[ale] How can I use Knoppix to fix hd problem on xp box

[H. A. Story]

Jim Seymour wrote:

>On Sun, Feb 26, 2006 at 11:44:08AM -0500, H. A. Story wrote:
>  
>
>>Jim Seymour wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>I have an XP box (haven't been able to convert the spouse) with a sata
>>>drive that has a corrupted mbr that XP can't fix and will not boot. I
>>>can't even reinstall the XP system. Since I can access the drive without
>>>problem running Knoppix, I am guessing maybe......virus destruction? I
>>>was hoping that somebody out there could point me to an antivirus program
>>>I could run from a cd under Knoppix. Any other ideas as to the possible
>>>culprit?
>>>
>>>Thanks,
>>>
>>>Jim Seymour
>>>
>>> 
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>I take it you have tired booting from the XP CD and trying the emrg 
>>recovery.  I think that is what it was call on 2000.  I have heard that 
>>XP still has it.  Now if you have one of those systems where you get a 
>>recovery CD from the vendor and not a actually XP cd then that will not 
>>work.  Dell and Acer come to mind here not sure about gateway and 
>>others.  Another reason I don't like those setups. by the way I think it 
>>is F2.  It flashes on the screen really fas during boot.  I know on 
>>Win98 and W2K if you boot from the CD there is an option at the bottom 
>>of the screen.
>>
>>That will work if it is the MBR and not the registry.  If the registry 
>>is bad then good luck.   There is little that you can do other than 
>>backup all data files and reload the OS.  Then reinstall the programs.  
>>Sounds like fun don't it?
>>
>>    
>>
>
>I have tried the commands available under the recovery console to no
>avail. Fixmbr doesn't even have a response when executed. Fixboot tells
>me that the record is corrupted and tries to fix it. Comes back saying
>it can't fix the record. Map command shows the hard drive without a
>drive letter. I am having no problems moving around the drive while
>booted with Knoppix. Trying a reinstall of XP fails and then reboots.
>Booting to safe mode in any variety stops at loading gagp30kx.sys and
>then reboots. That file is M$ agp driver. Others using a via chipset
>have had problems with that file though the extent of my problems seem to
>go much further. This is home built system, so there are no special
>utilities that came with it.
>
>This is an Athalon64 3000+ system on a Asus A8V Deluxe mobo with a
>Maxtor 160gb sata drive. I will give the F2 command a try and see if
>there are any other commands I could try.
>
>Many Thanks,
>
>Jim Seymour
>
>  
>
I think though not sure at this point.  Until my son gets off his game. 
That F2 is the new Crash recovery.  It only works if you have a backup 
though, I hear.   Though this doesn't sound like a problem I had once.  
I had a HDD that was failing.  but only under windows.  It worked fine 
under Slackware.  For at least another 4 months before it died.  I took 
it as Linux being able to handle disk errors better than windows.  But 
this would not explain the install failing on the same file every time.  

I seem to remember my younger brother having trouble with windows and 
SATA drives also.  If I remember windows would install okay but wouldn't 
boot after the install.

If it is not NTFS you maybe able to run fsck on the drive????

I also seem to remember that a number of times on this list when the OS 
wouldn't install that there was something wrong on the mobo.  Try 
default settings disabling agp and putting in a cheap PCI card?