Touching files on C: drive causes XP to crash.

[brucek]

Have reinstalled WinXP Home onto D: (multi-boot), and am now attempting to clean up C: (now unused XP instance). C: and D: are on the same physical HD, just different partitions. It seems that files and folders that were associated with My Documents on C: are untouchable, since whenever I attempt to move or delete them, XP immediately crashes to black screen and starts re-boot process. Can anyone help me with why this could be occuring? Norton AV is running on D:. I am not touching any of the startup system files on C: (boot.ini, etc.)

 

I have tried creating a DOS startup floppy, to try deleting in DOS, but it doesn't see the HD partitions.

 

Thanks, Bruce.

[AWS]

Lets try and get the error message during the crash.

Right click My Computer and select properties.

Click advanced tab.

In Startup and Recovery click settings.

Make sure Write an event to system log is checked and that Automatically restart is unchecked.

Now when the computer crashes it will display an error message. Post the message you get eaxctly as it shows. Also after you restart check event viewer and look for the error and post it.

[brucek]

Hi Bob,

 

Thanks- I'm sorry about the delay in getting back with you. If you don't see this I will repost in the forum.

 

I disabled the re-boot in Startup and Recovery. Now the computer just freezes when one of these files is "touched".

 

I opened up the event viewer, and noted many records, so cleared out the logs. Opened up C: and caused the freeze to occur. CTL-ALT-DEL will not work in this instance, so hard boot. Noted a few records in each log, so filtered out "audit OK" and "Info". Left 2 messages in "System".

 

-The mrtRate service failed to start due to the following error:

 

The system cannot find the file specified.

 

 

-The WinDriver service failed to start due to the following error:

 

The system cannot find the file specified.

 

Thanks for any input or advice that you can provide. I have thought of re-formatting C:, afetr saving the boot files for later re-installation (bboot.ini, etc.).

 

Just for your info: OS is WinXP SP2.

 

Thanks- Bruce.

[phreakwars]

When you cleaned out files on C: I bet you accidently deleted vital files for XP to run on, even though you installed it on D: the bootsector info will be on C: along side the other OS you are using.

 

I'm thinking the files you need just MIGHT be in one of the recovery folders that windows creates for backup purposes.

 

I'm wondering if a safe mode boot will allow you to access D: to replace the files on C: that are missing.

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[brucek]

Thanks for your reply to this thread, much appreciated.

 

I guess I should clarify: I re-installed WinXP on D:, so that I still had access to the OS on C: until I had re-installed all of my apps. I use other HD partitions for data files for my apps (including outlook.pst for MSOutlook), with the actual application files defaulted to C: or D: \ Program Files \. As I reinstalled applications onto the new OS on D:, I would point them to the existing data files on the other HD partitions.

 

Once I had the new OS on D: fully configured, I then proceeded to attempt to delete the old OS files on C:. I have kept (and have backed up on a floppy) the following files on C:. which I understand are related to the boot process:

 

boot.ini, ntldr devicetable.log, hiberfil.sys, ntdetect.com, io.sys, autoexec.bat, config.sys

 

As a safeguard, I first moved all of the files on C: that I wished to delete to a new folder on C: that I called Bruces Trash. I figured I could recover them later if required, if only by booting up to DOS from a floppy (which I have later found does not work, as the DOS cannot see the HD partitions- which really surprised me).

 

Now, after several months of successful operations in using the new OS, I would like to delete all those files on C:. other than those above that are required to re-boot. This is where the trouble began :). Now, when I try deleting some of these files, I get an error message saying the file couldn't be found. Then, the computer hangs (used to reboot, but I disabled the Automatic Restart option). Even clicking on some of these files causes the same to occur. Is it possible that the HD file table is hosed (format is NTFS- does it have some sort of FAT? ).?

 

Thanks- appreciate your help.

 

Bruce.

[AWS]

File system type isn't the problem. NTFS is prefered for XP Pro.

When the system hangs I assume you mean no mouse movement and frozen screen or does it go black?

The first error in event viewer is related to Quicken. It is the Quicken update service. That isn't causing the problem.

The second error is usually caused by a bad or uninstalled device driver.

Only thing left to try is to copy WINDRVR.SYS from the XP cd to system32/Drivers.

[brucek]

Thanks Bob- would it help if I clipped the entire contents of event viewer? I cleared out the prior entries yesterday, and was left with maybe a dozen or so a few moments later, after the lock-up and subsequent re-boot.

 

The system just freezes, no mouse movement, CTL-ALT-DEL doesn't work (so the keyboard communication may be dead also). It used to go to a black screen until I took your advice and disabled the re-boot in Startup and Recovery.

 

I will try copying the one driver file too. Thanks, Bruce.

[phreakwars]

Just a quick comment... are you by chance overclocking this machine ?? I have seen similar results when the bus speed has been tampered with. Or even a bad stick of memory. I don't wanna lead you on a wild goose chase over this. I was just curious.

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