[DonSwin]

The Puppy boot disk is hanging at "Loading kernel modules..." and doesn't get to a desktop. Is this a particularly long process? Would a different version be more successful?

I was reviewing my original post & failed to mention that my system is Windows XP Pro 32 bit OS. AM2+ CPU with 4Gb DDR2 RAM, 2 internal Seagate 1Tb Barracuda drives. The drive with the problem is the primary which has 2 partitions - one for system & the other for data. The second drive is for backups and there is a Seagate external USB drives for redundant backup files.

Edited by DonSwin, 06 February 2011 - 02:06 PM.

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Restart the system. Sometimes Puppy will hangup like that.

[rshaffer61]

Restart the system. Sometimes Puppy will hangup like that.

[DonSwin]

I'm not familiar with Linux enough to run or understand its command line functions.

I got past the load & got the following messages:

ERROR, cannot find Puppy on 'usbcd' boot media,
PUPMODE=1 PDEV1=
Exited to initial-ramdisk (initramfs) commandline.l..
(the Linux-guru can now debug, 'e3' editor is available)

/bin/sh: can't access tty; job control turned off
#

[rshaffer61]

Hmm might be a bad burn then. Can you try to reburn it using the instructions I gave and see if it will work then.

[DonSwin]

I tried that. Even tried it with Puppy 2.17.1 & had the same problem. Do you think a copy of Knoppix would get me to the same place? I wish I had paid more attention to Linux when I had a machine configured with it.

Edited by DonSwin, 06 February 2011 - 04:39 PM.

[rshaffer61]

Yep Knoppix should work.

[DonSwin]

I was able to run Knoppix and copy files from the first partition to the second drive. I can not access the second partition because "a process is pending". I suspect that it the unfinished chkdsk /r - but I'm not sure.

Is there a way to disable the automatic chkdsk on boot when I can't get into Windows? I did find a few DOS utilities that would boot from CD & let me read both NTFS partitions, but none of them had copy functions.

Close, but no cigar (yet).

[rshaffer61]

How To Run Chkdsk /r from Recovery Console:


How to run checkdisk from recovery console (Windows xp). (Courtesy dsenette)

• Insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk drive, or insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.
  Note:Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted to do so.
• When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.
  Note:If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console.
• When you are prompted to do so, type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.
• At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following then press Enter:
  

  chkdsk /r

• Allow this to run UNDISTURBED until completed (45 min or so)
• Report any errors

[DonSwin]

I asked the wrong question. Chkdsk /r is what was running 4 days without conclusion.

Seagate disk tools reports that the drive test failed.

Spinrite ran on both partitions at level 2 without reporting bad sectors.

I can boot to a Knoppix CD and read Partition 1 on drive 0, all of drive 1, and the external usb drive but not partition 2 on drive 0. Linux reports that it can not mount that volume because a process is pending and then says there is a file structure or hardware problem . Both of my internal drives (0 & 1) are 1Tb Seagate Barracudas.

I can boot with a utility that boots to DOS and can read NTFS partitions. It can see both partitions on drive 0 with the file names in 8.3 format. That utility can not copy or move files, just read them. It is supposed to be able to read NTFS files and write them to a FAT32 disk but I don't have a FAT32 formatted disk available to test that function.

Ideally, I would like to find a utility that could boot from CD, recognize all of the drives and partitions attached to the machine, and then copy (preferably folders or xcopy) mass files from one device to another. All devices are formatted NTFS. Alternately, it would be ideal if Knoppix could mount the bad partition. I am not proficient in Linux and don't know if there is something I can do to get around that error message.

I have Acronis True Image backups of my drives but it is 2 days old and my Outlook.pst file is on the bad partition and has several hundred messages I want to retain or at least respond to. Unfortunately, I have Outlook configured to delete the mail from the ISP server when retrieved.

Thanks for all the fast responses.

[rshaffer61]

ok can you boot into safe mode?
If not do you have a XP Installation disk?

[DonSwin]

If I try to boot into safe mode, it hangs up loading (or just after loading) mup.sys.

I do have the original install CD & key that I purchased when I built this machine 2 years ago.

[rshaffer61]

ok so it is a mup issue.

The most common cause is the executing PnP (Plug and Play) and ACPI routines issue.
To fix the issue, we need to access the computer from Recovery Console.

If you do have your Windows CD

1. To start the Recovery Console directly from the Windows XP CD you would do the following:

• Insert the Windows XP cd in your computer.
• Restart your computer so you are booting off of the CD.
• When the Welcome to Setup screen appears, press the R button on your keyboard to start the Recovery Console.
• The Recovery Console will start and ask you which Windows installation you would like to log on to. If you have multiple Windows installations, it will list each one, and you would enter the number associated with the installation you would like to work on and press enter. If you have just one Windows installation, type 1 and press enter.
• It will then prompt you for the Administrator's password. If there is no password, simply press enter. Otherwise type in the password and then press enter.
• If you entered the correct password you will now be presented with a C:\Windows> prompt and you can start using the Recovery Console.

2. Type map and press enter.
It will give you the drive letters.
Note down the letter of you CD-ROM.
If it is a letter other than E you should replace the letter E with your CD drive letter when applying the expand command later on if the command is needed to be applied.

Type following commmands, pressing Enter after each one.

• ren c:\windows\system32\drivers\atapi.sys atapi.old
  (It will returns to the prompt again without notification)
• copy c:\windows\servicepackfiles\i386\atapi.sys c:\windows\system32\drivers
  (If you get a notification "1 file(s) copied" you don't need to do the next expand command and go to exit command. But if you get notification that the file doesn't exist proceed with expand command)
• expand e:\I386\atapi.sy_ c:\windows\system32\drivers
  (You should be notified that the file expanded)
• exit

You may remove the CD or let Windows boot normally.


If you don't have your Windows CD
Please download ARCDC from Artellos.com.

• Double click ARCDC.exe
• Follow the dialog until you see 6 options. Please pick: Windows Professional SP2 & SP3
• You will be prompted with a Terms of Use by Microsoft, please accept.
• You will see a few dos screens flash by, this is normal.
• Next you will be able to choose to add extra files. Select the Default Files.
• The last window will allow you to burn the disk using BurnCDCC

Then, follow instructions from Step #1 above.

[DonSwin]

Using the XP CD, I followed these steps. When rebooting to Safe Mode, it hung om MUP.SYS again. Is it possible it is hanging on the *.sys file that is loading after MUP.SYS?

When at the command prompt I noticed the map command did not have NTFS next to the partition in question. I tried to do a "dir" of it and, after a long wait, got "An error occurred during directory enumeration".

Many suggestions are to run chkdsk /r, but I'm afraid to start that since that was what got me here in the first place. Is there a way to restore recognition of the files on the faulty partition?

[rshaffer61]

You can try running chkdsk /r from the recovery console.

How To Run Chkdsk /r from Recovery Console:


How to run checkdisk from recovery console (Windows xp). (Courtesy dsenette)

• Insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk drive, or insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.
  Note:Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted to do so.
• When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.
  Note:If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console.
• When you are prompted to do so, type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.
• At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following then press Enter:
  

  chkdsk /r

• Allow this to run UNDISTURBED until completed (45 min or so)
• Report any errors

[Macboatmaster]

Do not know if it is any help?

In Safe Mode it hangs at mup.sys.
On XP the next two loads are the Hard Drive Controller and the graphics.


My money at the moment would be on a badly corrupted file system on that partition that cannot be seen in Puppy.
This may be supported by the fact that Seagate test failed.

Autocheck is reset on each reboot and that is why Knoppix is returning process is pending.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 07 February 2011 - 05:59 PM.