Help, System Error

xavsheriffxavsheriff London, England
edited February 2006 in Hardware
HI, really in a mess here. Just as i was getting some really good work done. I went back to my computer and it failed to start... it is displaying a black (not blue) screne with a message saying:

System32\drivers\isapp.sys is missing or corrupted and to fix this i should use the repair facility on the xp disk. Tried this and it says that it cant find a hardrive on the system.

I am stuck the hardrive is there... obvously, was working fine this morning, and i am gonna lose all my work if its screwed.

ANY IDEAS... please help me

Thanks Xav

my system:

Maxtor 120gb hd
512 ram (2x256)
epox motherboard
amd 3000+
Radeon 9200
cdrw cdrom
floppy

audigy platinum pro sound card

Comments

  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited February 2006
    Get the HD test from Maxtor and run it. There should be both a CD and Floppy Disk version.

    What does your BIOS show regarding Hard Drives?
  • xavsheriffxavsheriff London, England
    edited February 2006
    hi, a few things> I noticed in another similar thread something about going for the full reintall then seeing whether it detects a version of winxp and then repairing it... Should i try this? Also can i run a hd test from boot?

    Cheers
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited February 2006
    What you describe is a Repair Install and it is an excellent way to get back in business if there is a serious problem with the Operating System.

    It is a complete waste of time if you have a bad or failing hard drive. The Maxtor test runs from a bootable disk. Make sure the drive is physically sound before going on to the next step. :)
  • xavsheriffxavsheriff London, England
    edited February 2006
    ok, i am unsure whether this is the right thing, scared about the format warning. Is that just the floppy?

    here's the link, would you mind checking the link?

    http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.3c67e325e0a6b1f6294198b091346068/?channelpath=%2Fen_us%2FSupport%2FSoftware%20Downloads%2FAll%20Downloads&downloadID=22

    thanks so much
    Xav
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited February 2006
    xavsheriff wrote:
    ok, i am unsure whether this is the right thing, scared about the format warning. Is that just the floppy?...
    You have the right program; the format warning is only referring to the floppy disk.

    Once you've made the disk, set your floppy drive as the first boot device, insert the disk in the drive, then reboot. Once the computer starts up off the floppy, look for the diagnostic section. You should run both the "Quick" and the "Full" tests. If you get an error code be sure and write it down.
  • xavsheriffxavsheriff London, England
    edited February 2006
    hi, ran the test this morining.... there are errors detected, no codes given, it asks if i wish to repair warning that i will probably lose all data, and in most cases it will already be unreadable or unrecoverable... what next should i klet it try and repair it?
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited February 2006
    If it says that there were errors it should give you a code to go along with it. See if this info is any help.
  • xavsheriffxavsheriff London, England
    edited February 2006
    hi thanks for your help. there were no codes. i took a risk and allowed power max to fix errors after which windows was still unable to repair. Took to a shop, as needed to get on with work. Looks as if i will loose everything ? my hardrive has stolen my inner child. i will always back up my stuff from this day forward!

    Guess thats me out..
    cheers
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited February 2006
    My advice would be to have them replace the drive, but do absolutely nothing to the old one unless they are data recovery experts. If your stuff is really valuable you have a fair chance of getting it back. It might cost a bit; only you can decide how much it's worth to you.
  • xavsheriffxavsheriff London, England
    edited February 2006
    0k the drive was corrupted but viewable as a secondary drive so looks as if my stuff is saved! thank the lord. from now on back up is the key!
    thanks again for all help and advice. this forum is a life saver!
    case closed

    ciao
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