Windows XP SP2 fresh install as of last week, now problems.

[Guest]

Windows XP SP2 fresh install as of last week, now problems.

I recently installed fresh (newly formatted hard drive) Windows XP SP2
edition on my computer (ALthon 2400+, 512 mb, Asus nforce2 mb, etc).
This was because my old install of Windows XP (3 or so years old) was
starting to wear a little thin.

Anyhoo, only a few days later, I'm getting boot problems.

1st: isapnp.sys file was missing or corrupt, so I went into the repair
console by booting up with the cd and replaced the file.
This resolved that issue but more occurred.

2nd: now my computer hangs (auto reboots) when trying to boot into Windows,
just as it's about to hit the startup screen. I used F8 upon booting up to
select "disable rebooting upon computer error", and an blue screen of death
came up. It reported some address ranges that were bad, and recommended I
scan for viruses and scan disk.

3rd: I scanned for viruses with NOrton 2005 bootup disk, none found. I
used chkdsk /p in recovery console, and a few errors were found on the hard
drive.

NOTE; something I found was very wierd. When I tried to access my D:\
partition (I have C:\ for installs, D:\ for data) it said could not access
volume. I ran chkdsk on D:\, it found an error, and then I was able to
access it.

However, in the recovery console, I can't access any directories, or even
copy them, besides the windows directory, because it tells me "ACCESS
DENIED". I Need to back-up some data before I think of reinstalling
Windows, what is this message for?

I have a diagnosis that I believe my hard drive is on the verge of dying.
It's less than a year old, however, this is the 2nd time in a few months that
a system file has become corrupt, and now all this.

Any ideas on how to resolve these issues?

 

[Eric]

Maybe using this will provide the answer:

The Application Compatibility Testing and Mitigation Guide
for Windows XP Service Pack 2

"Windows XP SP2 introduces new security technologies to
better enable Windows XP computers to withstand viruses,
worms and other kinds of attacks. This guide will assist
IT Professionals to test and mitigate application
compatibility issues arising from these more stringent
security technologies."

http://tinyurl.com/4zth8

Eric,
http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/
http://www.sharedbirthday.co.uk/

 

[Malke]

Windows XP SP2 fresh install as of last week, now problems.

I recently installed fresh (newly formatted hard drive) Windows XP SP2
edition on my computer (ALthon 2400+, 512 mb, Asus nforce2 mb, etc).
This was because my old install of Windows XP (3 or so years old) was
starting to wear a little thin.

Anyhoo, only a few days later, I'm getting boot problems.

1st: isapnp.sys file was missing or corrupt, so I went into the repair
console by booting up with the cd and replaced the file.
This resolved that issue but more occurred.

2nd: now my computer hangs (auto reboots) when trying to boot into
Windows,
just as it's about to hit the startup screen. I used F8 upon booting
up to
select "disable rebooting upon computer error", and an blue screen of
death
came up. It reported some address ranges that were bad, and
recommended I scan for viruses and scan disk.

3rd: I scanned for viruses with NOrton 2005 bootup disk, none found.
I used chkdsk /p in recovery console, and a few errors were found on
the hard drive.

NOTE; something I found was very wierd. When I tried to access my
D:\ partition (I have C:\ for installs, D:\ for data) it said could
not access
volume. I ran chkdsk on D:\, it found an error, and then I was able
to access it.

However, in the recovery console, I can't access any directories, or
even copy them, besides the windows directory, because it tells me
"ACCESS
DENIED". I Need to back-up some data before I think of reinstalling
Windows, what is this message for?

I have a diagnosis that I believe my hard drive is on the verge of
dying. It's less than a year old, however, this is the 2nd time in a
few months that a system file has become corrupt, and now all this.

Any ideas on how to resolve these issues?

Yes. Do a hardware diagnosis on the drive and the RAM. From your
description, I would definitely suspect the hard drive. The fact that
it is less than a year old means nothing. Download a diagnostic utility
from the drive mftr.'s website. You will use the file to make a
bootable floppy. Boot with that, and do a thorough test. If you get
errors, replace the drive.

There are various ways to rescue data that wasn't backed up. Briefly:

1. If the computer has two cd drives, one of which is a burner, boot
with Knoppix and burn data to cd-r.

2. Slave failing hard drive in working XP box and try to get data off
that way.

3. Use data recovery software to get data off.

All of the above requires that the drive be viable. If the drive is no
longer viable, it will be necessary to contact a professional data
recovery firm such as DriveSavers (www.drivesavers.com).

Let me know if you need more details about any of all that.

Malke

 

[Quaoar]

Maybe using this will provide the answer:

The Application Compatibility Testing and Mitigation Guide
for Windows XP Service Pack 2

"Windows XP SP2 introduces new security technologies to
better enable Windows XP computers to withstand viruses,
worms and other kinds of attacks. This guide will assist
IT Professionals to test and mitigate application
compatibility issues arising from these more stringent
security technologies."

http://tinyurl.com/4zth8

Eric,
http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/
http://www.sharedbirthday.co.uk/

That link is useless to users. Frankly, SP2 is proving that it might be
useless to IT professionals, also.

Q

 

[Guest]

OK, but why the heck can't I even copy files in the recovery console? If
the drive is bad, I suppose I'll have to hook the drive up to another
computer, and copy it to another drive or my Nomad for temporary storage.

When I get home I will run the Maxtor Powermax utility to see if the drive
is bad.

You know, when I bought this 80 gb maxtor, the first 2 I got were faulty
like right away. 2 in a row, they said that was near impossible.

My previous 40 gb maxtor I had to get replaced once too.

Maxtor has an excellent RMA policy, but I'm not sure if hard drives should
be dying as much as this.

 

[Malke]

OK, but why the heck can't I even copy files in the recovery console?
If the drive is bad, I suppose I'll have to hook the drive up to
another computer, and copy it to another drive or my Nomad for
temporary storage.

When I get home I will run the Maxtor Powermax utility to see if the
drive is bad.

You know, when I bought this 80 gb maxtor, the first 2 I got were
faulty
like right away. 2 in a row, they said that was near impossible.

My previous 40 gb maxtor I had to get replaced once too.

Maxtor has an excellent RMA policy, but I'm not sure if hard drives
should be dying as much as this.

Well, you might have other problems in your system that are damaging the
hard drive - electrical problems, for instance. However, it *is* quite
possible to get a run of bad hard drives. The Maxtor Super Slims had a
very high failure rate for instance. I had 2 fail out of the box and a
third died just after the warranty ran out (1 year).

Malke

 

[Rock]

Windows XP SP2 fresh install as of last week, now problems.

I recently installed fresh (newly formatted hard drive) Windows XP SP2
edition on my computer (ALthon 2400+, 512 mb, Asus nforce2 mb, etc).
This was because my old install of Windows XP (3 or so years old) was
starting to wear a little thin.

Anyhoo, only a few days later, I'm getting boot problems.

1st: isapnp.sys file was missing or corrupt, so I went into the repair
console by booting up with the cd and replaced the file.
This resolved that issue but more occurred.

2nd: now my computer hangs (auto reboots) when trying to boot into Windows,
just as it's about to hit the startup screen. I used F8 upon booting up to
select "disable rebooting upon computer error", and an blue screen of death
came up. It reported some address ranges that were bad, and recommended I
scan for viruses and scan disk.

3rd: I scanned for viruses with NOrton 2005 bootup disk, none found. I
used chkdsk /p in recovery console, and a few errors were found on the hard
drive.

NOTE; something I found was very wierd. When I tried to access my D:\
partition (I have C:\ for installs, D:\ for data) it said could not access
volume. I ran chkdsk on D:\, it found an error, and then I was able to
access it.

However, in the recovery console, I can't access any directories, or even
copy them, besides the windows directory, because it tells me "ACCESS
DENIED". I Need to back-up some data before I think of reinstalling
Windows, what is this message for?

I have a diagnosis that I believe my hard drive is on the verge of dying.
It's less than a year old, however, this is the 2nd time in a few months that
a system file has become corrupt, and now all this.

Any ideas on how to resolve these issues?

Matt, unfortunately recovery console doesn't allow you access to all the
directories and files. By default all you can see is the \windows\ and
sub directories. In recovery console give the command:

Set AllowAllPaths = True (to allow access to the other directories.)

Set AllowRemovableMedia = True (to allow copying data to removable
medial, however I think that is very limited -- i.e. to floppy disks)

You can't do wholesale backup from the recovery console.