chdsk ran on start up, system now won't boot!

jagerbombmeisterjagerbombmeister No.VA.
edited March 2006 in Hardware
I really need some help. I have no idea what went wrong this morning. Check Desk ran on start up deleted all kinds of things than inserted orphaned files. I tried to follow the report but it moved very fast sometimes.
Now it won't boot up. Several seconds after the windows xp screen it stops and goes into the automaic restart mode.
I have tried safe mode, debugging etc. with the same results.
Can anyone tell me what is going on? I am thinking I shouldn't have allowed the check disk to run. How can I fix this??
In desperated need of some advice, please help.
Thanks
JBM

Comments

  • jagerbombmeisterjagerbombmeister No.VA.
    edited March 2006
    I have come to the conclusion that there is no way for me to recover from this problem. Booter disks aren't working, every mode starts the OS with the same results.
    I am thinking though that there has to be some way to get my data files off of my hard drive before I use the restore CD's which will wipe everything out.
    Can I install another hard drive with a healthy OS and attach my old to it and extract the data?
    I am using my laptop for now as a stop gap but most importantly I don't want to loose everything that I had not backed up to disc.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    Yes, the second HD idea is good, install to that with the HD you do not want to have things vanish from unhooked from the computer, then make that drive with things you want to recover some stuff from a SLAVE jumpered HD. The new one needs to be jumpered MASTER. Recover to your new HD, yes.
  • jagerbombmeisterjagerbombmeister No.VA.
    edited March 2006
    Hey thanks Straight.
    I don't have any hardware experience but seemed like a reasonable idea. Do you have any tips, tricks or anything I should know before going in.
    I am smart enough for the obvious turn off the machine and unplug the power supply. I just don't want to go in ignorant to something vital that I should be mindfull of.
    Any advice you have will be much appreciated.
    Thanks
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    Do you have any tips, tricks or anything I should know before going in.
    Your new hard drive's manual will show you exactly how to connect your hard drives. Your new drive, when you connect it to install Windows should be the "Master". Once it is up and running your computer on Windows, then install the other drive on the same cable as a "Slave". If you don't have a hard drive manual, go to your drive's manufacturer's site and you will be able to download a manual there. It's pretty simple: you'll just need to set the jumpers on the front of the drives to "Master" and "Slave". Actually, it would probably be easier if you just set both drives right away to "Cable Select". You should be able to recover much, if not all of the data from the bad drive.
  • jagerbombmeisterjagerbombmeister No.VA.
    edited March 2006
    I am trying to use the harddrive from my old Computer. It has Windows 98 on it instead of XP is this a problem? Everything is running and I have a few drivers missing, I can't seem to find the slaved drive at all. I double checked the jumpers and feel confident that is not my problem. I checked the Cable connections and the power supply connections at each drive as well.
    I am thinking about just buying a new drive, but doesn't that mean I will need to purchase Windows XP? I don't have an OS disk only 2 restore CD's, that is all that came with the system.
    I feel like I am close but still missing something. Anyone with some insight, please clue me in.
    Thanks
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    jagerbombmeister wrote:
    I am trying to use the harddrive from my old Computer. It has Windows 98 on it instead of XP is this a problem?

    Yes, it's a problem. Windows 98 uses the FAT32 filesystem, Windows XP uses NTFS. Windows 98 cannot read NTFS partitions, so you need to hook that drive up to a computer running windows 2000 or XP in order to see anything on it.
  • jagerbombmeisterjagerbombmeister No.VA.
    edited March 2006
    I actually did overcome this problem! I have to thank you guys for your advice!
    I also defied all odds and used a WD 3.4 Gig hard drive that came out of my old pre XP system.
    The trouble I encountered doing this was that 98 was installed in such a way that I could not remove it. I did however make it as small as possible by removing as many programs as I could and deleting files, pics etc. I had moved all that stuff to the XP system with file transfer wizard a long time ago anyway.
    I installed XP on the old hard drive, which left me just enough space to move data files to my CD Rom drive and burn them. 6 CD's later I have recovered 100% of the data that I hadn't backed up to disk.
    Now today I am going to remove that old drive reestablish my original drive as the master and see if I can restore the OS.
    If it turns out the Hard drive is actually bad then I will go ahead and buy another. Nice to see I got this far without spending any $$.
    Thanks again!
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