Boot Failure

Hi, this is a great resource! I am having a boot failure (which may ultimately be HDD damage)that I hope I can get some help with and I would certainly appreciate the additional set of eyes on my problem as I continue to try to salvage the situation.

System facts are as follows, Dell Demension 8100 -w- 80 gig Maxtor HDD (Fat 32, single partition) running in Windows XP (-w-pack 1) which was done as an upgrade from MS WinMe (original Dell install).

Situation, Power failure while starting computer caused system to shut down. Upon starting again from HDD sytem wouldn't boot and received the follwing messages in order
"registry / config error"
Wininit.exe" then,
"Missing file C:\ windows\IFSHelp.SYS" then, "press any key" then,
"missing file C:\windows\system\vmm32.vxd" then,
Command promt "C>"
No backup or recovery disks available

Status - Can not boot at all from HDD,
I can initiate a boot from XP CD, but believe that I am missing certain boot files and system files as XP doesn't recognize previously installed OS (s). Note that when I tried to boot Win98 and WinMe (see below) it did recognize another OS system in place. Note I did not go as far as to install either of these just looking to get info.

I have been able to initiate repair from the recovery console, but have not been able to do much other then some basic diagnostics like chkdsk as I am really trying to salvage the data.

The Chkdsk did advise that there were some recoverable problems, but no details. I should mention that I decided to try a couple of other diagnostic resources that I had available from previous virus software companies and from a previous boot disk from Me and MS Win98 as XP from the CD was not responding. The diagnostic (one utility was Scandisk) did find files and sectors on the HDD that needed repair and did repair what it could.
I also ran fixmbr which it said it did, But in the end I still can't boot the system.

I have spent hours on both MS and Maxtor websites going through troubleshooting forums and I have donwloaded solutions for boot errors and system errors,but my gut is that this is more than a quick fix from a couple lines of code and have not tried any of these until I know more .

I am currently scanning the disk with an antivirus software and as soon as that is done I am going to run the PowerMax program to see what it might tell me about the disk. I have been monitoring the scan process and it seems that the win\system and win\system32 folders and files(as best anyone could tell) are still in place, but the boot files are not.

Not sure where to go from here? At this point I don't want to reinstall XP as it wants to reformat the drive. I am not ready to give in just yet if the data can be salved. thanks for your help and sorry to be so long winded,but you to have as much intel. as possible. Also, if it is any help I have two other PC's with XP OS systems that I can use if feasible.

Regard,

CudaToo

 

Thanks for the direction it is appreciated. Also, if the worst happens, does anyone have any suggestions about HDD's ? I know that all of them can have problems, but in the past I have used both WD and Seagate without any issues. Call it paranoid or once bit twice shy.

 

Thanks for the direction it is appreciated. Also, if the worst happens, does anyone have any suggestions about HDD's ? I know that all of them can have problems, but in the past I have used both WD and Seagate without any issues. Call it paranoid or once bit twice shy. Oh, respects to PowerMax, does anyone know if the the first three tests are destructive ? I presume not,but just want to be sure. Thanks.

CudaToo

 

Okay I have run powermax tests 1 and 2 and both have passed. The referred website in the reply(Mastertech)takes me to a web site - Sid Meier's Alpha Centuari. Is this correct ? Thanks

CudaToo

 

Thanks for the info and appreciate the help. Okay, I have run the first three tests of the Powermax utility and the disk passed all three. I have also done a little more investigating with the boot file, but not sure how significant this is to the problem. When I run bootcfg or open the boot.ini file on my other computer (the good one) I get this:

[boot loader]
Timeout=30
default=Multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Winnt

[Operating System]
Multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Winnt="Microsoft XP Professional"/fastdetect

When I run bootcfg /scan I get an error message and when I load XP as if I am going to reinstall I get the following respects to the operating system when I get to the choice of how I want XP to load on the disk,

76,294 MB disk0 at ID0 on bus0 on ATAPI[MBR]
Partition 1 [unknown]

Is there a way to rewrite the boot file(s) and perhaps other files like config to try to get this booting XP ? Or, any other ideas about restoring the OS ? I have two articles about this from MS (REstore MBR and Restore OS) but these to seem to fix my problem. Thanks

Regards,

CudaToo

 

Thanks. I ran Chkdsk and ended up having major sector problems. I also tried to re build the boot sector based on info from other threads,but so far it has not worked. I am of a mind to buy a new HDD and start over and try to recover whatever data possible from the old drive once the new one is up and running.

Regards,

CudaToo

 

Just another suggestion, you mentioned having another computer with XP. try installing the problem HD as a slave drive and see if the other drive can read it.
If it can you should also be able to transfer files and recover things you want to salvage then if you DO have to reformat the drive you wont lose as much.
It also stands to reason that if the other drive can read it then the damage if any isn't to the HD itself but just to system files