XP hangs after Splash Screen Runs Chkdsk then stops.

[Mr.Mike]

Hello All:

The Machine:

Dell XPS 400
2.8 Ghz Intel Processor
1 Gb Ram Unbuffered
250 Gb Sata HDD (Samsung SP2504C)

OS: XP SP3

Normal Startup: After Splash, message reads:

Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS
The volume is dirty.

CHKDSK is verifying giles (stage 1 of 3)
File verification completed
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)
Index verification completed
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 3)
Security descriptor verification completed.

Then:HANGS

Boot From CD:

When attempting to run the Recovery Console in Win Setup from an OEM CD or the UBCD4Win CD I get the following message:

Setup did not finda any hard disk drives installed in your computer.

Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected to your computer, and that any disk-related hardware configuration is correct. This may involve running a manufacturer-supplied diagnostic or setup program.

Setup cannot continue. To quit Setup, press F3.

I have pulled and reconnected the HDD, RAM, and checked all other connections. I have replaced the SATA data cable and the switched power connector to another one. Still the message above shows up.

Next I went into the Boot Menu and ran Hard Drive Diagnostics.

Test showed:

Drive 0: Samsung SP2504C - Fail. Return Code: 7
--Reason Code JP8YLB1P@aH

My research shows this could be due to multiple power interupts caused by power failures (no proper shut down). Samsung and Dell forums refer to this code as a "failed HDD".

I then tried to boot into safe mode and although it initially looked as if it would, the black screen stopped with multiple lines showing:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)pertition(2)\windows\system32\DRIVERS\*****.sys

My conclusion:

Slave it and try to extract data to another HDD.

Any thoughts?

Scarlet Pathos

 

[JosephLeo]

Sounds like the hard drive isn't dead, but the NTFS tables are all messed up which caused a loss in data which in turn means you can't just copy the data from the hard drive to another one- you'll get the same errors with the next drive.

To tell the truth, I don't really know what you should do here as I never bumped into this problem myself- although this is probably the second or third time I've heard of this happening. Sorry I couldn't really help here.

 

[Mr.Mike]

I'll keep trying

Thanks for the response. Your thoughts about the NTFS being messed up is probably quite right. If I need to get into the second drive and try to rebuild the file system, it could get hairy. We'll see. It's for a client, so I'm going to give it my best shot.

Thanks

 

[JosephLeo]

Another thing- if you can't rebuild the partition tables then try reloading the core OS files into the current windows installation via system restore.

 

[joydivision]

Have you slaved it to see if you can access the data?

 

[Methical]

Have you taken an image of it ?

 

[LunchBox]

If check on the hard drive with a result of 7 is the least bad from the rest.

Read on
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.

I have ran chkdsk /f, re-formated and installed windows and the drive was fine. Other times after doing all the the drive still had problems.

It is 50/50 if its your clients data you may want to replace the drive.

If its a physical problem that caused it even if you get windows up and running down the road it will get worse.

 

[Mr.Mike]

Thanks Lunchbox

The wiki article was interesting and informative. If the 07 hdd attribute in the table represents my 7 error, I am unsure that anything can be done (no suggestions from the article).

I have indeed confirmed the problem was caused by frequent power interruptions by the owner of the PC. I will no rule out mechanical damage but it seems unlikely. I will attempt to draw data out by slaving it although others have said it won't work.

Another member suggest that I get an image of the drive. I'm not sure how to do that when I can't get the drive to completely load the OS.

Thanks again,

Scarlet Pathos

 

[Mr.Mike]

Thanks JoLeo

Another thing- if you can't rebuild the partition tables then try reloading the core OS files into the current windows installation via system restore.

Thanks for the help. I tried to reload the core OS files by running recovery console and going into safe mode. both times, the system would not let me even load those, stopping during the dll file loadups.

Scarlet Pathos

 

[Mr.Mike]

Thanks Methical

Have you taken an image of it ?

Thanks for your question. I'm not sure how to do that if I cant get the OS to load past the splash screen. How would you do it?

 

[joydivision]

Use a boot CD or slave the hard drive?

 

[Mr.Mike]

Thanks JoyDivision

Use a boot CD or slave the hard drive?

I'm working on that now, but not sure it'll work if the NTFS is already nuked. Any thoughts?

 

[RitechSystems]

Not sure about UBCD and those, but your XP CD does not have the SATA drivers to see the drive unless you have slipped streamed them or used a floppy where prompted to load them.