XP Doesn't Boot - Many Solutions Tried - Urgent Help Require and Appreciated

[crystaline]

Hi,

I shall try and explain this as succinctly as possible.
I am using Windows XP Pro SP2

Laptop was closed down correctly, no sign of anything wrong.
Upon switching on the following day, I received the error 'Windows is unable to load' And was given the option to boot in safe mode, restore to previous settings etc. None of these options worked, and when each was selected the laptop would just autorestart and it would repeat.

I used the original Windows CD and used the first option to try and repair the Windows installation. This function was unavailable, so I then turned to the recovery console, suspecting that perhaps the boot files had been corrupted.
I ran the 'fixboot' command and restarted the laptop.

However, upon powering up I received a new error 'NTLDR files missing, press any key to continue'

I used This guide to help me try to replace the missing files but it did not work and the error still existed.

I went back to the recovery console and ran chkdsk c /p . No errors found . I then ran chkdsk c/r and it declared there were one or more areas unrecoverable.

I can't seem to get anywhere beyond here without going around the recovery console in circles. I don't really know what I should be looking for or what may be wrong.
As I said, there were no problems originally and nothing showed up on the antivirus, the computer closed down as per usual so I was doubtful of a virus - although I am not 100% on that.

Do you think I can get back in to Windows? Is everything lost? What else can I try?

I would appreciate any help or suggestions anyone can give. I have a decent enough computer knowledge to follow suggestions, but I simply don't know enough about these sorts of errors.

There are some very important files on the laptop

Thank you so much

 

[jNive]

run the fixboot and then fixmbr commands
make sure the partition with boot.ini and ntldr.exe is the partition marked as active ( use one of the many popular boot cds with partition utilities here )
do you have more than one partition on that disk btw.

As for the original error, i suspect a system driver got corrupted to start with, whether due to a bad sector on the disk or via a software error.
also, what is likely to occur is the partitions got renumbered and the boot.ini pointed to the wrong partition.

These are all things to check, and the many boot cds about are great for this purpose.

 

[Simian]

This sounds exactly like the problem I had about two weeks ago!...

I pulled the drive out and put (slave) it into another machine (both desktops!!) to see if I could access the data!... but in Disk management it said the entire disk was "Unpartitioned Space"

Had to Re-Install Windows from scratch!.. Lucky I backed up all my work/music!..

 

[crystaline]

This sounds exactly like the problem I had about two weeks ago!...

I pulled the drive out and put (slave) it into another machine (both desktops!!) to see if I could access the data!... but in Disk management it said the entire disk was "Unpartitioned Space"

Had to Re-Install Windows from scratch!.. Lucky I backed up all my work/music!..

I hope this is not the case! I really need to retrieve some of the things from this laptop.
It still says it can detect the partitions and can detect one windows installation (although it won't let me repair it) so I hope this is a good sign.

I tried to copy the two NTLDR files back on from the XP cd but only one would copy.



jNive-- There is only one partition on the laptop. I ran fixboot, but fixmbr has warned me that I have an unusual partition and proceeding could mess it up. Should I go ahead anyway?

 

[cleanbluesky]

Guys, am I right in thinking that she could get the files she needs if the HD was attached to another computer? I.e. the installation of Windows is corrupt but the files should be fine when accessed as a second drive?

 

[Simian]

Guys, am I right in thinking that she could get the files she needs if the HD was attached to another computer? I.e. the installation of Windows is corrupt but the files should be fine when accessed as a second drive?

If your luckier than me!... See my Post!..

 

[ns400r]

Guys, am I right in thinking that she could get the files she needs if the HD was attached to another computer? I.e. the installation of Windows is corrupt but the files should be fine when accessed as a second drive?

Yes, so long as the drive isn't actually faulty.

You'll also be needing a convertor for the IDE connector on the hard drive to the IDE on the motherboard.

 

[jNive]

Sounds like your the area of your disk containining your partition table is likely to have been corrupted.

Best thing really id say, put it into another machine and use a sector-level recovery software ( RecoverMyFiles etc ) application to retrieve valuable files and important stuff.

Then do a clean erase and reformat, followed by a through disk check to ensure its not physically faulty.

then proceed to use and restore data back to it

 

[JayMax]

So you have tried a repair installation like here?
Maybe try this too? I've recovered a ntldr error in the past doing that.

Elsewise I agree you're looking at slaving it.