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XP Damaged - Can't Clear Dirty Bit

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13 replies

by cleik

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We lost power and now my XP PC won't boot into windows but instead runs chkdsk saying the dirty bit is set on the volume. When it finishes chkdsk it reboots and does it again - infinite loop. So I booted into the Recovery Console and ran chkdsk /r - ran with no errors - but after a reboot same thing - chkdsk runs and computer reboots. I ran a chkdsk from the recovery console without any parameters and it says the volume appears in good condition.

Since I can't boot into windows to run a chkdsk /f to clear the dirty bit what else can I do to clear it and get Windows booting up again?

13 replies

by cleik

Booting to Safe Mode results in a BSOD stating that windows has been shutdown to prevent further damage - run chkdsk /f

by rob miners

Press a key to cancel the check and the Operating System should start up

Press the WinKey + r type cmd and press Enter.

type ChkNTFS /D and press Enter.

run the chkntfs /d option to return the system to its normal state or edit the BootExecute value in the registry

Open regedt32 and locate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager\Boot Execute and note the value of the key.

It should be a Multi-String Value and look like this:
BootExecute REG_MULTI_SZ autocheck autochk *

remove everything after autocheck autochk *

by cleik

can't break out of the chkdsk at all.

by oh smeg

I'm assuming here that as the system boots it gives a 5 second warning that it is going to run CHKDSK and you abort the operation at that stage you should be able to get into the OS and make the changes that Jacky Suggested.

Failing that a In Place Install will probably be your only option.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315341

Col

by nimmo

If you still can't get into Windows I suggest you put the XP disk in and boot from the CD.

Don't enter the recovey console but instead run a repair mode.

What this will do is run the installation but without delete any of your data it will only replace the system files.

by cleik

Ran a repair installation of XP, all goes well until after the first reboot where it tries to copy files - even though they are on the CD media it says it can't copy them. I can browse to them and they are right there. I'm reading that some folks had to take RAM out of their machines to get by this??? Weird.

by cleik

I pulled one stick of RAM out and rebooted the system. It restarted setup automatically and this time finished successfully but just as it did it blue screened with a BAD_POOL_CALLER - STOP:0x000000c2

On doing some research this seems to indicate bad hardware - RAM or Video - I tried replacing both with spares and same thing. I think I'm hosed.

by cleik

There is no warning and no pressing of any key stops it.

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