getting a windows sys 32 config system error.someone did a hard shutdown and this is the result.it's a dell dimension.i put the disc in and get to the recovery console.did chkdsk/r it scanned to 25 per cent and stopped showing 2 unrecoverable errors.i think the hd is still good,it just won't boot the os.(XP) HELP, thanks
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NEED A COMPUTER GURU QUICK
- Thread starter oldiesstation
- Start date
If it stopped at 25% and showed 2 unrecoverable errors, I wouldn't be so sure that he HD is good.
Get the drive into another system with XP on it and get any important data off of it pronto. Go to the HD manufacturer's website and download their HD diagnostic software. Usually there's a version that will boot off a floppy disk or CD, allowing you to run a full diagnostic suite on the drive independent of the O/S. That will tell you if the drive itself is good or not.
If the drive is good, try running chkdsk on the drive with it installed as a second drive in the known-good XP system. If it completes chkdsk there, you can try recovering the existing O/S.
It's problems like this that remind us all that BACKUPS ARE CRITICAL!
Get the drive into another system with XP on it and get any important data off of it pronto. Go to the HD manufacturer's website and download their HD diagnostic software. Usually there's a version that will boot off a floppy disk or CD, allowing you to run a full diagnostic suite on the drive independent of the O/S. That will tell you if the drive itself is good or not.
If the drive is good, try running chkdsk on the drive with it installed as a second drive in the known-good XP system. If it completes chkdsk there, you can try recovering the existing O/S.
It's problems like this that remind us all that BACKUPS ARE CRITICAL!
not mission critical just a spare.i took the hard drive out and installed in a good xp system as primary slave.when it booted,the bios recognized it and i got a primary slave drive failure.may be the hd.never lost one on a shutdown before.thanks sirroxalot.
I've got the GU part down...
Most drives fail on either startup or shutdown. It takes a lot more energy to spin a drive up to speed than it does to keep it spinning at its regular rate. Another issue is temperature change. P4s see a significant change in temperature when they crank up from typical room temperature. The CPU normally runs around 135-140 degrees fahrenheit, or about twice room temperature. The expansion-contraction involved takes a toll on circuit boards that have a lot of tiny traces separated by very little epoxy.
I'm glad that the system wasn't mission-critical, and the data wasn't a big deal.
Most drives fail on either startup or shutdown. It takes a lot more energy to spin a drive up to speed than it does to keep it spinning at its regular rate. Another issue is temperature change. P4s see a significant change in temperature when they crank up from typical room temperature. The CPU normally runs around 135-140 degrees fahrenheit, or about twice room temperature. The expansion-contraction involved takes a toll on circuit boards that have a lot of tiny traces separated by very little epoxy.
I'm glad that the system wasn't mission-critical, and the data wasn't a big deal.
oldiesstation said:
There is a way to rebuild the boot system in XP. Get an XP CD, boot from it, and when you get the main setup screen, press R for Recovery Console. (Do NOT choose "Press F2 for Automated System Recovery.") Choose the Windows install to repair, log into the Administrator account, and issue the following commands in the following order, pressing Enter after each one:
CHDIR C:\
ATTRIB -H C:\BOOT.INI
ATTRIB -S C:\BOOT.INI
ATTRIB -R C:\BOOT.INI
DEL C:\BOOT.INI
BOOTCFG /REBUILD (You will, at this point, be prompted for two options during the rebuild. For "Enter Load Identifier" type Microsoft Windows XP Professional and press Enter. For "OS Load Option" type /FASTDETECT and press Enter.
CHKDSK /R
FIXBOOT (Answer Y to the "are you sure" prompt.)
Once you're back to a C:> prompt, type EXIT to reboot the OS. If all went well, it should boot up normally.
This repair works for any of the following error messages:
"Windows could not start because the following file or missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\NTOSKRNL.EXE
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\HAL.DLL
"NTLDR is missing – Press any key to restart"
"Invalid BOOT.INI – Press any key to restart"
Good luck!
maxtor diamond plus 9 80 gig,but you're close.when i type in the first commamd line CHDIR C:\ I GOT THE FILE PATH NOT FOUND. guess i will have to get the maxtor boot cd to check the drive.it is sure messed up.won't recognize the other command lines,not even chkdsk.
Jesse Graffam said:
Actually I've had more failures with Western Digital drives than any other brand and my universe has always included a more or less equal mix of WD, Seagate, Quantum and Maxtor. I've never had any of the others fail before I had decided to retire them for other reasons. However since they are mechanical they are subject to fail, no matter who made them.
Seagate now makes the Maxtor brand which had acquired Quantum so my universe is much smaller now.
More GU
The tell-tale is the fact that it got to 25% and quit. If I had to guess, I'd bet that the actuator arm isn't going across the entire drive surface, or one of the heads has failed. Either way, the drive is likely toast. The Seatools for DOS diagnostic will tell you for sure.
I used to like Maxtor drives, and had excellent luck with them for a long time. Seagate and Western Digital both made some great drives, and some real garbage. After Seagate bought Maxtor, they pretty much turned Maxtor into their low-end product line, and sell the better quality drives under the Seagate name. Western Digital has some very good drives, but you really have to know specific model numbers to know which are good, which are junk, and which are somewhere in between.
The most reliable clue to the quality of a drive is usually the warranty. If they warranty it for five years, you're probably getting a decent drive. Anything less than two years is likely to be drive fodder for eMachines or Dell Inspirons. Even using that criteria, I have to say that I've had more failures with SATA drives than I ever had with EIDE. I'm not sure why. It could be a general reduction in quality, bad luck, or some glitch in the newer technology that's taking time to appear.
The tell-tale is the fact that it got to 25% and quit. If I had to guess, I'd bet that the actuator arm isn't going across the entire drive surface, or one of the heads has failed. Either way, the drive is likely toast. The Seatools for DOS diagnostic will tell you for sure.
I used to like Maxtor drives, and had excellent luck with them for a long time. Seagate and Western Digital both made some great drives, and some real garbage. After Seagate bought Maxtor, they pretty much turned Maxtor into their low-end product line, and sell the better quality drives under the Seagate name. Western Digital has some very good drives, but you really have to know specific model numbers to know which are good, which are junk, and which are somewhere in between.
The most reliable clue to the quality of a drive is usually the warranty. If they warranty it for five years, you're probably getting a decent drive. Anything less than two years is likely to be drive fodder for eMachines or Dell Inspirons. Even using that criteria, I have to say that I've had more failures with SATA drives than I ever had with EIDE. I'm not sure why. It could be a general reduction in quality, bad luck, or some glitch in the newer technology that's taking time to appear.
Although it won't stop a drive from self-pwnage having the power "pulled" on a drive crappy enough to have that happen...
I always maintain my drive surfaces with SpinRite
http://www.grc.com/
it's an invaluable utility to keep the health of your drives up, and know when they are starting to degrade (SMART won't tell you until it's too late) and it is LIKE NO OTHER drive utility there is. it works underneath the file format, and communicates with software on the drive (mainly dealing with error correction) in ways that nothing else i've ever seen does...
Sometimes it can recover lost information, but I mainly use it to keep the healthiness of my drives up, and error rates (albeit corrected ones) down. One of the best sub-$100 software purchases I've ever done. In your case it probably won't help, but considering you probably would do well of yourself to have it around anyways, why not give it a go.
I always maintain my drive surfaces with SpinRite
http://www.grc.com/
it's an invaluable utility to keep the health of your drives up, and know when they are starting to degrade (SMART won't tell you until it's too late) and it is LIKE NO OTHER drive utility there is. it works underneath the file format, and communicates with software on the drive (mainly dealing with error correction) in ways that nothing else i've ever seen does...
Sometimes it can recover lost information, but I mainly use it to keep the healthiness of my drives up, and error rates (albeit corrected ones) down. One of the best sub-$100 software purchases I've ever done. In your case it probably won't help, but considering you probably would do well of yourself to have it around anyways, why not give it a go.
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