Computer Help Requested: Invalid boot.ini file / CHKDSK /r /p freezes at 5% (posting in chat)

9-30-05

[jdm]

Good morning fellow FReepers -- Been trying to "fix" my brother's computer. Upon booting, an error message is displayed:

Invalid Boot.ini file
Booting from c:\windows\

And then:

Windows\System32\Config\System missing or corrupt.

Can't get into safe mode.

I booted from the XP Pro disc and ran the recovery console.

Ran CHKDSK and am told:

"The volume appears to be in good condition and was not checked. Use /p if you want to check the volume anyway."

When running CHKDSK /p or CHKDSK /r the process hangs/freezes 5% in.

I tried the command bootcfg /rebuild to no avail. The error is "Failed to successfully scan for installed versions of Windows."

Also tried the "fixboot" command and that didn't help either.

If any FReepers have recommendations as to what to do at this point, I'd be most grateful for your input. Thanks very much.......jdm

[jdm]

Many thanks for any suggestions!

[Xenophobic Alien]

Sounds critical.

But I am far from being an expert.. good luck

[Petronski]

At frist gloss, this sounds/feels like a hardware problem. That would be a critical failure.


If that turns out to be the case, your best bet is to install a new harddrive, install windows, and then reinstall this existing (bad?) drive as a slave drive, so you can rescue your data as quickly as possible.

[YouPosting2Me]

FDISK

Format C:



(/sarc)

[Tijeras_Slim]

[jdm]

Thanks for your posts. I had a feeling the hard drive was fried.

[JNL]

Hard drive sounds like it's toast. A earlier poster had it right install new drive / slave this one. Hope you get some data back.

BTW Check your CMOS settings, sometimes they have a non-destructive Hard Drive test included. Also make sure your CMOS settings are set properly for your HD. If it's set to autodetect try inputting the drive settings that sometimes are labled on the drive instead.

[Xenophobic Alien]

If it helps I feel your pain, for the last 3 days I have been trying to install a new 300gig HDD on my machine as the main drive. Windows xp sure doesn't seem to like this drive at all.

[jdm]

"BTW Check your CMOS settings, sometimes they have a non-destructive Hard Drive test included. Also make sure your CMOS settings are set properly for your HD. If it's set to autodetect try inputting the drive settings that sometimes are labled on the drive instead."

Cool. Thanks so much. I'll try what you suggest. I would try "fixmbr" but I don't know what the chances of losing data with "fixmbr" are.

[jdm]

"I have been trying to install a new 300gig HDD"

Yikes. My PC came with a 75gig HD 3 1/2 years ago. So far so good. It's my brother's old PC that's the problem. If I can't get any further, I'm going to suggest he take a trip to the local computer store to get a new hard drive (and to salvage/transfer data from the old one to the new one, if it's possible). Otherwise 5 years of work in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. is lost.

[general_re]

Good call. The only thing I would suggest is that most hard drive manufacturers have low-level diagnostic utilities available - you might check the manufacturer's website to see if they make a bootable CD or floppy with drive diagnostics, and test that way. I know Seagate and Maxtor do, and probably Western Digital as well.

[jdm]

"I know Seagate and Maxtor do, and probably Western Digital as well."

Thanks a lot. This is a Maxtor. I'm on their web site right now. Appreciate your post.

[general_re]

NP. Good luck.

[JNL]

I think and I could be wrong that fixmbr is pretty safe, unless of course you have some strange partition configurations.

[Xenophobic Alien]

you've got mail.

[polymuser]

Visually inspect your motherboard for bad capacitors. There's been a bunch since a stolen manufacturing recipe in China. They look like 3/8" diameter cans wrapped in plastic. If the top is bulged or has a brownish residue, they've failed and it's time for a new MOBO. Be aware that you may have a 'tatoo' issue with HP or other PC brands that link the HD to the MOBO - be aware.

A different problem may be changed BIOS settings. Setting them to default/original may be a fix.

Then there's always rootkit malware. If you've gotten that, arghhh.

Good luck.

[MotleyGirl70]

Did you ever find out how to fix it.

Mine has been doing that lately. I just reboot and it will finish the scan, but it shouldn't be doing that at all.

I think my hardrive is fried.

[jdm]

"Did you ever find out how to fix it."

My brother took it to the shop -- hopefully they can salvage all of his data (or most of it). He just needs a new hard drive. The current one is 6 or 7 years old and needs to be replaced. I hope you find a way to fix yours without having to resort to purchasing a new hard drive.

[MotleyGirl70]

That's good he's able to get it fixed.

My PC is only four years old. It's a mess.

Did your brother ever get "Blue Screen of Death" that says "Dumping physical memory'? (blue and white DOS screen).

My computer is just randomly shutting down and doing all kinds of crazy sh&t on me. I'm not sure how much longer I can put up with it.

It's really pissing me off.

I've run virus checks on it and it comes up with four which I deteled. I'm at my wits end with this thing. I'm ready to chuck it out the window :)

I just bought a new LCD monitor earlier this week and I'm wondering if that has something to do with it. My computer has never acted this mental as it has this whole week. I'm baffled.

[jdm]

"Did your brother ever get "Blue Screen of Death" that says "Dumping physical memory'? (blue and white DOS screen)."

No, never got *that* bad! Maybe you have a spyware issue. If you don't already, consider downloading/installing/running these softwares:

AdAware
SpyBot

I use them regularly on my own machine. I once worked on a machine which was continually rebooting (on its own) and it turned out that spyware was the problem.

Good luck. If I can help you out more specifically, please let me know.