Try a reinstall.
If you can get to a dos prompt delete that directory.
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Question
the file or directory C:\$mft is corrupt and unreadable....
After installing (or attempting to) I get the above error message repeatedly as I try to start XP Home.
How can I get around the problem by reverting to the original setup or repairing this one/
dc
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Answers
The $mft directory is a temporary directory where MS stores the files, before the installation is complete. This tells me, you are trying to finish the installation, but it can't read the directory. Did you reinstall because of a problem? Perhaps your disk or computer was dying in some way, which caused you to reinstall, and now, even the install files cannot be read. Another possibility is that the CD is bad and you copied corrupt files, but that would have shown up in the first phase, not this one. SO my guess is there is something wrong with your computer or hard drive.
dc,
I think its something to do witn the Clusdisk.sys file (located at %WinRoot%\System32...
Try the following link - It has more comprehacive explanation (eventhough its a Win 2000 explanation, I think it may be rightful for the Win XP as well)...
http://support.microsoft.c
Do you think this article applies?
Luck
Cyber
Every time I've seen this message, it was due to the unavailability of the drive. (Though I've never seen it on C). You can get this messsage by unplugging a hard disk while Windows is booting (maybe later, I haven't tested that).
This makes me think the hard drive is faulty, and may not be responding correstly to the OS.
Do you have a way to test it out?
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by: dercossPosted on 2004-06-15 at 16:03:32ID: 11320082
Incidentally, Last known good configuration doesn't work and trying Safe mode hangs at agp440.sys
dc