Recovering Windows XP after Motherboard Swap

[MrCodeDude]

I had a failing ECS K7S5A (SiS 735 chipset) that had leaky caps and would no longer boot into Windows.

I have since replaced it with an Epox 8K3A+ (VIA KT333 chipset). To no surprise at all, Windows XP does not boot. It will not even boot in Safe Mode. It just restarts right before you would normally see the loading screen.

I insert the Windows XP SP2 installation disc and have it attempt to repair the installation.

Everything seems to go fine, I reboot and Windows greets me with this gem:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: System32\Drivers\Ntfs.sys

So, I go into the Windows Recovery Console and do the typical

ren ntfs.sys ntfs.old
copy h:\i386\ntfs.sys c:\windows\system32\drivers

Restart and I get the same error as above. What do I do now?

I normally would pull the drive and back up the contents onto another computer and then just reformat, but my uncle is in a similar situation halfway across the country and he does not have the ability to do that, so I?m trying to figure out a way to fix the installation.

 

[Abix]

Since the error persists after manually copying the file over, Im going to have to blame the CD itself. Is there another copy that can be used?

 

[imported_Kiwi]

The XP CD actually has two different "Repair" options, and for the particular situation that applies in this case, the second of those was the correct one. To get there, you skip past the first instance of a Repair as a menu choice, and instead choose "Install", and from there you get to the second time that "Repair" is used, in the form of a "Repair Install". That's what should've been tried from the start, and just might still work.

 

[MrCodeDude]

Originally posted by: Kiwi
The XP CD actually has two different "Repair" options, and for the particular situation that applies in this case, the second of those was the correct one. To get there, you skip past the first instance of a Repair as a menu choice, and instead choose "Install", and from there you get to the second time that "Repair" is used, in the form of a "Repair Install". That's what should've been tried from the start, and just might still work.

I already did this and it was in my original post. Notice how I said I had it attempt to repair the installation and then after it failed, I tried to copy over the file through the Recovery Console?

Since the error persists after manually copying the file over, Im going to have to blame the CD itself. Is there another copy that can be used?

I just tried my neighbor's disc (just copying the file over) and it still gave me the error. I also just burned a CD with a working copy of ntfs.sys on it (the Recovery Console doesn't allow USB thumbdrives apparently) and it still gave me the error.

 

[John]

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

1. Insert the Windows XP startup disk in the floppy disk drive, or insert the Windows XP CD in the CD drive, and then restart the computer.

2. Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD drive if you are prompted to do this.

3. When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.

4. If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console.

5. When you are prompted, type the Administrator password. If the Administrator password is blank, press ENTER.

6. At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following lines. Press ENTER after each line.
cd system32
ren ntkrnlpa.exe ntkrnlpa.old
ren ntoskrnl.exe ntoskrnl.old
cd "c:\windows\driver cache\i386"
expand sp2.cab -F:ntkrpamp.exe c:\windows\system32
expand sp2.cab -F:ntkrnlmp.exe c:\windows\system32
cd c:\windows\system32
ren ntkrpamp.exe ntkrnlpa.exe
ren ntkrnlmp.exe ntoskrnl.exe

7. Type exit to quit Recovery Console. Your computer will restart.

 

[MrCodeDude]

Originally posted by: John
6. At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following lines. Press ENTER after each line.
cd system32
ren ntkrnlpa.exe ntkrnlpa.old
ren ntoskrnl.exe ntoskrnl.old
cd "c:\windows\driver cache\i386"
expand sp2.cab -F:ntkrpamp.exe c:\windows\system32
expand sp2.cab -F:ntkrnlmp.exe c:\windows\system32
cd c:\windows\system32
ren ntkrpamp.exe ntkrnlpa.exe
ren ntkrnlmp.exe ntoskrnl.exe

Followed all these steps, double checked them, it still tells me that "system32\drivers\ntfs.sys" is corrupt or missing.

 

[SleepWalkerX]

Try another repair install? It could be your disc also.

 

[John]

Try using a different cd drive.

 

[AMDBOY]

Any suggestions for Raid 0 set up. I would like to try recovery, but it keeps asking me for any raid, scsi or special drivers, as it sees no hard drives. When I try to load the raid drivers, it says it cant find the flopy drive. Oui vey, uh, I suppose this is because I set the 1st boot device to the CD-Rom for setup, the 2nd is floppy, and 3rd as raid0. how do I get it to see all devices necessary to get to the 2nd "R'' for recovery from the disc, after I choose install? Any suggestions appreciated.Tia

 

[John]

The floppy doesn't need to be the first boot device for a repair. Are you positive your raid floppy and drive are functional? When you boot to the XP cd tap F6 several times as soon as you see the blue screen.

 

[AMDBOY]

Thanks, will try that. When I hit F6 it did not allow me a different choice.Will retry several times.

 

[MrCodeDude]

Originally posted by: John
Try using a different cd drive.

I used a completely different drive and a completely different CD, it still tells me that Ntfs.sys is broken.