BleepingComputer.com: Cannot Boot/Disk Read Error

Hi,
I resized my System Partition (C:\ Drive) using GParted, and when I boot I get:

A disk read error occurred
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

I can start the Windows Recovery Console from a CD, and run chkdsk from this. It shows the correct resized partition size, and also reports no errors. From the Recovery Console I can see all of my files/data. So I don’t think anything is lost.

I am not sure how all of this works, but I think whatever the BIOS bootstraps before the OS gets loaded has got corrupted in the resize. (I am not knowledgeable enough to use the correct terms here.) Could this be the partition table, MBR – I don’t know? I have attempted fixmbr, fixboot and bootcfg /rebuild and I still get the above error.

Question:

I am contemplating doing a Windows Repair Installation. I know this copies over the Windows files from the CD to the Windows Installation on the Hard Drive. (This is actually not needed in my case because I don’t think there has been any data corruption.) The question is would this change the partition table/MBR enough in order to let me boot?
If anyone is knowledgeable enough to know how this works please let me know.

Regards,
O. O.

The answer depends on...

a. Where your system partition is located on the hard drive.

b. How many partitions are currently on the hard drive.

c. Where your boot.ini file is currently located.

Can you go to Disk Management...take a screen shot and post it so that we can see what the drive in question looks like?

Why did you resize the syztem partition?

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install - http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Louis

Dear Louis,
Thank you for posting. Sorry for not providing enough detail the first time around. I thought my post was a bit too long so I left these out.

hamluis, on 07 April 2011 - 08:23 PM, said:

How do I find this out?? Using fdisk under Linux (Gparted Live CD) the System Partition starts at sector 63 as expected (at least that’s what it says).

hamluis, on 07 April 2011 - 08:23 PM, said:

My Hard Drive and my computer setup is pretty standard. I have Win XP Pro 32 bit. The machine has a single Hard Drive and a CD/DVD Rom Drive. The Hard Drive is on the SATA Channel 1, while CD Rom Drive is on the IDE Master.

The Hard Drive was originally formatted into C: Drive (approx 40 GB), D: Drive (approx 50 GB) and E: Drive (approx 120 GB). I deleted the D: Drive, and Resized the C: Drive to take up all the D: Drive Space. So now I have just two drives, C: Drive and D: Drive. The C: Drive is my System Partition. As recommended by GParted, I restarted/rebooted into Windows after each step. It is just when I got to the last step where I grew the C: Drive to take up all of the D: Drive did I get the above error.

hamluis, on 07 April 2011 - 08:23 PM, said:

My Boot.ini file is located in the root of my C: Drive. I examined its contents and it seems OK. (But I am not an expert in this.)

hamluis, on 07 April 2011 - 08:23 PM, said:

How do I go into Disk Management? I cannot boot into the Machine. If there is a way to do this through the Recovery Console, let me know. (Safe Mode is not possible since I cannot boot.)

hamluis, on 07 April 2011 - 08:23 PM, said:

I resized the System Partition because it was getting full.
O.O.

I've never used GParted...so I cannot address it.

I didn't realize that your system won't boot into Windows, sorry about the Disk Management suggestion...but you provided the important data about the single hard drive and partitions on it.

Since Recovery Console access is available...I would try two things.

a. Run the chkdsk /r command on the system/Windows partition from the Recovery Console...then see if it boots.

b. Try the fixmbr and fixboot commands from the Recovery Console, if the above provides no joy.

I might also consider the bootcfg /rebuild command...before I went to a repair install. The repair install should work, but a key is the CD used must reflect the same SPs that your current Windows install does. If SP3 is on the system, the CD needs to contain SP3.

Louis

Bootcfg Command And Uses, New Boot.ini File - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291980

This post has been edited by hamluis: 08 April 2011 - 07:59 AM

Dear Louis,

As mentioned in my original post, I attempted fixmbr, fixboot and bootcfg /rebuild. I had forgotten to mention that I also attempted chkdsk /r.

I think the partition is OK – because the Recovery Console can see all the files without any problems. Also the disk size reported seems to be correct.

Do you know what exactly happens after the BIOS completes and before the OS loads? And if Windows Repair Install would fix that? I am sure this is something small – just need to figure out what it is.

Thank you,
O. O.

Well...honestly speaking...if the system won't boot and you've tried the obvious RC options...I don't think you have many options to figure out anything and I would not worry about things that cannot possibly be documented into the past.

I don't feel that anyone can give you a guarantee of any sort...that anything will work, since the problem may be the hard or some other hardware component or the partition structure or the file system...whatever.

I just try to eliminate the obvious means of overcomeing what I perceive to be wrong...before moving on to an alternative.

Whether it works or not...I think you are at the point where you have two obvious options...clean install or repair install. Failure by either/both of these...will have to take you in another direction and I would start with hardware.

Louis

This post has been edited by hamluis: 08 April 2011 - 10:41 AM

Dear Louis,

I am not looking for a guarantee of anything. I also want to avoid a clean install if that’s possible.

Lets get back to the original question: Does the Repair Install also fix the MBR and the Partition tables?

Thank you,
O. O.