Booting Woes

[georgencopy]

After a trouble-free year of happy computer usage, I updated my anti-virus program (which has been updated regularly and worked fine for two years) and shut down.
Two days later I restarted and never made it past the POST screen.
Windows XP Home SP2 would not boot in safe or any other mode, including "last know good configuration."
It would not boot from a rescue CD or a rescue floppy.
I manually reset the CMOS and got back a "keyboard lock error."
I found the pins to disable keyboard lock in my mobo manual, but my Antec case has no keyboard lock feature--at least none that I can find--and no cable/wire that goes to case (they're all nicely marked.)
I also get a CMOS checksum error.
And that's all the further I've got.
Help please.

A7N8X2
Athlon 2700 (no overclockage)
1gig Crucial RAM
Windows XP Home SP2

 

[mechBgon]

You may be having a hard-disk failure. What brand and model of hard drive is it?

 

[mechBgon]

Uh oh, he's gone georgencopy, you can find links to hard-drive diagnostic utilities at the bottom of this page so you can run a diagnostic and maybe narrow down the possibilities.

 

[georgencopy]

Thanks for the link.
I'll run the diagnostics and report back.

 

[georgencopy]

Forgot to mention the drive is a two-plus-year-old 80 gig maxtor.

 

[georgencopy]

It was almost worth my computer expiring to get your page and all the links.
What a gold mine.
Thanks again.

 

[georgencopy]

I installed my ailing drive in another PC, set it as a slave, and booted from a master.
The ailing drive worked fine as a slave.
I disabled the master drive, rejumpered the Maxtor, and tried booting from the ailing drive in the new pc.
Still no.
I reset it as a slave and took a look around.
My data seems to be there, but some of the apps don't work, and my personal folder (and of course all the settings) are gone.
When I click on my personal folder I get the "red x" of unhappiness and a message informing me "access is denied."
Is there a way to restore the system (it's on its own partition) without trashing everything else?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: georgencopy
It was almost worth my computer expiring to get your page and all the links.
What a gold mine.
Thanks again.

Glad it is useful!

When I click on my personal folder I get the "red x" of unhappiness and a message informing me "access is denied."
Is there a way to restore the system (it's on its own partition) without trashing everything else?

Yes and yes. Start by making sure your good computer has up-to-date antivirus software, just in case there's a virus flyin' around in there.

Next, you want to take Ownership of your personal folder. How you do that will depend on the operating system of your working computer.

If it's Win2000, then just right-click the personal folder, choose Properties, then go to the Security tab and click the Advanced button, like shown in this picture. Put a checkmark in the box for Replace owner on subcontainers and objects and give Ownership to an account on your healthy computer. Now you'll be able to get into your personal folder, or just copy the whole thing.

If it's WinXP Professional, then you can do the same as above, once you've disabled Simple File Sharing in the Control Panel > Folder Options panel. If SFS is enabled, you can't reach the Security/Permissions/Ownership stuff without rebooting to Safe Mode.

For WinXP Home Edition, you would need to restart in Safe Mode and then follow the procedure above, since it will not let you disable Simple File Sharing in Normal Mode. Keep in mind that in Safe Mode, your antivirus software will not be running, so it might be smart to run a manual antivirus scan on the folder before you dive into it.

Hope that helps edit: ooops, and I forgot part 2!
Part 2: to get your Windows installation back online, try this:

1) start Windows Setup from CD-ROM

2) when you're first allowed to choose Repair versus Install, choose Install.

3) Windows Setup proceeds for a couple minutes, you agree to the EULA, and it shows the existing disk partitions. Choose the C:\ partition and Windows Setup should see the existing C:\WINDOWS directory and offer to repair that installation. NOW choose "Repair."

4) Make sure your network cable is unplugged, or your wireless access point and/or modem are turned off, to prevent direct worm attacks on your "raw" Windows installation. Before connecting the computer to a network, enable the Internet Connection Firewall (consult Windows Help if you don't know where) or install Service Pack 2 from a CD (which enables the firewall, called "Windows Firewall" on WinXP SP2, and patches many vulnerabilities too).

5) when your repair-installation of Windows is done, you will have your data and programs still in place, but you'll need to reinstall your service packs and patches for Windows. Visit Windows Update and Office Update several times until you come up clean.

 

[Dragonbate]

Nice post Mech.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Dragonbate
Nice post Mech.

Hehe, thanks "Part 2" is recycled, I should just make a little HTML page saying that stuff and get it over with

 

[georgencopy]

 

[georgencopy]

 

[georgencopy]

I boot from the CD, get as far as typing "r" for repair, then a black screen comes up (Windows XP Recovery Console) asking which disk I want to access.
I select the disk and am asked to type the Administrator password.
I type the password and Windows tells me it's the wrong password.
For the record, I have disabled simple file sharing as you instructed (and left it off), I know I'm typing the correct password for the disk I selected, I have also tried typing in the new admin password for my new disk, I've tried upper case and lower case, and after three strikes I'm out.
Also, if I just hit enter it takes me back to the prompt.
What do I do?

 

[Smilin]

You're hitting R just a bit too early in the process.

At the first screen hit "enter" to setup windows, F8 to accept the EULA.

It will then detect your previous installation and allow you to hit 'R' to repair.


Safety tip: When in Setup you can't go wrong unless you hit 'L'. If you are having to hit 'L' to confirm something then you have gone down the wrong path and are about to lose data. Short of that you can't really screw up

 

[georgencopy]

Do I have to use the original Windows O/S disk for recovery (it's old--service pack one vintage), or can I use my newly purchased Windows disk?

 

[Smilin]

I assume you mean your newly purchased Windows disk has SP2 included already?

If so use that one, if not the SP1 disk will still work but you'll need to reapply sp2 afterwards.

Performing a repair will revert you to the service pack of the repair media. You'll need to visit Windows Update following the repair to add back any recent updates.

 

[georgencopy]

Will it matter that the original install was windows xp home and the newly purchased disk is xp pro?

 

[georgencopy]

When I get past the EULA it takes me to Windows Setup but only detects the OS on my C: drive, which is okay.
When I click "install" it takes me to a window that shows all my existing partitions, including my damaged OS on D:.
When I select D: it gives me options for formatting the partition (NTFS quick, FAT quick, NTFS, FAT, and no changes.
When I select "no changes" it tells me "a windows folder already exists and that if I continue it will overwrite my existing Windows intallation causing me to lose all files, subfolders, user accounts, applications, etc.
Is there no way to repair the existing windows os and avoid reinstalling everything?