cant boot into windows

[Scooby]

Yesterday afternoon I ran an 'analyze' on Ccleaner, during the process I got up to go do something, and the power went out. When the power came back on I attempted to start my computer again and I began recieving a BSOD 'Bad_system_config_info'

I've checked my ram, as it seems thats what that BSOD is usually about, and it seems ok, I've swapped it out, and used the other 2 RAM slots and I still continued to recieve the error.

I cannot boot up into windows using anything, not even safe mode.

 

I figured I would try to repair the boot drive using the XP CD. It says I have a non-standard or damaged boot record or something when I type in FIXMBR, but it would let me still repair it.

The problem now lies in the fact that it says it may destroy or make my partitions unuseable once i'm finished. I do not want to loose anything on the other partition on this drive. It is a 160GB drive and I partitioned it something like 40-50GB for Windows and related matter, and the rest for everything else.

 

If I go ahead with the repair, is it only a small chance that I might loose my partition? I have 2 other hard drives, ones broken, and the other I cannot install a windows onto without loosing all the data on that one.

 

Is there a fix? Other than reinstalling windows?

[bwallace78]

Yesterday afternoon I ran an 'analyze' on Ccleaner, during the process I got up to go do something, and the power went out. When the power came back on I attempted to start my computer again and I began recieving a BSOD 'Bad_system_config_info'

I've checked my ram, as it seems thats what that BSOD is usually about, and it seems ok, I've swapped it out, and used the other 2 RAM slots and I still continued to recieve the error.

I cannot boot up into windows using anything, not even safe mode.

 

I figured I would try to repair the boot drive using the XP CD. It says I have a non-standard or damaged boot record or something when I type in FIXMBR, but it would let me still repair it.

The problem now lies in the fact that it says it may destroy or make my partitions unuseable once i'm finished. I do not want to loose anything on the other partition on this drive. It is a 160GB drive and I partitioned it something like 40-50GB for Windows and related matter, and the rest for everything else.

 

If I go ahead with the repair, is it only a small chance that I might loose my partition? I have 2 other hard drives, ones broken, and the other I cannot install a windows onto without loosing all the data on that one.

 

Is there a fix? Other than reinstalling windows?

 

Your best option requires a second computer (or your computer with your other good hard-drive) with access to the internet, ISO Image burning software (or USB Flash drive compatible image creating software - see below), a DVD burner, and plenty of patience and time. Don't panic, that is the worst thing you can do.

 

Follow these steps and you should be able to see and backup your other files. BTW, I see you already tried the MBR Fix, which is what I would have recommended first.

 

1. Just hear me out - Download the Ubuntu Live CD (Linux distribution) from the Ubuntu downloads page. Google Ubuntu Live CD which brings up the following link: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download The second hit on Google is a documentation site, which is also VERY helpful. That link is https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD The latter also contains a link to install a distro (Linux distribution) onto a USB flash drive, but this is only useful if your motherboard supports booting from a USB port.

 

2. Download an ISO Image burner and burn the Ubuntu image to a disk. I have found that IMGBRN works very well and is easy to understand. Google Image burn or click here http://www.imgburn.com/ NOTE: If you decide to use the USB version, you will need a 1GB USB Drive and a different utility to "burn" to the USB drive. I have used win32diskimager before. It is also recommended by the creators of Ubuntu (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Win32DiskImager). Google win32diskimager or follow the link from the Ubuntu website.

 

3. When you have downloaded the ISO or USB image, launch the respective image burning utility for your media (either IMGBRN for DVD or win32diskimager for USB) and create your bootable media.

 

4. Insert newly created bootable media into the computer with the bad boot sector

 

5. Go into your computer's bios and make sure your type of bootable media is active (Since you talked about booting from XP CD, I will assume that you know how to do this)

 

6. Start or restart your computer, making sure you followed steps 4 and 5 above

 

7. The Ubuntu screen should show up with a loading type screen - just be patient

 

8. Once in Ubuntu, you will see an almost overwhelming screen that is similar to windows. Your hard-drive partitions should be listed on the right, assuming you booted to Ubuntu from the computer that has the bad boot sector. You should be able to back up the files here, and then wipe and repartition your hard-drive (start from scratch).

 

I know this does not help you avoid a fresh install of Windows, but it will help you recover your other files.

 

Hope this isn't too confusing! I am exhausted and tend to ramble.

 

Post back with any questions; I will follow up if needed.

 

bw

[4MarkNY]

When faced with a similiar situation last December, I bought another HD, installed that as the primary, loaded windows xp, rebuilt the family's "stuff", then recovered all the files off the drive that wouldn't boot, which was now slaved to the new one. First rule: Do no Harm. I now have a place to mirror the primary drive as a fail safe too.