Windows XP Blue Screen of Death while booting

[Ernest Blazevic]

Hello, guys.

I really need your help. My PC was working fine last night, I rarely use it and I didn't have any particular software installed that might have caused the problem.

This morning I tried to turn it on and while it was booting (I saw a 'Windows XP' logo and a loading screen) I suddenly got a blink of a blue screen of death (as you understand, I couldn't read the error message, as it disappeared too quickly) and my PC restarted.

1. I tried to turn it on using safe mode in order to do a system restore or to perform an error check, but it wouldn't let me access the safe mode as well, it just restarts while loading.

2. I tried to go to BIOS and when I did an HDD DPS Self-test, it failed with a completion code 7. I was offered a drive replacement. What would that mean, is my HDD corrupt?

3. I took a CD of my Windows XP in order to boot it. I changed the priorities of booting using BIOS: firstly CD-ROM. Despite that, I get a message: Non-System disk or disk error. Replace and strike any key when ready. The CD worked fine for all the other computers, I can run it on my laptop.

4. I tried to copy the files of Windows XP to my USB flash drive. It failed as the CD did. I get the same message. Why can't they detect my system files?

I am really lost and desperate, I feel as though I've tried everything, BIOS doesn't allow me to do anything more specific, I'm out of possibilities. Does anyone know what I could do?

 

[Chicano]

Download the Hiren's Boot Cd or USB --- and burn/install to USB
http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd

Boot Hiren's and see if your hard drive is detected on on My Computer. If accessible backup your files and important data. If not accessible, go directly to the Hirens Programs menu and start Minitool Partition Wizard... in Minitool, select the HDD header or "Disk 1", next click under "Operations" on "Partition Recovery" (or from the right click menu) and run a Full Disk Scann. Following the instructions will repair the partition table... and when the repair is completed the hdd will be accessible from the Hirens Boot CD or USB Windows Explorer and after that normal HDD boot should be successfull.

 

[FALC0N]

My first thought is your hard drive is bad. I know it doesn't sound like a drive problem, but I have seen a failed hard drive really lock a system down. So much so that it even caused hardware self tests to fail. Pull the drive and see if you can boot from the CD then. It's rare, but it does happen.

 

[Ernest Blazevic]

Download the Hiren's Boot Cd or USB --- and burn/install to USB
http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd

Boot Hiren's and see if your hard drive is detected on on My Computer. If accessible backup your files and important data. If not accessible, go directly to the Hirens Programs menu and start Minitool Partition Wizard... in Minitool, select the HDD header or "Disk 1", next click under "Operations" on "Partition Recovery" (or from the right click menu) and run a Full Disk Scann. Following the instructions will repair the partition table... and when the repair is completed the hdd will be accessible from the Hirens Boot CD or USB Windows Explorer and after that normal HDD boot should be successfull.

Hey. Thanks for the idea. Although I did everything according to http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/hirens and tested Hiren's (it actually worked), I still get 'Non-System disk or disk error, replace and strike any key when ready' on my PC, when I try to boot Hiren's. Any ideas? I assume it can't read anything at all.

Update: sorry, works now, tried a different USB drive.

Latest update: the problem has been solved, my Windows works fine again. The recovery wizard didn't help, but what I did was attempting a disk check utility, and it fixed a few bad sectors. Many thanks!