Having problems with starting windows :(

[reege]

Hey guys, I really need help on this one. For some reason when I started up my computer instead of it going through its usual routine, it displayed the message "Searching for Boot Record from Floppy.. Not found" followed by Seariching for Boot Record from IDE-0 -ok." After this it said I had an invalid system disk and to replace disk, then press any key. At first I thought there was a floppy in the drive, but it turned out there wasn't so I rebooted the computer with the boot disk. The computer loaded off the boot disk and went to dos prompt. I tried to start windows from there and then a blue screen came up that read "Microsoft Registry." It said it found an error in system files that it was unable to fix. It suggested deleting files to free up disk space on the windows drive. After reading this, I pressed the ok button, and then another screen with the title "VFAT Device Initialization Failed." On this screen, it said that "a device or resource required by VFAT is not present or is unavailable. VFAT cannot continue loading. System halted." This is where my computer froze and I was unable to go on. I have no idea how this problem occurred and I havent been able to get to windows, only dos prompt, and this has really screwed me up because I havent been able to get any work done on my computer. Please help me if you can. Any help would be deeply appreciated.

 

[Medea]

When you booted off the bootup disk, did it go to the A prompt or the C prompt? If you can go to the C prompt, can you read a list of your directories?

 

[reege]

It takes me to a:, my main HD D:, I can read it... But cannot start windows. =( Any help will be appreciated...

 

[Medea]

Sounds like you have a boot sector virus or a corrupted Master Boot Record.

If you have a virus, you can try and run your anti-virus program - but use a clean bootup disk. It it is a virus, your bootup disk is infected. You can d/l a bootup disk from bootdisk.com. Otherwise, you're going to have to fdisk and format.

Good luck!

 

[poolshark]

you can restore your registery to fix it and then delete the virus

 

[Medea]

Sorry, double-post...

 

[shathal]

I agree with Medea - looks like either your MBR (Master Boot Record) got trashed somehow or through a VIRUS. With no MBR, there is no way in hell that you can access that drive (let alone boot from it). Hope you have a backup from not too long ago. Any data you can back up - do it ASAP.

I'd attach that drive to a system with a virus-scanner for a start & check for virii.

If "all fails" and you are OK with the lost data and don't mind starting from scratch, you can do the following:

* re-partition the HDD (remove all partitions, reboot, add partitions)
* Format partitions.

Alternatively, with fdisk /mbr you will write a new MBR onto the HDD. For this you need a version of FDISK though that is the same of your used OS (i.e.: Win98 for instance). In case you're wondering - that's an undocumented command and a bit of a "sledge hammer" method.

I would still recommend trying your luck with virusscanners & HDD utilites (Scandisk if it comes to the worst - I would recomend Norton Utils NDD though) - maybe they can help you out after all.

Right - hope this helps .