windows xp major problem - Page 2

kronas · 30-04-2004, 17:22

i also noticed some programs dont work, the icons are default windows ones, non animated and it trys to find the shortcuts.......

kronas · 30-04-2004, 17:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by dilligaf1701

Can you check the drives SMART status?

With a program like Active smart or speedfan?

This COULD (as it's not always accurate) give an indication of immanent drive failure or any problems.

dilli-theclaw · 30-04-2004, 17:47

Those seem ok....

Sorry - it was just an idea

kronas · 30-04-2004, 17:49

someone please help !!!!! it seems i have lost alot of my stuff, a long list of favorities in internet explorer, shortcuts, folders, files,

Stuartbe · 30-04-2004, 17:52

Are you running with fat32 or NTFS m8 ?

It still sounds like a currupted file system to me !

kronas · 30-04-2004, 17:53

NTFS

Stuartbe · 30-04-2004, 17:55

Does the system give the file system a clean bill of health when you run it ? Go into my computer and right click on the c drive. Select scandisk and tick both the boxes. The system will then want a reboot. Let it perform a complete scan of the drive ( it will take a while ) as soon as that is done and you are back into windows run a system restore incase the registry has been damaged.

Defiant · 30-04-2004, 18:09

It may not help this either but worth a try. Run this command on start menu,run "sfc /scannow" You will need the windows xp cd in the cdrom drive by the way

TheBlueRaja · 30-04-2004, 18:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kronas

it told me my current boot record is 'invalid or unrecognizable' and if i continued my current partition may be unreadable.

Ok - I took this from the Microsoft Website (check the bit in bold)

Fixmbr Repairs the master boot record of the boot disk. The fixmbr command is only available when you are using the Recovery Console

fixmbr [device_name]

Parameter

device_name

The device (drive) on which you want to write a new master boot record. The name can be obtained from the output of the map command. An example of a device name is:

\Device\HardDisk0.

Example

The following example writes a new master boot record to the device specified:

fixmbr \Device\HardDisk0

Note

If you do not specify a device_name, a new master boot record will be written to the boot device, which is the drive on which your primary system is loaded.

If an invalid or nonstandard partition table signature is detected, you will be prompted whether you want to continue. If you are not having problems accessing your drives, you should not continue. Writing a new master boot record to your system partition could damage your partition tables and cause your partitions to become inaccessible.

---------------------

So what that means is that it has detected a problem, as this CAN cause you to loose ALL data in the event of failure, use this ONLY as a last option, but i think this will fix your issue. If it doesn't and it all goes wrong though, sorry - but i cant think of anything else.

Incidentally, i have used this command before and it did fix an issue and did not erase all my data - but - i cant guarantee it.

TheBlueRaja · 30-04-2004, 18:30

Actually, this is starting to make more sense, lets recap the evidence

Quote:

ok for some reason windows xp pro decided to blank screen me while i was using it, now i seem to have lost ALL of my files, as i had to give it a hard reboot.......

Your Screen Blanked - NOT blue screen - indicates hardware issue or power fluctuation...

Quote:

Quote:
Originally Posted by theblueraja

You say that the BIOS is having problems with seeing your hard disk though, this could be the cable but is more likely to be the disk and it makes it much more likely that this is a hardware and not a software problem. You just got to swap it out and see if the problem goes away.

problem solved via CMOS Clarence.

BIOS corrupted - cleared by CMOS clearance - again symptoms of a power spike.

And finally FIXMBR shows an invalid boot record, this could occur if your hard disk is writing at the time of the event above.

All speculation - but my raja sense is tingling....

kronas · 30-04-2004, 20:25

tried it.........didnt help

TheBlueRaja · 30-04-2004, 21:36

Damn,
Ok, what happens when your system starts to load - how far does it get? Does it fail at the same place every time? Where does it get to before it fails?

kronas · 30-04-2004, 21:41

it loads, its just the files are not there, internet explorer favorities, and shortcuts dont work......

TheBlueRaja · 30-04-2004, 21:48

Is it only windows files or is all your stuff gone too?

swoop101 · 30-04-2004, 21:57

If the system is working look at http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm
for a free tool to find the files.