XP Won't Boot; Safe Mode Won't Either

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Guest

A few weeks ago, when starting up, my VAIO began to stop during Windows
startup.

It shows a "DOS type" window with hardware, port and device information.

At the bottom of the page, is says:
"Disk boot failure, Insert system disk and press enter"

If I repeatedly hit F8 during startup to get to safe mode, I get the same
error and cannot get into safe mode.

It seems as though the PC thinks it is booting from a disk or CD but there
are none in any drives. I've repeatedly opened and closed both the DVD and
CD units hoping to "trigger" something. No such luck.

In reading here on XP, I've become aware that I may be able to do a "repair
install"

When I boot up with the Sony XP recovery CD in the drive, I'm asked to
accept the Microsoft license. The next screen says:

"The hard drive is not partitioned; this utility creates DOS partitions and
restarts your computer. You must delete non DOS partitions to continue? Do
you wish to continue?

My question is, if I continue with creating DOS partitions aren't I wiping
the drive clean will not be able to recover existing applications files?

I really need to recover what's on this hard drive and will ensure there are
effective backup strategies in place in the future.

Please help. Thanks !
Any suggestions? I really hope to get this back up without having to wipe
the C drive clean.

Thanks.
 
JBinPa said:
A few weeks ago, when starting up, my VAIO began to stop during Windows
startup.

It shows a "DOS type" window with hardware, port and device information.

At the bottom of the page, is says:
"Disk boot failure, Insert system disk and press enter"

If I repeatedly hit F8 during startup to get to safe mode, I get the same
error and cannot get into safe mode.

It seems as though the PC thinks it is booting from a disk or CD but there
are none in any drives. I've repeatedly opened and closed both the DVD and
CD units hoping to "trigger" something. No such luck.

In reading here on XP, I've become aware that I may be able to do a "repair
install"

When I boot up with the Sony XP recovery CD in the drive, I'm asked to
accept the Microsoft license. The next screen says:

"The hard drive is not partitioned; this utility creates DOS partitions and
restarts your computer. You must delete non DOS partitions to continue? Do
you wish to continue?

My question is, if I continue with creating DOS partitions aren't I wiping
the drive clean will not be able to recover existing applications files?

I really need to recover what's on this hard drive and will ensure there are
effective backup strategies in place in the future.
Click to expand...

It sounds as though your hard drive has physically failed. Download a
diagnostic utility from the drive mftr.'s website. You will make a
bootable CD with this file (need third-party burning software). Boot the
machine with the CD you made and do a thorough test. If the drive fails
any physical tests, replace it.

As for recovery data, if the drive fails any physical tests the only
thing to do is send it to a professional data recovery company. My
preference is Drive Savers (www.drivesavers.com) but there are others.
Professional data recovery is expensive, starting at around $500 USD and
going up from there.

If the drive doesn't show any physical problems, you may be able to
recover data with data recovery software. Here are some links to various
programs. I use Easy Recovery Pro, but it is expensive. People whom I
respect have recommended R-Studio and Restoration. YMMV.

http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html
PCInspector File Recovery -
http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/welcome.htm
Executive Software “Undelete” -
http://www.execsoft.com/undelete/undelete.asp
R-Studio - http://www.r-tt.com/
File Scavenger - http://www.quetek.com/prod02.htm
Ontrack's EasyRecovery - http://www.ontrack.com/software/


Malke
 
Malke said:
It sounds as though your hard drive has physically failed. Download a
diagnostic utility from the drive mftr.'s website. You will make a
bootable CD with this file (need third-party burning software). Boot the
machine with the CD you made and do a thorough test. If the drive fails
any physical tests, replace it.

As for recovery data, if the drive fails any physical tests the only thing
to do is send it to a professional data recovery company. My preference is
Drive Savers (www.drivesavers.com) but there are others. Professional data
recovery is expensive, starting at around $500 USD and going up from
there.

If the drive doesn't show any physical problems, you may be able to
recover data with data recovery software. Here are some links to various
programs. I use Easy Recovery Pro, but it is expensive. People whom I
respect have recommended R-Studio and Restoration. YMMV.

http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html
PCInspector File Recovery -
http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/welcome.htm
Executive Software “Undelete” -
http://www.execsoft.com/undelete/undelete.asp
R-Studio - http://www.r-tt.com/
File Scavenger - http://www.quetek.com/prod02.htm
Ontrack's EasyRecovery - http://www.ontrack.com/software/


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Click to expand...


JBinPa:
In addition to the appropriate advice you received from Malke, let me add
just one other thing...

Since your major interest is obviously getting whatever data is important to
you off that (apparently) defective HDD, it would be worthwhile to install
that disk in another functioning machine as a secondary drive and try to
access whatever data you can. This assumes, of course, that you would have
or at least could temporarily obtain another functioning machine. Of course
even if you were able to install that HDD in another machine its data might
still be inaccessible. Still, it's worth a shot if you can do this while you
subsequently pursue other diagnostics.
Anna
 
FWIW, I had a similar problem a year ago. I took the computer to a
local shop that did diagnostics, reinstalled my OS on the 2nd internal
drive, and rescued the data off the dead drive. It cost me $500. I
think I got all my data back -- haven't noticed anything missing yet.
:-)

Worthwhile to check some good local outfits, then, depending on the
importance of the data and the size of your wallet.


Lady Dungeness
Crabby, but Great Legs!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



|
|> JBinPa wrote:
|>> A few weeks ago, when starting up, my VAIO began to stop during Windows
|>> startup.
|>> It shows a "DOS type" window with hardware, port and device information.
|>>
|>> At the bottom of the page, is says:
|>> "Disk boot failure, Insert system disk and press enter"
|>>
|>> If I repeatedly hit F8 during startup to get to safe mode, I get the same
|>> error and cannot get into safe mode.
|>>
|>> It seems as though the PC thinks it is booting from a disk or CD but
|>> there are none in any drives. I've repeatedly opened and closed both the
|>> DVD and CD units hoping to "trigger" something. No such luck.
|>>
|>> In reading here on XP, I've become aware that I may be able to do a
|>> "repair install" When I boot up with the Sony XP recovery CD in the
|>> drive, I'm asked to accept the Microsoft license. The next screen says:
|>>
|>> "The hard drive is not partitioned; this utility creates DOS partitions
|>> and restarts your computer. You must delete non DOS partitions to
|>> continue? Do you wish to continue?
|>>
|>> My question is, if I continue with creating DOS partitions aren't I
|>> wiping the drive clean will not be able to recover existing applications
|>> files?
|>>
|>> I really need to recover what's on this hard drive and will ensure there
|>> are effective backup strategies in place in the future.
|
|
||> It sounds as though your hard drive has physically failed. Download a
|> diagnostic utility from the drive mftr.'s website. You will make a
|> bootable CD with this file (need third-party burning software). Boot the
|> machine with the CD you made and do a thorough test. If the drive fails
|> any physical tests, replace it.
|>
|> As for recovery data, if the drive fails any physical tests the only thing
|> to do is send it to a professional data recovery company. My preference is
|> Drive Savers (www.drivesavers.com) but there are others. Professional data
|> recovery is expensive, starting at around $500 USD and going up from
|> there.
|>
|> If the drive doesn't show any physical problems, you may be able to
|> recover data with data recovery software. Here are some links to various
|> programs. I use Easy Recovery Pro, but it is expensive. People whom I
|> respect have recommended R-Studio and Restoration. YMMV.
|>
|> http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html
|> PCInspector File Recovery -
|> http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/welcome.htm
|> Executive Software ?Undelete? -
|> http://www.execsoft.com/undelete/undelete.asp
|> R-Studio - http://www.r-tt.com/
|> File Scavenger - http://www.quetek.com/prod02.htm
|> Ontrack's EasyRecovery - http://www.ontrack.com/software/
|>
|>
|> Malke
|> --
|> Elephant Boy Computers
|> www.elephantboycomputers.com
|> "Don't Panic!"
|> MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
|
|
|JBinPa:
|In addition to the appropriate advice you received from Malke, let me add
|just one other thing...
|
|Since your major interest is obviously getting whatever data is important to
|you off that (apparently) defective HDD, it would be worthwhile to install
|that disk in another functioning machine as a secondary drive and try to
|access whatever data you can. This assumes, of course, that you would have
|or at least could temporarily obtain another functioning machine. Of course
|even if you were able to install that HDD in another machine its data might
|still be inaccessible. Still, it's worth a shot if you can do this while you
|subsequently pursue other diagnostics.
|Anna
|
 
My question is, if I continue with creating DOS partitions aren't I wiping
the drive clean will not be able to recover existing applications files?

I really need to recover what's on this hard drive and will ensure there are
effective backup strategies in place in the future.

Please help. Thanks !
Any suggestions? I really hope to get this back up without having to wipe
the C drive clean.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

To get back your lost data and partition you can try out Stellar
Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Software, a file and partition recovery
utility which recovers lost data from inaccessible hard drive.
You can download the demo version of the software (http://
www.stellarinfo.com/partition-recovery.htm ), scan your hard. If the
scan result shows your data then get the full version to save it.

Hope this data recovery software is going to help you out.
 
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