[Zor25]

very strange and frustrating issue with my main PC (currently on a work laptop, thankfully)...

during boot, the system passes through POST normally, the standard WinXP splash screen comes up and disappears withing it's normal time frame, but after that, it freezes on the title scree just before the log-in choices normally show up.

i've tried booting to safe mode with identical results. i've also tried booting to the WinXP CD to run a system repair. However, after the system loads everything from the CD, it's seems to hang with the 'starting windows XP' message. now i can't even format?

i'm kind of at a loss here...everything was running swimmingly last night...

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new issue - while trying to boot to safe mode, I get to the same 'pre-login' screen, then the system reboots.

i've also taken out and re-installed my mem and v-card. hardware-wise everything looks fine.

grrr...

[Zor25]

new issue - while trying to boot to safe mode, I get to the same 'pre-login' screen, then the system reboots.

i've also taken out and re-installed my mem and v-card. hardware-wise everything looks fine.

grrr...

[happyrock]

download the following file: rc.iso....from here..then run chkdsk /r
from the rc.iso cd...be sure the bios is set to boot from the cd drive first...

go here and get burncdcc ..a small FAST no frills iso burning program...

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you
1. Start BurnCDCC by clicking on BurnCDCC.exe
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ....in this case its rc.iso
3. Select the ISO file
4. click on Start

make sure in the bios the cd drive is the first boot device....put the cd in the cd drive..boot your computer....when you get to the screen that gives you the option to install or repair ...select r...then when you get to the prompt...type in chkdsk /r..press enter

NOTE THE SINGLE SPACE BEFORE THE /
While chkdsk is running you will see a light blue window with a dark blue band at the top and bottom. or a black dos box depending on on which cd you use... a Chkdsk will display the specific stage it is checking as well as the percentage of completion of the stage....
there are 5 stages...it may appear to hang at a certain % for a hour or more...it even will sometimes go back over a area...this is normal...
DO NOT SHUT DOWN THE COMPUTER OR YOU CAN HAVE SERIOUS PROBLEMS...it can take a long time depending on how large the drive is...
You cannot do anything else on your computer while chkdsk is running. When chkdsk is finished, it will automatically reboot your computer....


then Go to Start...Run and type: eventvwr.msc press enter
When Event Viewer opens, click on Applications... then scroll down to Winlogon and double-click on it. This is the log created after running Checkdisk...copy and paste the log back here

[Zor25]

Hey Rock! Thanks for the info. Working on it now. One question, would chkdsk recognize a RAID? I have 3 physical drives, 2 in a stripe raid, and the 3rd as a junk drive. I recall having issues with drivers initially when I set up the system...

during POST the bios does recognize the RAID and shows a status:Healthy, but i guess that wouldn't help with a physical error on one of the drives?

we shall see I suppose.

Thanks again and Happy New Years!

-Z

Edited by Zor25, 01 January 2010 - 10:36 AM.

[Zor25]

chkdsk finished on my smaller, non-boot drive. it doesn't seem to be able to detect the RAID drives at all...

I have the MB CD with the raid drivers. Can they be loaded through the RC?

[happyrock]

its been 5 years since I played with RAID...both striped and mirrored...and it does seem I had issues when trying to defrag the RAID 0 array but I don't remember having any issue running chkdsk...
after a little research...it seems if you run chkdsk and it fixes any errors the RAID data patterns will be destroyed, usually beyond recovery...
you may want to try repairing xp...lowdown is here
You may have to use your orignal XP install disk and slipstream the RAID Drivers onto it, then use the newly created install disk to run the repair.

[Zor25]

Hey Rock - So I made a new slipstreamed CD with SP3 and the RAID drivers and I am still unable to get past the 'Setup is starting Windows' message.

I was also able to run a chkdsk scan on the RAID and it came back clean.

Any other ideas? otherwise I think my only solution is to use the bios to clear the raid entirely and do a fresh install. Maybe time to upgrade to Window 7.

[happyrock]

if you are unable to run the repair then yep...wipe the drives and reinstall a OS...if your hardware will support windows 7...go for it...
FWIW...I do not use any form of RAID anymore...although there are lots of people that do have RAID setups and don't have any issues...that was not my experience ...
the way I do it is to install the OS and all the programs and data on one drive...move my documents to a second drive...the second drive is also where any downloads go to...
once everything is tweaked to the max and freshly defragged... I clone the OS drive to a third drive...and upon completion unplug the power and data cables from the original drive and connect the same connectors to the cloned drive...reboot and go to work...now the original drive lives right in the tower and if you ever have serious problems just swap the power and data cables to the original drive and your up and running in about 10 minutes...
just like nothing happened...you may have a few new programs or at the least some updates to do but nothing compared to having to completely reinstall the OS and all your programs and data...
you can then work on the second drive at your leisure or just clone it again and start all over...

[Zor25]

Morning Rock -

Yeah, my thought is the same. I have an external that I can clone too once everything is up and running again. I'll most likely have drive A running the OS and programs and drive B doing the storage.

Thanks for the help, regardless.

Happy New Year

[happyrock]

I'll most likely have drive A running the OS and programs and drive B doing the storage.

... first thing you do though on the second drives is to PARTITION IT and set the swap file twice the size of the installed RAM on its own partition...the 1st partition...thats the fastest part of the drive...chop up the rest of the drive with the most frequently accessed stuff on the 2nd partition and the stuff rarely accessed on the last partition...
the external drive should be used to back up your data...you should also burn your data to dvd's periodically as extra insurance against data loss...the more important the data the more copies you should have of it...

complete guide on partitioning is located here ...very good reading..
This guide shares insights on the subject of hard drive partitioning. Here you will find strategies for the best way to partition your drive...
If you're going to install multiple operating systems (dual-boot or multi-boot) to/on the same physical disk, you must create a separate partition for each O/S....
I should mention that this guide is not a partitioning tutorial. If you're looking for a step-by-step procedure on how to use FDISK to create or delete partitions, check out Doc's [url="http://"%20<a%20href="http://fdisk.radified.com/""%20target="_blank">http://fdisk.radified.com/"</a>"]FDISK guide[/url]. It's referenced by several universities & disk manufacturers such as Samsung.