[FusionX]

Hi guys,

First off, I'm trying to help my girlfriend with her netbook but as I'm overseas, I may not have all the information available at all times but hopefully it will still be alright.

So she tried turning on her computer after about a week of not using it and got the BSOD. We can't boot into any safe modes either. We tried booting into the last known good configuration and it gave us 3 options: Recovery console, a "Do not pick this" debugging option, and Win XP Home edition. So from this, I'm assuming that the recovery console is installed onto the C: drive? Regardless, when we try to select recovery console, it gives us a "disk read error." We've since tried to make a USB recovery console because her netbook doesn't have a CD-rom drive but as we also don't have a Win XP cd, it hasn't been working. From somewhere else on these forums, there was an ISO image of just the XP recovery console but that doesn't seem to work with the programs that we've been trying to use to make a bootable USB.

At this point, I'm basically stumped. We went into the BIOS and it seems like it gives the model name of the HDD (Toshiba something or other) still so I'm hoping that means the HDD itself isn't physically dead. However, from looking online, it seems the next step is to somehow get recovery console to run and do a checkdisk and I have no clue how to do that without an XP cd.

So I figured I would ask on here to see if anyone has any idea about how we can either get a working recovery console to boot from USB without an XP cd (still working on acquiring one through friends but not looking good right now) or if anyone knows another method to perhaps get her computer working again.

Lastly, if it is truly impossible, she would like to salvage some files from the HDD. I don't know much but again from online research, is the only method to remove the HDD and attach it via an IDE/SATA to USB external case to another computer? If so, how do I tell if her HDD is IDE or SATA? Also, please note that while I throw all these technically sounding words out, I have no real idea what I'm talking about haha. I simply read online that I need to differentiate between these two before we invest in one of those HDD to USB converters. Where would people suggest we pick one up (for cheap hopefully)?

Thank you all so much for reading this!

Computer specs:

Model: ACER aspire one
OS: Win XP (I'm thinking at least SP2)
HDD: Toshiba something or other

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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

[rshaffer61]

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

[FusionX]

Hi rshaffer,

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately, there isn't a floppy disk drive or a CD-rom drive on my gf's netbook. Would you happen to know of a way to make a bootable USB with recovery console if we don't have an XP CD handy? Or is there another way to approach this problem?

Thanks for the help!

[rshaffer61]

This may or may not work but try this.

Download the following file: rc.iso and then use ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ to burn .iso file to a USB (select "Write image file to disc" option), and make the USB bootable.
I'm not sure if the newest version of imgburn supports USB yet but any program that will burn ISO files should be able to burn it to a USB Flash drive.
Then you have to make sure the boot sequence is set in the bios so that the USB is the first boot device.

[FusionX]

I actually tried using that rc.iso file but I combined it with the USB recovery console program/script detailed on this link instead: Creating a bootable USB. However, this process technically requires an XP CD to be in the CD-rom drive/mounted image drive but since we don't have one, I tried using the rc.iso file with it instead. Unfortunately, it didn't work and gave an error when it tried to confirm the location of the source info for the bootable USB.

I downloaded ImgBurn but it doesn't seem like it has an option to write to USB? Unless I'm overlooking it or it is something I have to change around in the settings? Would you know of any other burning programs that would allow writing to USB?

Thank you for the help!

Edit: I might have found a program that makes bootable USBs other than the one I listed above: Yumi multiboot. I'll have my gf give this one a go and see if it works. If it does, I'll post the results of the chkdisk here! (or rather, have her do it I mean)

Edited by FusionX, 28 May 2012 - 06:36 AM.

[rshaffer61]

OK thanks for the update this program should work also IsoToUSB

[FusionX]

So a quick update, we tried and were successful in making both a recovery console bootable USB as well as an actual XP install bootable USB. Unfortunately, we were only able to get as far as the XP setup screen loading its initial parameters before it gave us another BSOD. The error was a different one this time though: 0x0000007b.

At this point, I looked online and saw some articles mentioning how changing the SATA mode to IDE as opposed to AHCI would fix it so we tried that but still BSOD. There are also articles online talking about how we need to slipstream SATA drivers into the XP install USB but I thought changing the compatibility to IDE would negate that?

Either way, after all this time, we still have not been able to even get to the recovery console to run a chkdisk (would may or may not even help us). Ugh.

Anyways, so what we're going to try next is to simply salvage files using ubuntu running from a bootable USB. Hopefully we will be able to at least salvage some files before considering what to do next.

Thanks for the help up till now shaffer. If you have any recommendations on what we may be able to do in terms of salvaging files or completely formatting the drive (as it seems I won't be able to do it through XP setup), that would be terrific.

Cheers,

Edit: Just to clarify, both the recovery console and the XP setup install loaded the initial XP setup screen but was unable to get any further without BSOD-ing.

Edited by FusionX, 30 May 2012 - 12:47 AM.

[rshaffer61]

Yep it seems the SATA drivers may be the issue now.
Saving the files you want with a Linux Live cd is a good choice before going any further.

[FusionX]

So it is because of the SATA drivers eh? Well, we'll try to back things up before attempting to slipstream some SATA drivers into the XP install. Thanks for confirming!

[rshaffer61]

Are you still having problems with your issue?
It has been 27 days since your last response and I was wondering if the issue has been resolved?
If so can you explain how it was resolved so others may be able to fix it if they have the same issue.
If not please let us know and we can continue with helping you to resolve the issue.

[FusionX]

Hi rshaffer61,

I apologize for not updating you. We have been trying to fix it but to no avail. We've made multiple attempts at reinstalling WinXP with no success. The lack of an optical drive really hurts as a lot of time is spent making bootable USB sticks, and none of them have worked so far. Additionally, it has been rather frustrating trying to remotely repair a computer since I'm not there physically. As a result, we've decided to go with installing Ubuntu as the OS instead. Since all she needs it for is web browsing and word processing, it should be fine hopefully.

On a positive note, we were able to salvage all her files by using Ubuntu as well.

Thanks for all the help and sorry that we won't be much help for others with this situation as well.

FusionX

[rshaffer61]

I'm am glad to hear you were able to save the data and that Ubuntu saved the system.
Understandably without a optical drive it is harder to get everything resolved. You may consider the option of purchasing a external USB optical drive for future use.
The only change you would have to make then is to make sure the system can boot to a optical drive which I believe you have been able to do to install Ubuntu.

[SARDAF]

Hi, I am new to this forum and saw that you were able to recover your data from the failed hard drive. Can you tell me exactly how you did it?
I also have a netbook 10V running windows XP. I was able to remove the hard drive and put it into an enclosure. Another computer running windows 7 can see the file structure of the disk but cannot access the files. Is there a way to recover the data without it being in the mini 10V?
Thanks,
Sherry.