XP PRO will not boot

[tcurlin]

I began having various issues with my computer than started with my graphics card, then my ethernet adapter, then my computer just would not boot at all. Described the issues to a guru who suggested MO was bad.

I installed a new Abit NF8, AMD 64 2.66 Ghz, and a EForce 5200. The computer would not power on. When I plugged it in, the fans would turn a couple of times and stop but my drives would not power up. I swapped the power source from another tower and everything powered up.

I went into the BIOS settings, all was well. Then all I can get to is the screen asking me how I want to start windows as it didn't start properly. I've tried all options, including Safe Mode. A partial blue screen pops up for a split second and the computer restarts, over and over.

I made boot disks and when I got to the 5th I got the following error:

file ntfs.sys caused and unexpected error (4096) at line 5091 in
d:\xpsprtm\base\boot\setup\setup.c

Any suggestions? Of course, since it crashed I didn't have time to back up files.

Thanks

[ErnieK]

oops canot post a link correclty.

[ErnieK]

Until some who can give a more diffintive answer comes a long here is a link to goolge search for this (and similar) error. Lot of reading/searching from it.

http://www.google.com/search?q=unexpected+error+(4096)&sourceid=opera&num=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8[/http]

[ErnieK]

Until some who can give a more diffintive answer comes a long here is a link to goolge search for this (and similar) error. Lot of reading/searching from it.


Here is the link I am trying to post. Just cut and paste it into search bar

http://www.google.com/search?q=unexpected+error+(4096)&sourceid=opera&num=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

[Paul Komski]

If you are trying to boot to the same hard drive on new hardware I would be inclined to boot to an installation CD (rather than a set of floppies) and run a repair installation.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

[tcurlin]

I cannot boot from my XP Pro CD either. I've played around with the thing all morning. Changed IDE cables and a couple other things. Now I get:

Windows cannot start because the following file is missing or currupt:
<windows root>\system 32\ntoskrnl.exe
please reinstall a copy of the above file

I've found some info on changing the boot.ini file to resolve this, however I can't seem to get to a command line. Suggestions? I'm pretty DOS illiterate.

I also cannot manually change info on my hard drives cyclinders etc in the Bios, it just won't allow me to. I had a very difficult time installing this HD, the Bios settings had to exactly match the drive specs and the Bios didn't auto-detect correctly. This one isn't either. Could this be part of the problem?

Thanks for your help

[Paul Komski]

I cannot boot from my XP Pro CD either.
Are you sure that your bios are set to boot from the CD before the HDD? Once you can boot to the install CD you can either do a clean or repair installation or you could try rebuilding boot.ini by going to the recovery console and running Bootconfig /Rebuild as per http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307061&Product=winxp

But I reiterate - the installation is now on new hardware (as far as it is concerned anyways).

[tcurlin]

Well, had to take a break for a couple of days, before I tore all of my hair out. I have the bios set to boot from the CD rom 1st. I get a disk read error when I try to boot from the CD or the hard drive. I've tried 3 different CD roms and I've tried my XP pro disk in another computer where it boots just fine. I cleared CMOS. I also hooked my HD up to another computer as a slave and I can access it perfectly.

My HD is NTFS 60G with one partition, if that info is useful.

[Fruss Tray Ted]

Maybe testing the memory would tell us something. Memtest86 (http://www.memtest.org/#downiso) precompiled for floppy (DOS) makes a bootable floppy that will do a variety of tests. Take 'er for a spin and see what you come up with.

[Paul Komski]

I get a disk read error when I try to boot from the CD or the hard drive.
Is this new since originally you reported that trying to access the hard drive gave you a list of options (Safe Mode, etc etc) and then a constant reboot with a blue screen. Please also post the exact text of any error messages.

If this is just booting from the CD and you have tried 3 known good CDROMs (CDROMs and not CDRs or CDRWs) in it then it sounds like your CD drive may need replacing. Could you swap another one in temporarily to test it out?

[tcurlin]

I appologize for not being clear. I did temporarily install the other CD rom drives. I got the same error with all three:

boot from CD:

disk read error
press ctrl, alt, del to restart

[Paleo Pete]

Check your cabling and jumpers, CD/DVD drives usually work fine with 40 conductor cables, and 80 conductor cables should work but I never use them for CD drives. I have good results using the Master/Slave jumpers for CD/DVD drives, while hard drives with 80 conductor cables seem to like Cable Select better.

I would check to be sure the IDE cable is oriented properly, the correct end is used and both connectors are plugged in securely. All IDE/ATAPI drives connect to the end of the ribbon cable that has TWO connectors, the motherboard to the other end. All have a red or blue stripe on one side, that stripe goes to pin one on BOTH motherboard and drive.

The Component ID (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=25502) thread has good information and a good picture of the typical CD ROM jumper layout. A CD ROM by itself should be set as Master and if two are used the one at the end of the cable is Master, the one in the middle is Slave. Set both accordingly. If only one CD drive is in use, put it on the end connector.

[Paul Komski]

I'm pretty sure that message comes from Windows as it attempts to boot up. In other words there is a continuing failure to boot up the Hard Drive (because of a corrupt file system, bad HDD sectors or missing files) and there is also an underlying failure to boot up a bootable CD for whatever reason. If you want to perform either a clean or repair installation or indeed if you want to try chkdisk /r from the recovery console, etc, etc, you are going to need to boot to the CD.

It would be helpful to know if the CD drive is recognised in the BIOS and that it is an ATAPI and not a SCSI CD drive. If recognised on one of the IDE/ATA channels then that would be good news. Could you also confirm the boot order settings in the BIOS setup.

Finally look carefully at the screen during an attempt to boot to a CD for a message to press any key to boot from the CD or for a menu asking you to select between booting to the hard drive or the CD drive. If you miss any such messages then no attempt to boot the CD will be made.

[tcurlin]

Progress???????????

I switched out cables AGAIN making sure that I had an 80 conductor cable on HD and jumpers to cable select. I got as far as the Windows didn't start correctly screen and the reboots. Still no luck booting from CD. I noticed it was moving so fast that the CD rom drive didn't seem to have time to initialise, so I upped the time in the bios and received a disk read failure, insert system disk, which is the closest I've gotten to anything happening off CD.

I tried booting from floppy again and received:
file \ntkrnlmp.exe could not be loaded
the error code is 7

I did some reading on this error which suggested the bios settings were wrong. I selected Load Fail safe Defaults in the bios and I get:

Verifying DMI pool...........................update sucessful (this is new)

then it goes to the Windows did not start properly screen. If I choose Safe Mode I get a long list of drivers then a reboot. If I choose Last Known or Normally the Windows bar goes across the screen (new), the blue screen flashes and a reboot.

I also tried Load Optimised Defaults in the bios, I get:

Verifying DMI pool...........................update sucessful

the windows did not start properly screen, selection results the same however the Windows bar does not show up.

[odi]

I was trying to install XP 64 bit version.

The reason (after some hours of investigation) was simply a damaged CD media. Probably burnt bad.

now XP 64 is working just fine!

[phthatcher]

With windows xp or windows 2000, if you make a major hardware change (such as a motherboard) windows will give a stop error, which is probably the screen you are seeing. Occasionally, though not often, booting from CD and performing a repair will fix it. It is better in the long run to format and reload XP. If you need to save data, either partition the drive or install on a separate drive and boot your original as a slave.