XP won't start. Neither will Safe Mode. I don't want to reformat.

[mingsoup]

I came back from a 3 days stint of not using my computer. I booted it up and it entered a continual loop of restarting after hitting the xp loading screen. So I immediately ran a chkdsk /f from my bartpe disc. Now the computer will get past the xp loading screen, but then freeze on a black screen after.


Last Known Config is no longer good since I've loaded since. I've attempted safe mode, but the loading always halts at giveio.sys and flash of "Press ESC to cancel loading SPTD.sys."

It just hangs there in safe mode loading. I've left it for 15 minutes and nothing.

I've done a chkdsk /f, a chkdsk /r, and a jkdefrag launched from BartPE boot disk.

I've also tried a completely different power supply, since I read that might be it. Still wouldn't boot.

I would much rather diagnose my problem than have to backup all my data and start from scratch.

Anybody? Also, how could I prevent this in the future? Does running different partitions help at all? How does that work? Thanks.

 

[bucwylde23]

sounds like it could possibly be a hardware problem?

 

[mingsoup]

I wish I wasn't forced to reformat....but that looks like what I'm going to have to do. I can't get it. I wish I could just fix it.

I'm pretty sure its not a hardware problem. The hard disk isn't reporting any bad sectors. Power supply is ok.

 

[montag451]

Disconnect all hw from your system that isn't completely essential to boot up.
No extra hdd, no cd, disable sound, NIC etc in BIOS. Disconnect all USB/etc.
Try that.

What did you install just before you left the computer for a few days - any media software or hw monitering tools?

You might be able to get into recovery console and disable the service that uses giveio.sys.


See if you can boot into a live cd - like Knoppix.
If you can't then definitely a hw problem. Doesn't prove much if you can run it successfully, as it is quite forgiving.
But at least we can rule out some stuff.

 

[mingsoup]

Knoppix and BartPE are woking 100% fine. I'm currently backing up data.


I can't really remember. I know I transferred a knoppix iso to C: root. I also made a BartPE disc. Burnt the 2 cds. I didn't really do anything extreme that I remember. Don't think I installed any new software.

Does this help?

 

[bsobel]

Your last known good comment doesnt make sense to me since you haven't booted yet. So far sounds like (possibly) hardware, registry corruption, or a bad driver (which would be weird unless you recently upgraded something?)

You can manually restore a previous registry version using your boot disk, the previous versions should be in your system restore area (System Volume Information). You should be able to google restoring a registry from system restore (let me know if you can't find the instructions, I'm in the middle of something but didn't want you wiping the disk if you didn't have to...)

Good luck,
Bill

 

[montag451]

I know I transferred a knoppix iso to C: root.

That was very fortunate - thought about reading palms? :thumbsup:

After the backup, go through some hdd tools in Knoppix - see if it comes up with ANYTHING.

Also, try a new IDE cable if you have one to hand - always worth a go.



If you want to try the recovery console, you can disable services and drivers from starting up.
Try listing the services, then go through disabling all the obvious ones - nothing to lose.
All the commands are listed in recovery console - very thoughtful, eh?

 

[mingsoup]

I hate to have wasted your time. Your ideas are always helpful for next time.

I could have tried to restore a previous registry backup, but I don't have system restore turned on. I might have had one from ccleaner, but I don't know.


I think system restore is a good thing to have turned on. I've always turned it off, but then kick myself when this happens.

You might be able to get into recovery console and disable the service that uses giveio.sys.

If you want to try the recovery console, you can disable services and drivers from starting up.

I've already spent 24 hours without a comp researching this. I continue to learn things.

Anything I can do to prevent this from happening in the future. I didn't defrag on a regular basis and my hard drive was maxed. I also never ran chkdsk. I did have anti-virus which I didn't run very often.

Any tips. I'm sorry if I wasted your time. I just couldn't go any longer.

 

[bsobel]

Sorry to hear you had to slick it. For what it's worth I highly recommend leaving system restore on this time. I know many people turn it off out of habbit, but it's a life saver in times like this.

 

[mingsoup]

Any tips on how to prevent or what to do next time?

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: mingsoup
Any tips on how to prevent or what to do next time?

Still no idea on what really happened. But with system restore on the first thing to try would have been rolling back a back-up registry...

 

[montag451]

Just get the system how you like it, then make an image (trueimage/ghost etc). Nice and easy if you need to get it back.

Make an image of the system with all the patches/drivers/sp2 etc - no other software, then put all your sw on, and get the settings right - make another image.
Reason for this is that in 6 months, you most likely won't be using your most commonly used software, or will have at least updated it.

Also make a full backup of the registry every few weeks - this just saved my butt a couple of days ago - a 20 second repair versus 10 hours reinstalling or 25 min re-image.

Make an image every month or so, depending on how critical is your data. Most critical stuff for me is backed up onto another internal hdd and dvd. (In fact, thanks for reminding me - time to backup my pics again)

 

[VirtualLarry]

I wonder if the problem is SPTD.SYS, I had problems with that driver after upgrading my system from XP SP1 to XP SP2 using a recovery install. There was one other thread on here mentioning that driver as well.

Did you recently update your system, or install/update DaemonTools or Alchohol 120?

http://www.duplexsecure.com/faq/

 

[mingsoup]

I had daemon tools installed for long before the crash.

 

[mingsoup]

WELL....it happened again. XP WILL NOT BOOT. WHAT is going on? I want to say my hard drive is totally borked. My drive had nothing on it except XP.


Now it says."Load needed dlls for kernel" and XP will not boot.


Please help guys.

"CAUSE
This issue may occur if the Hal.dll and Ntoskrnl.exe files are mismatched."

WTF, I had defragged and chkdsked....and I hadn't even installed anything. AHH!


"RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, start your computer from the Windows CD, and then perform an in-place upgrade of Windows."


I DON"T want to reinstall windows....I just did 2 days ago. Please help.

The hard disk passed the short test of seatools. Seatools says that SMART has NOT been tripped. I'm now running a LONG test. What happens if Seatools doesn't report anything wrong with the drive.

 

[GrumpyMan]

Just to throw this out there, have you checked your memory sticks?

 

[mingsoup]

mem86?

The partition manager says that the FILE SYSTEM on my XP Hard Drive is.......Unknown. The whole filesystem is borked.

 

[GrumpyMan]

Yeah, I've seen computers do some strange things when the memory is going out. Might as well check everything out.

 

[mingsoup]

I did a chkdsk and the filesystem came back in diskpart....but XP would still not boot in either Safe or Normal. I'm thinking about getting a new hard drive. I'll test the current one with a long seagate test and also do a mem86 and report back.

 

[xtknight]

Definitely hardware failure of some sort (probably memory or another pathway to HD such as HD controller).

 

[mingsoup]

Hard drive is passing the Long Generic and Long Drive Self Tests. Both of them just fine. Hmm... I know I can test my memory with memtest86 (+?), but how could I test my hd controller.

 

[montag451]

I woulda thought if the drive comes through the tests ok, then the controller would be ok as well.

Do a memtest overnight for now and we'll see what happens.

 

[mingsoup]

I'll do a memtest tonight and report in tomorrow. Thanks for all the help so far everybody.

 

[RebateMonger]

In general, you can say that the hard drive tests the controller/cables/hard drive, and memtest covers the CPU/Memory. If you run both disk and memory tests, you've done a pretty good overall hardware test.

Bad memory or overclocking can mess up the Registry or the file system in general and cause symptoms like yours.

 

[mingsoup]

Well. I've run 2 Sea Gate Long Tests. Both take 3 hours. The first is a generic long test. The other is a long drive self test. Both were said to pass. Then I ran memtest+ that comes with the ubuntu cd (I run XP though) for 9 hours and 30 minutes. The total passes done was 13. The report said that 0 errors had been encountered.

So does this mean that my memory and my hard drive are ok? I'm reinstalling XP at the moment. I tested Vista for awhile, but I want my XP back. It worked just fine for the 5 days I used it.

Anyway, I'll do another long drive self test when I get back into windows.

Also. Case and CPU temps are normal, hovering 30-40 C. I have never overclocked my CPU or GPU. I recently upgraded my EVGA NF41 mobo to its latest bios, and set the bios to optimized defaults. Only thing I changed from those defaults is boot order and I turned off the onboard audio.

If there is anything else I can reveal, please ask. I guess I'll see how long this XP install last. Also, I'm installing from an original OEM XP Pro SP2 disc.

On the original fail of the XP install...I tested a different power supply and that didn't seem to help.

It couldn't possibly be a virus or network virus? What other things could it be since I've technically ruled out CPU/Memory/Hard Drive/HD controllers/Cables.

Thanks again everyone for all the help. I greatly appreciate it.