Disk Error, Press any key to restart Message

[proudusa]

Hi all.

Haven't really worked with Windows XP yet. Windows XP laptop that is reported to have been working fine. The user had some issues dialing out to the internet in the morning. After restarting the system, he got the "Disk error. Press any key to Restart" message.

Can anyone help in what this error might mean ?

Could it be a failed hard drive?

Norton AV 2003 was running on the system, up-to-date, and scanned two days ago.
Software firewall was installed.


Thanks

 

[linney]

This issue may occur when the machine tries to start from a harddrive that does not have the files that you must have to start the computer.

It also may occur if a floppy or CD is inadvertently left in the machine at boot up.

To get further information about the error look in your Event viewer.

Look in the System or Application folder. You can get to the Event Viewer via right click My Computer icon and select Manage.

Any errors logged in the Event Viewer can be expanded by double clicking on the error line.


Try running ChkDsk to check your drive for errors. If the machine wont start you may have to run it via Recovery Console.

HOW TO: Install and Use the Recovery Console for Windows XP (Q307654)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q307/6/54.asp

The harddrive manufacturer will have free diagnostic tools available for checking the harddrive.

You could try repairing windows itself by running it over itself. You will lose all your windows updates but your files will be untouched.

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP (Q315341)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q315/3/41.asp

HOW TO: Create a Boot Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q305/5/95.asp

 

[proudusa]

Linney

Now that i have the laptop in my possesion here is what i find:

As soon as you boot the system it gives you the following statement:

DISK ERROR
PRESS ANY KEY TO RESTART

When you try an AV recovery disk it reads the first disk and then the system halts when trying to read the second. At this time the hard drive light is on permanently and you can hear the disk trying to read something.

If you place the Windows XP Pro disk in and try an installation the system halts to a black screen following the message that it is checking the system configuration. Again the hard drive light on permanently and you hear the drive.

I created the xp startup disks following kb305595. I placed the first floppy and got the screen asking to choose which operating system to start.

After a few moments the following error message appears:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:

<windows root>\system32\hal.dll please reinstall a copy of the file.

If you press F8 it just sits there with a blank screen and the hard drive attempting again to read with the led permanently on.

 

[bcastner]

The message:

&quot;Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:

<windows root>\system32\hal.dll please reinstall a copy of the file.&quot;

is deceptive. It can occur if it cannot read the hard disk succesfully.

Try downloading from the hard disk manufacturer's web site a diagnostic disk. These create a bootable floppy image.

 

[proudusa]

Ran the diag tools from the hard drive manufacturer and sure enough it found some bad sectors. I'm going to enter via dos and backup some of the files prior to running the repair that might delete data.

When a drive has bad sectors, even if this repairs them, it's on its way to the dumpster no?

Thanks

 

[proudusa]

In my experience, when a drive starts to malfunction you can usually hear some noises or experience random lockups. Running scandisk would then reveal some bad sectors.

In this case the person said the system was functioning perfectly and although 3 years old has not been used that often. The hard drive is Hitcahi on a sony vaio laptop.

Like all things mechanical i guess they can just go for some reason but can someone provide a bit of detail on when/why sectors might go bad?

Thanks

 

[bcastner]

See if the manufacturer's utility has a &quot;recertify&quot; option. Sometimes this works, sometimes an RMA is indicated. Or the dumpster if out of warranty.

I would recertify and if not yet done convert the drive to NTFS, install XP, and then in Recovery Console chkdsk /r

If it seemed clean, then use it but watch it.

Some drives would be RMA's without question: IBM and Fujitus Deskstar &quot;Deathstar&quot; drives would be high on my list.

 

[proudusa]

bcastner

It doesn't look to have that feature built in to the tool. I'm unable to even reinstall XP as it just freezes following the moment it starts checking the hardware configuration.

I'm trying to get into one of the directories to backup some files and it's one of the directories where i get the message &quot;General failure Reading drive C&quot;

Looks like the only thing i can try is the repair tool from the manufacturer and hope no data is lost during the process. This is exactly why i tell everyone to back up their important data. Do they listen?? not really.

 

[bcastner]

If NTFS, have you tried Knoppix?

Discussion

http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,7018905~root=winme~mode=flat

Mirror sites for Knoppix

http://www.knoppix.net/get.php

 

[proudusa]

No i hadn't. I'll try it to backup the information.

thanks for the help.

 

[proudusa]

bcastner

I've actually gotten a copy of the sol-linux diag disk which i've used to boot the system. I've mounted the hard drive but as i'm new to linux not quite sure how to go about accessing the drive and trying to copy files to a floppy.

Can you provide some info or a link. the documentation on their site doesn't have much.

thanks

 

[proudusa]

I booted knoppix from CD but after it identifies the hard drive and creates /etc/fstab it freezes at the cursor. I can type information but no commands are understood. It never gets to the login screen.

Looks like the drive just might be too fried? Might try imaging the drive.

 

[linney]

These might help you get some data off your drive.

http://www.restorer2000.com

http://www.runtime.org/hints.htm

 

[proudusa]

I've mounted the laptop drive onto a desktop as a secondary drive. I'm running Restorer2000 at the moment. How long does it usually take? I've got one message saying &quot;position ********** failed after 10 attempts. The System cannot find the device specified&quot;

Thanks

 

[bcastner]

This sounds like a case where something electronic has died on the drive controller board.

Your only recourse is to send it to a data recovery service, as they often have a stack of controller boards they can swap in to read the data off the drive.

Not cheap, though.

 

[proudusa]

Sure looks that way. I'm trying to image the data now hopefully will be able to save the information that way. I've already spoken with Ontrack and they say it's between $600 and $2000 for recovery.

Any other service companies?

Thanks for the help!