Possible partial HD failure?

Hey guys,

One of my friends just gave me a call and asked me to come check out his computer because it won't boot up and I'm not totally sure what to make of it (I'm no professional. )

Basically, he was streching and turned off his power bar while the computer was running while he was on MSN/internet. Everything instantly shut off, so he turned the bar back on to power it all back up again. The problem here is that the computer no longer can load up the OS without giving a blue screen of death (WindowsXP).

If I chose to boot normally, it gets to the 'loading' Windows XP screen with the blue moving bar, and will freeze a few seconds in. If I load it up in safe mode, it gives me a couple dozen lines of 'loading' Windows files, then hits files in M and freezes (Mup I think it was called?). I can't seem to load the OS fully and it just gives me a blue screen of death.

Now, I looked through the BIOS and saw that both drives were being detected, so at the very least the drives are functioning at some capacity. It is my theory that the Windows XP core system files were corrupted in some capacity, and the only solution is to format and reinstall. Would it maybe be possible to install a new OS on a new HD, and then make this HD a slave so data can be drawn off it? (Lots of data, no backup :X)

Thanks for the help! Hope the question makes sense. Let me know if you need more information.

--Kibb

 

It's probably a corrupt Windows file or several corrupt files. Can you post the blue screen error code (it looks like STOP: 0x0000007F) and any file names it might list?

 

Ok, got some more info...

The error code(s): 0x000000ED (0x867599e0, 0x0000006, 0x0000000, 0x0000000)

The file it freezes on is "mup". That's all he told me over the phone and doesn't know the extension. :confused I remember the root of the filename being something like WINDOWS/something/something/mup, or something to that effect.

Does that help? Thanks for what you've provided so far.

--Kibb

 

I would try a boot disc to recover data like BartPE. Also try a repair install to fix corrupt system files.

Cuzn

 

Ok, an update:

They got a new HD and new windows, and left me with the gimped HD to deal with. I plugged it in as SATA and am able to access data now.

Here's my problem; the data they want recovered is inside Documents and Settings. Half of the profiles are password protected and won't let me copy them to my external drive so I can bring them their recovered data.

How can I removed the requirement of being logged in as a user that no longer exists? Is there any way around this, or are they out of luck?

Thanks! Sorry if this is the wrong section for this question. Just need a way to recover this protected data. ^^

--Kibb