XP - 'Disk error. Press any key'

[Guest]

This question seems to have been asked before but not enough detail provided
to help.

Environment: -
I am running Windows XP Pro on an IBM laptop, T20.

Problem:-
I was on the internet when I started getting error messages and a clicking
noise in my computer. I switched it off and when I restarted I get the error
message 'Disk error. Press any key".

Attempted fixes: -
1) I did some research,learned that it was likely a hard disk error.
Tried the F8 key (according to the research) during reboot to try to start
the computer in 'safe'mode'. No success as the option never appeared.

2) Downloaded the boot disks (6 of them) from the Microsoft website and
booted from the floppy drive. When this is done, I get 3 options:

- To set up Windows XP now, press Enter (this option does not work)
- To repair a Windows installation using Recovery Console, press 'R'
- To quit Setup without installing XP, press F3

Option 2, leads to a Command Line (Dos prompt) C:

At the disk prompt, I was hoping to run Norton Utilities but the Recovery
console does not recognize the switch to the 'E:'drive which is my CDRom drive

I am not familiar with the Command line instructions to use them with any
level of confidence.

I would appreciate it if somebody could walk me through a recovery with some
level of detail, either here or at my email (e-mail address removed)

Thanks very much

 

[Guest]

Norton System Works is a bootable CD and you can use it to boot up and run
certain functions.

Using the Recovery Console, you can enable and disable services, format
drives, read and write data on a local drive (including drives formatted to
use NTFS), and perform many other administrative tasks. The Recovery Console
is particularly useful if you need to repair your system by copying a file
from a floppy disk or CD-ROM to your hard drive, or if you need to
reconfigure a service that is preventing your computer from starting
properly.


There are two ways to start the Recovery Console:

If you are unable to start your computer, you can run the Recovery Console
from your Setup CD.

As an alternative, you can install the Recovery Console on your computer to
make it available in case you are unable to restart Windows. You can then
select the Recovery Console option from the list of available operating
systems on startup.
After you start the Recovery Console you will have to choose which
installation you want to log on to (if you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot
system) and you will have to log on with your administrator password.

The console provides commands you can use to do simple operations such as
changing to a different directory or viewing a directory, and more powerful
operations such as fixing the boot sector. You can access Help for the
commands in the Recovery Console by typing help at the Recovery Console
command prompt.

For information on starting and using the Recovery Console, see Related
Topics.

Once you are running the Recovery Console, you can get help on the available
commands by typing help at the command prompt.

The following commands can be used with the Recovery Console:

Attrib
Changes the attributes of a file or directory.

Batch
Executes the commands specified in the text file.

Bootcfg
Boot file (boot.ini) configuration and recovery.

ChDir (Cd)
Displays the name of the current directory or changes the current directory.

Chkdsk
Checks a disk and displays a status report.

Cls
Clears the screen.

Copy
Copies a single file to another location.

Delete (Del)
Deletes one or more files.

Dir
Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directory.

Disable
Disables a system service or a device driver.

Diskpart
Manages partitions on your hard drives.

Enable
Starts or enables a system service or a device driver.

Exit
Exits the Recovery Console and restarts your computer.

Expand
Extracts a file from a compressed file.

Fixboot
Writes a new partition boot sector onto the specified partition.

Fixmbr
Repairs the master boot record of the specified disk.

Format
Formats a disk.

Help
Displays a list of the commands you can use in the Recovery Console.

Listsvc
Lists the services and drivers available on the computer.

Logon
Logs on to a Windows installation.

Map
Displays the drive letter mappings.

Mkdir (Md)
Creates a directory.

More
Displays a text file.

Net Use
Connects a network share to a drive letter.

Rename (Ren)
Renames a single file.

Rmdir (Rd)
Deletes a directory.

Set
Displays and sets environment variables.

Systemroot
Sets the current directory to the systemroot directory of the system you are
currently logged on to.

Type
Displays a text file.


You may need to run chkdsk to perform a status report for the disk. The
chkdsk command also lists and corrects errors on the disk.

The chkdsk command with the parameters listed below is only available when
you are using the Recovery Console. The chkdsk command with different
parameters is available from the command prompt.

chkdsk [drive:] [/p] [/r]

Parameters

none

Used without parameters, chkdsk displays the status of the disk in the
current drive.

drive:

Specifies the drive that you want chkdsk to check.

/p

Performs an exhaustive check even if the drive is not marked for chkdsk to
run. This parameter does not make any changes to the drive.

/r

Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information. Implies /p.