Sorry to ask for help, but I've tried lots of Googling and am getting nowhere.
The faults I'll describe are not due to hardware or malware of any kind. They are entirely self-inflicted wounds.
My PC is running XP, SP3. I have two HDD, both with multiple partitions. The C:\ SYSTEM disk is copied bit-for-bit to a backup on the second HDD. I have cleverly corrupted both sets. I accidentally defragged the backup, which moved files around. An error on the main system prompted me to overwrite the entire disk with the backup, but it will now not boot to Windows.
From cold, my PC boots past the BIOS POST, the Windows XP splash screen starts, the progress bar moves as it should. The screen goes blank and the drivers kick the USB keyboard and speakers. The Windows cursor appears on the black screen, then nothing......it just hangs there. I've tried waiting for hours, still nothing more happens.
Here's what else I've tried:
1. booting to safe mode. Same thing happens, the PC just hangs at the black screen without launching the GUI.
2. RECOVERY OPTION
booted from XP disk, started recovery console. None of the usual commands work:
dir
"an error occurred during directory enumeration"
chkdsk
"the volume appears to have one or more unrecoverable errors"
cd windows
"the path or file specified is not valid"
fixboot
"fixboot cannot find the system drive, or the system drive is not valid"
fixmbr
"this computer appears to have a non-standard or invalid master boot record"
"the new master boot record has been successfully written"
(the new MBR made no difference....the machine still hangs before the Windows interface opens.
when I rebooted, it runs checkdisk, reports all files and folders intact, but still hangs at the same point.
3. REINSTALL OPTION
booted off the XP install disk, selected ENTER to install Windows
"setup cannot find a previous version of Windows installed on your computer."
At this point, you're thinking the disk is goosed, Windows or the partition table are fried, it needs a complete re-install....
And now the really funny part....
4. I removed the disk and installed it in a USB drive case
the disk is split into three partitions (system, games, photos)
all three partitions are visible through USB, so everything has been copied to another drive and is safe.
the SYSTEM partition is intact, all Windows files and directories appear intact, so...
5. I copied boot.ini from c:\windows\pss and overwrote the one in the root
this made no difference when I reinstalled the disk and rebooted
6. back in the usb drive, I copied the registry files from c:\windows\repair to c:\windows\system32\config
this made no difference when I reinstalled the disk and rebooted
All the Windows files are on the drive, as far as I can tell. Me running defrag on the copied image has screwed up the directory or something, so Windows cannot start fully. ANY help gratefully received from XP experts!
The faults I'll describe are not due to hardware or malware of any kind. They are entirely self-inflicted wounds.
My PC is running XP, SP3. I have two HDD, both with multiple partitions. The C:\ SYSTEM disk is copied bit-for-bit to a backup on the second HDD. I have cleverly corrupted both sets. I accidentally defragged the backup, which moved files around. An error on the main system prompted me to overwrite the entire disk with the backup, but it will now not boot to Windows.
From cold, my PC boots past the BIOS POST, the Windows XP splash screen starts, the progress bar moves as it should. The screen goes blank and the drivers kick the USB keyboard and speakers. The Windows cursor appears on the black screen, then nothing......it just hangs there. I've tried waiting for hours, still nothing more happens.
Here's what else I've tried:
1. booting to safe mode. Same thing happens, the PC just hangs at the black screen without launching the GUI.
2. RECOVERY OPTION
booted from XP disk, started recovery console. None of the usual commands work:
dir
"an error occurred during directory enumeration"
chkdsk
"the volume appears to have one or more unrecoverable errors"
cd windows
"the path or file specified is not valid"
fixboot
"fixboot cannot find the system drive, or the system drive is not valid"
fixmbr
"this computer appears to have a non-standard or invalid master boot record"
"the new master boot record has been successfully written"
(the new MBR made no difference....the machine still hangs before the Windows interface opens.
when I rebooted, it runs checkdisk, reports all files and folders intact, but still hangs at the same point.
3. REINSTALL OPTION
booted off the XP install disk, selected ENTER to install Windows
"setup cannot find a previous version of Windows installed on your computer."
At this point, you're thinking the disk is goosed, Windows or the partition table are fried, it needs a complete re-install....
And now the really funny part....
4. I removed the disk and installed it in a USB drive case
the disk is split into three partitions (system, games, photos)
all three partitions are visible through USB, so everything has been copied to another drive and is safe.
the SYSTEM partition is intact, all Windows files and directories appear intact, so...
5. I copied boot.ini from c:\windows\pss and overwrote the one in the root
this made no difference when I reinstalled the disk and rebooted
6. back in the usb drive, I copied the registry files from c:\windows\repair to c:\windows\system32\config
this made no difference when I reinstalled the disk and rebooted
All the Windows files are on the drive, as far as I can tell. Me running defrag on the copied image has screwed up the directory or something, so Windows cannot start fully. ANY help gratefully received from XP experts!