more about this.

 

[Gerry]

Background information on Stop Error message
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms795478.aspx

http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm

Check the cabling and connections to all drives.

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/.../proddocs/en-us/bootcons_fixmbr.mspx?mfr=true

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

actually, it may be a bigger
problem than simply the
boot sector.

when you successfully boot
with the cd, the setup files
would then be installed onto
the hd.

if these primary files from
the cd can't be transferred
onto the hd, then the hd
has a serious problem.

it would seem equally impossible
to re install windows, repair windows
or install a parallel windows into
a different partition or folder, the
setup and installation files cannot
transfer onto the hd.

what you might want to do
is make it a slave drive and
see if possibly you can log
onto a master drive and then
access the corrupted slave,
at least to get your personal
files off of it.

if by chance you can see files
on the corrupted drive, then
let us know then we can take
a different route to help you.

you might also want to visit
the hd's homesite and see if
there is a utility to check the
state/validity of your hd.

--

<)))º>·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. ><)))º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

..

 

[mwieder]

Thanks all so far for your help - I think we're getting close:
UPDATE:
I removed the HD, opened it up and manually moved the arm back and
forth a few times (don't worry, I've been in HDs before and know to be
super careful). I closed everything back up and reconnected and now,
it no longer fails with a BOOT FAILURE, but in fact, begins to load
Windows, then shows a black screen with a progress bar along the
bottom, and then after the progress abr completes (approx 1 minute)
the system reboots. I restarted in Safe Mode and saw the last thing
to get loaded before the reboot occurs is TDI.SYS. What do I do
know? Could this be due to one of the things I tried was booting from
teh Win XP CD and it overwrote some SP2 files with the original
ones?
Thanks a bunch!

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Glad to see that you're now trying to resolve your hardware
problem. If this was my disk than I would discard it. If it
contains irreplaceable files (ah, those pesky backups that
one was going to create just the day after the disk crashed . . .)
then I would install the disk as a slave disk in some other
machine and see what could be salvaged.

Thanks all so far for your help - I think we're getting close:
UPDATE:
I removed the HD, opened it up and manually moved the arm back and
forth a few times (don't worry, I've been in HDs before and know to be
super careful). I closed everything back up and reconnected and now,
it no longer fails with a BOOT FAILURE, but in fact, begins to load
Windows, then shows a black screen with a progress bar along the
bottom, and then after the progress abr completes (approx 1 minute)
the system reboots. I restarted in Safe Mode and saw the last thing
to get loaded before the reboot occurs is TDI.SYS. What do I do
know? Could this be due to one of the things I tried was booting from
teh Win XP CD and it overwrote some SP2 files with the original
ones?
Thanks a bunch!

 

[Another Brian]

Thanks for the quick response.

I did a test by swapping out the hard drive with another one and
then
the computer boots fine, which tells me either my hard drive is
corrupt or the boot sector on the HD is. The BIOS fails when it
tries
to detect the drive size. Is therre a boot utility I oculd try to
use
to repair the boot sector?

I'd go to the web site for the HD manufacturer. They often have
diagnostic tools specifically for their drives. Good luck. I hope you
have a recent backup.

Brian

 

[Gerry]

Recover your important data whilst you can.

Try running HD Tune(freeware).

Download and run it and see what it turns up.
http://www.hdtune.com/

Select the Info tabs and place the cursor on the drive under Drive
letter and then double click the two page icon ( copy to Clipboard )
and copy into a further message.

Select the Health tab and then double click the two page icon ( copy
to Clipboard ) and copy into a further message.

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[mwieder]

I ran a chkdsk and it said it repaired the disk and my BIOS is
correctly IDing and seeing the size on the disk now, so I think now it
IS a software issue. In Safe Mode, it is stopping after TDI.SYS and
rebooting. I can use the XP CD to get into the recovery console -
what can I do to fix it?
thanks!

 

[Gerry]

Do you have a Linkys Network Card?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Performing repair functions on a damaged partition as a first
step is a bad idea, especially with chkdsk.exe: There is a good
chance that the repair program obliterates files or folders that
might have been partly or wholly readable. You should always
salvage first, then repair.


I ran a chkdsk and it said it repaired the disk and my BIOS is
correctly IDing and seeing the size on the disk now, so I think now it
IS a software issue. In Safe Mode, it is stopping after TDI.SYS and
rebooting. I can use the XP CD to get into the recovery console -
what can I do to fix it?
thanks!