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Windows XP wont boot after the weekend

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by marco136669

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Windows Xp won't boot or even allow repair or installing of a fresh windows. It loads to BSoD and when i boot from CD it goes to "Examining....." and gets stuck there, there are loads of important data on it as its the schools library PC. Please guide me a way that i can repair it without losing any data.

8 replies

by jcscribner

First off, it's best if you could post what the blue screen was(if possible). Next would be what you did before the weekend that made it bite the blue cookie.

My best bet would be that your hard drive is ready to be used a coaster (inside joke, it's about to die).

on another note, there was a post about this awhile back somewhere else and the user actually changed ram (or added ram) that was not compatible with the system or the ram already installed.

Let us know what the blue screen was if possible, what changes/updates/upgrades you did before getting the blue screen, and if possible how old your computer is(may not be important, just in case).

by jcscribner

Some solutions if you can't get the info:

1. buy another hard drive, format it with xp, plug in BSoD HDD as slave, copy all important files from slave HDD to NEW HDD, format slave, extra hard drive space

2. have a buddy load it up to his PC as a slave, backup important data, re-install it into your PC, completely re-format drive. (may or may not work).

it could be, as I was researching, that you have a MBR virus(infects the boot loader, makes the computer unwilling to load into any OS). This is bad stuff, but I need more info to determine it.

these are last case solutions, as we may be able to fix it without doing these.

by marco136669

The blue screen of death reads

UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

then blah blah.....

STOP: 0x000000ED (0x067767D0,0xC0000006,0x00000000,0x00000000)

and no extra hardware or even software was installed during the weekend, i have removed the RAM and checked it i found no problem with the RAM.

by jcscribner

Power shortages can wreak havoc on systems, especially if you don't have surge protectors or UPCs.

One of two things could happen ( I could be wrong, there's probably more things to contribute):
1. if the computer was on when the shortage happened, the HDD could have been in the middle of a read/write session, and corrupted the file system. This would lead you to the Recovery Console. I don't know if it's pre-installed or not, so your best bet is to repeatedly hit F8 while booting. If you see Recovery Console in the selection of Start-ups, select that. after loading, input chkdsk /r to scan and fix any messed up system files.

If your xp is OEM, you'll have to boot from CD. After selecting the boot from CD, repeatedly hit R to run repair. at the console, do the same thing and type in chkdsk /r to fix any system files. Restart.

2. If this doesn't work I would assume it is with the second thing that happens during shortages-killed your drive. But I won't assume that. Let me know what happens.

here's the Microsoft helpsite for using the recovery console: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058

take care in using any of the commands listed though. Only use commands that try and repair the OS, like chkdsk, or fixmbr.

by oh smeg

Remove the HDD from the system fit it to a USB External Enclosure and attempt to copy the Data off the drive.

You could attempt to use the HDD Makers Testing Utility but to do that you would have to know who made the HDD to begin with. That will involve opening the System up and looking at the sticker on the drive for the Drive Makers name.

You can use the Ultimate Boot CD available free from here to test the HDD and M'Board, Data Lead and Power Supply

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

Using the Ultimate Boot CD and after you have set the system to boot from the Optical Drive from the BIOS you can test the HDD with one of the different Makers Testing Tools. If the drive fails the test remove it fit it to a suitable system and retest. If it still fails the test the HDD is shot and while you may be able to get the Data off it, it just as well may be dead and gone to [b]Silicon Heaven[/b] if it's dead you need to go to the Backup and recover from there. If there is no backup you'll need to send the drive to a Specialist Data Recovery House who can deal with dead HDD and pay them to recover what they can.

If it works on the second test the M'Board, Data Lead or Power Supply in the original system is damaged and needs repairing accordingly. You can test the Data Lead in the second system to see if it's faulty but you'll need specialist testing tools to go any further with the other parts.

Provided that this system was not encrypted with the Encrypted File System available in XP all you need do is fit the HDD to an external USB Case and take ownership of the files and copy them off the drive if it's actually working.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

If the drive was Encrypted you're in a world of pain and the only real option is to send it off to a Specialist Data Recovery House if there was no backup. ;)

Col

by marco136669

I will check all possible ways to get the data back and will try all the ways that you both have mentioned and see if it solves the problem.

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