RTFMTech.net/troubleshooter

Section 4: Software Diagnostics

Important!
This section is still being written and tested. Please do not follow the instructions in this section without carefully considering the consequences of data loss. I am not responsible for damages caused to you, your company, or your equipment in the use of these instructions.

File System Issues (Windows) - If your computer is having a hard time booting, or if DFT has failed your hard disk with a 0x70 error code (meaning bad sectors), you might consider running the chkdsk utility with the recovery option to recover as much data as possible from any bad sectors and to restore the file system, if possible, to a clean state. This can be accomplished by burning (go to the Tools and Software section for instructions) the http://www.rtfmtech.net/troubleshooting/files/xp_rec_con.iso file to a cd and booting to the XP recovery console. I have also heard that if you are in possession of Windows Vista media, that the PE mode of Vista has an enhanced version of chkdsk that can repair issues outside the scope of the XP version.

  1. Press R to run the recovery console.
  2. Type the following at the prompt.
  3. Chkdsk (drive letter): /r
  4. This utility can take an extremely long time to run, and you should ensure that the power to the computer is not switched off during this process.
  5. When the chkdsk utility has finished its work, you should run the following utilities with the syntax given below.
    • Fixmbr - say yes to the prompt
    • Fixboot - say yes (don't do this if you are using grub or lilo)
    • Bootcfg /rebuild
    • Type exit to reboot; see if Windows works correctly.
  6. If all else fails, you can attempt to do a repair installation of Windows XP using the instructions at the website below: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/doug92.mspx

If none of these steps allow you to boot into Windows properly, and you have performed all of the steps in this guide, feel free to contact me. I will do everything I can to assist you. If you have not read this guide and done everything in it, I will ignore your emails.

Proceed to next section: A. Further Resources (dead)