Urgent XP Problem

Hi all,

I've jumped on here as a last resort, as I've had something totally unexpected occur on my XP machine, and I've tried everything I know to fix, but I'm going around in circles.

The machine isn't my main machine, so it hasn't been on for approx a week and it was running perfectly the last time I used it.

Basically, about an hour ago I started the machine and all the AV updates ran through etc. I thought I'd check Windows Update and ran it, but I chose 2 of the optional XP updates, but it was so insignificant I can't remember what they were...damn..

Anyway, all was OK for a while, so I went ahead and ran the standard windows disk cleanup via the 'C' drive.

It began the cleanup, then all of a sudden the machine instantly shut down and restarted, however just as the Windows XP Logo shows, I get a blue screen, then it shuts down and reboots again, and then it will keep looping like that....

Anyway, I tried to start it up in Safe mode, however it begins to restart and then it loops again...I can't get to my desktop.

So I pressed F8 again and bought up the option to stop Windows from automatically restarting on failure, so I could read the blue screen..

This is what I get.....

"Disable or uninstally any antivirus, disk defragment or backup utilities and check for any updated drivers.
Run CHKDSK /F to check for harddrive corruption, and then restart your computer.

Technical Info

*** STOP: 0x00000024 (0x00190203, 0x896E8158, 0xC0000102, 0x0000000

Can someone please advise how I can get past all this, so I can at least try and do what it says....? I'm totally lost and frustrated.

Thanks for listening.

Jamie

Hi guys,

For those of you who read through my post, I've looked around here on d-a-l and elsewhere and came up with some very helpful advice. It seems my ntfs file system is corrupt, and I have to access my ntfs partitions by making a ntfs boot disk with NTFS4DOS (freeware).

Hopefully, then I should be able to get in and run chkdsk /r to try and fix the corrupted partition. I haven't got another machine with a floppy drive here, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow.

Fingers crossed...I hope it works and I hope I haven't lost all the data on the partition.....

If the partition is corrupt and I need to reformat, will I be able to put the data back from backups I've made? I've never done that b4?

Thanks..

Do you have your XP CD?

You can run chkdsk from the Recovery Console.

You can also try a Repair Install if chkdsk fails to fix it.

In a worse case scenario you can extract your data by slaving the drive in another desktop.



...

If you don't have a XP install CD, download and create a bootable CD from the .iso file

XP Recovery Console

You don't burn the iso file itself to CD., you create a CD from the iso file using your CD burning software. There is a good freeware burner called DeepBurner which will do this. Another called ISO Recorder is also very easy to use.

Boot the CD and at the first opportunity, enter R to start the Recovery Console.
Next, choose which XP installation you want to login to. Normally this will be 1.
Lastly you will be asked for the Administrator password. Just press the Enter key as the Administrator does not have a password (unless you gave it one, then you would enter it).

From the command prompt, enter: chkdsk c: /r

Allow it to complete undisturbed.

__________________
Rich

It's a damn small mind that can think of only one way to spell a word. - Andrew Jackson

An update....

Thank you to those who offered their help and advice.

I ended up making a ntfs boot disk, which allowed me to perform chkdsk /r , which ultimately found a problem and then resolved it.

I restarted the machine and thankfully, Windows loaded properly and all tested OK.

I have been testing the machine over the past few hours, running all my usual programs and it is running exactly as it should.

After looking around the web, I think the problem may have been created, as recently my apartment has had some electrical problems and the machine lost power a few times, whilst it was running and a few times whilst it was starting.
This apparently is not ideal.

(At least I now have the ntfs boot disk, which I will be keeping safely in my top drawer..just in case!!)

To avoid an extreme event like this happening again, should I run chkdsk /r fairly regularly?

Thanks again...

I personally would only use Chkdsk /r only if I suspected a hard disk problem.
If you get frequent power loss problems whilst the PC is running then it wouldn't
hurt to check the hard disk when they happen.
But like I said earlier I would only use Chkdsk if I had a problem after the outage.

Jim

Invest in a UPS (Universal Power Supply) to isolate you from power surges and short outages. One of the best investments you can make to protect your computer from electrical damage.

__________________
Rich

It's a damn small mind that can think of only one way to spell a word. - Andrew Jackson