Windows ME Boot error

On my Windows ME system, the hard drive seems to have been slowing down and
exhibiting problems recently. Today, after it locked up, it failed to
reboot, giving an error message of "Invalid System Disk". The drive itself
is still functioning and the data is all still visible on both partitions.
(I connected it to another computer for a minute to verify that it is
running.)

I want to repair the boot record (assuming that is the problem) without
destroying the Windows ME installation or any of my data. I do have a
restore CD from Compaq which may have the needed utilities on it. I can use
that CD to boot to a DOS prompt.

What is my best course of action?

Thanks in advance,

Martin Murray

Martin,

Given the recent history of problems my first action would be to pull off
all the and only once you have all your valuable data saved move on to
trying to find the cause of the disk problems which could well be failing.
Since you say you have another PC available I'd try attaching the hard
disk to that PC and recover the data that way.

I want to repair the boot record (assuming that is the problem)

Rather than using your Compaq Restore CD I'd suggest you create a Win Me
boot floppy and boot to DOS using this disk and then SYS your C drive. At
the A:\ DOS prompt type
SYS C:
and then click enter. This may or may not fix the problem although I
suspect more work will be required.

If you don't have a Win Me boot floppy you can download the image of a Win
Me OEM boot disk from www.bootdisk.com. Download to your desktop, double
click to run and follow the prompts to transfer the image to a floppy. Do
NOT copy the downloaded file to a floppy - that won't make a bootable
floppy but instead a floppy disk containing the file you downloaded.

This can be done on any PC and then the floppy used with the PC having
problems.
--
Mike Maltby



Martin Murray wrote:

On my Windows ME system, the hard drive seems to have been slowing
down and exhibiting problems recently. Today, after it locked up, it
failed to reboot, giving an error message of "Invalid System Disk". The
drive itself is still functioning and the data is all still
visible on both partitions. (I connected it to another computer for a
minute to verify that it is running.)

I want to repair the boot record (assuming that is the problem)
without destroying the Windows ME installation or any of my data. I
do have a restore CD from Compaq which may have the needed utilities
on it. I can use that CD to boot to a DOS prompt.

What is my best course of action?

Thanks in advance,

It would appear that you *may* be seeing the start of a failing HDD and
under the circumstances, you are best backing-up and/or especially
recovering your data before you even start 'playing' with your HDD.

... The drive itself is still functioning and the data is all still
visible on both
partitions. (I connected it to another computer for a
minute to verify that it is running.)

And is the best/safest way to recover (Copy and Paste) your data onto
another known 'good' HDD/CD-ROM in that computer.

DO NOT even attempt to write to your 'suspect' disk until you have recovered
your essential data - and that - writing - includes booting into Windows
from the 'suspect' disk!!

After that, you may try any method you wish - including FDISK /MBR to 'fix'
your HDD - BUT do take a look at: "FDISK /MBR Rewrites the Master Boot
Record"
http://support.microsoft.com/default...kb;en-us;69013

At your own risk of course! g

Good luck

Mart


"Martin Murray" wrote in message
...
On my Windows ME system, the hard drive seems to have been slowing down
and exhibiting problems recently. Today, after it locked up, it failed to
reboot, giving an error message of "Invalid System Disk". The drive
itself is still functioning and the data is all still visible on both
partitions. (I connected it to another computer for a minute to verify
that it is running.)

I want to repair the boot record (assuming that is the problem) without
destroying the Windows ME installation or any of my data. I do have a
restore CD from Compaq which may have the needed utilities on it. I can
use that CD to boot to a DOS prompt.

What is my best course of action?

Thanks in advance,

Martin Murray

OK, I did a "SYS C:" which got it to boot, followed by an "FDISK /mbr".
Now, every time I reboot it, I might get an occasional BSOD telling me "An
error has occurred", and almost every time it also will do a scandisk of
either C: or D:. But it will also eventually get to a login screen, even
though it may take a few total resets.

Anything else I should do to stabilize this further? Can I (should I) do a
Safe Recovery Mode repair somehow from an install CD? Since I have an OEM
system, can I get the files I would need to do that from somewhere?

Thanks again,

Martin Murray

"Mike M" wrote in message
...
Martin,

Given the recent history of problems my first action would be to pull off
all the and only once you have all your valuable data saved move on to
trying to find the cause of the disk problems which could well be failing.
Since you say you have another PC available I'd try attaching the hard
disk to that PC and recover the data that way.

I want to repair the boot record (assuming that is the problem)

Rather than using your Compaq Restore CD I'd suggest you create a Win Me
boot floppy and boot to DOS using this disk and then SYS your C drive. At
the A:\ DOS prompt type
SYS C:
and then click enter. This may or may not fix the problem although I
suspect more work will be required.

If you don't have a Win Me boot floppy you can download the image of a Win
Me OEM boot disk from www.bootdisk.com. Download to your desktop, double
click to run and follow the prompts to transfer the image to a floppy. Do
NOT copy the downloaded file to a floppy - that won't make a bootable
floppy but instead a floppy disk containing the file you downloaded.

This can be done on any PC and then the floppy used with the PC having
problems.
--
Mike Maltby



Martin Murray wrote:

On my Windows ME system, the hard drive seems to have been slowing
down and exhibiting problems recently. Today, after it locked up, it
failed to reboot, giving an error message of "Invalid System Disk". The
drive itself is still functioning and the data is all still
visible on both partitions. (I connected it to another computer for a
minute to verify that it is running.)

I want to repair the boot record (assuming that is the problem)
without destroying the Windows ME installation or any of my data. I
do have a restore CD from Compaq which may have the needed utilities
on it. I can use that CD to boot to a DOS prompt.

What is my best course of action?

Thanks in advance,

Anything else I should do to stabilize this further?

Get your data off the disk as a matter or urgency, The disk is probably
failing.
--
Mike Maltby




Martin Murray wrote:

OK, I did a "SYS C:" which got it to boot, followed by an "FDISK
/mbr". Now, every time I reboot it, I might get an occasional BSOD
telling me "An error has occurred", and almost every time it also
will do a scandisk of either C: or D:. But it will also eventually
get to a login screen, even though it may take a few total resets.

Anything else I should do to stabilize this further? Can I (should
I) do a Safe Recovery Mode repair somehow from an install CD? Since
I have an OEM system, can I get the files I would need to do that
from somewhere?

OK, any further thoughts about why it might also be crashing overnight so
that the video won't come on in the morning?

"Mike M" wrote in message
...
Anything else I should do to stabilize this further?

Get your data off the disk as a matter or urgency, The disk is probably
failing.
--
Mike Maltby




Martin Murray wrote:

OK, I did a "SYS C:" which got it to boot, followed by an "FDISK
/mbr". Now, every time I reboot it, I might get an occasional BSOD
telling me "An error has occurred", and almost every time it also
will do a scandisk of either C: or D:. But it will also eventually
get to a login screen, even though it may take a few total resets.

Anything else I should do to stabilize this further? Can I (should
I) do a Safe Recovery Mode repair somehow from an install CD? Since
I have an OEM system, can I get the files I would need to do that
from somewhere?

Martin Murray wrote:

OK, any further thoughts about why it might also be crashing
overnight so that the video won't come on in the morning?

At the risk of repeating myself - because it appears the hard disk is
failing.
--
Mike Maltby

I would certainly concur with Mike's recent post, but as you seem now
prepared to trash your data and want to 'play' with your HDD, one of the
first things you can do is a full scandisk in Real Mode DOS. Use the WinMe
Startup (floppy) Disk - as mentioned by Mike M elsewhere.

Boot, using the WinMe Startup (floppy) Disk and select 'With CD-ROM Support'
then at the A:\ prompt, type "scandisk c:" (no quotes and note the colon)
then press Return.

Follow the screen prompts - and as you are prepared sacrifice your data -
tell it to do a Surface Scan. See what it reports and keep a check on its
progress. See if that will fix it for you - but for confirmation be prepared
to have to run the disk manufacturer's maintenance utility later.

Mart





"Martin Murray" wrote in message
...
OK, any further thoughts about why it might also be crashing overnight so
that the video won't come on in the morning?

"Mike M" wrote in message
...
Anything else I should do to stabilize this further?

Get your data off the disk as a matter or urgency, The disk is probably
failing.
--
Mike Maltby




Martin Murray wrote:

OK, I did a "SYS C:" which got it to boot, followed by an "FDISK
/mbr". Now, every time I reboot it, I might get an occasional BSOD
telling me "An error has occurred", and almost every time it also
will do a scandisk of either C: or D:. But it will also eventually
get to a login screen, even though it may take a few total resets.

Anything else I should do to stabilize this further? Can I (should
I) do a Safe Recovery Mode repair somehow from an install CD? Since
I have an OEM system, can I get the files I would need to do that
from somewhere?

Well, thanks to you both for your help. I have backed up all data and the
system seems pretty stable again, as I did a non-destructive reinstallation
of Windows ME. So, my data is backed up offline and it is still on the
system as before.

Now, a new quirk has arisin. Internet Explorer is not the current version
after the repair. I am trying to download the current version, and I
repeatedly get this message:

"Setup was unable to install all the components. Please close all
applications and try running Setup again."

I did that, I went back to Windows Update multiple times, rebooted multiple
times, I "Resumed Setup", I "re-ran Setup" , and last but not least I
downloaded the files for later installtion, rebooted got off the Internet,
shut down everything including virus protection, and ran Setup and got the
same message again. What do I have to do to get the latest version of
Internet Explorer on my system??

Thanks, as always, in advance.

Martin Murray

"Mike M" wrote in message
...
Martin Murray wrote:

OK, any further thoughts about why it might also be crashing
overnight so that the video won't come on in the morning?

At the risk of repeating myself - because it appears the hard disk is
failing.
--
Mike Maltby

Martin wrote:-

What do I have to do to get the latest version of Internet Explorer on my
system??

Probably to take a look at Noel's site, especially :-
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/ReInIE.htm
to see if you can unravel the mess you've got yourself into g

It's not a good idea to 'overinstall' WinMe without taking certain
precautions. See also http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/reinME.htm
on the same site.

Perhaps a little preliminary homework might have been useful, e.g., Did you
actually confirm that your HDD is fault-free?

Good luck

Mart



"Martin Murray" wrote in message
...
Well, thanks to you both for your help. I have backed up all data and the
system seems pretty stable again, as I did a non-destructive
reinstallation of Windows ME. So, my data is backed up offline and it is
still on the system as before.

Now, a new quirk has arisin. Internet Explorer is not the current version
after the repair. I am trying to download the current version, and I
repeatedly get this message:

"Setup was unable to install all the components. Please close all
applications and try running Setup again."

I did that, I went back to Windows Update multiple times, rebooted
multiple times, I "Resumed Setup", I "re-ran Setup" , and last but not
least I downloaded the files for later installtion, rebooted got off the
Internet, shut down everything including virus protection, and ran Setup
and got the same message again. What do I have to do to get the latest
version of Internet Explorer on my system??

Thanks, as always, in advance.

Martin Murray

"Mike M" wrote in message
...
Martin Murray wrote:

OK, any further thoughts about why it might also be crashing
overnight so that the video won't come on in the morning?

At the risk of repeating myself - because it appears the hard disk is
failing.
--
Mike Maltby