HELP! My baby is sick.

[TheNiceGuy]

I just started getting this error on my new system below. It won't leave the BIOS and enter XP boot up. The only thing I can think of is installing 2 'all in one' codec packs, and then trying to uninstall them yesterday. After install, some of my other programs (SoundForge, nTune, etc) required reinstall before I could use them again, due to missing files.

I need to finish a project for work tommorow or I'm screwed. All my files are on this thing. I even have to send this SOS out from another location. HELP!

 

[ribbon13]

NTLDR missing... boot with XP cd and do a repair installation.

 

[TheNiceGuy]

oh shit.
I think I am formating my drive. I was able to get into XP with the disk. I then opened the install disk, and searched every option on it (including my xp help files) for "repair installation" but found nothing. So I assumed the disks must give the option while installing XP. So it is currently chugging along an install, and no options for "repair" have poped up yet.
Whats up?

And thanks for the reply any way.

 

[TheNiceGuy]

Ya. I think I'm going to get out of computers now. And leave the country.

 

[TheNiceGuy]

hmmm...
OK, everything's screwed up. I can enter c: through safe mode now. Looks like the programs are still there. Is it possible to repair this mess? Or is it too late? How would I go about a repair? Or if worst comes to worst, a format?

 

[CraigRT]

repair means you boot from the XP CD and choose the option to repair, not format or re-install.

it should work with any luck.

 

[Thorsson]

I've never found that Repair works with XP - it used to in the good ole days of Win9x, but if NTFS gets nerfed then Windows can't seem to deal with it.

In this case it's worth trying a rollback if Repair doesn't work.

For badly nerfed HDs, best try is to boot up to console and try Chkdsk /R, and/or fix -MBR or -BOOT.

Last week my disc wouldn't boot at all. It's very odd because a number of third party products were able to read the NTFS partition, and Windows could read it as a slave, but it jkust wouldn't boot at all. Some files were also corrupted, but I managed to rescue 99% of the important ones by using PC Inspector File Recovery, a great freebie program that everyone should have.

 

[mechBgon]

You see the Repair option twice when you run Windows Setup. The first time is right up front, do you want to Repair or Install. There, you choose "Install." It crunches along for a couple minutes, has you agree to the EULA, and then shows you the disk partitions. Choose the one where the current Windows installation's located, and it will go "but dude, there's a Windows installation there already, in C:\WINDOWS How 'bout I repair that?" and now you choose OMGPLEEEEZEREPAIRIT!!!!!1!!!11!one! and off it goes

After doing the Repair installation, you might need to take Ownership of the files that are in your old accounts' C:\Documents and Settings\username directories, if it won't let you into them anymore. If it's WinXP Pro, turn off Simple File Sharing in Control Panel > Folder Options, and you can then take Ownership. If it's WinXP Home Edition, boot in Safe Mode, and you do the same thing while in Safe Mode. Ownership illustration, here I would put a checkmark in the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects box and apply that, giving Ownership to an account from my new installation.

 

[SenorBiggles]

Your baby gets sick and you give it an enema?

 

[fallengabriel]

My roomate and myself had this same problem. I think it can occur with any nforce 4 SLI board (He has the Asus and I have the Gigabyte). Luckily it only happened to his hard drive that he was installing windows on and it was a fresh install. I on the other hand had it happen not only to my freshly installed OS drive but also my 300 GB data drive. So for about the past 2-3 weeks I've been running data recovery software to try and get my data back. If you want your data back I suggest using Stellar Phoenix Fat & NTFS http://www.stellarinfo.com/ . They offer a demo before you buy the actual product that will show you all of the data it can recover. Good luck.

by the way my problem was a corrupted partition table.

 

[GadgetBuilder]

You might consider BootitNG or something similar for your system, as part of your backup strategy. The NF4 based systems are still a little shaky because of NVIDIA's drivers etc. It pays to make an image so you can recover in 10 minutes rather than having to re-load or Repair windows. Bootit can partition and format plus it can fix or tweak the partition tables. And it can save or restore compressed images of partitions. It can also repartition a disk without losing data (back up first anyway for safety). I have a spare (invisible to the OS) partition to store images; images may also be written to CD or DVD for longer term or offsite storage. I store most of my info in My Documents so I made a data partition and pointed My Documents to that -- XP recovery then need only restore the C: image (I've not destroyed the data partition(yet), although I image that partition too, just in case).

It helps a lot to know that recovery is quick and easy when you are installing that new set of NVIDIA NF4 drivers - I've trashed my new system 4 times this way and used the image to recover each time. IMHO having partition images is worth the time and effort involved based on the peace of mind it provides. Even if the image is several weeks old, it limits your losses. Not a complete backup strategy but a major part of mine.

I have no connection to BootitNG, just a customer. Bootit's documentation takes some getting used to but the program is very dependable.

 

[TheNiceGuy]

Hi guys, sorry if I miss some of your comments, or if the following details are a bit unclear - Im a bit blurry myself after mucking around till 3am last night on this.
MechBgone - nice to hear from you again.
Well, I tried system restore first after getting in with Windows boot disks, no banana, same errors. I then tried letting my MCE Windows disks do their thing last night. I tried several routes- update, repair, etc. All with the same result. After about an hour installing, and after choking on my Leadtek card, it ended up allowing me in with Safemode only. From here I can see most of my files on the two drives. I tried to install drivers with my Asus recovery disk, but it couldn't use my DVD drive. I reinstalled Windows a few times, choosing every option available, and tried using my Asus disk, but always the same result. At this point, I can get Safemode. Or the 6 initial BIOS options (DOS prompt, etc) on the Asus disk. Or BIOS. But my normal Windows won't boot, and my Asus disk won' allow me into the "install drivers/apps" menu.
At this point, I'm willing to wipe and reinstall all on C:\. I had D:\ as a storage only drive, so I should be able to keep it in tact, right? How can I do this? How can I save preferences and interent favorites, etc? File Transfer Wizard > save to D: ?

Anyway, how did this happen? A codec pack did all this damage? One other thing (may be unrelated) , but I turned off Silicon SATA controler in BIOS to get rid of the RAID options at startup. And I had to ssystem restore after Windows update due to disk instability. Possible disk corruption?

 

[TheNiceGuy]

Complete wipe and reinstall? How can I format drive? I believe I have to format, insatll drivers, then Windows. But i can't fnid a format C drive that works...

 

[TheNiceGuy]

Anyone???

 

[grooge]

Originally posted by: TheNiceGuy
Anyone???

Are you using RAID with your 2 drives? if no, then is your controller still configured as RAID in BIOS? Because RAID is sometime turned on by default on some BIOS and if you connect the drive and use them as single, you may have problems. To know that, did you install drivers by pressing F6 at installation? That is for RAID only, not normal SATA operation. And turn off ncq, as it is known to cause data corruption with oldest nvidia drivers, but seem to have that fixed in the newer release on nvidia web site.

 

[MeatHead88]

grooge is right, you should check to make sure your RAID is still set to boot from the Hard Drive boot order list.

When my motherboard freezes, if i reboot, I get the same error. My MB "looses" 1 or more of the RAID drives so it moves one of my other drives up in the boot order automaticaly because it thinks they are not attached.

I'm returning this board after I finaly called ASUS.

 

[TheNiceGuy]

Hi guys-
Not using RAID or NCQ. If memory serves, I didn't F6 anything on setup. I did install all drivers on the Setup disks and then Windows. After some issues, I unistalled all non-necessary drivers/apps I could think of. RAID has always been disabled in BIOS, but the Silicon SATA was enabled untill recently.
At this point, I tried to startover with a clean format o C and installing drivers from the Asus driver disk then Windows. But I can't seem to format C, and teh Asus disk won't autorun like it did when I first setup my PC. I used the Windows disk's format option, but it seems to have removed the partition on C only (in about 1 second). I still can't figure out how to fresh start everything. I should also mention I don't want to touch D, as it is a full data only drive.
Any ideas?

 

[Siddy]

LINUX

 

[TheNiceGuy]

ahhh.... no.

 

[btbam]

i usually run repair, then chkdsk then fixlog or ficboot when that error happens

 

[TheNiceGuy]

Well, I am in the process of a complete format and install on the C. I hope my data drive is OK.
I still want to know what caused this, and how to fix this easier if it happens again!

 

[TheNiceGuy]

OK, this is getting weird.
I just did a looong format of the C drive. After restart it is still showing an "NTLDR is missing" error. Is it because of the data drive (D? Should I unplug it?
Whats going on?

 

[TheNiceGuy]

Ok, last night after i posted the above, I insatlled all the newest drivers I had (on my data drive) to C drive. I am a bit worried about these as They are from 3 different sources I had to track down myself - Leadtek, Asus, and nVidia. I hope they aren't conflicting or double installing some of the drivers. Anyways, they are as follows, and I installed them in this order:
1) Chipset_64
2) nforce_6.39
3) 66.93 (nvidia corp)
4) W2K_ALL_6703 Leadtek
5) nTune 2005 v.20 (application)

At this point my internet connection was recognized, and I was able to update Windows (only a few updates neede as I have MCE 2005). Now somewhere along the line of drivers and updates, the "NTLDR" error disappeared, and all was well. I also updated BIOS from 1003 to 1004 at this point. I had installed NV firewall (I think I have to,tostall the interent drivers) but completely disabled it due to using XP firewall. As usualattempts to install my KAV failed.BIOS always asks for RAID at startup.
Anyway, this mornig I turn it on to write this message to you, and I get the original "Disk read eror" in BIOS startup. After disabling Silicon SATA controller in BIOS, it changes to an "NTLDR" error. I was only able to boot windows by using a boot disk.


Anyways:
-"Removable" was first by default, I cahnged this to CD, then HD a few minitues ago.
-I have some of D backed up on a second PC, and thats about the best I can do right now.
-I rebooted-install, as well as a few other types! I've tryed several complete format/install options!

-This NTLDR error came out of nowhere. I've been up and running for about 6 weeks. I have no partitions on either disk. The only possible causes I can think of are: installing 2 'all in one' codec packs, and then trying to uninstall them. After install, some of my other programs (SoundForge, nTune, etc) required reinstall before I could use them again, due to missing files; I turned off Silicon SATA controler in BIOS to get rid of the RAID options at startup; I had to system restore after Windows update due to disk instability about 2 weeks ago.
That's really all I can think of, besides having 2 sets of drivers installed accidentaly a long time ago, as I mentioned above.


Any idea whats going on?

 

[Thorsson]

The leadtek drivers just replace the 66.93. No idea what the Chipset 64s are, but they may be 64-bit drivers and you shouldn't have them. nTune has been reported to cause problems.

I feel confident that you do not need to install the NVidia Firewall, indeed I would totally recommend NOT installing it. Even if you disable it, the "Apache" drivers are still loaded and these conflict with a number of other programs (you can verify this by doing the old 3 finger salute and checking out Task Manager).

In my opinion you should back up any data you need, delete the current partition and start again, because it sounds to be as though your whole windows setup has an underlying corruption. I had something similar happen to me after NF 6.39 (because it turned on NCQ by default), and no amount of Windows "fixing" would sort it.

 

[TheNiceGuy]

OK, this is getting a bit ridiculous :laugh:.
You are right about the 64 stuff - I found some info on them, I thought they were AMD 64 drivers.
So I should only install:
2) nforce_6.39
4) W2K_ALL_6703 Leadtek

right?
And I remember NVFW installing along with something else (NV ethernet or chipset or something). Is it possible to only deselet the FW? Or should I cancel the whole setup of that portion?
And if NCQ is autoenabled, that must have F-ed up my drives. How did you end up managing the drivers plus no NCQ?

And I don't mind reinstalling XP for the 14th time :laugh: . I just want to make sure I got it right this time before I spend days reinsatlling apps and prefs.

Any other drivers/apps I should watch out for?

And if I try to do this without fresh install, where can I find the drivers? I can't find tehm under Add/Remove Programs or Device Manager.