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PC will not boot from XP MCE recovery disk (Mesh Computers)

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6 replies

by ats4603

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Hello

I have an issue with my Mesh Ubuntu/XP MCE PC. I recently lost my XP installation after a Windows Update (!) was applied. I got it back with an Ultimate Boot CD, but now cannot boot from the Recovery CD supplied with the PC. I can boot various live CDs with no problem.

According to Gparted, there is an issue with the NTFS partition (one bad sector) - would this be enough to stop the Recovery CD from booting? I ge the "Press any key to boot from CD" message, then it tells me it is checking the hardware, then nothing more happens (although the hard drie light stays on).

Any thoughts?

TIA

Andrew

6 replies

by oh smeg

You have to look at the Data Face of the Windows Recovery Disc and make sure that there is no damage to it.

Also as you have the Ultimate Boot CD run some Diagnostics on the computer and check the function of the Hardware. Start with a Memory Test as bad memory is often the Problem when Windows will not Install. It doesn't affect Linux or other Boot Disc's only Windows Installing.

Col

by ats4603

Hi

Thanks for the reply, and apologies for this rather long reply...

I ran a couple of memory tests from the UBCD (Memtest-86 v3.3 and Windows memory Diagnostic extended), no problems found. I then ran chkdsk in NTFS file system tools. It said it was deleting several (17) index entries for index $0 of file 25; finally it told me there was 4KB in bad sectors.

I rebooted the PC with Gparted and there was still a "warning triangle" against the NTFS partition. The information on the partition said:

WARNING: The disk has bad sectors. This means physical damage on the disk surface cuased by deterioration, manufacturing faults or other reason. The reliability of the disk may stay stable or deteriorate fast. We suggest making a full backup urgently by running "ntfsclone --rescue" then run chkdsk /f /r and reboot TWICE. Then you can resize NTFS safely by additionally using the --bad-sectors option of ntfsresize.
Unable to read contents of this filesystem.

I don't know what ntfsclone or ntfsresize are, so I ran chkdsk /f from within Windows. It said all was OK, but when I rebooted with Gparted, I still got the warning on the NTFS partition. I still cannot boot the Windows recovery disk (either one for XP MCE or XP Home Edition).

Any other thoughts???

EDIT - I've looked at the surface of the disks very carefully and they look OK to me.

Thanks

Andrew

by ic-it

load it, select your drive (not the controller).
Press F4 to set the options.
Use the arrow keys to navigate and the space bar to select.
Turn on Remap and loop test.
Press f4 again to start the program, let it run all night.

by wanttocancel

With your UBCD I would choose the hd health test for the maker of your hd to make sure it's not slowly dying. If the hd is failing Chkdsk will make the problem worse in my opinion as it will keep deleting and deleting files with each run.

by ats4603

All

I got a new (larger) hard drive and re-installed everything, leaving some free space for future "playing" (so I don't have to keep on re-sizing partitions etc).

Thanks for your comments.

Andrew

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