Non Booting HD but data ok?

[TechSupp]

Have a PC which has just started to refuse to boot in to windows, goes through the normal bios checks, hd exists etc but after trying to boot from the CD drive it just stops as it shoukld then boot from the HD, no error messages (no missing ntldr etc) at all. Tried with a differnt HD and it installs and boots in to windows so it must be the HD. Put the HD in another PC and I can browse it and recovered his photos, documents etc. Anything I can try to get it to boot again (I know installing new would be the best option but would like to get it running as it is if I can, its not a work PC).

[imiddleton25]

can you boot to windows cd and do repair?

sometimes a simple chkdsk fixes that or fixmbr.

[mac_shinobi]

You can try using the OS cd ( I presume this is XP )

 

Go into recovery console and you can use the bootcfg command to repair the boot.ini file to ensure the boot ini file is correct

 

Also a chkdsk /r

 

If still no go then Try the below commands one at a time

 

fixboot

 

fixmbr

 

If still no go then it will be a case of formatting said hard drive and re image or the likes.

[jamesfed]

If its Windows XP you could try a repair install? (wouldn't destory your data just fixes certain parts of Windows)

 

If not what is the error message (if any) that you get on screen?

[kmount]

Recovery console, chkdsk it and see if that sorts it out. It is a bit odd you don't get any prompt/error at all.

 

That said, I'd consider the user very lucky and would back their data up before you do anything else.

[mac_shinobi]

Recovery console, chkdsk it and see if that sorts it out. It is a bit odd you don't get any prompt/error at all.

 

That said, I'd consider the user very lucky and would back their data up before you do anything else.

 

Put the HD in another PC and I can browse it and recovered his photos, documents etc.

 

As per above quote think he has backed up everything - not sure what order my original post above should of been in but do agree a chkdsk would be what I would try first.

 

I normally do a chkdsk /r

[witch]

Hang it off another machine as an extra HD and back up the data to somewhere else and then run chkdsk on it and anything else you can think of, while it is there. This has often worked for me.

[TechSupp]

Thanks for all the suggestions, getting data off was the first priority, then getting it up and running. Forgot all about firmer etc..my excuse was that it was after midnight and not thinking clearly.....and I'm sticking to that! Will give suggestions a try when I get home. Yes I did stick it on another pc to get the data off. It's now all on a portable drive.