Win2k Boot Problem

[PeterV]

Hi All,

Maybe the heat and humidty took hold of my machine, but here is my
problem. I have a 60GB HD partitioned into a 10GB C: which mainly
just has WIN2k OS and some progs and the rest a F: drive with Data and
Progs. My computer froze and now when it boots up it hangs in the
white on black loading windows screen. It says a file is missing or
corrupted and then just says it is the system32 directory. A safe
mode freezes after it loads : ntoskrnl.exe, hal.dll, bootvid.dll,
sytem, and system.alt. Again with a similiar message. Recovery
Console gets me to see my F: drive (as d but I can't get a dir of my
c:. Any dir or cd op fails. A chkdsk says "the volume appears to
contain one or more unrecoverable problems. Of course, i do not have
a emergency repair disk.......Any suggestions on how to proceed. I
don't mind reinstalling the OS since the c: drive is mainly just the
OS, however I would like the registry since I have a bunch of apps
installed. Obvioulsy I would it all to be fixed as was.....

Thanks in Advance
Peter

 

[Dave Patrick]

Can you post the exact text of the error message?

"It says a file is missing or corrupted"

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect


:
| Hi All,
|
| Maybe the heat and humidty took hold of my machine, but here is my
| problem. I have a 60GB HD partitioned into a 10GB C: which mainly
| just has WIN2k OS and some progs and the rest a F: drive with Data and
| Progs. My computer froze and now when it boots up it hangs in the
| white on black loading windows screen. It says a file is missing or
| corrupted and then just says it is the system32 directory. A safe
| mode freezes after it loads : ntoskrnl.exe, hal.dll, bootvid.dll,
| sytem, and system.alt. Again with a similiar message. Recovery
| Console gets me to see my F: drive (as d but I can't get a dir of my
| c:. Any dir or cd op fails. A chkdsk says "the volume appears to
| contain one or more unrecoverable problems. Of course, i do not have
| a emergency repair disk.......Any suggestions on how to proceed. I
| don't mind reinstalling the OS since the c: drive is mainly just the
| OS, however I would like the registry since I have a bunch of apps
| installed. Obvioulsy I would it all to be fixed as was.....
|
| Thanks in Advance
| Peter

 

[PeterV]

"Windows 2000 cannot start because the following file is missing or corrupt:

\WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYTEM"

 

[Dave Patrick]

If the system hive is corrupt, and assuming you already tried LKG, It may be
possible to rename the system hive found in
%windir%\system32\config\system
to system.old
then rename
%windir%\system32\config\system.alt
to
%windir%\system32\config\system

You can also try using the most recent backup found in
%windir%\repair\regback

If that fails you haven't much choice but to copy/ use the
original-as-installed system hive from
%windir%\repair\system
to
%windir%\system32\config\system
You'll need to reinstall the device drivers for any hardware added since the
original OS install.

To start the Recovery Console, start the computer from the Windows 2000
Setup CD or the Windows 2000 Setup floppy disks. If you do not have Setup
floppy disks and your computer cannot start from the Windows 2000 Setup CD,
use another Windows 2000-based computer to create the Setup floppy disks.
Press ENTER at the "Setup Notification" screen. Press R to repair a Windows
2000 installation, and then press C to use the Recovery Console. The
Recovery Console then prompts you for the administrator password. If you do
not have the correct password, Recovery Console does not allow access to the
computer. If an incorrect password is entered three times, the Recovery
Console quits and restarts the computer. Note If the registry is corrupted
or missing or no valid installations are found, the Recovery Console starts
in the root of the startup volume without requiring a password. You cannot
access any folders, but you can carry out commands such as chkdsk, fixboot,
and fixmbr for limited disk repairs. Once the password has been validated,
you have full access to the Recovery Console, but limited access to the hard
disk. You can only access the following folders on your computer:
%systemroot% and %windir%


--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect


:
| "Windows 2000 cannot start because the following file is missing or
corrupt:
|
| \WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYTEM"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | > Can you post the exact text of the error message?
| >
| > "It says a file is missing or corrupted"
| >
| > --
| > Regards,
| >
| > Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
| > Microsoft Certified Professional
| > Microsoft MVP [Windows]
| > http://www.microsoft.com/protect
| >
| >
| > "PeterV" wrote:
| > | Hi All,
| > |
| > | Maybe the heat and humidty took hold of my machine, but here is my
| > | problem. I have a 60GB HD partitioned into a 10GB C: which mainly
| > | just has WIN2k OS and some progs and the rest a F: drive with Data and
| > | Progs. My computer froze and now when it boots up it hangs in the
| > | white on black loading windows screen. It says a file is missing or
| > | corrupted and then just says it is the system32 directory. A safe
| > | mode freezes after it loads : ntoskrnl.exe, hal.dll, bootvid.dll,
| > | sytem, and system.alt. Again with a similiar message. Recovery
| > | Console gets me to see my F: drive (as d but I can't get a dir of my
| > | c:. Any dir or cd op fails. A chkdsk says "the volume appears to
| > | contain one or more unrecoverable problems. Of course, i do not have
| > | a emergency repair disk.......Any suggestions on how to proceed. I
| > | don't mind reinstalling the OS since the c: drive is mainly just the
| > | OS, however I would like the registry since I have a bunch of apps
| > | installed. Obvioulsy I would it all to be fixed as was.....
| > |
| > | Thanks in Advance
| > | Peter
| >
| >
|
|

 

[PeterV]

Well, Recovery Console does not require a password and just dumps me in th
c:\winnt.....one time it also just bounced to c:\ and a dir couldn't be
done.....Does that mean I can't rename the directories as per your
instructions? Anyway, I think maybe this drive is having some mechanical
problems other than just a corrupted file system. I tried a chkdsk using RC
and it responded with a "the volume appears to contain one or more
unrecoverable poblems". And then I could even get a DIR on either my system
partition (c or my extended partition (f. Can I use the RC bootcfg
command? My main concern is not to mess up the data on the extended
partition, I just want to get to it to copy a bunch of stuff. I would
probably go ahead and just reinstall win2k if I know for sure that the
exteneded partition will remain. Could this be at all virus related? I do
use norton auto-protect and update my defs. however I think it has been a
while on this machine. Are they any recent or not viruses that would
manifest this behavior?

P.S. At the top of your response you wrote "tried LKG". Pardon my
ignorance but can you tell me what LKG stands for?

If the system hive is corrupt, and assuming you already tried LKG, It may be
possible to rename the system hive found in
%windir%\system32\config\system
to system.old
then rename
%windir%\system32\config\system.alt
to
%windir%\system32\config\system

You can also try using the most recent backup found in
%windir%\repair\regback

If that fails you haven't much choice but to copy/ use the
original-as-installed system hive from
%windir%\repair\system
to
%windir%\system32\config\system
You'll need to reinstall the device drivers for any hardware added since the
original OS install.

To start the Recovery Console, start the computer from the Windows 2000
Setup CD or the Windows 2000 Setup floppy disks. If you do not have Setup
floppy disks and your computer cannot start from the Windows 2000 Setup CD,
use another Windows 2000-based computer to create the Setup floppy disks.
Press ENTER at the "Setup Notification" screen. Press R to repair a Windows
2000 installation, and then press C to use the Recovery Console. The
Recovery Console then prompts you for the administrator password. If you do
not have the correct password, Recovery Console does not allow access to the
computer. If an incorrect password is entered three times, the Recovery
Console quits and restarts the computer. Note If the registry is corrupted
or missing or no valid installations are found, the Recovery Console starts
in the root of the startup volume without requiring a password. You cannot
access any folders, but you can carry out commands such as chkdsk, fixboot,
and fixmbr for limited disk repairs. Once the password has been validated,
you have full access to the Recovery Console, but limited access to the hard
disk. You can only access the following folders on your computer:
%systemroot% and %windir%


--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect


:
| "Windows 2000 cannot start because the following file is missing or
corrupt:
|
| \WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYTEM"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | > Can you post the exact text of the error message?
| >
| > "It says a file is missing or corrupted"
| >
| > --
| > Regards,
| >
| > Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
| > Microsoft Certified Professional
| > Microsoft MVP [Windows]
| > http://www.microsoft.com/protect
| >
| >
| > "PeterV" wrote:
| > | Hi All,
| > |
| > | Maybe the heat and humidty took hold of my machine, but here is my
| > | problem. I have a 60GB HD partitioned into a 10GB C: which mainly
| > | just has WIN2k OS and some progs and the rest a F: drive with Data and
| > | Progs. My computer froze and now when it boots up it hangs in the
| > | white on black loading windows screen. It says a file is missing or
| > | corrupted and then just says it is the system32 directory. A safe
| > | mode freezes after it loads : ntoskrnl.exe, hal.dll, bootvid.dll,
| > | sytem, and system.alt. Again with a similiar message. Recovery
| > | Console gets me to see my F: drive (as d but I can't get a dir of my
| > | c:. Any dir or cd op fails. A chkdsk says "the volume appears to
| > | contain one or more unrecoverable problems. Of course, i do not have
| > | a emergency repair disk.......Any suggestions on how to proceed. I
| > | don't mind reinstalling the OS since the c: drive is mainly just the
| > | OS, however I would like the registry since I have a bunch of apps
| > | installed. Obvioulsy I would it all to be fixed as was.....
| > |
| > | Thanks in Advance
| > | Peter
| >
| >
|
|

 

[PeterV]

Well, Recovery Console does not require a password and just dumps me in th
c:\winnt.....one time it also just bounced to c:\ and a dir couldn't be
done.....Does that mean I can't rename the directories as per your
instructions? Anyway, I think maybe this drive is having some mechanical
problems other than just a corrupted file system. I tried a chkdsk using RC
and it responded with a "the volume appears to contain one or more
unrecoverable poblems". And then I could even get a DIR on either my system
partition (c or my extended partition (f. Can I use the RC bootcfg
command? My main concern is not to mess up the data on the extended
partition, I just want to get to it to copy a bunch of stuff. I would
probably go ahead and just reinstall win2k if I know for sure that the
exteneded partition will remain. Could this be at all virus related? I do
use norton auto-protect and update my defs. however I think it has been a
while on this machine. Are they any recent or not viruses that would
manifest this behavior?

P.S. At the top of your response you wrote "tried LKG". Pardon my
ignorance but can you tell me what LKG stands for?

If the system hive is corrupt, and assuming you already tried LKG, It may be
possible to rename the system hive found in
%windir%\system32\config\system
to system.old
then rename
%windir%\system32\config\system.alt
to
%windir%\system32\config\system

You can also try using the most recent backup found in
%windir%\repair\regback

If that fails you haven't much choice but to copy/ use the
original-as-installed system hive from
%windir%\repair\system
to
%windir%\system32\config\system
You'll need to reinstall the device drivers for any hardware added since the
original OS install.

To start the Recovery Console, start the computer from the Windows 2000
Setup CD or the Windows 2000 Setup floppy disks. If you do not have Setup
floppy disks and your computer cannot start from the Windows 2000 Setup CD,
use another Windows 2000-based computer to create the Setup floppy disks.
Press ENTER at the "Setup Notification" screen. Press R to repair a Windows
2000 installation, and then press C to use the Recovery Console. The
Recovery Console then prompts you for the administrator password. If you do
not have the correct password, Recovery Console does not allow access to the
computer. If an incorrect password is entered three times, the Recovery
Console quits and restarts the computer. Note If the registry is corrupted
or missing or no valid installations are found, the Recovery Console starts
in the root of the startup volume without requiring a password. You cannot
access any folders, but you can carry out commands such as chkdsk, fixboot,
and fixmbr for limited disk repairs. Once the password has been validated,
you have full access to the Recovery Console, but limited access to the hard
disk. You can only access the following folders on your computer:
%systemroot% and %windir%


--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect


:
| "Windows 2000 cannot start because the following file is missing or
corrupt:
|
| \WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYTEM"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | > Can you post the exact text of the error message?
| >
| > "It says a file is missing or corrupted"
| >
| > --
| > Regards,
| >
| > Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
| > Microsoft Certified Professional
| > Microsoft MVP [Windows]
| > http://www.microsoft.com/protect
| >
| >
| > "PeterV" wrote:
| > | Hi All,
| > |
| > | Maybe the heat and humidty took hold of my machine, but here is my
| > | problem. I have a 60GB HD partitioned into a 10GB C: which mainly
| > | just has WIN2k OS and some progs and the rest a F: drive with Data and
| > | Progs. My computer froze and now when it boots up it hangs in the
| > | white on black loading windows screen. It says a file is missing or
| > | corrupted and then just says it is the system32 directory. A safe
| > | mode freezes after it loads : ntoskrnl.exe, hal.dll, bootvid.dll,
| > | sytem, and system.alt. Again with a similiar message. Recovery
| > | Console gets me to see my F: drive (as d but I can't get a dir of my
| > | c:. Any dir or cd op fails. A chkdsk says "the volume appears to
| > | contain one or more unrecoverable problems. Of course, i do not have
| > | a emergency repair disk.......Any suggestions on how to proceed. I
| > | don't mind reinstalling the OS since the c: drive is mainly just the
| > | OS, however I would like the registry since I have a bunch of apps
| > | installed. Obvioulsy I would it all to be fixed as was.....
| > |
| > | Thanks in Advance
| > | Peter
| >
| >
|
|

 

[Dave Patrick]

:
| Well, Recovery Console does not require a password and just dumps me in th
| c:\winnt.....one time it also just bounced to c:\
* Just means no valid installations were found.


and a dir couldn't be
| done.....Does that mean I can't rename the directories as per your
| instructions?
* I only mentioned renaming files.


Anyway, I think maybe this drive is having some mechanical
| problems other than just a corrupted file system.
* If you suspect a damaged disk then I wouldn't fiddle with it any more than
you have to. Slave it in another machine and recover your data pronto.


I tried a chkdsk using RC
| and it responded with a "the volume appears to contain one or more
| unrecoverable poblems". And then I could even get a DIR on either my
system
| partition (c or my extended partition (f. Can I use the RC bootcfg
| command?
* bootcfg won't help with a corrupted and or damaged registry.


My main concern is not to mess up the data on the extended
| partition, I just want to get to it to copy a bunch of stuff. I would
| probably go ahead and just reinstall win2k if I know for sure that the
| exteneded partition will remain. Could this be at all virus related? I
do
| use norton auto-protect and update my defs. however I think it has been a
| while on this machine. Are they any recent or not viruses that would
| manifest this behavior?
* Anything is possible but this really doesn't sound like it. You're
probably correct about hardware failure.


| P.S. At the top of your response you wrote "tried LKG". Pardon my
| ignorance but can you tell me what LKG stands for?
* LKG = last known good. At boot F8 for this option.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

 

[PeterV]

OK, I tossed in another old drive and installed win2k....I then attached the
damaged drive as a slave. It seems I can get to my old c: partition, and
the old extended partition (now g appears in my computer. However when I
open the g: drive i get a Disk I/O error in Win2k, not a blue screen. Any
suggestions on how to proceed? Are there any recovery programs that could
help getting some of the data off this drive?

 

[Dave Patrick]

You might want to send it off to one of the data recovery services or try
one of these.

http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/~tkuurstra/index.htm
http://www.datarecoveryclinic.com/

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect


:
| OK, I tossed in another old drive and installed win2k....I then attached
the
| damaged drive as a slave. It seems I can get to my old c: partition, and
| the old extended partition (now g appears in my computer. However when
I
| open the g: drive i get a Disk I/O error in Win2k, not a blue screen. Any
| suggestions on how to proceed? Are there any recovery programs that could
| help getting some of the data off this drive?