nt boot error

[jono261970]

Hi,

My NT workstation office computer will not boot up, It just says system disk error or something to that effect.

There is no floppy in the drive!

I inserted a windows start up disk and can browse the c drive ok(fat 16), can I launch NT from this position. In win98 you would just have to type WIN.

I have checked the bios and everything is ok. The machine did crash prior to use.

I don`t want to have to reinstall as It has a lot of work on it. Is there a way to repair it?

Thanks

jono

 

[OzDog]

Do you have an up-to-date repair disk? If so, boot with the NT CD, choose Repair, and insert the repair disk.

If not, you can install NT to a different directory on the same drive, and that will fix the boot files. If that doesn't you may need to re-install ove the top of the original, but that can be hit & miss, depending on your configuration.

The best bet is always a repair disk for NT4. Cheers,
Sam

Please let members know if you found their posts helpful.

 

[wolluf]

If you use repair - just repair the boot files (untick the other options). You may be able to repair without a repair disk (it will look for NT installation - sometimes finds, sometimes doesn't).

You can also create an NT 'boot' floppy by formatting a floppy then copying the files ntldr, ntdetect.com & boot.ini from root of your NT's C: drive to it. Boot from this floppy & it should give you access to your system.
If the reason you can't boot is because any/all of these files are missing copy ntldr/detect.com off the NT install CD (\I386). You can create boot.ini using a text editor - should look something like:-

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.00"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.00" /basevideo

If you've got a win2k or XP install CD you can boot from that and use recovery console (it works with NT installations too) - you'll need administrator password. Use the fixboot command.

 

[HerbRoach52]

One thing you might want to try is something a bit unconventional but i've done it in desperate times lol...

If you have unused space on your hard drive, (which i'm sure you do given the size of HD's now-a-days) you can boot up with the NT CD and reinstall the O/S but when installing you must rename the system folder to something other than the default 'WINNT'. This will give you a working kernel, allow you to boot up and access the files you have stored. Once the new O/S is up and running you can either burn the files you need to a CD, send them to a file server or just use that installation. Of course you'll have to add the computer to the domain again, edit the Boot.ini file, add the video drivers etc. etc.... but this will work. I hope you catch my drift here...
NOTE: if the orginal C: drive doesn't have enuff space you may have to make a D: drive for the new O/S and then make the D: drive active (Fdisk)

...the higher the fewer

 

[jono261970]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies,

I have created a boot floppy and this allows my computer to load!

I can now use it as normal, How can this be?

I tried to copy 3 files from the root of another NT workstation, boot.ini,ntldr and ntdetect.com to my computer but it still won`t work.

Why does it work from the floppy?

cheers

jono

 

[wolluf]

Something's corrupted the boot sector of your hard disk - that why you need to run either NT's repair function (from the install CD) to repair the boot sector or if you've got access to 2k disk use recovery console and Fixboot command. As you can now access your system you can create an Emergency Repair Disk (ERD) (run rdisk) which will allow you to run NT repair (as i said earlier, just repair boot sector).