XP won't boot, BSOD with ref to ntfs.sys 1

[s32]

Hi,

I have a really weird problem which does not allow my PC to boot up correctly. Everytime I boot my PC I get to the windows XP splash screen and then for a split second I get a BSOD and then the PC reboots. It won't boot up in safe mode or last good known mode.

I have tried to run the recovery console by booting up from the WinXP CD, and re-installing the OS so that I can at least backup my data, but when I try to do this the BSOD shows up again and does not reboot this time. The error displayed is 'IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL' with reference to Ntfs.sys.

I have checked the partition tables with a program called TestDisk (

http://www.cgsecurity.org/index.html?testdisk.html).

This has shown there to be no problem with the partitions.

I would like to rename the ntfs.sys file and copy a fresh version of the file onto the hard drive but I cannot seem to access the hard drive when booting into DOS. How do I access a NTFS drive in DOS. Do I need to boot it with a special program to enable this??

I have tried booting with a disk formatted within XP as an MS DOS startup disk but this does not give me any access to the Hard drive. If I try to access C:\, the error message says 'invalid drive specification'.

I have even tried plugging the hard drive into two other PC's as the secondary drive so that I could backup the data, but both times whilst the OS is loading the BSOD is displayed again!!

Any help will be much appreciated as the only option at the moment looks to be a format.

 

[bcastner]

See the repair beginning in the section "NTFS File System"

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=228888

 

[s32]

Thanks, i'll give that a go and keep you updated.

 

[rislejay]

Did you change the jumper to slave on the hard drive before plugging it in to the other computer? Also take a look at the other hard drive and make sure it is set to master and not cable select. A dos boot disk will not work for an NTFS formatted partition. Good luck.

 

[s32]

I used the NTFS file system repair and has now fixed the problem.

Thanks for all the help, its saved me the hassle of formatting the hard disk and more importantly losing data.