Hard Drive Error &nbsp;- Can't boot into Windows XP home

in safe mode, you can select NOT to reboot on errors, then the blue screen with the error will stay.
I doubt it will be a bad disk (after some downloads)
you can run a repair install also :
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Assisted Solution

05.28.2007 at 04:46PM PDT, ID: 19169510

At this point after hours of messing about with various tools from the Hirens Cd, I get 0x000000F4 BSOD when I try to go into Windows via Safe Mode and when I go to Recovery Console and I have run chkdsk /r ok then I try chkdsk /p and get 'the volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems'....so I'm pretty much stuck right now. Ideas appreciated....thanks.

05.28.2007 at 05:07PM PDT, ID: 19169552

Rank: Guru

Hello corebe,

I would follow r-k's suggestion regarding removal of your drive or copying your data to a USB drive..

Then reformat and reinstall everything.

If you have a Windows XP CD (Dell can supply one if you didn't get it with the machine) as opposed to only the Dell recovery CD you could try a repair installation of XP:
This leaves all your programs and data intact while reinstalling Windows.
Full instructions here:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Accepted Solution

05.29.2007 at 05:45AM PDT, ID: 19171803

I cannot get even into safe mode to back up anything since as I stated above I get the 0x000000F4 BSOD even in Safe Mode! I have tried Recovery Console repair as well with no luck.

05.29.2007 at 07:43AM PDT, ID: 19172561

Rank: Wizard

r-k:

If you have access to another PC (a desktop e.g.) you can try one of the following:

(1) Make one of the bootable CD's I mentioned above, esp. UBCDWIN or BartPE, and boot from the CD. That allows you to read NTFS partitions on your damaged disk and examine for how much you can copy to a USB memory etc.

and/or

(2) You can remove the damaged drive from the laptop and connect it to the desktop as a slave drive, using one of the methods I suggested above. The ide/laptop adapter or USB enclosure are fairly inexpensive on the net, and may be available for slightly more at a local computer store. That will allow you to run a range of diagnostics and try to recover your files.

It appears from the description that the drive is failing, but not completely dead, so you should be able to recover at least some files.

If you don't have a second PC then see if you can have a friend make the UBCDWIN or BartPE CD's for you.

If you already have a good backup of your files, you can consider abandoning the old drive. Just get a new laptop drive (check first if still in warranty), install Windows and applications from CD, then restore your data from backup. It is not worth trying to repair a drive once it starts showing hardware errors (other than to get your data off the drive).

In case you get it connected to another computer, and have trouble seeing your data files, a very good data recovery program is GetDataBack (http://www.runtime.org/gdb.htm) The trial version is free.

Good luck.

05.29.2007 at 12:34PM PDT, ID: 19174871

Rank: Guru

A Repair Installation is not the same thing as a repair through the Recovery Console.
Check the link:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

05.29.2007 at 11:46PM PDT, ID: 19177805

Rank: Sage

could you tell me what is the difference ? i fear i do not know it.

05.30.2007 at 01:23AM PDT, ID: 19178111

Rank: Guru

I find that hard to believe nobus.

Repair Installation:

A Repair Install will replace the system files with the files from the XP CD. It will leave your applications and settings intact, obviously Windows updates will need to be reapplied.

Recovery console:

Specific targetted repairs:
for instance repairing MBR.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058

During the boot process from the XP CD you get this:

To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.
To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.
To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

The first choice ( press Enter) gives you the options to:
a. clean install OR,
b. to repair your installation.

The second choice (press R) gives you the recovery Console.

It's all explained vey clearly here:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
and many other places.

05.30.2007 at 01:33AM PDT, ID: 19178147

Rank: Sage

>> b. to repair your installation << is that not a repair install ?

05.30.2007 at 01:45AM PDT, ID: 19178177

Rank: Guru

Now I see where you're headed.
My apologies Nobus, somehow I missed your first post.
I'd have thought that was obvious without having me rave on at length.

05.30.2007 at 03:57AM PDT, ID: 19178651

Rank: Sage

no problem, but i thought you had discovered something i did not know; and eager as i am to learn . .

05.30.2007 at 05:34AM PDT, ID: 19179274

Well, I did not know the difference and I thank vallis for pointing this out I tried both solutions and when I tried the repair install it crashed saying something ugly about the hard drive partition. I am now convinced that the hard drive is hosed. Thanks to al who tried to help.

05.30.2007 at 06:46AM PDT, ID: 19179885

Rank: Wizard

r-k:

Yes, unfortunately it does seem like a hardware problem. Do try the GetDataBack option after connecting the drive to another PC. Sometimes you get lucky with that. Good luck.

05.30.2007 at 07:22AM PDT, ID: 19180224