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Thread ID: 90769	2008-06-15 21:26:00	STOP Inaccessible_Boot_Device	curly (6655)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
678725	2008-06-15 21:26:00	Well last night during a stormy period, we experienced a brown out in our power. The effected computer was going at the time and with the power failure it promptly stopped. And from this point, the stop notice is as far as it goes. Except POST runs OK and the HDD is detected. Obviously I cannot check for viruses, run chkdsk /F, no new HDD is installed nor any new HDD controllers. All of which the stop notice wants me to do. Maybe the HDD is now stuffed, however is there anything else I could try to recover it? The operating system is Win 2000 Pro, has 2 gig memory and the HDD was 233 Gig (and just a few weeks old - bugger). So far I have opened it up, pulled off all the HDD cables (both ends, except the power cable of course), re pluged them back in. No change. Is it possile to reload the operating system leaving existing data intact ?	curly (6655)
678726	2008-06-15 21:41:00	It'll be a bit hard to reinstall if its dead. See if any of these work (support.microsoft.com) If its an IDE hdd, connect it to your system (or a working system). Dont forget to jumper it properly, see if its ok and scan it	Speedy Gonzales (78)
678727	2008-06-15 22:07:00	Get the Win2000 CD and run a repair install on it.	pctek (84)
678728	2008-06-15 22:16:00	You can also give this a try - boot from the Windows 2000 CD, select R to repair windows, then hit C to load the recovery Console, once loaded type in fixboot then hit enter, if that doesn't work you can also try fixmbr - if that doesn't work either, as Pctek said, use boot from the CD, and use the Repair Windows option to repair the OS. Once going again - go and buy a UPS for when we get hit with the next brownout / power cut.	wainuitech (129)
678729	2008-06-16 00:41:00	try spinrite www.grc.com	robsonde (120)
678730	2008-06-16 05:19:00	try spinrite www.grc.com Hi, thanks for the spinrite url. It looks like my win2000 needs to be running, but sadly its as dead as a doornail. But thanks anyway. See my later post to see whats wrong with it.	curly (6655)
678731	2008-06-16 05:49:00	Speedy, Pctek and Wainuitech. Thanks guys for the assistance. Though am no further ahead, despite spending all day trying. Don't know how I did it, but at one stage I got this popup - "Windows 2000 could not start because sys32\ntoskrnl.exe is missing or corrupt. Please re-install a copy of the above file" Great! The system will not boot due to the constant stop message, but I managed to put a copy of ntoskrnl.exe onto a flash drive, however I have no idea how to get the file into the operating system. (or where to put it). Trying to reload windows failed also, as the stop message always comes up before I reach the stage where I can select the Repair option. I don't have another computer to put the faulty drive into an work on it from there. Thinking now might have to buy another HDD, install 2000 on it and see if I can recover the damaged HDD. Anyway... thanks for trying. (still open for ideas)	curly (6655)
678732	2008-06-16 07:15:00	That error message is because the boot.ini file is damaged - Note: I did also just read that the error can be caused by a faulty Keyboard connection, try another board if you have one. You can try this as well - Pressing enter after each command. Boot from the windows CD into the recovery console, at the windows prompt type in chkdsk, Hopefully that will check the files and replace any that are missing, normally you would use chkdsk /f but I dont think that one works from the recovery console, you can also try chkdsk /p, that P switch normally only checks the drive, but I just tried it on a known damaged XP and it did find and fix a few files. If that doesn't work: If you have a Floppy drive, get a windows 98 boot disk, boot from the floppy, once at the A:> prompt, type in fdisk /mbr Press enter, agree to any prompts, this will rewrite the boot.ini file. You can also try this - Hopefully you have a floppy, if so put the ntoskrnl.exe on the floppy, boot from the windows 2000 CD, at the recovery consoles window prompt type in A: Press enter Then at the A:/> prompt type in copy ntoskrnl.exe c:\winnt\system32 Press Enter, and it should copy the ntoskrnl.exe to the system32 folder. There is a way to extract the file from the Windows CD, but I cant remember where its located.	wainuitech (129)
678733	2008-06-16 08:53:00	That error message is because the boot.ini file is damaged - OK Note: I did also just read that the error can be caused by a faulty Keyboard connection, try another board if you have one. Tried a USB keyboard and another rather older plugin type, but no change You can try this as well - Pressing enter after each command. I dont get any opportunities to try this, as I never reach a command point. Boot from the windows CD into the recovery console, at the windows prompt type in chkdsk, Hopefully that will check the files and replace any that are missing, normally you would use chkdsk /f but I dont think that one works from the recovery console, you can also try chkdsk /p, that P switch normally only checks the drive, but I just tried it on a known damaged XP and it did find and fix a few files. Now this is where the problem is very evident. The machine never goes for more than around 10 seconds before the stop message is shown. It will start to load windows, but before the load scroll bar gets very far across it shuts down. Tried safe mode, it starts up, but before it gets very far, it stops again with the stop message. If that doesn't work: If you have a Floppy drive, get a windows 98 boot disk, boot from the floppy, once at the A:> prompt, type in fdisk /mbr Press enter, agree to any prompts, this will rewrite the boot.ini file. You can also try this - Hopefully you have a floppy, if so put the ntoskrnl.exe on the floppy, boot from the windows 2000 CD, at the recovery consoles window prompt type in A: Press enter Then at the A:/> prompt type in copy ntoskrnl.exe c:\winnt\system32 Press Enter, and it should copy the ntoskrnl.exe to the system32 folder. There is a way to extract the file from the Windows CD, but I cant remember where its located. Yeah got a floppy, and got a 98 boot, Win NT boot and a Win2k ERD, but I just cannot get to a command prompt to try them out. And certainly never get anywhere near reaching the 'Repair' option when trying to reload windows again. With regard to the file ntoskrnl, I note the extension is .EX_ , if I remember correctly, the underscore denotes a file that needs to be upacked or something, so putting it onto a flash drive may not have worked anyway. You guys have been just great in helping me out, but I feel that we are fast reaching the point where it's just not going to get any better. After this, your advise re the UPS will certainly be taken up	curly (6655)
678734	2008-06-16 10:32:00	OK - I wonder if the Power Failure has somehow damaged the HD ? Get hold of a Linux live CD, Ubuntu, Knoppix, or any other, boot from that - if Linux halts due to bad hardware that May be the problem, as even without a Operating system on the HD the Windows CD should load as its running from the CD not the OS. If it can boot from a Live CD, with a External drive attached you can copy over your data.	wainuitech (129)
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