Post-partitioning: BSOD Ntfs.sys

[tridart]

I used a partition magic cd to boot because i was facing problems with gparted, it refused to operate and said there were problems with sectors (windows reported the oppositte, but heck i did a defrag just in case). However this notebook is totally brand new, and i had installed nothing except for maybe just music and some other documents; pretty harmless stuff. So i figured i'd use partition magic as i was going to partition w/ ntfs first.

After doing, undoing, redoing and trying countless combinations (because the drive is small at 40GiB), i finally decided on 2 other partitions both primary, ntfs.

1st one is the current running on XP..and it was a big chunk of 37GiB at first so i resized to make it to 8. I did 2 more 10s, one w/ the normal 4kb sectors for games and apps and the other with 16kb since it'd b mainly for video and music. The 4th listed is the unallocated space which i left untouched. However i kept on undoing/redoing so many times that the whole process was operated on - 24 of em.

I rebooted and as soon as i got into XP, there was a popup saying i should reboot as the installation of a new hardware was successful. WTH? I hadnt inserted any usb or anything foreign since i switched it on. Ok so i rebooted again. This time when i was in XP, i double clicked on my computer and immediately the BSOD appeared..WOOPS!

Basically it implies that there was something wrong with partitioning, but i need expert advice/analysis on this as im not entirely sure. I was hoping there would b a dump but the default save location "C:\WINDOWS" didnt have the "Minidump" folder. Luckily i copied down the error code and its pretty common:

Ntfs.sys

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

0x50 (0xA528D000, 0x1, 0xF9210F4E, 0x0)

So that doesnt really explain things since 0x50 itself can mean more than just pagefile error..right?

However after rebooting the system did some checking again and now nothing has happened for 10 minutes. I'm still in fear and have not placed any of my files in either of the new partitions. Please guide, thanks

 

[pscowboy]

gparted - ye olde gnome linux tool messin' around with XP.

If the pagefile is on "C", you don't have enough room. It's dynamic and likes to stretch. How much ram do you have?

24 times - Wow, a PM expert you've become, as Yoda would say.

With only 40g, I would have done just folders.

If you have an installation cd, I would consider starting over - your sizing is not efficient.

If you want to stay like that for awhile, run Chkdsk on each letter to correct any glitches.

Right-click the letter's icon - Properties - Tools - Error Checking. Check off BOTH boxes - Start. On "C", you will have to reboot to get it done. On the others, it depends on whether Chkdsk can lock the drive.

To check "C"s report after arriving at the desktop - Control Panel - Admin Tools - Event Viewer - Application. Look for Winlogon near the top in the right-side pane.

The reports done while XP is up & running? - I'm not sure. Do a search for *.log, just in each letter, and look for today's date.

 

[Zyxthior]

Man...I thought I messed around with Partitioning too much....

The reason when you first booted into Windows that it gave the message to 'reboot that it had found new devices' was because it found new 'Harddrives' from all the different partitions. (Windows doesn't *really* care so much about 'physical drives'....it cares more about 'parititions' and labels them as individual drives).

Once you get into Windows I'd clear out your page file altogether. Turn Virtual Memory off, Reboot (clearing it away), and then set the current and max to something more reasonable like 2048MB's at most. (DON'T forget to turn it back on....you should never run Windows with it complete off).

And why are you partitioning stuff anyway? What's your objective. For Multibooting, absolutely. Different partitions for different types of files seems a bit like a waste IMHO--unless you're doing it from a backup ease point of view....

 

[tridart]

ahh..thanks so much! things seem abit less chaotic now that i'v been enlightened.

the main reason is because im dual booting win and tux on this notebook And since there is already good read AND write support in Linux for ntfs, i thought i'd just format them into that file system. Maybe i shoulda just made one extra partition instead of 2 heheh..but ye know, 1 partition where the windows games would b. And the 2nd for all other data which can be accessed by both windows and linux.

yep i'v done chkdsk. no bad sectors, no bad nothing. and i'v got 512MB of ram, which im going to upgrade to 1GB soon. for now, things seem ok. i wonder what really went wrong..

i think ur right abt the pagefile thing..

i didnt find the exact bsod error, but frm microsoft and aumha http://aumha.org/win5/kbestop.htm it is basically something to do with the pagefile OR physical ram. Anyway which do u think would b better for games and data storage (both big media files and small files) - NTFS or FAT32? Should i just resize the 2 and make it 20GB of FAT32?

 

[pscowboy]

NTFS - way more efficient file system for your size-challenged hd.

 

[Zyxthior]

I concur that NTFS would most likely be the file system in your situation. Once you get under the 32GB limit for FAT32 (that's as big as you can format a drive/partition to FAT32 under Windows XP)--there are 'some' benefits to FAT32 over NTFS (potential faster access/read times....) but all in all the other benefits of NTFS (more stable and less data corruption) outway FAT32.

Now in the case of my 200MB harddrive on my 486 computer....FAT16 is the way to go!

 

[tridart]

alright thanks guys..i think i've figured out the problem, i think. But until it happens again, i rmmbr that i opened up 'my computer' just as there was the balloon telling me to restart or else my "new hardware" wouldnt work..thats the problem right there.

anyway i'v now gotten rid of one partition and instead gave the size to XP..figured its too much to ask of such a small hd :lol: Thought of FAT32, but like u said ntfs with the stability and all, so in the end i decided once again on the latter file system. Anyway thanks again!