Tek-Tips is the largest IT community on the Internet today!

Members share and learn making Tek-Tips Forums the best source of peer-reviewed technical information on the Internet!

Register Log in
  • Congratulations TouchToneTommy on being selected by the Tek-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!

Windows XP Repair 3

Status
Not open for further replies.
Mighty

Mighty

Programmer
Feb 22, 2001
1,682
US
Hi Folks,

Came into work this morning to find my hard drive had crashed. Following a diagnostics test, I have learned that it has three bad blocks. If I attempt a windows XP repair install is it likely to affect any future attempts to recover data from this hard drive?

Mighty
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
once you run Diags on the drive, the drives firmware logs all bad sectors (Blocks), these only come back into play if the drive is low level formated...



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Does that mean that an XP repair install will work?

Mighty
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
It should!

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
However, I'd think about replacing the drive as soon as possible. Sometimes it'll go for years, other times it will die the next day.At least make some decent backups.

Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Have just ordered a replacement drive. If I mirror this dodgy drive to a new drive, will the mirror be OK or will the fact that the sorce drive is dodgy affect the mirror?

Had to skip some of the file copies during the repair install as they wouldn't copy over. Setup is still running now - hopefully it will get me up and running until I get a replacement drive.

Any good free mirroring software recommendations?

Mighty
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
The repair install gets to the stage of looking for igfxext.exe and gets no further. I found the file in question on the drivers disk and specified the location during the setup. It asked me for the same file again and I specified the same location again. However, after it asked for the 3rd time, mouse and keyboard stopped working.

Mighty
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Unfortunately I hve started. It is still looking for the igfxext.exe file even though I specify a path to a valid file. Asks 3 times and after the third request, mouse and keyboard stop responding???

Mighty
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
So what type of repair are you performing at what step are you able to get to now? When you reboot does it come back to the missing file again?

I think you need to (on another PC of course)

Go to your PC MFGs site and download

1. Video card drivers
2. Chipset/Motherboard drivers

Unzip/unpack them to a CD and use them when the repair asks for said drivers/files


-- Jason
"It's Just Ones and Zeros
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Installed CD, selected to do a fresh install and when it scanned for current windows installations, I chose to repair the one that it found.

Install goes fine until it gets to the "Installing Devices" stage. Tried installing what I think is the correct driver but there are 8 driver options on the dell website for my service tag!!

Mighty
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Had to skip some of the file copies during the repair install as they wouldn't copy over. Setup is still running now"

I have to say this is a recipe for disaster in any resulting install of XP, files should not be skipped.

I think you may have to abandon the install and use other methods to recover what data you can from the failing hard drive. Replace the hard drive and clean install XP.

See - "You Receive a File Copy Error During Setup"

310064 - HOW TO: Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation When You Upgrade from Windows 98 or Windows Me

See if this thread gives you any ideas how to recover your data.

Cannot logon to winxp...losing lots of valuable documents
thread779-975236
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Have a new drive on the way and hopefully should just be able to set my faulty drive as a slave drive and copy over any files that I need to the new drive.

However, I had a rather lengthy Scheduled Tasks list as there were a lot of scripts that ran from my PC overnight. Is there any way I can easily copy over those scheduled tasks settings from old drive to new drive?

Mighty
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Was just reading a few articles about copying over scheduled tasks and apparently they are all stored in the c:\windowa\tasks folder. Does that mean that they will have been wiped as a result of my attempt to repair windows. I also have a large about of DSNs set up. Will they also be lost or will it be possible to retrieve them?

Mighty
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Sorry, to hear that the repair install went bonkers, that happens at times when certain drivers are not behaving like they should... I had one install where I had to copy 6 drivers by hand over to the OS being repaired, thank the powers that be, that Bart made a nice utility (BartPE)...

the Tasks Folder should have been left alone, the repair only replaces system files and certain hive (registry) settings...

about the 'DSN', I would not know, since I do not have a Deep Space Network nor am I part of the US government (Defense Switched Network)...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Have a look around this area in the Registry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces

You'll probably have to use BartPE and read about RegEdit and Hives, which is all good fun.

These two articles in the RegEdit Help are a good explanation of the process.

To load a hive into the registry
To unload a hive from the registry

How to edit the registry offline using BartPE boot CD
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Got my new drive this morning and just got it up and running . Connected my old drive and navigated to the c:\windows\tasks folder to attempt to copy over all the scheduled tasks from my old machine and it's empty.

Any suggestions?

Mighty
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Does that Tasks folder have an Advanced menu item that allows you to show any hidden tasks?

Is it showing empty because it is really empty or is it just denying you access because of Permissions?

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP (Q308421)

Are the scheduled tasks running batch files that you have stored in any other location, perhaps they are still in existence?

The next step will be fishing out any backups you may have made (what are those?), or proceeding down the pray and hope path of recovering lost data.

Data recovery.
PC Inspector



Plenty of other recovery software listed here.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Ben, referring to your earlier statement, "once you run Diags on the drive, the drives firmware logs all bad sectors...". Just out of interest, do you know if there's a limit as to how many bad blocks the drive's firmware will log and lock-out?

Commonsense of course tells us that when bad blocks start appearing, it's time to recheck the backup and replace the drive! Just interested to know if there is in fact a limit...

ROGER - G0AOZ.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Guys - thanks for all the input. Think I am just going to have to bite the bullet and set up all DSN and scheduled tasks manually. Probably a way to weed out some of the crap that wasn't used any more anyway.

Mighty
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

K
  • Locked
  • Question
Recover Data Windows 10 1
Replies
2
Views
4K
Rick998
Rick998
pjw001
  • Locked
  • Question
Latest Windows Update - End of Service
Replies
2
Views
3K
pjw001
pjw001
VicM
  • Locked
  • Question
Problem updating Windows Explorer
Replies
1
Views
1K
Nancycaf
Nancycaf
pjw001
  • Locked
  • Question
Windows 11 Screen Colours have changed (slightly) 3
Replies
14
Views
9K
pjw001
pjw001
pjw001
  • Locked
  • Question
Programs not loading on Windows 11 Version 22H2.
Replies
9
Views
2K
pjw001
pjw001

Part and Inventory Search

Sponsor

Back
Top