george neuner

Hi all,

A friend asked me to look at her laptop. Apparently an AV software
update (she didn't say which vendor) asked her to reboot afterwards,
and when she did the computer stopped working.

By the time she brought it to me, it wouldn't boot at all - it BSODs
about halfway through startup with:
STOP: 0x00000024 (0x00190203,0x857076D8,0xC0000102,0x00000000)

I have the install CDs to ultimately repair the damage, but so far I
have not been successful in any attempts to recover my friend's data.
I tried the repair option on the OS install CD, but it hangs
"analyzing the disk". After the first few seconds there is no disk
activity ... I let it run for 24 hours with no signs of progress.

I have Winternals ERD, NTFSpro and NTFSCHK, but the laptop does not
have a floppy drive nor will it boot from a USB stick. I'm left only
with bootable CDs which are causing me grief.

ERD modifies the Windows boot disks - I can't figure out how to get
all of them onto a CD and have them recognized (I haven't yet tried
one per CD - that's next). NTFSCHK won't run because there isn't
enough low RAM after loading drivers, MSCDEX, etc. to use the CD.
NTFSpro runs ok and lets me access the disk, but there is not enough
low RAM left to load a DOS network client (plus I don't know what NIC
driver to use), I have no DOS software for burning CDs, the laptop has
no serial or parallel ports, and I can't seem to locate a DOS USB
driver that will recognize any of my memory sticks.

I booted up a Knoppix Live CD hoping it would let me rescue the data,
but Linux won't access the corrupt NTFS partition (except as raw which
isn't useful) and, AFAICT, there are no fsck utilities that work on
NTFS.

My last resort is to remove the HD and connect it to one of my own
laptops which has floppies, but I'm somewhat reluctant to dismantle a
computer I don't own and have no repair manual for. I'd prefer a
software solution if I can find one.

Any suggestions?
George
--
for email reply remove "/" from address

pegasus \(mvp\)

Your friend's situation is much the same as the one described
in the thread below, including her decision to defer her regular
file backup until disaster struck.
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...173995333b58ad

If the Bart PE disk does not work then you would have
to remove the disk despite your reluctance. If you still
can't access the partition while the disk is in a USB case
then you could try this:
- Purchase a $20.00 adapter that lets you connect the
laptop disk to a standard IDE ribbon cable.
- Connect the disk to a desktop PC as the secondary
master disk.
- Boot the desktop PC with a Win98 boot disk from
www.bootdisk.com.
- Run ntfsdos.exe (www.sysinternals.com). Maybe it
lets you read the damaged partition.

If this sounds like a lot of work then you're spot on.
Recovery from a backup medium is much, much easier.

Please note: Be very, very careful when connecting the
IDE ribbon cable to the laptop. If you do it back to
front then you will fry the disk.

george neuner

As I said previously, I could read the partition with ntfsdos but I
could not get enough free memory with it to run anything else so I
could not transfer the data (no floppy, serial or parallel ports and
USB sticks not recognized - I would have to burn a CD or get network
functioning).

I looked at Bootdisk.com as you suggested. I noticed that the NTFS
boot disk was based on the freeware ntfs4dos. I discovered that
ntfs4dos is much smaller than sysinternals ntfsdos. I was able to get
its version of CHKDSK to run and fix the partition enough to boot it.

[Aside: how is it that ntfs4dos is so much smaller than ntfsdos?
ntfsdos and ntfschk(chkdsk) each take the better part of a 1.44 floppy
and can't used together. ntfs4dos fits itself, chkdsk and a defragger
on a single floppy with room to spare and the tools will work while
the user shell is running.]

There was some damage to the filesystem but it looked like it was
confined to a few new files. I was able to run Windows and get most
of my friend's stuff off the drive.

Thanks for the help.
George
--
for email reply remove "/" from address

pegasus \(mvp\)

Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad you managed to save most
of your friend's files. I suspect that she is now a convert when
it comes to backing up her file. It's a pity that it took such an
effort to make her see what's perfectly obvious.

I am unable to tell you anything about the peculiarities of the
various DOS-based ntfs tools. To me they are legacy tools
that I very rarely use. There are much more versatile tools
around but they won't fit on a floppy disk.

j de boyne pollard

P> I am unable to tell you anything about the peculiarities of the
P> various DOS-based ntfs tools. To me they are legacy tools
P> that I very rarely use.

<URL:http://homepages.tesco.net./~J.deBoy...gacy-is-not-a-
pejorative.html>

marc

Hello all.


Have you tried a USB floppy drive yet? Does the laptop allow you to
change the boot order of the attached devices? If so, and it has a
floppy
option (even though a physical floppy drive isn't present), try
selecting
that an try from a USB flopyy. They're cheap (even WalMart has
them).
Worth a shot.

Regards,
Marc

pegasus \(mvp\)

In case you haven't noticed: The OP solved his problem by
himself four days ago.