Windows repair won't run from USB stick or CD

[gillg]

Hi. My laptop runs with Windows XP Professional and is now stuck in a permanent reboot loop that will not boot into any mode, Safe, Normal, Last Known etc. It also does not have a Windows Repair option built in. This reboot loop was somewhat unexpected so I havent backed up my files recently and would rather not do a complete reinstall. I think it has been caused by my trying to uninstall the latest Avast free software which started causing problems ever since it updated. The final uninstallation advice was to do it in Safe mode and when I went to reboot into this I got the never ending loop.

I downloaded 'your' latest Windows Repair yesterday and copied all the files onto both a USB drive and a CD. However, when I used both in the laptop it failed to open up any of the files. I did reset the BOOT order to the appropriate setting each time and checked it hadn't changed after the first failure. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks for your time

[Shane]

The program is meant to run in windows itself as there is a lot of things that can only be done in windows.

First you need to find out why the system is crashing.

Right now you have the system set to restart when it gets a blue screen of death and so you dont get to see the screen.

When it comes back up and gives you the menu options choose the one that says disable automatic restart. That way when it does blue screen you can see what error message it is and that will give us an idea to what is causing the problem

Shane

[gillg]

Hi Shane

I did what you said and aside from what I gather is the usual blurb on the blue screen of death it says:

UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME (near top)

Tech info:

STOP: 0x000000ED (0x86CF6E30, 0xC00000006, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

Hoping this makes sense to you!

Many thanks

Gill

[Shane]

That is a hard drive error. Do you have any other drives in the system or any usb drives at all?

If not then it could be a bad drive, or a simple file system corruption that a chkdsk could fix. But we need to get you to a point where you can scan the hard drive.

Do you have a cd/dvd burner on another computer?

Shane

[gillg]

Hi again Shane

I have to fess up to being an ignoramus when it comes to computering etc, so I hope my answer doesn't make you laugh/eyes roll!

My laptop (Acer TravelMate 5320) has a C drive and a D drive, though I don't know if D is a drive as such(?) I do have access to a CD/DVD burner on another computer and I have three USB sticks one of which has an Autorun and UrDrive on it (Kingston DT101 G2 8GB), so does this mean it is a USB drive?

What do you think - any good?

Best regards

Gill

[Shane]

On the other computer that works download this cd and burn it to a disk
http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/

Then take it and put it in your system and boot off the cd. Then from there you should be able to run a check on the hard drive for any bad sectors

When you boot off the cd and it is running you should see Hard Disk Tools.

Shane

[gillg]

Hello again

Sadly it won't boot off the CD that I burned the download onto. I tried about 6-7 times, but no luck, so I put  the Bootable disk that came with the laptop in to see if it still works and it does, so should I just reinstall Windows and just accept that my data is a goner? 

Weirdly, although I had disabled the automatic restart, it did not stay disabled (or maybe it is not supposed to stay disabled?). Anyway, I disabled it again and when I looked at the blue screen of death that came up, the first lot of info in the bracket section had changed. Now it says 0x86D59788.

BTW - I should have mentioned that I am in Europe - thus the delay in replies!

Thanks again for your time.

Gill

[Shane]

Did you burn the iso file correctly? An ISO is a cd image and you have to use a burner program that supports that such as the free program imgburn.

That would explain why it didnt boot if you didnt burn it correctly

Also if it ends up you cant get windows to come back up download unbuntu
http://www.ubuntu.com/download

You can boot off the cd and run the OS right off the disk. Then use a usb drive and copy your important files from your computer to the usb drive, once you do that you can restore your system if you need to and you will still  have your files

Shane

[gillg]

Hi Shane - thanks for your reply. No - I didn't burn it properly.  What a learning curve I am on! I am downloading the CD again - decided to start afresh - although my broadband speed is painfully slow as I live in the middle of nowhere and it is the best I can get! ). I have already downloaded a burner programme that can burn the CD properly so I will let you know how I get on.

BTW - your Windows Repair download that I couldn't get to work - would that be because I didn't use a burner programme in the first place?

Bye for now

Gill

[Shane]

My Windows repair program has to run in Windows itself, so if you cant boot up to Windows then you cant run it.

It is because the repairs need Windows to be running in order to repair them properly and pull system info and all that good stuff

Shane

[gillg]

That makes sense! Thanks for explaining the difference.

Have a good day! 

Gill

[gillg]

Hi Shane - me again. Hoping I catch you before you start your weekend!

The CD burned and booted OK, though I can't see anything headed Hard Disk Tools. Below are the choices:

Boot from Hard Drive (Windows Vista/7/2008 or Xp

Mini Windows Xp
Dos programs
Linux based rescue environment (Parted Magic 2012-10-10)

Windows Memory Diagnostic
MemTest86+
Offline NT/2000/XP/Vista/7 Password Changer
Kon-Boot
Seagate DiscWizard
PLoP Boot Manager
Smart Boot Manager 3.7.1
Fix '' NTLDR is Missing''
Darik's Boot and Nuke (Hard disk Eraser)
Custom Menu...
More

I looked in more and more again which then made it reboot into the simple boot screen that does not work.

So apologies for being so lacking here - what am I supposed to do? And given that your weekend is looming, is it possible to give me idiot proof instructions so I don't need to hassle you on every step?

Bye for now 

Gill

[Shane]

Try the mini windows xp

Shane

[gillg]

That did its thing OK from the CD. Nice to see a coloured screen! Icons on screen are:

My computer
My network places
1024x768
Command prompt
File manager
HBCD Menu
Install all Hardware
Internet explorer
Network setup
Set temp drive
Temp folder cleaner
Windows explorer
Wireless setup

Am petrified of clicking on anything in case it all goes wrong - what next?

G

[Shane]

Open windows explorer and tell me what drives you have.

Shane

[gillg]

Took some time to open up and I thought it best to list everything!

B: RamDrive
C: Local Disk
D: DATA
E: HBCD 15.2
X: Mini XP

The C Drive is empty, but the RAMDrive is 254MB with 251 MB Free Space
Mini XP is 240 MB WITH 237MB Free space

G

[Shane]

C: is empty? What about D:?

Shane

[gillg]

D: is 51GB with 9.09 GB free (I remember saving a lot of photos and music to this drive a while ago.

I take it C: being empty is not good?

G

[Shane]

C: should have been your Windows drive if D: isnt, so empty is bad.

Open a command prompt and put in

chkdsk c: /r

And hit enter. That should do a bad sector check on C: and it could take a couple of hours depending on the size and if it is bad.

shane

[gillg]

OK - it is doing its check, though I have only just seen your mention of time frame! It is nearly half past midnight here, so if I use the CD tomorrow and do I what I did earlier to get the icons up and run the chkdsk to see what it finds, is it OK to stop the check or will that be a bad thibg to do as it has started?

G

[Shane]

Just let it run while you sleep and then tell me what it says when it is done

Shane

[gillg]

OK Will do. Thank you so much Shane for all your advice -it is very much appreciated.

G 

[Shane]

No problem

Shane

[gillg]

Good morning!

I thought it would be easier to type out all the info on the Command Prompt screen, so here goes:

Usn Journal verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
Free space verification is complete.
Replacing bad clusters in logfile.
Adding 1 bad clusters to the Bad Clusters File.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the master file table (MFT) bitmap.
Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.

53491711 KB total disk space.
48370172 KB in 117735 files.
47388 KB in 112117 indexes.
4 KB in bad sectors.
255023 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
4819124 KB available on disk

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
13372927 total allocation units on disk.
1204781 allocation units available on disk.
Unable to obtain a handle to the event log.

X:\i386\system32>

The good news is that when I opened Windows Explorer, C: is no longer empty. The figures are now:

B: RamDrive - 254MB with 251 MB Free Space
C: Local Disk - 51GB with 4.58 GB Free Space
D: DATA - 51GB with 9.09 GB Free Space
E: HBCD 15.2
X: Mini XP 240MB with 237MB Free Space

So is this good news or not so good news? I know that if this all gets fixed I have some serious file/photo/music deleting to do!

Not sure what US time zone you are in, so will just leave the laptop on with Windows Explorer and the Command Prompt windows open.

Bye for now

Gill

[Shane]

4 KB in bad sectors.

Your hard drive is bad. You have bad sectors. So the the file system broke.

The chkdsk was able to fix the file system so you might be able to boot up windows now, and if so get your files off that drive and on to a external drive.

then you need to buy a new hard drive and reinstall windows and then you will have a proper working computer again

So now reboot the computer and see if Windows boots up!

Shane