[SandstormGT]

I am running a Slipstreamed version of Windows XP SP2 on my HTPC. My OS is on a 110 gig SATA, and I have (3) 500 gig HDD's on SATA for storage. My system has ran flawless for over a year until a few nights ago I went to sleep watching a movie, and then was woken up about 5 hours later by the constant rebooting of my computer. When my system booted up, it said "Invalid Boot.ini, booting from windows\system32" and then it goes to a screen that says "autochk program not found. skipping autocheck." and then my computer restarts and the same cycle continues.

I have been reading for the past couple days trying to figure out how to fix this without losing anything, I don't want to use the repair feature, and I am unable to access the recovery console because I used ntLite to create my CD and I do not have a recovery console option. I do, however, have the HDD in question attached to the computer that I am currently on, and it is working just fine. The only thing I have done is copy the autochk.exe file from this HDD to the HDD in question, but I haven't tested this, wanted to wait for some advice. Anything help would be greatly appreciated!

[John Hook]

SandstormGT,

If you have the suspect/problem hard drive attached to a system with a working/bootable copy of XP, and you're able to access the suspect drive as a secondary drive - you should be able to run a thourough chkdsk on the problem drive from your existing/running copy of XP.

I would install the recovery console on your WORKING copy of XP as follows:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654

Once you've installed this, you should get a boot menu with the option of the XP Recovery Console. Run this and if that other hard drive is connected, it should allow you to connect to THAT installation of Windows XP. If it does, then run:

CHKDSK X: /r

where "X" is the drive letter of the copy of Windows installed on the drive you're having problems with.

- John Hook

[SandstormGT]

Thank you for the timely response, I just loaded recovery up, and I'm going to give it a shot, I'll post back when I am done.

[SandstormGT]

Ok, I did exactly as you said, took quite a while to finish the chkdsk. I loaded the HDD in question into it's home computer and I still get the same problem. I set it to "Not Reboot on Failure" it starts off with "invalid boot.ini, booting from c:\windows| and then it goes to the BSOD "STOP: c000021a {Fatal System Failure} The Windows Logon Process system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0xc0000135 {0x00000000 0x00000000}. The system has been shut down"

That BSOD comes up in place of where the "autochk program not found. skipping autocheck." used to be.

I haven't changed anything on the computer in quite some time, I don't see how this could come out of the blue. I had read somewhere that this could be caused by a new microsoft hotfix, but I don't think I installed any updates in a month or so.

[SandstormGT]

Any other suggestions?

[John Hook]

SandstormGT,

Check out the following post on Microsoft's support site:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...kb;en-us;156669

This has detailed information about troubleshooting and solving the STOP BSOD error you documented in you recent post.

- John

[SandstormGT]

Any more suggestions Mr. Hook? Thanks for the previous help!

[The Admiral]

Also, we may want to get rid of this boot.ini error. Enter the recovery console again.

"SKB 330184" said:

At the command prompt, type bootcfg /rebuild, and then press ENTER. This command scans the hard disks of the computer for Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000, or Microsoft Windows NT installations, and then displays the results. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to add the Windows installations to the Boot.ini file. For example, follow these steps to add a Windows XP installation to the Boot.ini file:

a. When you receive a message that is similar to the following message, press Y:
Total Identified Windows Installs: 1

[1] C:\Windows
Add installation to boot list? (Yes/No/All)

b. You receive a message that is similar to the following message:
Enter Load Identifier
This is the name of the operating system. When you receive this message, type the name of your operating system, and then press ENTER. This is either Microsoft Windows XP Professional or Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition.

c. You receive a message that is similar to the following:
Enter OS Load options
When you receive this message, type /fastdetect, and then press ENTER.

Note The instructions that appear on your screen may be different, depending on the configuration of your computer.

[SandstormGT]

I did exactly as you said, everything worked in that process. I then switched the drive to the host computer, but I still get "Invalid Boot.ini , Booting from c:\windows\" and then the windows splash screen starts loading, and my computer restarts. When I disable automatic restart upon system failure, I still get the same exact BSOD as I posted in my first post.

[SandstormGT]

I am requesting from the admins that John Hook be able to help me, he was asked not to give me advice by one of the admins, and since I don't see anyone else jumping to help me, his help would be greatly appreciated...

[The Admiral]

Sandstorm,

We have lots of competent members here who are willing to help you. But we are all volunteers, so we ask for your patience while we search for a resolution for you and the other people who come here needing help, even if it is 6 hours between responses.

Go to this site, find "How To Create a bootable CD to access the Recovery Console," get that ISO, and burn it to a CD to create a bootable recovery console. Run the boot.ini fix steps in my above post on the host computer. Once we are able to validly boot to Windows XP, we'll see if the BSOD is still there and what we need to do to fix it.

[wannabe1]

Hi SandstormGT...

Just out of curiosity, have you tried the "Last known good configuration" option from the Advanced Boot Options screen? (Tap F8 during boot to get this screen.)

Had you installed any new hardware or software just prior to this problem?

We may be able to revert to an older registry backup with a system restore from recovery console, but try the last know good configuration first.

John Hook's posting restrictions have been lifted now that he's had a chance to review and understand the policies he was having trouble understanding. I look forward to seeing him helping in the forums again very soon.

wannabe1

[SandstormGT]

I have already ran the boot.ini fix on the HDD.

Yes, I did try "Last Known Good Configuration". One of the first things I tried.

No, like I said, I haven't made any hardware/software changes in at least a week before the problem started occuring, to my knowledge.

Thanks for lifting his posting restrictions.

[The Admiral]

Did you do the boot.ini fix with the original drive in the original computer with the original configuration? The boot.ini file is going to be different depending on the drive setup.

[SandstormGT]

Alright, I put that Iso on CD and ran recovery console on the original HDD on the original computer, appears to have fixed the boot.ini file! Thank you!. But unfortuantely, I'm still restarting at the splash screen due to BSOD in first post.