hi, if i put in the xp disc and did a repair as you said(first time i have heard of that) will i still have all my files etc on the computer when its all ok again? might sound a silly question but i'm not the best at this computer lark! hence the question for step by step instructions in the about post!do i just load the disc and it will give me an option for repair? if so is it very straight forward to do? and u say i will be able to run my anti virus from then on yes? will my ad aware/spy bot/avg pick up this perticualr virus do you know? i mean i take it u have some idea as to what has happened yeah? many thanks for all posts its very much appreciated.

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ok, dug out my xp disc, and sorry to be a complete computer idiot but....nothing is happening! i can't get the xp disc to come up. in other words how the heck do you do it? i have tried loading the disc in the computer before i switch it on, it just goes through the same thing, and i end up with a blank screen. i have tried putting the disc in at the blank screen, the disc icon comes up but nothing else. i have tried this in safe mode too. is there a way of getting the disc info to come up? is there a buton i can press so it loads the disc and i can get at the info on the disc???

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Just follow the instructions on the repair and your files and everything should still be intact...I've never had any files or progs missing myself when I did a repair. The only thing that will happen, you'll have to download all your critical updates again as they will be gone. You have to have the XP install disc for this.... If you have restoration discs that came with your PC you CANNOT do a repair install. In that xase it would restore everything back to the way it came from the factory and you WOULD LOSE all your files and programs. What I would do after the repair is D/L avast free to the desktop, disable AVG and then load up Avast and let it do a bootscan on rebott and move all that it finds to the chest. You can find avast in the link on my signature. Good Luck Some HELP in posting on Cnet plus free progs and instructions Hopefully my advice will help you...Please post back your result

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you will have to enter the bios and make sure that your CD is the 1st to boot up. Without knowing your PC brand, I have no way of telling which command you have to push to enter your Bios. Watch when you boot up and see if there is any F key to push to enter your bios Some HELP in posting on Cnet plus free progs and instructions Hopefully my advice will help you...Please post back your result

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u have to press del to enter this and the cd is 3rd to load. so i will change it to 1st yeah?

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ok, changed the settings in the bios so i can now run the xp disc(thanks for that). i have pressed r and now it is asking me which windows installation would i like to log into. it doesn't give any options. so i guess i have to type something in! what do i type??? thanks

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follow the EXACT instructions that I gave you in the link on response 6 Some HELP in posting on Cnet plus free progs and instructions Hopefully my advice will help you...Please post back your result

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just done it and i have my folders back on the screen!! running my spybot/ad aware and avg to try and sort out any problems. thanks so much for all the help. you have saved me alot of grief!!! do u have any tips or suggestions as to what i can do to make my computer safe? thanks once again

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Thanks for posting back! Now, did you try what I said in response 9? You may find Avast is great for real-time virus catching which many others don't have. You can read about it in the link on my signature. Also, I would use all the cleaners I have listed...they all work great! Try the Comodo Pro Firewall and remember you can't have 2 AV's or 2 Firewalls running at the same time...it will mess up your on-line experience! Some HELP in posting on Cnet plus free progs and instructions Hopefully my advice will help you...Please post back your result

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Actually you should turn off your system restore: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310405 Then do all your scans again. If anything shows up, remove it. When there are no more problems, be sure to turn system restore back on, because there will probably come a time when you will need that too. Happy Surfing! Some HELP in posting on Cnet plus free progs and instructions Hopefully my advice will help you...Please post back your result

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thanks so much xpuser4real. when i got my computer up and running the avg said it have a problem with the license! so i could not use it. so i uninstalled it and tried again, when it loaded up at the end it said an error had occured and couldn't load. so looks like thsta been disabled by something too! so i then loaded the avast as suggested and it is now in the middle of a boot scan. its picking up all sorts of nasties!!!!! i have done as suggested and pressed 6, move all to chest. once that has done do i delete them or repair it or something? thanks once again.

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Once they are in the chest, they are fine....it is a quarantine. Just leave them there and you will be fine. If Avast quarantine fills up, it will notify you and you can delete them. Some HELP in posting on Cnet plus free progs and instructions Hopefully my advice will help you...Please post back your result

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thanks once again! excellent service, can't fault this site one bit! you've saved me alot of trouble and time. best regards.

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oh just another quick question, sorry! i still have the, warning spyware detected on your computer message (coloured bland and yellow) on the windows desktop background. thought the virus software and the other stuff i ran would have gotten rid of it. if i go into the computer options and press display and change it nothing happens. any idea of how the heck i can get rid of this darn thing!!?? thanks

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run this free online scan and remove all it finds: http://www.spywareinfo.com/xscan.php It may give a message and seem to stall out at first....give it time and it will work. Some HELP in posting on Cnet plus free progs and instructions Hopefully my advice will help you...Please post back your result

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I have encountered same problem (UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME....stop:0x000000ed with 2nd parameter 0xc0000185) but.... 1. I can't get XP to boot into any mode, although I do get the choice of XP or Recovery Console (this is on boot.ini isn't it?, so it must be reading disk). 2. If I choose XP, I get a message: "We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfully. A recent hardware or software change might have caused this. If your computer stopped responding, restarted unexpectedly, or was automatically shut down to protect your files and folders, choose Last Known Good Configuration to revert to the most recent settings that worked. If a previous startup attemp was interupted due to a power failure or because the Power or Reset button was pressed, or if you aren't sure what caused the problem, choose Start Windows Normally." Then the three safe modes, last known good and normal menu items are available. Whichever one I select I get UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME and the stop 0x000000ED messages. (In Safe mode I see the list of drivers - doesn't this mean it's reading them?). (Incidentally, I think I may have switched power off to close down as system wouldn't shutdown after explorer shell crashed [and recrashed....], but this would not be the first time or even the twentieth). 3. If I choose Recovery Console I get "A problem has been detected ... check for viruses ... run CHKDSK /F ..." STOP 0x0000007B (0xF8981524),0xC0000034,0x00000000,0x00000000). Yes, I'd like to run CHKDSK but how??? 4. If I boot from XP Pro CD (not mine), Recovery Console can't see any hard disk drives, so can't do anything there, and I'm not ready to try reinstalling yet. 5. The Gibson Spinrite 6 product boots from CD and sees all my partitions, and can't find any errors. 6. I can boot Damn Small Linux from CD, but I don't know how to get at the disk drives. I've taken the side panel off, and - for what it's worth given my lack of expertise - things look OK, or at least like they did last time I did it (2 years ago). I can't believe the disk is kaput - see Spinrite stuff - so I suppose I could try and rebuild the boot thingy using a Linux live CD, but I don't know what to go for and how to do it. Any help or moral support would be welcome.

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"Yes, I'd like to run CHKDSK but how???" Nothing must be running during CHKDSK, try it this way. Will take at least 2 hrs. Windows XP - Running Checkdisk from a Boot CD http://kb.wisc.edu/helpdesk/page.ph... Good info here as well. http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-11... http://www.updatexp.com/windows-xp-... http://www.schrockinnovations.com/c... Another possible. Bart's Preinstalled Environment (BartPE) bootable live windows CD/DVD http://www.nu2.nu/bootcd/ http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ http://windowsxp.mvps.org/peboot.htm Boot from the CD and chkdsk your HD manually.

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If you are using ntfs ( not fat32 ) file system, here is another tool. Unable to get into CHKDSK Download this tool > ntfs2dos http://www.pelttech.com/security/to... http://www.pelttech.com/tools/ntfs2... It will create a boot disk that will allow you to run a chkdsk on your HD. 1. Create the boot disk (floppy) 2. Boot from the floppy ( make sure you set the bios to boot from floppy first ) 3. Let the program run 4. Make your selections 5. Let the program do its thing 6. Your done.

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Thanks JohnW. I have d/led and will try NTFS2DOS - but have to go out for a few hours first. Two quick questions to save (me) time if you know answers - I can't create floppies on this box, but my damaged box *can* boot from them or CDROMs. 1. Does NTFS2DOS actually create bootable DOS disk? or do I need a DOS boot floppy from my 25 year junk heap? 2. Can I create a DOS-boot CDROM. Many thanks for your trouble.

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To JohnW I see we're separated by 8 hours! so I'll try and timeshift for any response I might get.

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Hav'nt had to use any of these programs Steve, just pointing you in directions that may help. Here are more. Unbootable computer http://www.sysopt.com/articles/trou... http://www.computerbitz.co.uk/ http://www.duxcw.com/faq/mb/deadmb.htm http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/... http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=... http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=... The 911 Rescue CD http://www.911cd.net/911cd/ Ultimate Boot CD http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ Hiren's BootCD http://thanki.tk/ http://www.ddlboard.com/modules.php... http://thepiratebay.org/tor/3587762... http://homepage.ntlworld.com/hiren.... http://www.ddlboard.com/modules.php... SystemRescueCd http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page EBCD – Emergency Boot CD http://ebcd.pcministry.com/ "Unmountable Boot Volume" Win XP http://www.techtips4u.com/kb/sw/SW0... http://support.microsoft.com/defaul... http://www.cyberwalker.net/faqs/rei... http://support.microsoft.com/defaul... http://www.experts-exchange.com/Ope... http://www.windowsnetworking.com/wx... http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tut... http://www.digitalwebcast.com/2002/... http://support.microsoft.com/defaul... http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...

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Am about to try some of the suggestions from Johnw -I'm starting with the least complicated looking (and free) ones; firstly http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootablecd which looks relatively simple to try(!?). As I've gone through through links I've added couple of comments which might be useful to someone. Thanks to Johnw again for finding all these links - he must have a better version of Google! (and more patience) ---- http://www.sysopt.com/tutorials/art... Relates mainly to power problems. ---- http://www.computerbitz.co.uk/info/... Relates to power problems (I'll be coming back to that as I've got laptop with failed power supply!), but also has this: "If you get the computer to boot but it does not want to read from the hard drive’ the Master Boot Record on the hard drive may be corrupted or even missing. To verify that the master boot record has not been damaged... Boot from the floppy disk that contains the FDISK program and type the command " fdisk mbr " to restore the master boot record onto your hard drive." Sounds good if I can get a floppy sorted out. ---- http://www.duxcw.com/faq/mb/deadmb.htm Relates to motherboards. ---- http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/... Same article as //www.computerbitz.co.uk/info/revive.html ---- http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=... Link to using Knoppix as rescue CD - which I may come back to (Damn Small Linux is based on Knoppix). ---- http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=... Seems largely power and motherboards ---- http://www.911cd.net/911cd/ Looks like a lot of time and effort, but may go back to it. ---- http://www.techtips4u.com/kb/sw/SW0... Suggests using Recovery Console from XP CDROM. I get message "Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed your computer... ... Setup cannot continue. To quit Setup, press F3." ---- All the following seem similar and hopefully one will work. http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ Hiren's BootCD http://thanki.tk/ http://www.ddlboard.com/modules.php... http://thepiratebay.org/tor/3587762... http://homepage.ntlworld.com/hiren.... http://www.ddlboard.com/modules.php... SystemRescueCd http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page EBCD – Emergency Boot CD http://ebcd.pcministry.com/ http://ebcd.pcministry.com/ ----

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I've used the Hiren bootable CD, and it recognises all my NTFS partitions (hooray) - now to fix boot sector. Thanks Johnw - I'll post results when I'm sure what I've done!

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I keep a database Steve of info picked up over the years, that I feel will be of value for helping fix problems. With the XP cd, the file i386 ( about 500mb ) is XP. You may already have it on your drive, if not you can put there. XP Cab Files Install and Relocate http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_... http://www.tweakxp.com/article37514...

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Just in case anybody with a similar problem checks this thread ..... I finally got XP back! I couldn't do anything for a few days as real life things intervened, but in the last couple of days I've tried most of the things suggested, plus one or two others I came upon. The basic problem was that Windows boot disks refused to recognise the hard disk, both XP setup and Recovery Console. FreeDos and DR-Dos (Hiren's Boot CD) wouldn't either. Spinwrite (low level disk verification utility) reported no problems with the drive; GParted recognised the partitions but flagged 2 of them as having irrecoverable errors, and said I needed to run CHKDSK (I didn't really understand that!), and NTFS2DOS wouldn't let me run the CHKDSK needed for NTFS Strangely, an incorrectly created Hiren's boot CD (using CDBurner XP with the bootable disk option set), which boots but appears to contain the unextracted iso file only, not its constituent folders and files, loaded Caldera DR-DOS - which could see all the drives! I don't understand this either - the correctly created boot CD cannot see any partitions. However, the CHKDSK (from Windows XP) won't run under DOS. The common problem in all the approaches taken was that I could'nt get a CHKDSK-like program to run against the hard disk. However, then I came upon bootdisk.com, which had a NTFS boot facility similar to the one Johnw suggested, but with an NTFS capable CHKDSK. This ran, found thousands of errors on the C: drive, and fixed them all! XP boots fine (for now). Time for some serious backups. Thanks to Johnw for his suggestions which put me on the right track. Incidentally, there are lots of boot utilities on bootdisk.com, so it's worth a look for similar problems (though the NTFS4DOS software is on a page that costs $4 to access!).

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Just in case anybody with a similar problem checks this thread ..... I finally got XP back! I couldn't do anything for a few days as real life things intervened, but in the last couple of days I've tried most of the things suggested, plus one or two others I came upon. The basic problem was that Windows boot disks refused to recognise the hard disk, both XP setup and Recovery Console. FreeDos and DR-Dos (Hiren's Boot CD) wouldn't either. Spinwrite (low level disk verification utility) reported no problems with the drive; GParted recognised the partitions but flagged 2 of them as having irrecoverable errors, and said I needed to run CHKDSK (I didn't really understand that!), and NTFS2DOS wouldn't let me run the CHKDSK needed for NTFS Strangely, an incorrectly created Hiren's boot CD (using CDBurner XP with the bootable disk option set), which boots but appears to contain the unextracted iso file only rather than the constituent folders and files, loaded Caldera DR-DOS - which could see all the drives! I don't understand this either - the correctly created boot CD cannot see any partitions. However, the CHKDSK (from Windows XP) won't run under DOS. The common problem in all the approaches taken was that I could'nt get a CHKDSK-like program to run against the hard disk. However, then I came upon bootdisk.com, which had a NTFS boot facility similar to the one Johnw suggested, but with an NTFS capable CHKDSK. This ran, found thousands of errors on the C: drive, and fixed them all! XP boots fine (for now). Time for some serious backups. Thanks to Johnw for his suggestions which put me on the right track. Incidentally, there are lots of boot utilities on bootdisk.com, so it's worth a look for similar problems (though the NTFS4DOS software is on a page that costs $4 to access!).

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Thanks for that Steve, lots of twists & turhs, but you finally got there, that's computers. For others reading this, here is where to get ntfs4dos direct. http://www.free-av.com/antivirclass...

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