XP Pro hangs when it tries to load agpcpq.sys

[cdaleridr]

I've done some research into the problem already and it seems that the only step anyone has taken that worked is to update BIOS, which I did to no avail. IBM doesn't send out O/S install CDs and I don't have media for XP Pro on hand. Is there a way to boot into Windows without starting a reinstall?

 

[JRock]

run out and pickup a $30 2.5" UBS 2.0 external enclosure. Connect the drive to the machine you need to transfer the data too.

 

[cdaleridr]

A fine idea if it's something that Wal-Mart has. The closest electronics retailer is 3 hours away from me. I'll check around and see what I can find, though. I'll go ahead and show off my ignorance, though: is this something that will pull data from the HD without having to go through Windows, or even have the machine start up at all?

 

[JRock]

Its no different the sticking a USB Thumb Drive into your PC. It can put plugged in while the workstation is on. It will just popup and a removable drive.

 

[cdaleridr]

Originally posted by: JRock
Its no different the sticking a USB Thumb Drive into your PC. It can put plugged in while the workstation is on. It will just popup and a removable drive.

I guess I didn't make it clear, but the system is hanging on boot. No XP, no nothin'. Therefore, a device like this is useless to me. I need to just suck the data off of the drive without getting into Windows to do it. Or, I need to find a fix for the problem to begin with.

 

[JRock]

Originally posted by: cdaleridr

Originally posted by: JRock
Its no different the sticking a USB Thumb Drive into your PC. It can put plugged in while the workstation is on. It will just popup and a removable drive.

I guess I didn't make it clear, but the system is hanging on boot. No XP, no nothin'. Therefore, a device like this is useless to me. I need to just suck the data off of the drive without getting into Windows to do it. Or, I need to find a fix for the problem to begin with.

Oh sorry... No you do not need to boot from the device. You SHOULD be able to see the data on the drive as long as the file system isn't corrupt.

 

[stlcardinals]

Have you tried safemode? Hitting F8 before the windows splash screen? If you can get into safe mode you can try using System Restore to rollback your OS to when it was working.

 

[cdaleridr]

Good Lord, I didn't say anything in my first post. Sorry about that. Safe mode hangs when it's trying to load the aforementioned agpcpq.sys. Sits there for a few seconds and then restarts all over again. Last known good config doesn't work either. I've tried to get into it through the recovery console but that's not worked. All in all, this is pretty messed up.

If something will let me get into the HD without the O/S, I can at least get data off of it and worry more about this software problem later.

 

[TGS]

Any Linux boot CD should let you read data off NTFS. Grab a memory stick, and you should be able to yank off whatever you need.

Have you tried doing a repair?

 

[cdaleridr]

I've tried pretty much everything that Microsoft or anyone on any other board has suggested for this particular problem, and nothing's worked. Tried running the repair console from XP startup/setup floppies and it didn't do the trick. I ordered an external enclosure for the drive and it should be here in a couple of days. I'll get the data off and use IBM's reinstaller to try to get the box up and running again. Hopefully, it's just the driver hanging up and it's not a bad file system or something. Wouldn't that be fun?

 

[TGS]

Burn a knoppix or ubuntu livecd. They have at least NTFS read support. From there you can determine if the FS or disk is beyond recovery.

 

[cdaleridr]

DLing ubuntu's livecd now. Thanks for the tip. If all else fails (except the HD, that is) I'll have the external enclosure in a couple of days.