My PEBKAC story
Windows XP SP2, running on a slightly overclocked AMD Athlon XP 2400.
I decided to check out the Live CD for Ubuntu Linux. So I downloaded and burned the iso to CD.
Booting from the CD I noticed it had an APIC error.
Go into BIOS and turn APIC off.
Reboot and check out Ubuntu for a couple of minutes to see how it works. Mount and view a
couple of partitions, including hda1 (the C: drive).
Reboot to get back into Windows to finish a couple of projects.
Windows will not boot. Symptoms are similar to, but not quite like, when I had a problem
with an improperly dismounted NTFS volume (system hangs around load of Mup.sys).
Suspect Ubuntu? No, it only read from the partitions, it wouldn't have modified anything.
SUspect Overclock? No, I'm actually running a bit slower than my best setting so far.
ANd while my FSB is higher, the multiplier is actually lower than standard.
Suspect NTFS volume issue? Why yes, since I've already had one once with this system.
Boot from WinPE CD I have handy, no problems. Chkdsk all partitions, no errors.
Reboot, still cannot get Windows on the C: drive to load.
Decide to restore from backup image (Drive Image) I made a week and a half ago.
Boot once more from WinPE disk to copy files that have changed since the last backup.
Boot to DOS to run Drive Image and start restore of backup image.
Half-way thru the system recovery it hits me... I forgot to turn APIC back on...
DOH!!!!
Lessons learned?
Write down my steps taken when I futz with my PC, so I can remember what steps to take in reverse to
fix things.
The upside to this is I needed to restore from that image anyway, so I could properly update my
video card drivers.
BTW, the restored image booted just fine, since I went into the BIOS and turned APIC back on right
after the recovery was competed.
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