hard drive issues

[eejay56]

So my computer (XP Pro) stopped booting a couple of days ago. All my files are present and intact but when I try to start it I get the "Your computer did not start properly, blah blah blah select Start Windows normally, Safe mode, Safe mode with network..." screen. Whatever I select causes it to start over and comes back to the same screen. It starts fine with a different drive. I've run the command line repair from the setup disk and run checkdisk, fixboot, fixmbr all to no avail. I replaced the hard drive hoping I could clone it and the process would fix the corrupted files but they apparently copied exactly because the new drive exhibits the exact same behavior. I would prefer not to reinstall windows and then all my apps I'd like to just get this working. I have a fresh hard drive to work with. Any suggestions as to what might get this working?

 

[Moseso]

"Hard drive"...
I thought this was going to be about flogging your Spitfire through the esses.

Sorry, I can't help you, other than to say it sounds like a clean install of the system is likely to be the ticket.

 

[GregW]

Hi Eric,
I'd assume you've tried "Last known good configuration"? I rebuilt a friends computer that was doing the same thing. When using Safe Mode startup the computer would always hang loading GDI.EXE. I reinstalled the OS and when Windows did it's updates, the problem came back. So I had to re-reinstall the OS and manually load the updates. When I came to a video update, I chose not to install and the problem has not happened again. (You must select never try to install again or something like that).

What I would try: is find the bad file using safe mode (it should be the last file that loads before the reboot occurs) . Do a fresh install on the new hard drive. Then find the original file on the new install and copy it to the old drive in it's correct folder.

 

[DrEntropy]

Wouldn't by chance have just had "Automatic Updates" download/install SP3??

That's been a bit of a cluster scramble so far.

Greg's "work around" should do the trick, BTW.

 

[tomshobby]

Must be PC heck week. We moved a couple weeks ago and I finally got around to connecting back online. Had a T1 connection and now dial up. I fought with the phone company for 2 days just so they would give up the code numbers for the DSL connection. They were nothing but trouble just because I was determined to use my own modem instead of renting one from them. Then getting the PC's, printers, and everything else connected. And the all little Windows things just because things were moved and they felt insecure.

I think Greg has the answer. Another thing might be using the repair mode on the installation disk.

 

[Banjo]

Phew... I'm glad I've so far ignored SP3. it keeps wanting me to install it, but I've been reluctant to till I get all my recent files backed up. Mebbe I'll put it off a bit longer yet.

 

[ObiRichKanobi]

So my computer (XP Pro) stopped booting a couple of days ago. All my files are present and intact but when I try to start it I get the "Your computer did not start properly, blah blah blah select Start Windows normally, Safe mode, Safe mode with network..." screen. Whatever I select causes it to start over and comes back to the same screen. It starts fine with a different drive. I've run the command line repair from the setup disk and run checkdisk, fixboot, fixmbr all to no avail. I replaced the hard drive hoping I could clone it and the process would fix the corrupted files but they apparently copied exactly because the new drive exhibits the exact same behavior. I would prefer not to reinstall windows and then all my apps I'd like to just get this working. I have a fresh hard drive to work with. Any suggestions as to what might get this working?

Check the BIOS and make sure that DMA is enabled for the drive. I had a system at one point that exhibited similar problems, and DMA had somehow been turned off. If the drive is an SATA, make sure the SATA driver is loaded.