BleepingComputer.com: I Can't Start Windows Xp

Yesterday I got some good advice from the HijackThis Team to clean my computer which had malware. I'm very grateful for the help.

Today, I somehow (don't remember how) went and got the computer to Check Disk on Restart.

After a very, very long time (I'm talking about six or seven hours) of the CHKDSK program running, I realized that it was just repeating itself -- each restart caused CHKDSK to run again as though it's stuck in a loop. I am unable to even get to the Windows XP screen.

I tried to restart in Safe Mode, but guess what? All I got was a frozen screen with lines of meaningless code.

That's where things stand right now. Obviously I must have got something terribly wrong.

Would appreciate any help to get out of this never-ending CHKDSK loop, and back to Windows XP.

Hope it's a simple fix.

(By the way, I'm posting this message from another computer.)

Chkdsk may take a long time, especially if you have a large hard drive.
If yiu use broadband disconnect the computer from the router or modem. DIsable all programs that are running including your av ap.

Make sure no other programs are running in the background and don't even move the mouse - in fact, turn it upside down and let it run.

This post has been edited by Enthusiast: 11 July 2006 - 01:18 AM

HDD diagnostic tools

If chkdsk keeps running and is taking a long time it could be a sign of a serious problem, find your hdd manufacturers diagnostic tool from the linked post and run the software.

CHKDSK running every time he starts his computer

1.Click on the Start menu and open the run dialog.
2. Type "cmd" and return (without quotes)
3. Next type "fsutil dirty query <letter of drive that ckdsk keeps checking>" (for example, C:)
4. If the returned message indicates that the volume is dirty, go to step 5
5. Next type "chkdsk <drive letter> /f /x"
6. After that finishes, repeat step 3.
7. If the volume is no longer dirty, reboot and chkdsk should not reappear.

The "fsutil dirty query" reports the current state of the flag.
"Chkdsk /f" forces Chkdsk to run whether or not the flag is dirty--- it's a way to ensure that errors are fixed, regardless of what the flag says.
"Chkdsk /x" goes a little further and helps ensure that any files that were left open get closed; it actually implies "/f" so you don't need the /f if you're using /x .
With either /f or /x, at the end of the run, Chkdsk should set the flag to clean

Hello ThorXP:

I can't even get to START. Can't get it out of CHKDSK at all. It just kept on going again and again.

Can't get to the Windows desktop.

I had the machine running all night and that's all it's doing, checking and verifying files, indexes, descriptors,file data, free space.

What can I do?

Try doing this in safe mode.

How to start Windows in Safe Mode
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-start-windows-in-safe-mode/

I did try Safe Mode. But only got a frozen page of text, and the only way to get out of it is to turn off the power to the computer.

Have to leave here in a few minutes. But any additional advice will be truly welcomed. I'll stay in touch later.

You can cancel CHKDSK on boot by pressing the space bar as soon as you see the chkdsk screen.

Also: If CHKDSK is running over and over: This might be a sign of a bad hard drive its trying to repair unsuccessfully over and over.

You may want to boot from the XP CD and access "RECOVERY CONSOLE" and let a chkdsk run from there... might help / might not... might give something like irrecoverable errors on the drive... who knows.

This post has been edited by JU$T1N: 11 July 2006 - 04:33 PM

So, friends, this is what happened. I turned off power to the computer for a while.

When I booted up again, the screen was again blue with white letters announcing that CHKDSK was starting with the first of 5 verifications. I tapped a key at random, and the black screen came on, offering the Safe Mode and Starting Windows Normally choices. In both options before, I encountered problems, as previously reported.

Now after reading the instructions closely, I saw that there was another option, to Start with the Last Known Working System (or some similar verbiage). I decided to try that one.

After a lengthy wait, the Welcome screen came back, and boy! Was it Welcome! And then the Windows desktop.

So now we are back in business.

Thank you folks, for your patient help. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that nothing else shows up.

As suggested, I will check whether the hard drive is ok. It's about three years old.

If Last Known Good Configuration worked it means your registry was corrupted, or altered which can and does happen. You may have made changes to the registry using Hijack This.

From Petri Co.il
The "Last Known Good configuration" is one of the available startup options in Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. It starts the computer by using the registry information and drivers that Windows saved at the last shutdown. Any changes made since the last successful startup will be lost.

The Last Known Good Configuration startup option allows you to recover from a problem by reversing driver and registry changes made since you last started Windows XP/2000/2003. Windows does not update Last Known Good Configuration information in the registry until the operating system successfully restarts in normal mode and a user logs on and is authenticated.
http://www.petri.co.il/last_known_good_in_...000_xp_2003.htm

You need to backup your registry so you will have a working copy should that happen again and LKGC doesn't work, and you may want to perform some scans to make sure that registry keys that may have been resulting from malware were not reinstalled.

A good utility for creating backups of the registry is ERUNT which can be downloaded here:
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/erunt.html

Thanks to everyone. Your good advice is much appreciated.

My PC is back to normal.

Hi everyone. I haven't been back here in a while. My current situation is almost exactly that of this user, Chatice. I actually tried to run check disk on my C: drive. It was all going swell until it finished. It said it was done (5 steps out of 5), but nothing was happening. I waited for quite a while, but in the end, used the power on button on the front of the case and shut it down. When I restarted check disk began running again. The only way to get out of it again (after hitting a key before it actually started scanning) was to power down again with the power button. I restarted and tried to start in safe mode. But just like with Chatice, I couldn't get to a command prompt. After many attempts, the only two safe mode functions that would do anything were either to "start windows normally", which led to the check disk scan or the "LKGC" referenced below. I saw that Chatice said that after choosing LKGC and "After a lengthy wait" was able to get to the Welcome screen. I don't know how long "lengthy" was for Chatice, but I'm going on 2 hours now and nothing is happening. Is my only option booting from the rescue disk? Thanks

Depending on how chkdsk is initiated...it will require a manual exit/reboot or it will reboot automatically.

If chkdsk /r is run from the Recovery Console of the XP CD...user must use the EXIT command to leave the screen, which initiates a reboot of the system.

If started from My Computer/Explorer within XP, the system will reboot automatically when the chkdsk is complete.

If started from the command prompt screen within XP, the system will reboot automatically.

FWIW: When chkdsk begins automatically at boot...that's a sign that the hard drive or file system is deemed to have problems. IMO, the smart thing to do when this happens...allow that chkdsk to run. Then, after the system has booted into Windows...initiate a chkdsk /r for that partition from within XP and run that right away.

The chkdsk which runs automatically when disk problems are perceived...is the basic 3-stage check.

Any chkdsk / or equivalent is a 5-stage check which includes recovery of file data from bad sectors and a check of free space on the partition.

Running chkdsk / or the equivalent...will take an exceptionally long time...on very large partitions or partitions which really needed the check, IMO.

Louis

I am going to let Chkdsk run again tonight. When I let it run on Sunday (the first time), it seemed to hang at the end. It said it had successfuly scanned everything over all 5 stages and that it was finished. But then it just sat there. If that happens again tonight, is my only recourse reformatting and then loading in the last backup that I made? I'm nervous, but I'll let it run tonight and report after that is over. Thanks for responding.