Need help, WinXP won't boot!

I'll try that. It says the error occured in ntfs.sys, could it be the HDD? Hope not, as it happens with both.

That can sometimes be a tale-tell sign that you have a BAD HDD. ntfs.sys is the software for reading NTFS formatted drives under Windows XP.

I was afraid of that. To me it's odd that both would fail. I backup up to a separate partition a week ago, I sure hope I can recover that.

Could it be the IDE cable by any chance?

If you think it could be the HDD, run a recertification utility such as PowerMax from Maxtor. Your HDD's manufacturer probably has one available for download on their website. If not, there are third party utilities available as well.

Well, if both drives are on the same cable, and they both are getting the same errors, it could be the cable or the controller. If you have a spare cable, you might want to try it to eliminate that first.

Will do, I have a Samsung and a Maxtor, Maxtor's the main one.

I'll try that cable, my friend may lend me his. When I try to boot, I get the message that system32\config is missing and I should use the XP CD to recover it. But guess what, when I try to get into the CD's recovery mode, it gives that same stupid PAGE FILE error.

Looked at Powermax, it says that it'll format all the data on the drive. Will it really? Makes me reluctant to use it.

Download Drive Fitness Test. it is from IBM/Hitachi but it will work on any drive.

http://www.hgst.com/hdd/technolo/dft/dftnew.htm

Sounds like you have a nice corrupted HDD to me. Missing files, problems with NTFS, etc....

Does the hard drive make any new worrying noises? If not, it probably will fairly soon....

Could be something else but I think you are heading that way from what you have described so far.

I'll be testing the drive in my friend's computer tonight. I'll let you know of any change. There actually hasen't been odd noises, it's still running normally I think.

Yeah you are really going to have to take this machine apart to figure out what is wrong with it.

It could still be a number of things, you know what my money is on, though.

But the chances are that its only one component that has the problem, and when you remove that component like a cancerous cell and replace it with something that works, all will be well.

Oh, Windows XP WILL NOT BOOT AT ALL, if its not installed in a machine with identical chipset for the most part. You could be lucky but I doubt it.

So don't interpret that as an error.

Have you ran a chkdsk or something on any of the partitions that are on this HDD???

I.e. open command prompt:

chkdsk c: /f

where c: is one of the partitions on the drive?

Do you get lots of errors?

Well, I have some good and bad news.

Bad is that the HDD is shot and along with a few days of my data and a recently reinstalled Windows and all my programs. :dead:

Good is that I can recover the data from the other drive, and that my Maxtor drive is still under warranty till June. :grinthumb I'll be getting a replacement as soon as I can.

How did you find this out?

Just some deduction. The drive wouldn't boot or allow me to even boot into Windows repair mode, the other one did and I could repair that one (didn't need too). I could also boot to Windows and view the contents of the backup drive.

Pretty sure the other one is shot.

If it finds problems it does, I think it pretty much has to when it makes the repairs. Running the tests doesn't modify the data though. Or it used to work that way. That may be a newer version than I have.

Hmm, I tried running it and it said that it couldn't mind DOS! You have to run it to get an RMA from Maxtor, so I hope I can get this sorted out.