Win XP Failing to start

eddie00001 · 08-01-2004, 23:48

I've been unable to get Win XP to start. I have a dual boot PC running Lindows & XP. Both were working fine until today. If I select XP it get to the logo then a blue screen (similar to what you'd see if running a scan disck) comes up with the message 'autochk not found - skipping autochk'. Windows then reboots. I've tried to boot from the XP CD, but this doesn't work either, it runs the initial check, then the screen just goes black.

I've been told if I can get into the system recovery from the CD & enter the commands 'fixmbr' and 'fixboot' that it should do the trick, but I'm unable to get to this point.

Anyone with any ideas?

Bifta · 08-01-2004, 23:52

Get autocheck.exe from another machine, or get someone to email it to you (or ftp it to some web space) stick it on a floppy disk, start up your machine, go into the recovery console, run chkdsk /r it will ask you for the path to autochk.exe, put in a:/autochk.exe .. job done (hopefully)

Bifta · 08-01-2004, 23:53

You can also try this if that doesn't work

Quote:

I had exactly the same problem when I created an additional partition (to install another OS for dual booting) on a XP machine. Although installing a secondary harddrive is different I think they are related and cause the same problem. I fixed my problem by installing XOSL boot manager. It has options to hide partitions. Which is exactly what I had to do to be able to boot into XP again. You can try the same as a last resort. - get XOSL here : www.xosl.org and extract to floppy - boot from floppy - install XOSL - reboot and XOSL startup screen appears - go into setup and click add to add a new boot item - select the partition where XP is located - then Ok - then click Hiding on the setup screen and hide all other partitions. - then click Save and Close - Then click Boot in the main screen to boot into XP After that you hopefully boot into XP. It won't see the secondaty drive however. So you have to reboot and go into XOSL setup again to remove the hiding of partitions. Then boot XP. If it has detected your second drive you can uninstall XOSL if you find it unuseful.

Paul K · 08-01-2004, 23:56

Might want to pull any un-needed peripherals too while doing it in case you have a hardware or driver issue

Bifta · 09-01-2004, 00:01

You can also get autochk.exe from:

http://www.charlesbryantedwards.com/AUTOCHK.EXE

try copying it onto floppy, booting in the recovery console and then recopying it to x:\windows\system32\ (where X is the drive with windows on)

eddie00001 · 09-01-2004, 09:12

Thanks for those suggestions. I hope to be able to get onto it a little later today to see hoe it goes.

Bifta · 09-01-2004, 09:13

Good luck

eddie00001 · 09-01-2004, 14:16

Got XP back up & running now. For some reason Lindows (I assume it was anyway) had managed to 'hide' my XP partition. I was unable to access the System Recovery Console, so I managed to download the MS XP boot disc which allowed me to install XP on another partition. In XP I was then able to see (using Partition Magic) that my original XP had change from 'active' to hidden. So just deleted my Lindows & new XP partition and reboot and all is working again. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

Bifta · 09-01-2004, 14:36

Heh, deleting Lindows is never a bad move

eddie00001 · 09-01-2004, 15:02

Think I'll stick with Mandrake. Couldn't get Lindows to recognise my ATI card and change resolution from 640x480