XP won't start; recovery console doesn't help

[Guest]

I know before starting that I'll be told my HDD died, but hear me out.

First my system configuration:

WinXP Pro OEM version with SP2, clean install
Soyo KT600 Dragon Ultra MoBo with AMD Athlon 2000+ (KT600/8237 chipset)
2x512 MB RAM
No PCI cards.
ATI Radeon 9600 graphics
Maxtor 6L100M0 95 GB SATA HDD (Brand new in late December)
Standard IDE FDD
Standard IDE CD-RW

This has happened twice in the last two months:

1) I performed a normal shut-down followed by power-off at the power supply
switch. (It was a completely normal shut-down. I've done this many times
with no problem.) No system changes of any sort occurred (at least none that
I initiated).

2) On a subsequent cold boot, WinXP didn't start. The first time, the
system sponetaneously rebooted.

3) The next time I got the 'Sorry, Windows didn't start successfully'
message. The system went to the logo screen and then rebooted. The last
known good configuration doesn't start, nor do any of the safe modes. During
the safe mode start, the system hangs for a minute at mup.sys. Then it
spontaneously reboots.

4) After a couple of attempts as in 3) above, the system won't boot Windows
at all; I get the 'NTLDR is missing press CTRL-ALT-DEL to restart' message.

5) Using a boot disk, I can get past the NTLDR problem, but the system still
reboots after the logo screen; safe modes still don't start.

6) Recovery console started from installation CD runs very slowly when
examining the HDD. However, it does eventually start the recovery console.
All commands that involve the HDD run very slowly and eventually fail with
various messages. I can't use fixmbr or fixboot; they fail. Diskpart shows
no partition. Map shows the drives as A: (the FDD), D: (the CD-RW) and ?
(literally, it shows a quesion mark). Chkdsk reports the drive has numerous
problems it can't fix.

7) There are files on this disk that I spent days salvaging from the
previous HDD that failed in exactly the same manner. I don't want to have to
do that again.

Seems like a clear cut case of HDD failure, right? But wait, here's the
really weird part. I mentioned that another HDD failed the same way. It's a
Western Digital 120 GB SATA drive. It did all the same things. But after I
installed the OS on the new Maxtor, I reformatted the WDC and was able to use
disk recovery tools to get many of my files back. After the Maxtor got
buggered, I did a clean install of the OS on the WDC and it works fine. The
HDD was not dead. That's why I don't think Maxtor is dead either. And I'm
sure if I wait long enough, the WDC will get corrupted the same way it did
before and the Maxtor is now.

One more thing: if I connect both drives, using the WDC as the boot drive,
the system gets stuck at mup.sys during startup, even though the system
really shouldn't be getting anything off the Maxtor. Unplug the Maxtor and
the system starts.

Also, since SATA drivers are theoretically hot-pluggable, I tried to start
Windows on the WDC, and then plug in the Maxtor. The system runs just fine
this way, but it can't find the Maxtor.

Incidentally, the BIOS does see both drives.

First question: Any suggestions on how to repair the filesystem on the
Maxtor? Recovery console doesn't seem to be able to do the job.

Second question: What could be happening to corrupt the HDDs in the first
place? Does anyone know of an incompatibility between the SATA controller on
this mobo and WinXP?

Please ask make any suggestions or ask any questions you think might be
appropriate. Thanks!

 

[Guest]

Try power off,remove battery,move the CMOS jumper pin on the brd from 1-2
to 2-3 position for .45 seconds or so,then back to 1-2,replace battery,start
computer.You'll need to reset date/time in BIOS,then exit page,load optimal
def-
aults,then back in BIOS to adjust for SATA and add-in cards,save and
exit.Sounds
like a controller issue also,you should run microsoft memory tester if
above doesnt
fix it,memory tester also chks the
controller.http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the advice. I tried clearing CMOS as you suggested. I get the
same behavior as before, so that doesn't seem to be the problem. I also ran
the Windows memory test routine and the memory checks out with all tests
passed.

I'm anxious for other suggestions; thanks for looking at the thread.

 

[Guest]

More information:

Several DOS-based utilities (e.g., NTFS reader) can access the HDD and see
the folders and files. This suggests to me that the HDD is not dead, but
corrupted to the extent that Win XP can't even start with that HDD installed
in the system.

Any ideas on how to repair the HDD filesystem without Windows or Recovery
Console?

Any ideas on what caused the corruption in the first place?

All help is greatly appreciated.