BSOD help :(

greyed

My vostro dual boots with windows xpsp2 and ubuntu 8.10. Last night I started up my xp but the desktop would not appear. I held power down and restarted and since then I cant boot into windows, just get blue screen. Silver line is I can still access my windows partition through linux after forcing a mount, so I still have all my college work etc. Is windows on that partition dead? Is there any way of getting it back?:(

Spear

greyed wrote: »

My vostro dual boots with windows xpsp2 and ubuntu 8.10. Last night I started up my xp but the desktop would not appear. I held power down and restarted and since then I cant boot into windows, just get blue screen. Silver line is I can still access my windows partition through linux after forcing a mount, so I still have all my college work etc. Is windows on that partition dead? Is there any way of getting it back?:(

There should be a message on the bluescreen, a STOP code usually. Note the text and we can respond better.

greenman09

I had this a few months back all diff stop codes. Ended up having to reinstall windows. All is good since then.

greyed

Here are the stop codes:

0x000000CA (0x00000001, 0x8A695900, 0x8A696900, 0x00000000)

What exactly are these stop codes? And how do they help diagnose, if you dont ming me asking?

Could someone point me in the direction of a guide to reinstall windows while keeping my linux partition?

Spear

greyed wrote: »

Here are the stop codes:

0x000000CA (0x00000001, 0x8A695900, 0x8A696900, 0x00000000)

What exactly are these stop codes? And how do they help diagnose, if you dont ming me asking?

Could someone point me in the direction of a guide to reinstall windows while keeping my linux partition?

Can Windows start in safemode?

greyed

no, blue screen

greyed

More questions;)

There is a guide here to repair an xp installation. http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/How-to-repair-Windows-XP-t138.html ...sounds great, but if i do this, will it reset the boot loader so that i will be unable to access my linux partition? And if it does, is it possible to reinstate GRUB with the ubuntu live cd afterwords so I can boot into linux?

Please answer if you can, this came at a bad time, plenty of work to do on my comp
Thanks.

Spear

greyed wrote: »

More questions;)

There is a guide here to repair an xp installation. http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/How-to-repair-Windows-XP-t138.html ...sounds great, but if i do this, will it reset the boot loader so that i will be unable to access my linux partition? And if it does, is it possible to reinstate GRUB with the ubuntu live cd afterwords so I can boot into linux?

Please answer if you can, this came at a bad time, plenty of work to do on my comp
Thanks.

XP repair installs do like to replace the bootloader afresh, but you can boot any Linux CD/DVD and mount your partition to put GRUB back.

greyed

So will the linux cd see the installation and present me with the option to reinstate GRUB? And do I need the latest version of my distro on a live CD or will anything do? Thanks.

On the other hand loosing windows has forced me to configure ubuntu the way I want it, its a nice OS:p

Spear

greyed wrote: »

So will the linux cd see the installation and present me with the option to reinstate GRUB? And do I need the latest version of my distro on a live CD or will anything do? Thanks.

On the other hand loosing windows has forced me to configure ubuntu the way I want it, its a nice OS:p

It won't be automatic. A decent live distro will make the effort to recognise and make available any partitions it finds. Mount your main Linux partition, chroot into it, and run grub (possibly just grub-install if it's available).

greyed

OK, cheers.

Mount your main Linux partition, chroot into it, and run grub (possibly just grub-install if it's available).

Could you explain chroot a little in this context, my unix is not great:pac:

Spear

greyed wrote: »

OK, cheers.



Could you explain chroot a little in this context, my unix is not great:pac:

Chroot changes the root filesystem to a different location. You can boot from a live DVD, mount your old partition, then change your root filesystem to point to that, so anything you run would be running from the disk instead.

An Fear Aniar

greyed wrote: »

...sounds great, but if i do this, will it reset the boot loader so that i will be unable to access my linux partition? And if it does, is it possible to reinstate GRUB with the ubuntu live cd afterwords so I can boot into linux?

Yes, that is easily done with a Live CD:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RecoveringUbuntuAfterInstallingWindows


.

greyed

That is excellent. Great help guys, thanks again.

greyed

More problems

Didnt get around to trying repair install until now, and have discovered I cant even boot from xp cd, I get blue again with the following stop codes:

0x000000CA (0x00000001, 0x89B2B288, 0x89B2EC08, 0x00000000)

"plug and play detected an error most likely caused by a faulty driver."

Google tells me that if I cant boot from CD then I have a hardware problem, is this true if I can access all files through linux, and linux works perfectly? Can I diagnose/repair this through linux or from booting some other prog?

any further help really needed and appreciated :pac:

Spear

greyed wrote: »

More problems

Didnt get around to trying repair install until now, and have discovered I cant even boot from xp cd, I get blue again with the following stop codes:

0x000000CA (0x00000001, 0x89B2B288, 0x89B2EC08, 0x00000000)

"plug and play detected an error most likely caused by a faulty driver."

Google tells me that if I cant boot from CD then I have a hardware problem, is this true if I can access all files through linux, and linux works perfectly? Can I diagnose/repair this through linux or from booting some other prog?

any further help really needed and appreciated :pac:

When you say boot from the XP disc, are you trying to run the XP install process when it bluescreens or the current hard disk install?

greyed

It blues when I try to load the CD in the first place. Having loaded the files it needs it goes on to "load windows" then it fails. I dont get the setup/repair window.

Spear

greyed wrote: »

It blues when I try to load the CD in the first place. Having loaded the files it needs it goes on to "load windows" then it fails. I dont get the setup/repair window.

Have you got 4Gb or more of RAM?

greyed

No, 2GB

/edit... I notice in safe mode, windows stops loading at mup.sys, if I replace this file with the original on the cd in linux, could that work?
reedit, then again, it doesnt boot on cd either

Spear

greyed wrote: »

No, 2GB

/edit... I notice in safe mode, windows stops loading at mup.sys, if I replace this file with the original on the cd in linux, could that work?
reedit, then again, it doesnt boot on cd either

Mup.sys tends to be the last driver loaded for everyone, I doubt replacing it would have any impact.

Spear

Some rambling queries.

When you installed the Linux partitions did you put them before or after the Windows ones?

Is the bootable flag still set on the Windows partition?

Can you show the listing of partitions as show in Linux fdisk?

NullZer0

Okay, were you using the Windows XP bootloader and if so have you attempted to a fixmbr or a fix boot from the recovery console?

When Windows XP is starting (you see the windows logo), have you tried hitting F8 and selecting "last known good configuration"?

I got asked this question in an interview this week... i mean he may as well have asked me "If a tree falls, and there is nobody around..."

Anyway, getting back to the problem.
Stop errors are about 85% of the time to do with Drivers and/or Memory.

Have you installed any new software lately on the windows partition? Drivers?
I would ask you to download and run Memtest86 but things seem to be running okay with you linux partition right?

You data isn't lost anyway so don't worry about that (as long as you don't do anything stupid like format!)

*** I've been recommending this alot lately (which is really bad form) but can you do a repair install on the XP partition? You don't loose your data if you do this.

Instructions for repair install: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm (scroll down to "XP Repair install").

If NONE of the above works then the best way to isolate this is by removing hardware, in your case I would say remove one stick of RAM and try. Then try the other on its own etc.

This isn't usually a "huge" job but its harder to instruct someone when you're not looking right at it.

HTH,


iRock

joes girls

ok i knows not thing about all this stuff but when i turn on windows it goes to safemode... i have to go into f10 and erase it ...ever time i turn on ......help please anyone.....:(:(:(

NullZer0

joes girls wrote: »

ok i knows not thing about all this stuff but when i turn on windows it goes to safemode... i have to go into f10 and erase it ...ever time i turn on ......help please anyone.....:(:(:(

Can you elaborate a bit?

greyed

Some rambling queries.

When you installed the Linux partitions did you put them before or after the Windows ones?

Is the bootable flag still set on the Windows partition?

Can you show the listing of partitions as show in Linux fdisk?

I think the linux partion is after windows, ubuntu is first displayed on GRUB, but I imagine that is simply default. I initially partitioned with ubuntu install, then later resized with gParted. The bootable flag is still set(below) if im not mistaken. Heres fdisk:

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x41ab2316

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1           18740       19065     2618563+   c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda2   *          15       14233   114214117+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3           14234       19065    38813040    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda4           19066       19457     3148740   db  CP/M / CTOS / ...
/dev/sda5           18740       19065     2618563+  dd  Unknown
/dev/sda6   *       14235       18160    31535563+  83  Linux
/dev/sda7           18161       18739     4650786   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Okay, were you using the Windows XP bootloader and if so have you attempted to a fixmbr or a fix boot from the recovery console?

When Windows XP is starting (you see the windows logo), have you tried hitting F8 and selecting "last known good configuration"?

I am using GRUB bootloader, so afaik I do not have recovery console installed.
Whenever I start windows all those options are given to me as the last restart was faulty. None of them work; safe mode, last good config, nothing.

Stop errors are about 85% of the time to do with Drivers and/or Memory.

Have you installed any new software lately on the windows partition? Drivers?
I would ask you to download and run Memtest86 but things seem to be running okay with you linux partition right?

I have run memtest86, and it passed no problem. Would the fact that linux works fine not preclude any hardware problems? Last thing I installed was sasami2K player, did not give me any immediate problems, this happened a while after. I have comodo firewall, which is the most paranoid one available tbh, and avast which works nicely, dont think this comp has ever been infected.

*** I've been recommending this alot lately (which is really bad form) but can you do a repair install on the XP partition? You don't loose your data if you do this.

I have attempted to boot from the xp cd in order to try a repair install, but I cannot even boot from that. It blues once it attempts to start windows.

The exact circumstances of the breakdown were: Me trying to start windows in a rush, wouldnt display desktop, has happened before, I restarted, same thing happened and I restarted a little quicker... Then that damn screen -_-

Thanks for all input

Spear

greyed wrote: »

I think the linux partion is after windows, ubuntu is first displayed on GRUB, but I imagine that is simply default. I initially partitioned with ubuntu install, then later resized with gParted. The bootable flag is still set(below) if im not mistaken. Heres fdisk:

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x41ab2316

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1           18740       19065     2618563+   c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda2   *          15       14233   114214117+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3           14234       19065    38813040    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda4           19066       19457     3148740   db  CP/M / CTOS / ...
/dev/sda5           18740       19065     2618563+  dd  Unknown
/dev/sda6   *       14235       18160    31535563+  83  Linux
/dev/sda7           18161       18739     4650786   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order

That partition table is kinda odd, where did the FAT32 partitions come from? Where did the SDA4 and SDA5 come from?

Spear

I suspect the XP disc is choking on the two bootable flags. Take the one off the Linux partition.

greyed

One of the FAT32 must be MediaDirect, the other im not sure and not sure about the 4 and 5 either :pac:

Why would the xp disc have trouble with harddrive partitions if it is not booting from them? How do i remove one of the flags, and would this prevent me from booting linux? Would suck not being able to boot into that either:(

Spear

greyed wrote: »

One of the FAT32 must be MediaDirect, the other im not sure and not sure about the 4 and 5 either :pac:

Why would the xp disc have trouble with harddrive partitions if it is not booting from them? How do i remove one of the flags, and would this prevent me from booting linux? Would suck not being able to boot into that either:(

Windows normally only expects one flag on a disk. I had the wrong round, take the flag off the NTFS partition rather than the Linux one. You can do this with the fdisk command, either from Linux or a Linux live disc. It won't touch the disc contents otherwise.

greyed

Ah, I googled but couldnt find it. Any chance you could fill me in on how to remove boot flag with fdisk excuse my ignorance.

Spear

greyed wrote: »

Ah, I googled but couldnt find it. Any chance you could fill me in on how to remove boot flag with fdisk excuse my ignorance.

Run fdisk /dev/sda in your case. You can press m for the command list. In there you can see it's a to toggle the bootable flag.

greyed

Cheers, have done that. So even if it does not work on restart, I should still be able to boot linux, yes?

Also, when I ran fdisk I got the following warning, could it have anything to do with my problem?

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 19457.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
   (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Command (m for help):

Spear

greyed wrote: »

Cheers, have done that. So even if it does not work on restart, I should still be able to boot linux, yes?

Also, when I ran fdisk I got the following warning, could it have anything to do with my problem?

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 19457.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
   (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Command (m for help):

That's a standard warning only of historical value. Your Linux should boot still. If it doesn't it's just a case of boot a live disc and resetting it.

greyed

Hmm, I ran fdisk again, and I still see two flags?

Do I need to save with w?

Spear

greyed wrote: »

Hmm, I ran fdisk again, and I still see two flags?

Don't forget to write the table after it's edited.

greyed

Command (m for help): a
Partition number (1-7): 2

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed with error 16: Device or resource busy.
The kernel still uses the old table.
The new table will be used at the next reboot.
Syncing disks.

It never ends :pac: Is this of consequence?

Spear

greyed wrote: »

Command (m for help): a
Partition number (1-7): 2

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed with error 16: Device or resource busy.
The kernel still uses the old table.
The new table will be used at the next reboot.
Syncing disks.

It never ends :pac: Is this of consequence?

As it says, it should take effect after the reboot that's all.

greyed

Ah, no luck. Still cant boot from disk or cd

Spear

greyed wrote: »

Ah, no luck. Still cant boot from disk or cd

Check the partition table again to make sure the bootable flags have changed.

greyed

Um, wtf, they havnt changed Should I try again?

Spear

greyed wrote: »

Um, wtf, they havnt changed Should I try again?

Yes, please do so. You may want to do this from a live disc rather then the installed Linux to avoid the disc being busy and not writing the table correctly.

greyed

I tried the same thing in a live session but got the same in-use error. Checked my table before restart and it showed one flag. Restarted without successful boots, and now the tables shows two flags again.

Spear

greyed wrote: »

I tried the same thing in a live session but got the same in-use error. Checked my table before restart and it showed one flag. Restarted without successful boots, and now the tables shows two flags again.

Clear both flags from a live session. I suspect something is putting a flag back when it isn't needed/wanted. If this is the case, only one flag will exist after that.

greyed

Did the above and attempted to boot windows, no luck. Then booted ubuntu, now the table shows only one flag on the NTFS. Could I have any luck in booting from CD now?

There is an "automatic recovery..something" option on the boot cd, says to press f2 to enter. This is before it begins to load windows. Is this of any use?

Spear

greyed wrote: »

Did the above and attempted to boot windows, no luck. Then booted ubuntu, now the table shows only one flag on the NTFS. Could I have any luck in booting from CD now?

There is an "automatic recovery..something" option on the boot cd, says to press f2 to enter. This is before it begins to load windows. Is this of any use?

The ASR option is only possible if you've made an ASR disc before the Windows issues occurred. If there's only one flag set now on the NTFS partition, try the XP cd again. Is GRUB still in place?

NullZer0

Spear wrote: »

The ASR option is only possible if you've made an ASR disc before the Windows issues occurred. If there's only one flag set now on the NTFS partition, try the XP cd again. Is GRUB still in place?

Automated System Recovery.


Can you boot from this free trial of ERD Commander:
http://www.geekstogo.com/2009/01/17/erd-commander-free-trial-from-microsoft/

greyed

GRUB is still in place, cd did not boot:(

With ERD, would I try system file repair or something along those lines?