won't boot

[ThirdLeft152]

After it runs through the start-up and right before xp beings to load i get the error "Error loading operating system." From what i've read it could have something to do with my HDD being unreadable. has anyone had this problem before?

 

[aetherh4cker]

Does safe mode start up?

Did you change anything that could have broken it?

 

[ThirdLeft152]

no it won't even get to the point where safe mode can be chosen. no i haven't done anything to it recently, i played HG:L last night, turned it off and when i went to turn it on this morning thats what i got. its recognized in BIOS though. i've tried to run Windows recovery on it, but chkdsk won't run it just says that the volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems. i also went through the steps to reformat, and whenever i get to the part where i need to choose a partition it only shows one partition of 130GB, when its a 320GB HDD. right now i am running a HDD diagnostic on it, we will see what it returns. i've tried new sata cables, and new power cables. its spinning though so it didn't die.

doesn't look good though...

 

[aetherh4cker]

Hmm, you could try a Live Linux CD, and see if you can access your hard drive...

 

[ThirdLeft152]

i tried knoppix and no luck :/

i dunno what else to do, i will format if the drive is alright i just hope i can get some files from it first.

 

[KSoD]

Have you tried a repair install of XP? Have you tried to fix the boot by going into the Recovery Console and doing a fixboot and fixmbr?

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

Try Ubuntu, boot into liveCD and try accessing your hard drive. If it can't, use GParted to view the partition table and try formatting your partition. If none of that works, use Boot And Nuke or another similar utility to entirely wipe the boot sectors and partitions and everything.

 

[ThirdLeft152]

Have you tried a repair install of XP? Have you tried to fix the boot by going into the Recovery Console and doing a fixboot and fixmbr?

yes i have tried but no luck. actually a little bit ago the error message i was getting stopped coming up, and now it just locks up right before it use to dispaly the error.

Try Ubuntu, boot into liveCD and try accessing your hard drive. If it can't, use GParted to view the partition table and try formatting your partition. If none of that works, use Boot And Nuke or another similar utility to entirely wipe the boot sectors and partitions and everything.

well first off there is a lot of stuff i'd like to pull off my drive, so im not gonna wipe it until i get that stuff. also i have access to a couple of disk wiping boxes, and some software so no worries there.

 

[aetherh4cker]

You're sounding more and more screwed as this topic goes on...

 

[ThirdLeft152]

You're sounding more and more screwed as this topic goes on...

i know thats the sad conclusion i might have come to.