The other day my computer(home built Athlon 1800XP)wouldn't boot past Bios,wouldn't go into safe mode or "last consiguration that worked" etc. After fishing around Bios,I got this message: "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: <windows root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe please re-install a copy of the above file"
When I explored re-installing windows(XP Home)it wanted me to re-format the drive. I have a lot of my stuff backed up but there is a bunch of stuff that is not and I REALLY need to recover it. In the meantime,I have re-built my computer on another hard drive and am up and running but the computer doesn't recognize the original drive - even as a slave to the new one....How about it nerds and geeks - any ideas? Any recovery software I need to know about? I'm stumped. -MJ-
WinXP partial re-install
Moderator: Wiz Feinberg
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Michael Johnstone
- Posts: 3862
- Joined: 29 Oct 1998 1:01 am
- Location: Sylmar,Ca. USA
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Everett Cox
- Posts: 497
- Joined: 13 Jul 1999 12:01 am
- Location: Marengo, OH, USA (deceased)
Mich-- Did you remember to set the BIOS to detect the slave??? Some have "uninstalled" as the default unless you change to "auto" or a specific "user" value. Beyond that, it's possible the old drive is defective and no longer usable. Do you have some means of checking the MasterBootRecord, FAT, and Partition info? Is the drive formatted to NTFS??? --Everett
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Earnest Bovine
- Posts: 8366
- Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
- Location: Los Angeles CA USA
1. type ntoskrnl into Google and see what comes up. At the very least you will find others with the same problem, and you can commiserate.
2. It looks like the "nt" refers to Windows NT Operating System, which you don't even have, so I don't get it.
3. Run Partition Magic (or similar) and see if it can see the dicey hard disk. If needed, Partition Magic can create a boot floppy disc, and you can boot from floppy with only your dicey HD in the box.
You can download Partition Magic via Kazaa for example.
4. Go to microsoft.com and see if there are updates for Windows XP that address this problem, which looks like a file system problem.
2. It looks like the "nt" refers to Windows NT Operating System, which you don't even have, so I don't get it.
3. Run Partition Magic (or similar) and see if it can see the dicey hard disk. If needed, Partition Magic can create a boot floppy disc, and you can boot from floppy with only your dicey HD in the box.
You can download Partition Magic via Kazaa for example.
4. Go to microsoft.com and see if there are updates for Windows XP that address this problem, which looks like a file system problem.
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Mark Ardito
- Posts: 899
- Joined: 9 Aug 1999 12:01 am
- Location: Chicago, IL, USA
Michael,
I am almost POSITIVE that the XP CD-ROM has the "repair the boot/startup" option.
I would try and connect that HD as the master and try and boot again. The put the XP CD in the drive and let it boot off the CD. Get to the menu and see if "Repair" is an option. I am almost positive it is.
Just be careful and don't hit "format" or something like that.
Oh yeah, careful who you call "geek" hehe...just kidding...my wife makes fun of me because I am such a geek!
Mark
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Sho~Bud Pro I, Fender D-8 (C6&E13) http://www.darkmagneto.com
I am almost POSITIVE that the XP CD-ROM has the "repair the boot/startup" option.
I would try and connect that HD as the master and try and boot again. The put the XP CD in the drive and let it boot off the CD. Get to the menu and see if "Repair" is an option. I am almost positive it is.
Just be careful and don't hit "format" or something like that.
Oh yeah, careful who you call "geek" hehe...just kidding...my wife makes fun of me because I am such a geek!
Mark
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Sho~Bud Pro I, Fender D-8 (C6&E13) http://www.darkmagneto.com
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Ole Dantoft
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- Joined: 31 May 2001 12:01 am
- Location: Copenhagen, Denmark