rAfChOw
Premium
join:2001-03-19
Toronto, ON
| [XP Pro] "Error Loading Operating System"
I was downloading on IRC and next thing I know my computer restarts and doesn't want to load up; it displays "Error loading operating system." This happened to me before, where my computer restarted while I was on IRC but my XP Pro loaded up fine and everything was ok.
I did a search and all I could find was people having this problem but only with a new install/setup or certain problems with HDs of over a certain capacity (I think 38GB). My HD is not even 20GB and I've had XP Pro installed for a long time now, so this does not apply to me. And I also don't want to format my HD as I have important data on it.
Does anyone have a solution for this problem or experienced the same thing? |
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Fobulous
Premium
join:2002-08-14
Missouri City, TX
clubs: | have you scanned for viruses?? Downloading on the IRC is a dangerous thing to do these days. and can you boot up now?? |
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rAfChOw
Premium
join:2001-03-19
Toronto, ON
| said by Fobulous  :
have you scanned for viruses?? Downloading on the IRC is a dangerous thing to do these days. and can you boot up now??
I cannot scan for viruses at the moment because I cannot boot up. All I get is that error. And I've been downloading from IRC for a long time and I never had problems with it because I'm aware of what I'm downloading. I did periodic virus scans and I was always clean. |
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heels_fan
1.20.09 The start of Socialism
Premium
join:2003-02-07
Columbia, TN
| reply to rAfChOw
You will need to boot to the XP CD. Then go to the recovery consol and follow the following...
At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following lines, pressing Enter after you type each line:
All commands that are to be typed in command prompt are in Bold for clarity of the content, and pressing Enter is required for executing each command at the Recovery Console.
cd \ - There should be blank space between cd and \ or else the command will not work.
cd system~1\_resto~1
dir
• When you press enter, the screen lists all the restore points folders like RP1, RP2, RP3, etc. Look for the most recent date to determine the restore point from which to copy. It is common for the restore points to require more than one page to display. To advance though the restore points, press Enter. It is a good rule of thumb to choose the restore point folder which is dated the day prior to the occurence of the error reported.
cd rp# (the last restore point no.) - Example : cd rp9, if rp10 is the last restore point, use restore point 9 to restore the system to a date prior to the error reported.
cd snapshot
dir
Perform all of the following to reduce the likelyhood of continued error:
copy _registry_machine_system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy _registry_machine_software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy _registry_machine_sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy _registry_machine_security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy _registry_user_.default c:\windows\system32\config\default (Make sure to type a period in the _.default line)
When prompted, choose A to Copy All files.
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Who are they? |
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rAfChOw
Premium
join:2001-03-19
Toronto, ON | reply to rAfChOw
Thanks! I'll try it when I get home. |
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rAfChOw
Premium
join:2001-03-19
Toronto, ON | reply to rAfChOw
Btw, if I choose a restore point of a day prior to the occurence of the error, does that mean all the data I saved during the day of the error will be lost?
And, what exactly do the last lines perform? |
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heels_fan
1.20.09 The start of Socialism
Premium
join:2003-02-07
Columbia, TN
1 edit | reply to rAfChOw
your doing a manual restore from the recovery console.
Its just like running system restore
The last couple of lines are actuall copying the backed-up files to the directory they need to be in
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Who are they? |
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rAfChOw
Premium
join:2001-03-19
Toronto, ON
| reply to rAfChOw
OK, so I tried it and after entering cd \ I get "The path or file specified is not valid."
I tried entering the second line, and it gives an error also.
This is where it gets really weird...I type dir and it also gives me an error! It says "An error occurred during directory enumeration." Does this mean my whole C:\ drive is corrupted or something?  |
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heels_fan
1.20.09 The start of Socialism
Premium
join:2003-02-07
Columbia, TN | i have never seen that come up like that before.
You may be faced with a decison of reformatting or not
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Who are they? |
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Shootist
Premium
join:2003-02-10
Decatur, GA
| reply to rAfChOw
Boot from the XP CD and do a repair install. Here's a link on how to do it.
»The Broadband Reports Windows XP FAQ »How do I repair Windows XP?
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Shooter Ready--Stand By BEEP ******** |
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HRM
God Bless America
Premium,MVM
join:2002-02-03
Darien, CT
clubs:  | reply to rAfChOw
You may also want to boot from an AV software CD and do a scan. |
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cocothebean
You Are My Nightmare
Premium
join:2002-11-16
Carson City, NV
2 edits | reply to rAfChOw
From what I am reading on the net it is a Virus that messed you up.
Somehow you need to update your BIOS.
And do a BOOT SECTOR REPAIR
»antivirus.about.com/library/blboot.htm
Heres more about your problem
»www.hardwareanalysis.com/content···c/22955/ |
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rAfChOw
Premium
join:2001-03-19
Toronto, ON
| said by cocothebean :
From what I am reading on the net it is a Virus that messed you up.
Somehow you need to update your BIOS.
And do a BOOT SECTOR REPAIR
»antivirus.about.com/library/blboot.htm
Heres more about your problem
»www.hardwareanalysis.com/content···c/22955/
I tried following the advice from the microsoft site (in the 2nd link), and this is what happened:
-after typing bootcfg /list it says, "There are currently no boot entries available to display."
-so I entered chkdsk to scan the drive and it says, "The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems."
Looks like my HD is really messed up. I'm gonna follow Shootist's advice and do a repair install of XP, and hopefully only my system files are messed up and all my data is still there.
Btw, in one of the links I read that it's most likely a boot sector virus which is caused by pirated software applications. In my case I was using mIRC to download a movie; so I'm guessing it wasn't the actual downloading of the movie that caused this virus/problem, but most likely an infected program (like mIRC). Is my assumption right or am I way off? |
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DSmithLady
Premium,MVM
join:2002-04-23
Deep South
clubs: | You're assumption may be right.
Remember..that if the repair does not work...you can try to retrieve your data by using a different HD as primary and slave your existing HD. |
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rAfChOw
Premium
join:2001-03-19
Toronto, ON
| I've come across yet another problem. When I run XP setup and choose my partition it says:
"The partition is either too full, damaged, not formatted, or formatted with an incompatible file system. To continue installing Windows, Setup must format this partition."
So it looks like I can't use the repair option to retrieve my data. Does anyone have any other advice? Because at this point I'm at a dead end...  |
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Shootist
Premium
join:2003-02-10
Decatur, GA
1 edit | Follow DSmithLady 's suggestion and either install another HDD in the system and install the OS on that then try to retrieve your data or install the corrupted drive in another PC as a slave drive to see if you can get your data.
EDIT
This problem could be because your drive kicked the bucket while doing the conversion. It's been known to happen.
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Shooter Ready--Stand By BEEP ******** |
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rAfChOw
Premium
join:2001-03-19
Toronto, ON
| said by Shootist :
EDIT
This problem could be because your drive kicked the bucket while doing the conversion. It's been known to happen.
What do you mean? Can you explain please... |
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