Why does XP do this?

[alazeer]

My daughter got on my system and gave me the win32/rootkit.enp virus, I couldn't clean it so i had to reinstall my OS.

I have Win XP pro 32 bit, it was a real pain reinstalling and upgrading the software (lots of safe mode BS, endless loop reboots etc) but now I have Win XP Pro SP3 installed but:

When i take the OS CD out of the CD Drivr and reboot the system (either because some other software was just installed or manually) the system boots into Safe mode, no matter what I choose (boot into windows directly, last config that worked etc) the system will not boot into windows.

BUT:

As soon as I put the OS installation CD back into the CD rom drive it will boot every time? It's not booting from the cd (it does give me the option to boot from the cd if I want) but I just let it time out and then it boots from the HDD?

My question is this: WHY? Why won't my system boot from the HDD without the OS Install CD being in the cd drive? this is driving me nuts!

I'm wondering if I should have formatted both drives from a boot CD that has format on it before I reinstalled the OS but I didn't. I'm hoping that formatting the HDD's will be the only way to correct this. I play an MMO (AOC) that takes almost 20 hours to download because their pipeline is so slow, this is while I have cable internet that can download much faster. I've already gone thru this twice and would hate to have to do that again.

The OS or driver install package will not recognize my Xfi Extreme music Soundcard? I've not really screwed with that part yet (popping it out and back in) yet but I'd like to get the booting problem corrected first.

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give me!

 

[digitalprospecter]

Yes. With a rootkit virus infection, having decided to do a fresh install of XP, during the install I would have deleted the partitions, recreated them and then continued installing Windows after the partition was reformatted.

Installing XP shouldn't involve alot of safe mode access and reboot loops. It sure sounds like the install is already corrupted. If you need to backup data files, I would get them now, while you can still boot with the CD in the drive.

Let us know if you have questions.

 

[aford10]

Start-->run-->msconfig-->on the boot.ini tab, make sure none of the boxes are checked under 'boot options.' On the General tab, you can select 'normal startup,' as long as you haven't disabled anything else in msconfig.

 

[alazeer]

Yes. With a rootkit virus infection, having decided to do a fresh install of XP, during the install I would have deleted the partitions, recreated them and then continued installing Windows after the partition was reformatted.

Installing XP shouldn't involve alot of safe mode access and reboot loops. It sure sounds like the install is already corrupted. If you need to backup data files, I would get them now, while you can still boot with the CD in the drive.

Let us know if you have questions.

Now xp install does not see the entire hdd, it's a 500GB HDD but XP only wants to see 131 GB, what do I have to do to get xp to see the entire hdd? I know there is still a bunh of info left on the hdd as it is now in the unclaimed (missing space) I'm probably not expliaining it correctly .

 

[digitalprospecter]

Hi alazeer,

As much as I would love to help you resolve this via the forum, I am thinking it might be prudent for you to take your computer to a tech shop and see if they can secure your data for you. If it has already been deleted, then they have a real good chance of recovering it for you if we stop now and do not overwrite the drive.

aford10, what are your thoughts on this. It almost seems to me that what alazeer is seeing is the Fat32 File system limitation. I would appreciate an informed second opinion, because if his data is really important to him I don't think he should risk any further actions. Thanks.

 

[aford10]

You probably are on service pack 1. Download SP2 or SP3, and it should recognize the rest of your drive.

 

[digitalprospecter]

Thanks aford10!

 

[alazeer]

I forgot that I could put in my system mechanic cd and let it boot to the drive scrubber program, I'm now scrubbing the hdd's and that should take care of it. When that is done I'm sure I'll be able to boot up with the XP cd and it will see the entire thing. Guess I was having a major brain cramp this past 24 hours. If I had thought about it yesterday I would have just scrubbed the hdd's then. that's a big DOH! on my part.

 

[aford10]

I thought you wanted to save your data? I believe the drive scrubber program formats the hard drive.

 

[digitalprospecter]

I thought you wanted to save your data? I believe the drive scrubber program formats the hard drive.

I thought so as well????????

 

[alazeer]

I thought you wanted to save your data? I believe the drive scrubber program formats the hard drive.

At this point there was really no way to save it. XP just was not seeing the entire 500B drive (I realize the formatted size is about 466GB), it would only see about 131GB. So i figured the best and quickest way to take care of this so that the next time I boot up using the xp install dvd it will see the entire HDD and then I can partition it to full size again instead of losing 3/4 of it. That should also take care of the problem with needing to have the xp cd in the drive in order to boot into windows.

I really didn't lose anything that can't be replaced. Main problem with this is the MMO I play, that will be another 20+ hour install & patch session. Installig is quick and easy, it's the patching that takes forever

 

[digitalprospecter]

Well that should resolve your problem for sure. Just took me by surprise as I had inferred from your post about the MMO files that they were really important and hard to replace. Alls well that ends well is the saying I believe.

 

[aford10]

I believe all you needed to do was install SP2 or SP3. Your data was all still there, just not visible.

If your install CD doesn't have SP2 or SP3, you will have the same issue with the new install.

 

[alazeer]

I believe all you needed to do was install SP2 or SP3. Your data was all still there, just not visible.

If your install CD doesn't have SP2 or SP3, you will have the same issue with the new install.

I did upgrade to sp3, I could see some information on what was my d:\ drive it had a bunch of folders on it that contained some information, some of it was good useable information but most of it was just full of garbage. For whatever reason the XP CD would only see 131GB on each 500GB Hard Drive?

I also had the problem of not being able to start up normally without having the XP install CD in the drive. With the CD in the drive I was able to start up off of the HDD, without the cd in the drive I couldn't start up off of the Hard Drive because it always booted in to safe mode. Didn't matter which selection I chose in safe mode, all the thing would do is start up and go right into safe mode again.

 

[aford10]

I did upgrade to sp3, I could see some information on what was my d:\ drive it had a bunch of folders on it that contained some information, some of it was good useable information but most of it was just full of garbage. For whatever reason the XP CD would only see 131GB on each 500GB Hard Drive?

You may also need a BIOS update.

I also had the problem of not being able to start up normally without having the XP install CD in the drive. With the CD in the drive I was able to start up off of the HDD, without the cd in the drive I couldn't start up off of the Hard Drive because it always booted in to safe mode. Didn't matter which selection I chose in safe mode, all the thing would do is start up and go right into safe mode again.

^^

Start-->run-->msconfig-->on the boot.ini tab, make sure none of the boxes are checked under 'boot options.' On the General tab, you can select 'normal startup,' as long as you haven't disabled anything else in msconfig.

 

[graywolf]

And stay away from System Mechanic and any of the registry cleaners.

When your system is again in tip-top condition, with all the programs installed:

-- clone it to an exterior HD, and save yourself this horror next time Windows is corrupted.

--Keep your data on a separate partition, and clone it to a separate partition of the exterior HD.

 

[alazeer]

I have two 500GB HDD's in this thing, this time I think i'm going to use the 2nd one as a place to backup the 1st one. It would have probably been better if I had built them in a raid setup but I didn't .

What's wrong with the system mechanic reg cleaner? Other than it thinking my printer driver registry entry being corrupt registry data and wiping them forcing me to reinstall those drivers a couple of time until I figured out what was causing them to be screwy .

 

[aford10]

I've used system mechanic before, but it's been a couple years. I found their software to be mediocre/adequate.

For a registry cleaner, I would suggest ccleaner.
http://www.ccleaner.com/

 

[graywolf]

Sorry, forgot CCleaner seems to be the one exception, as it repairs conservatively.

 

[aford10]

The exception to what?

 

[graywolf]

that registry cleaners generally do damage unless you have a deep understanding of the registry

 

[aford10]

This can be said of any non reputable software. If you use a quality software, you can know your system is in good hands.

 

[graywolf]

Don't want to hijack this thread. I'll open my own discussion of this, as digitalprospector did with his anti-virus thread.

 

[aford10]

Good idea. Look forward to it.

 

[graywolf]

Just did it.