Win XP SP3 won't boot - black screen

My WIN XP SP3 will not boot after a memory card failure. I get past the Dell init screen, then the screen goes black with a cursor in the upper left corner. I never get to a boot selection using F8, so I cannot get to safe mode.

I have a Dell 8400, WD HD with 3 partitions, 3 GB memory (make that 2 GB now) that got a BSOD during the day: STOP: C0000145 {Application Error}.

Troubleshooting and several re-boots, then MemTest86 indicated a failure. I removed the offending boards and attempted to re-boot. That is when the black screen appeared.

Ran WD Diagnostics in Extended Test mode and it found no errors.

Ran Hirens, booting in mini win XP. The file manager does not see the OS partition, but the data partitions are intact.

Then I booted to repair disk and into the repair console. Ran fixmbr, then ran fixboot. Both resulted in positive reports.

However, the black screen and blinking cursor is all the farther I can get.

I'm stuck! Any help would be appreciated.

 

What you could do is attempt a "Windows Repair". XP discs are kind of funny, and I haven't always seen the aforementioned option, but it usually is available.

Instead of going into the Recovery Console, proceed as if you were going to install Windows. After you F8 to agree to the EULA, it should give you the option to repair Windows, leaving your data and other partititions intact, but not your applications. You would only be working with the OS (system) partition. The "repair" will normally fix the MBR up proper.

 

Thanks! Will the repair also require re-install of my apps or can I restore them from my image?

 

Ok, I'm closer to the problem - at least I have uncovered more of the symptom.

When I run the XP Rescue disk and attempt to get to the "Repair" option the OS/Apps partition shows as "Unknown" and shows no data (all 80,000 MB free). Hmmm...

I ran MBRCheck.exe and indeed the partition contains an MBR. I ran fixboot from the recovery console and it claims to have written a boot record.

When I boot from Hiren's in MiniXP, the partition is not mounted correctly. That is, the C: drive letter is there, but it shows no data.

I then formatted the partition, and the partition mounted normally showing a healthy 80 GB partition.

I then did a restore of my OS/Apps image. The image was made before I knew I had a memory problem.

When the restoration completed I was back to the same point: there does not seem to be anything on the partition, and it will not mount.

I ran chkdsk and it says the file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.

Is there any way to restore without corrupting the file system? I have many apps on the partition (6 years worth) and really do not want to attempt to re-install them after a clean XP install.

Thanks to any that can help.

 

Hi,

Can you tell us what disk management shows for that HD--which partition is active and boot, of the partitions on that HD? Is the 80gb partition NTFS and healthy? I'm not sure where disk management is in Hirens but normally it is Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management and then Disk Management from the left list of options.

Which program are you using for your image creation/restore?

When you ran chkdsk did you use the chkdsk /r command or just chkdsk? Chkdsk without the /r just reports problems without trying to fix them.

 

gvstn,

Disk Management table shows: Volume [C:] (no label), Layout: Partition; Type: Basic; File System: "blank"; Status: Healthy [Active]; Capacity 78.13 GB, 100%
Free. It is a Primary partition.

Clicking on Properties for the partition, is shows 0 bytes used, 0 bytes free space, capacity: 0 bytes, Type Local Disk: File System: RAW.

I created the Image with BootIT Bare Metal.

Running chkdsk with and without the /r option produces the same result. I get the message immediately, without any progress.

 

gvstn,

Just a thought... Since I did a restore and i apparently restored some corrupted data (hives perhaps?) the data should be on the partition. Can I do a quick format of the partition and then perform a data recovery to get the programs back?

I have restore points in the backup. Somehow I would like to get at the restore points data - before the BSOD.

 

The RAW file system would seem to be the problem.

Windows can see a RAW file system when other programs don't. But you formatted that partition to NTFS at some point before restoring from image, so it is strange that your BootIT program didn't again format the partition before restoring and make it useable. I'm unfamiliar with BootIT.

I believe Hirens has the Partition Wizard program somewhere in the menu. Try to start that program and see what it sees as to partitions on the HD. Does it also show that 80gb partition as being empty? Double-clicking on the C: partition should bring up a tree view of any folders on that drive.

Partition Wizard also has a partition recovery option, go ahead and run that (using Full Disk and Quick Scan options) and see if in the lists of partitions that it finds if any of the possibilities show an 80gb partition with something like 30-50gb used space rather than zero used space.

 

Sorry,
Should have said, Cancel out of any partition recovery options and do not Finish them. Just look to see which possibilities are available. You want to see if Partition Wizard shows any used space on that 80gb partition in the list of recoverable partitions.

 

gvstn,

Sorry for the delayed reply, I had to call it a night before the scan finished.

BootIT does not automatically format an NTFS partition before restoring. You have to manually format. I formatted the partition and then did the restore.

Partition Wizard shows the 80 GB partition as NTFS, with a capacity of 78.13 and 78.13 used with 0 free. Somewhat different from the Disk Management view. Double-clicking on the partition brings up no folders or files - it shows empty.

The recovery option scan shows the following: The 80 GB partition is NTFS, the label is empty, Starting LBA 2048, Ending LBA 163848919, Used 78.13 GB, Size 78.13 GB, Status: Existing.

It also shows two small partitions with a status of Lost/Deleted. I suspect these may have been from earlier partition activity, but I'm over my head reading the data. They show as:
NTFS; Label: BOOT; Used Size: 2.45 MB; Size 3.01 MB. They have different LBA data: one is Start LBA: 25768952, End LBA: 25775124 and the other is Start LBA: 117747764, End LBA: 117753936.
If I put a check in the box on the recover wizard results panel, the status of these small partitions changes to "overlapped".

I hope that means something useful!

 

I played with some more options in the Partition Wizard. Running the "Check File System" on the 80 GB partition (partition C I get the following: The type of file system is NTFS. Unable to determine volume version and state. CHKDSK aborted.

 

I'm not sure what is going on. The two small partitions can be ignored since they would overlap anyway. I'm guessing you left out the listings for your two data partitions (that apparently exist) but they did show in PW.

All I can suggest is formatting the 80gb partition and try restoring the image again and see if you get a different result. BTW, how large is the image file that you are using for the restore--is it smaller than 80gb?

 

Correct, the good partitions also show in PW.

I am suspecting the restore process may not have proceeded as I expected. I imaged the entire drive, with all the partitions. I then selected only the C: partition to restore. I recall the data was about 47 GB, but the entire partition size shows in the restore window as 80,000 MiB.

I will use another Terabyte product, Image for Windows, as it allows me to restore individual files and directories.

Thanks for offering your knowledge. I'll get back with more details!

 

Please do let me know how things go.

I can't look at BootIT now but can take a look at it later tonight. It does seem like the restore did not work correctly. Usually the files would be there but there might be a problem booting. In your case the files themselves don't seem to be there.

 

gvstn,

I found an older image in my archives (March 2012) and restored without problems and system boots. I am reluctant to use this version as I created it while in the process of removing malware (thanks to this forum). The consultant working with me did not state if my machine was clean prior to the image, but she had me run a series of tests after and then said the logs looked clean. I suspect the image is good, but...

I decided to reformat and then restore from the troubled image. I get the same symptoms again. I am going to attempt to recover the files to another drive using Power Data Recovery tools. If it finds all the files (about 47 GB) I will reformat the partition again and copy the recovered files onto the drive to see if it works.

Oh, I also noticed the old version had many apps trying to update as soon as I booted. This resulted in an incredibly slow system. If I have to use it I will boot into safe mode, then disable the startup apps, update XP and then turn the other apps on one by one. Could take a while.

 

Use this version of PowerDataRecovery. When you start it click the box for "I am a home user". It is free for all data with no 1gb limit.

 

Thanks for the tip!!! I have it running now. I have my hopes up.

 

gvstn,

Well, it appears PDR found all my files, at least it shows 48.1 GB worth. I am saving them now to my USB HD.

Of course, the files are not identified with their same paths. I guess I can look at another XP machine and see what files are located where, but it seems a bit daunting to figure out which of the 162k files I need to re-construct the OS and Programs.

But this is progress and I have the pieces of the puzzle.

Thanks for your support!

 

gvstn,

Well, that was fun to do on a weekend! I was able to restore my OS/Prog partition and it boots into XP now.

I have created a new image and a back up for it so I won't inadvertently replace my only copy in the future.

I have not restored all the apps yet, only the ones I use most frequently.

Thank you again for your support. I have learned a lot more than I ever wanted to know about this darn computer!

 

I'm glad you have things working.

I take it you used the older image file as a starting point and then reinstalled your apps. Sorry I couldn't help you with the newer image but am glad you were able to recover some of your files.