Partition recovery / MBR error

[CBP]

I have had this same problem while running Windows XP Home
Edition using 3 separate hard drives. After a couple of
months of running smoothly I start getting DLL errors
(mshtml.dll, dxtrans.dll, msinm.dll, etc.). Within a
relatively short time my system reboots itself and fails
to load Windows. I have the hard drive partitioned as a
using the NTFS method. (if that's the correct
terminology).

When I use my Windows XP CD-ROM to try to reboot, the
Windows logo flashes on the screen for a split second and
then I get a black screen that says something
like "multipart(0)harddisk(0)something(0)orother(0)
C:\Windows\System32\system.com". There are probably 30
lines of this with different filenames at the end of each
line.

This screen flashes for a split second and then the
computer reboots. I can't get the silly thing to boot at
all.

My guess is that (a) the master boot record is corrupt or
erased or (b) there is some type of partition error so the
drive can't find the files it needs to load and run
Windows.

I have three questions regarding this:

(1) Is there anyway to get to the point where I can boot
to Windows so I can run Recovery (or FIXMBR or FIXBOOT;
(2) If #1 doesn't work, is there a way to correct a
partition error without having to format the hard drive
and lose all my data?; and
(3) Could the IDE controller be causing this problem? I
mean, it's happened 3 separate times and I don't have this
problem with my other computers that are running XP.

Any help/comments/suggestions will be greatly
appreciated. You can email replies to me at cliffpeavy@
{removethis}yahoo.com.

[resistor]

I had this same problem a few weeks ago with a laptop same OS.
I tried mounting the drive in an external case and hooking
it up to another computer through USB and it would cause
the computer to reboot as well.

I finally ended up mounting the drive back in the laptop and
using a Live CD copy of SLAX LINUX to read the data off
the drive and copy it to another machine so I could reinstall.
Another way I found to recover that data is by mounting the
drive as an external, with USB, on a machine running Win9x or ME.
You can then run a free program called NTFS Reader that lets
you copy your data off the NTFS patitions. I was never able to
see multiple partitions off one drive unless I went either of these
two routes. I'm sure that there are other ways to do this but this
is what worked for me. In bother cases, data was retrieved
with 100% success.

SLAX LINUX iso can be obtained here.
http://slax.linux-live.org/download.php

And NTFS Reader is here
http://www.ntfs.com/products.htm




"CBP" > wrote in message
...
> I have had this same problem while running Windows XP Home
> Edition using 3 separate hard drives. After a couple of
> months of running smoothly I start getting DLL errors
> (mshtml.dll, dxtrans.dll, msinm.dll, etc.). Within a
> relatively short time my system reboots itself and fails
> to load Windows. I have the hard drive partitioned as a
> using the NTFS method. (if that's the correct
> terminology).
>
> When I use my Windows XP CD-ROM to try to reboot, the
> Windows logo flashes on the screen for a split second and
> then I get a black screen that says something
> like "multipart(0)harddisk(0)something(0)orother(0)
> C:\Windows\System32\system.com". There are probably 30
> lines of this with different filenames at the end of each
> line.
>
> This screen flashes for a split second and then the
> computer reboots. I can't get the silly thing to boot at
> all.
>
> My guess is that (a) the master boot record is corrupt or
> erased or (b) there is some type of partition error so the
> drive can't find the files it needs to load and run
> Windows.
>
> I have three questions regarding this:
>
> (1) Is there anyway to get to the point where I can boot
> to Windows so I can run Recovery (or FIXMBR or FIXBOOT;
> (2) If #1 doesn't work, is there a way to correct a
> partition error without having to format the hard drive
> and lose all my data?; and
> (3) Could the IDE controller be causing this problem? I
> mean, it's happened 3 separate times and I don't have this
> problem with my other computers that are running XP.
>
> Any help/comments/suggestions will be greatly
> appreciated. You can email replies to me at cliffpeavy@
> {removethis}yahoo.com.

[Kent W. England [MVP]]

CBP wrote:
> I have had this same problem while running Windows XP Home
> Edition using 3 separate hard drives. After a couple of
> months of running smoothly I start getting DLL errors
> (mshtml.dll, dxtrans.dll, msinm.dll, etc.). Within a
> relatively short time my system reboots itself and fails
> to load Windows. I have the hard drive partitioned as a
> using the NTFS method. (if that's the correct
> terminology).
>
> When I use my Windows XP CD-ROM to try to reboot, the
> Windows logo flashes on the screen for a split second and
> then I get a black screen that says something
> like "multipart(0)harddisk(0)something(0)orother(0)
> C:\Windows\System32\system.com". There are probably 30
> lines of this with different filenames at the end of each
> line.
>
> This screen flashes for a split second and then the
> computer reboots. I can't get the silly thing to boot at
> all.
>
> My guess is that (a) the master boot record is corrupt or
> erased or (b) there is some type of partition error so the
> drive can't find the files it needs to load and run
> Windows.

Try booting the machine and pressing F8 repeatedly when the XP screen
appears right after the BIOS screen disappears. If you can boot in safe
mode, then you can start trying to figure out what hardware is
misbehaving. You'll want to go to the System control panel on the
Advanced tab under the Startup and Recovery button. Uncheck
"automatically restart". Then try to boot normally, read the blue screen
error and post that in a new thread or continue this one.

--
Kent W. England, Microsoft MVP for Windows Security