Bootsect.dat file is corrupted, NTLDR is missing/compressed on x86 pc with WinXP Home Edition Sp3 and Ie8

Anonymous
2014-02-24T05:47:39+00:00

I have a x86 pc with WinXP Home Edition SP3 and IE8. 

While preparing for an eventual upgrade to Win 7, I have been considering repartioning and multibooting my HDD. 

I have been trying to get WinXP operating as best as I can.  I also have been checking out how to use the Windows Recovery Console to reinstall WinXP and transfer files for a clean reinstall.

I discovered while checking "All Boot Paths" at Start\Run\msconfig\BOOT.INI that one Boot Path was highlighted with errors indicating that the "File is Corrupted because a disk read error occured" and that NTLDR is missing or corrupted.  In fact, it is garbled.  It points to "Microsoft Windows Recovery Console/cmdcon".  I have not used the Recovery Console, ever. 

I have a Gateway 5310S desktop (retail) and no original XP disks, apparently. 

I do have, but have never used, a 4ea. set of Recovery CDs dated 5/12/05 that I must have created after purchase.

I also have been having numerous, odd, problems that come and go, including trouble displaying various websites, Yahoo Home Pages, and eMail that keep going into compatibility mode or blanking outright.  The video and audio on Hulu and online video services are always out of sync.  I have problems editing posts on sites like this even though I can edit my profile pages just fine.

This particular set of problems started occurring recently and very suddenly, from one day to the next.  This was after it had actually been working fairly well for a change. 

I have no idea how long the boot.ini file has been corrupted, I actually discovered it by accident.

I also can not reinstall certain programs such as Family Tree Maker 2005 and 2008 after it was suggested to me by ancestry.com to uninstall/reinstall.

I have the latest Java and Adobe Flash Player.  I have defragged and disk checked my drives. 

I have used CCleaner to remove temp and junk files daily.  I have run Hitman Pro, MBAM, MBAR, MSE, and SAS multiple times with no viruses or malware detected. 

And, as I had mentioned above, I am having problems with the editor on this site, right now.  Sometimes it just freezes and I have to exit to clear.  Other times it duplicates entire sentences.  It also flip/flops between a full page editor and, like now, a half page editor window on the left half of the page.

Any suggestions you folks can come up with would be greatly appreciated.  This is getting really annoying.

Thanks

Vernon

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

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Anonymous
2014-03-05T08:10:47+00:00

when you check out the boot.ini paths, and the recovery console is installed, you will always get an error stating that the boot path is invalid.

if the recovery console is indeed corrupted just uninstall, you can reinstall or burn a cd with the recovery console.

go here for instructions on deleting the recovery console.

===========

Here's how to make a bootable xp recovery console cd

Courtesy of JoseIbarra

You need to start by booting into the XP Recovery Console using a CD you can make (no XP media required) and run a chkdsk with error correction enough times until it runs clean and if that doesn't work, you can create a new boot.ini file (it is usually one of those two things).

Here's how:

Use the XP Recovery Console to verify the file system on your HDD and correct any problems and then try to boot your system - this may be all you need to do.  Or, you are welcome to just start trying things that might work.

Boot into the Windows Recovery Console using a bootable XP installation CD.

If you have no bootable XP media (or are not sure what you have) create a bootable XP Recovery Console CD and be sure what you have (no XP media required).

This is not the same as any recovery disks that might have come with a store bought system.

You can make a bootable Recovery Console CD by downloading an ISO file and burning it to a CD.

The bootable ISO image file you need to download is called:

rc.iso 

Download the ISO file from here:

http://www.thecomputerparamedic.com/?p=8    (courtesy of Daavee)

Use a new CD and this free and easy program to burn your ISO file and create your bootable CD:

http://www.imgburn.com/

When installing ImgBurn, DO NOT install the Ask toolbar.

Here are some instructions for ImgBurn:

http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=61

It would be a good idea to test your bootable CD on a computer that is working.

You may need to adjust the computer BIOS settings to use the CD ROM drive as the first boot device instead of the hard disk.  These adjustments are made before Windows tries to load.  If you miss it, you will have to reboot the system again.

When you boot on the CD, follow the prompts:

Press any key to boot from CD...

The Windows Setup... will proceed.

Press 'R' to enter the Recovery Console.

Select the installation you want to access (usually  1: C:\WINDOWS)

You may be asked to enter the Administrator password (usually empty).

You should be in the C:\WINDOWS folder.  This is the same as the 

C:\WINDOWS folder you see in explorer.

The Recovery Console allows basic file commands like: copy, rename, replace, delete, cd, chkdsk, fixboot, fixmbr, etc.

For a list of Recovery Console commands, enter help at the prompt or read about the XP Recovery Console here:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/recovery_console_cmds.mspx?mfr=true

A good idea before starting things is to first verify the integrity of your file system using the chkdsk command.

From the command prompt window run the chkdsk command on the drive where Windows is installed to try to repair any problems on the afflicted drive.

Running chkdsk is fine even if it doesn't find any problems.  It will not hurt anything to run it.

Assuming your boot drive is C, run the following command:

chkdsk C: /r

Let chkdsk finish and correct any problems it might find.  

It may take a long time for chkdsk to complete or it may appear to be 'stuck'.  Be patient. If the HDD light is still flashing, chkdsk is doing something.  Keep an eye on the percentage amount to be sure it is still making progress.  It may even appear to go backwards sometimes.

You should run chkdsk /r again until it finds no errors to correct.

Remove the CD and type 'exit' to leave the RC and restart the computer.

You do not have to adjust the BIOS again to boot on the HDD since the CD will not be present.

===============

as for the other problems:

have you used any registry cleaners??

these can harm your system

since you appear to be infection free, it would seem that some part of your cleaning process has deleted a necessary file.

===============

checkdisk with the /r parameter should be run. and run again until no errors are found.

==========

are you fully updated and patched at Microsoft updates??

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-04-19T01:59:53+00:00

    Hi, Vernon, I am following your thread at GTG, I am learning to remove malware from them but am only in the first stage, stick with it and be patient. :)

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-04-18T22:57:24+00:00

    Hi, Elizabeth23,

    Just an update.  I have been working with Geeks To Go at this link:

    http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/topic/338428-cwindowsfixmbr-with-error-message-this-computer-appears-to-have-a-non-standard-or-invalid-master-boot-record/

    They have had me run all kinds of fixes that I previously had never heard of.  We are finding all kinds of problems and attempting to fix them.

    My problem with a bad MBR per the report from running fixMBR under the Recovery Console is still unresolved.  We are slowly getting there.

    [EDIT]  I don't have a problem with the MBR, turns out that Gateway computers DO have a Non Standard MBR and the error message for fixMBR under Recovery Console can just be ignored.

    At least, that's one thing I can just forget about.  Interesting that it has taken me this long to find out about it.

    I had previously reported that I have run all kinds of antivirus, antimalware, antispyware, antirootkit programs coming up clean indicating nothing found, but we are finding all kinds of leftover problems with WinXP.

    I would recommend these guys to anyone with any type of difficult problem to eliminate.

    My eyes have been opened to the fact of how much stuff they are finding.

    I'll report back whenever we clean up all this stuff.

    Thanks

    Vernon

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-04-08T17:16:43+00:00

    first for EOS, you can remove it in the registry as per my post:

    QUOTE

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_xp-windows_update/windows-update-kb2934207-released-march-5th-2014/ebfa52e6-eedc-4e88-a40c-3482b1a0e42c?auth=1

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion]

    "DisableEOSNotification"=dword:00000001

     will tell it not to display.

    above from this thread

    read both threads on how to get rid of kb 2934207 End Of Support notification.

    UNQUOTE

    second, it will possibly take a few days at GTG as they are generally swamped, hang in there. In the pinned notices, there is a link to apply to if you have had no response to your post, and do not BUMP, they look for zero replies to respond or they think that someone is helping you already.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-04-08T03:54:03+00:00

    Hi, Elizabeth23,

    Firstly,

    I want to go back to your previous post where you said the following:

    "There should be a box for you to check to Do Not Show this Message Again when the message pops up, is there??"

    --->  NO, there is NOT a check box to "Do Not Show this Message Again". 

    That would just be too simple for whomever designed this popup to begin with. 

    There is/was only one checkbox the very first time it showed up (when you choose to ignore it).

    And , BTW, the popup is still happening at startup.  It, unfortunately, has not gone away (see the next part).

    Secondly,

    And, now, just to show you how all this EOS stuff is (mysteriously) going, I went back to my Add or Remove Programs listing and NOW the entry for KB2934207 is completely gone! 

    Nowhere to be found!  And, no, I did not uninstall it, either.

    And note that I still can not uninstall any of the Microsoft Updates listed, but I can uninstall anything else, just not XP updates. 

    I did not remove this update, so Microsoft must have somehow. 

    Remember when I talked to you about this, yesterday, that I could not , in fact, remove it because it would not let me. 

    You explain it to me.   I am not seeing things!   Can Microsoft actually do anything like that?

    Thirdly,

    I did go to the Geek-To-Go site, registered with a log on name, and created my first post there explaining my problems with the MBR and other wierd problems and what I have already done so far.  Now we'll just have to wait for someone to react to my post.

    Fourthly,

    I just had a really bad thought as I was getting ready to log out and save this post.

    Since today is EOS for XP and I have been getting this error message over the last couple days that essentually says that "It may have already been uninstalled, would I like to remove the Security Update for Win XP from the programs list?",  Is there ANY possibility that the Updates COULD really have been uninstalled and THAT's the real reason that I am getting the error message?

    Is there a way to actually test to see if the previous updates are really there and not just a program listing saying so?

    I hope that I am not getting paranoid about all this.  Maybe you have an explanation for what I'm seeing.

    Oh well, goodnight,

    Vernon

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