[JAFL]

I'm hoping someone here might be able to steer me in the right direction here. I have a situation right now on my 2006 Dell E1505 laptop (with Windows XP Home Edition) where I can't restart the computer. I have been getting BSOD'S for about a year, off and on.

Last night I got another BSOD and tried to fix it. It said: Driver_corrputed_mmpool. I've been getting this same message since last summer. I ran verifier.exe at the advice of someone online. Upon reboot it indicated a problem with iomdisk.sys. I removed the driver. (I figured this was from an old Iomega zip drive I had installed on the laptop about the same time I started getting the bsod's). Afterwards, I also did a search for that file name and removed two files. About an hour later I got the same bsod again. So, I restarted the computer and almost immediately a bsod came up.

I tried restarting the computer in safe mode and last best known configuration, but both times the bsod came up after selecting those modes.

I want to restart the computer and not lose any programs or files, and I don't have the OS disk, resource disk or drivers/utilities. Dell did not give me these when I bought the computer, so I called Dell this morning and they are mailing them to me in 2 to 3 days.

I did a bunch of research last night about this and came up with the following course of action. I'm hoping maybe some people here might be able to tell me if this is my best option:

1) To be safe and save any files first, create a boot disk using a free Linux distro live cd (download from kubuntv website). I have no idea how to do this. Supposedly I can use this to get into my C and save some work externally?

2) After I get my OS install disk, I should do a "repair-install", instead of a reinstall. Supposedly just doing a repair-install will save my programs and files, and the most I'll have to do is re-update some drivers and utilities after I get the computer back up and running? I read that it's better to do a repair-install than use a recovery disk (recovery console) if I want to save my files?


While Dell is sending my Windows XP Home OS disk later this week, I do have a Windows XP home OS disk from another computer that I thought I would try so I could save some time, but I'm assuming I can't use someone's else's because the registry keys are different? At this point I'm just playing it safe and waiting until I get the actual disk copy for my computer.


Anyhow, I'm all ears if anyone is kind enough to offer some other suggestions or any advice. I'm a novice at this stuff so please keep that in mind.

Thank you!

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I do have a Windows XP home OS disk from another computer that I thought I would try so I could save some time, but I'm assuming I can't use someone's else's because the registry keys are different?

You would use your own reg key on the side of your system.

To be safe and save any files first, create a boot disk using a free Linux distro live cd (download from kubuntv website). I have no idea how to do this. Supposedly I can use this to get into my C and save some work externally?

I will give the instructions for making such a disk using Puppy Linux.


First lets make sure your data is safe and then we will move on to the Repair Installation using the existing Windows XP Home OS disk you have access to right now.


Get Puppy Linux from my signature below...Get puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso download it and burn it to cd
..
if you don't have a burning program that will burn .ISO files get Burncdcc from my signature...it is 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
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ....in this case its puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.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....puppy will boot and run totally in ram...if your hardware is is good working order you will know...
after you get it running and your at the desktop...you take the puppy linux cd out and then you can use the burner to copy all your data to cd/dvds
you can also use it to backup your data to a external usb harddrive..just have it hooked to the computer when you boot up with puppy...

==========================
quick guide for saving data...music..files on a system that will not boot using puppy Linux..


after you get to puppy desktop..
click on the drives icon...looks like a flash drive...top row..it will list all the drives connected to

your computer...

click on the red icon for the drive you want to mount...in this case its a flash drive ...puppy will

mount the drive..the drive icon turns green when its mounted...
minimize the drives mounter window..you will need it again in a few minutes..
drag the right edge of it sideways to shrink it to its narrowest size...about half the width of the screen...then drag the window to the right edge of the screen...

now click on the icon that looks like a filing cabinet (kind of yellow) on the main drive...it should
already be green..
you will see a list of all the folders on the main drive Usually your C: drive..shrink that window to
the narrowest you can..about half the width of the screen...drag that window to the left side of the screen...
at this point you should have 2 windows open on your desktop..the flash drive on the right side..
go back to the folders on the C: drive...click on the documents and settings folder...then your user
name or all users..find the folders that has your data..
drag and drop the folder with the data you want to make copies of to the flash drive window...

your options are to move ..copy ect...JUST COPY..if its to big you will have to open the folder and
drag and drop individual files until the flash drive is full...(I have a 120 GB external USB drive for
big data recovery jobs and a 4 GB flash drive for the smaller jobs)..after you get the files copied to
the flash drive...
Click on the drives mounter you minimized earlier
UNMOUNT THE FLASH DRIVE by clicking on the green icon..you will once in awhile get error messages when
unmouting the drive..ignore them..when the flash drive icon turns red again its safe to remove the
flash drive..trot on over (stroll if you want to look cool) to another computer and plug in the flash

drive and copy all the data files ( I drag and drop) to the other computer..
make sure the other computer can read them...

now delete the data on the flash drive...take it back to the misbehaving computer and plug it in

again..click on the drives icon again and repeat until you have all your data transferred to the working
system..

Thanks to happyrock

[rshaffer61]

I do have a Windows XP home OS disk from another computer that I thought I would try so I could save some time, but I'm assuming I can't use someone's else's because the registry keys are different?

You would use your own reg key on the side of your system.

To be safe and save any files first, create a boot disk using a free Linux distro live cd (download from kubuntv website). I have no idea how to do this. Supposedly I can use this to get into my C and save some work externally?

I will give the instructions for making such a disk using Puppy Linux.


First lets make sure your data is safe and then we will move on to the Repair Installation using the existing Windows XP Home OS disk you have access to right now.


Get Puppy Linux from my signature below...Get puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso download it and burn it to cd
..
if you don't have a burning program that will burn .ISO files get Burncdcc from my signature...it is 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
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ....in this case its puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.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....puppy will boot and run totally in ram...if your hardware is is good working order you will know...
after you get it running and your at the desktop...you take the puppy linux cd out and then you can use the burner to copy all your data to cd/dvds
you can also use it to backup your data to a external usb harddrive..just have it hooked to the computer when you boot up with puppy...

==========================
quick guide for saving data...music..files on a system that will not boot using puppy Linux..


after you get to puppy desktop..
click on the drives icon...looks like a flash drive...top row..it will list all the drives connected to

your computer...

click on the red icon for the drive you want to mount...in this case its a flash drive ...puppy will

mount the drive..the drive icon turns green when its mounted...
minimize the drives mounter window..you will need it again in a few minutes..
drag the right edge of it sideways to shrink it to its narrowest size...about half the width of the screen...then drag the window to the right edge of the screen...

now click on the icon that looks like a filing cabinet (kind of yellow) on the main drive...it should
already be green..
you will see a list of all the folders on the main drive Usually your C: drive..shrink that window to
the narrowest you can..about half the width of the screen...drag that window to the left side of the screen...
at this point you should have 2 windows open on your desktop..the flash drive on the right side..
go back to the folders on the C: drive...click on the documents and settings folder...then your user
name or all users..find the folders that has your data..
drag and drop the folder with the data you want to make copies of to the flash drive window...

your options are to move ..copy ect...JUST COPY..if its to big you will have to open the folder and
drag and drop individual files until the flash drive is full...(I have a 120 GB external USB drive for
big data recovery jobs and a 4 GB flash drive for the smaller jobs)..after you get the files copied to
the flash drive...
Click on the drives mounter you minimized earlier
UNMOUNT THE FLASH DRIVE by clicking on the green icon..you will once in awhile get error messages when
unmouting the drive..ignore them..when the flash drive icon turns red again its safe to remove the
flash drive..trot on over (stroll if you want to look cool) to another computer and plug in the flash

drive and copy all the data files ( I drag and drop) to the other computer..
make sure the other computer can read them...

now delete the data on the flash drive...take it back to the misbehaving computer and plug it in

again..click on the drives icon again and repeat until you have all your data transferred to the working
system..

Thanks to happyrock

[rshaffer61]

Once you have the data safe then do the following:



Repair Installation Instructions

· Insert your Windows XP CD in your CD-ROM and then Restart your computer.

· At the first post screen start tapping the Del key to enter System Bios
· Find the Advance Options or Boot Sequence screen.
· You will need to change the boot sequence so that the CDrom is first and the HD is second.
· Press F10 to Save and Exit and then press Enter to accept.
· The system will now reboot
· When the "Press any key to boot from CD" message is displayed on your screen, press a key to start your computer from the Windows XP CD.
· When you see the following message displayed on the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER
· To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.
· At this point an option to press R to enter the Recovery Console is displayed. DO NOT SELECT THIS OPTION.

· On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen, press F8 to agree to the license agreement.
· Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP is selected and highlighted in the box, and then press the R key to repair Windows XP.
· Follow the instructions on the screen to complete Setup.

You can also go HERE
to read a step by step tutorial with screenshots.

[JAFL]

Once you have the data safe then do the following:



Repair Installation Instructions

· Insert your Windows XP CD in your CD-ROM and then Restart your computer.

· At the first post screen start tapping the Del key to enter System Bios
· Find the Advance Options or Boot Sequence screen.
· You will need to change the boot sequence so that the CDrom is first and the HD is second.
· Press F10 to Save and Exit and then press Enter to accept.
· The system will now reboot
· When the "Press any key to boot from CD" message is displayed on your screen, press a key to start your computer from the Windows XP CD.
· When you see the following message displayed on the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER
· To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.
· At this point an option to press R to enter the Recovery Console is displayed. DO NOT SELECT THIS OPTION.

· On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen, press F8 to agree to the license agreement.
· Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP is selected and highlighted in the box, and then press the R key to repair Windows XP.
· Follow the instructions on the screen to complete Setup.

You can also go HERE
to read a step by step tutorial with screenshots.

Rshaffer61,

Thanks for your posts! I'm going to digest all this and I'll report back here. In the meantime, I've attached a picture of the bluescreen bsod I get, in case this is of any help:

[rshaffer61]

This is the explanation of the bug check code you are getting.

0x0000007B: INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE
(Click to consult the online MSDN article.)
Windows lost access to the system partition or boot volume during the startup process. Typical causes: Installing incorrect device drivers when installing or upgrading storage adapter hardware, or a virus.

Any of the upgrades look like something you may have done right before this started?

[JAFL]

This is the explanation of the bug check code you are getting.

0x0000007B: INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE
(Click to consult the online MSDN article.)
Windows lost access to the system partition or boot volume during the startup process. Typical causes: Installing incorrect device drivers when installing or upgrading storage adapter hardware, or a virus.

Any of the upgrades look like something you may have done right before this started?

It could be related. Just before this started, I ran the verifier.exe application from windows and it said there was an issue with the file iomdisk.sys. I just assumed this was the driver I had installed last year to run an old iomega zip drive. So I uninstalled that driver. Afterwards, I did a search for any files with that name (iomdisk.sys). It found two and I deleted them just to be safe. The attached bsod started happening upon the very next reboot. But I don't understand why removing an old zip disk driver would cause such a malfunction of the OS.

[rshaffer61]

Maybe you could have deleted a newer driver instead of the older ones?

Have you tried a system restore back before the issue started? We can attempt that using the OS disk you have available or we could try the Repair Installation to see if it would replace the corrupted file or replace it.

[JAFL]

Maybe you could have deleted a newer driver instead of the older ones?

Do you mean perhaps there is another iomega device on my computer other than the old disk drive I used? I just assumed my internal hard drive is from another manufacturer.

Have you tried a system restore back before the issue started? We can attempt that using the OS disk you have available or we could try the Repair Installation to see if it would replace the corrupted file or replace it.

I haven't tried a system restore. Which of those two options would be most advantageous to me in terms of preserving existing programs and files?

[rshaffer61]

To be sure do the steps in post 2
This will get you access to your data so you can backup. When done then we can continue on but I want to make sure your data is safe first.

[JAFL]

Thanks Rs! I was able to successfully back everything up. I ended up using Ubuntu. I couldn't figure out how to make an image copy of the drive, but I did at least get everything copied onto an external drive.

Someone on another forum suggested the bsod "inaccessible boot device" might be caused by a bad IDE cable, controller on the mbd, or a bad mbd. But I have to wonder if this could be a registry issue since I uninstalled that driver right before I started getting this problem.

I came across a guy on youtube who is having the same problem when trying to boot up. He had just uninstalled something right before it started and he suspects it's a registry issue:

Youtube video - similar problem trying to boot

Now that my data is backed up, I'll be attempting these other steps within the next couple of days. I'll be back to let you know how things progress. Thanks again for your help!

[JAFL]

UPDATE:


I ran an install repair. Upon the first boot up, I got a popup after the first minute. See attachment "screen 1". I then cancelled and the second popup (screen 2 attachment) came up.


Re: the first popup window (screen 1), the dell reinstall cd says it contains service pack 3, so I don't know why it's asking for that file. Also, even if I had that file on a disk, the popup window won't allow me to access another drive.

The system then rebooted, setup resumed, and I was right back with these two windows. Stuck.



Does anyone have any suggestions on my next move? What about trying fixboot or a system restore? I was reluctant to before because of the risks I'm reading about.

Attached Thumbnails

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Edited by JAFL, 20 January 2011 - 01:48 PM.

[rshaffer61]

Ahh it's looking in the wrong place for the file.
When the first window pops up you need to click Brose and check the cd for the file. If it is not there then you will need to check the Windows folder on the hd.
The risks at this point have been nullified since you backed up your data.
Let me ask is there programs on the system that you can't replace and is that the reason for the hesitation?

[JAFL]

Ahh it's looking in the wrong place for the file.
When the first window pops up you need to click Brose and check the cd for the file. If it is not there then you will need to check the Windows folder on the hd.
The risks at this point have been nullified since you backed up your data.
Let me ask is there programs on the system that you can't replace and is that the reason for the hesitation?

I worked around that problem, but now I have a new popup. (attached). There is one program I don't have the backup info for anymore, so I am hesitant about losing it.

Attached Thumbnails

• 

[rshaffer61]

Tell it yes. Normally that is nothing to worry about and only means Microsoft has not certified the driver and\or software.

[JAFL]

Thanks. Actually I just got another popup for something else (attached), should I hit ok?

Attached Thumbnails

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