Problem upon rebooting - immediate help needed

*After attaching files while typing a message in yahoomail, the screen suddenly froze. I tried pressing ctrl + alt +del, but nothing happened so I restarted my notebook. Upon booting it up, I could no longer proceed to starting Windows normally. Instead, the below information appeared in DOS-Prompt mode:

Not Bootable CD-ROM
Intel UNDI, PXE-2.0 (build 082)
Copyright © 1997-2000 Intel Corporation

For Realtek RTL 8139(x)/8130/810X PCI Fast Ethernet Controller v.2.13 (020326)

PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-MOF: Exiting PXE ROM
Floppy disk fault – insert valid boot disk and press any key

______________________
*And then, whenever I press any key, the text "Floppy disk fault – insert valid boot disk and press any key" keeps on appearing and piling up the screen. After this, I turned off my notebook's power and decided to sleep since it was getting pretty late already. When I woke up, I opened my notebook again. To my surprise, windows started normally. However, the loading of the desktop after the boot-up really took long until it got frozen again. A blue -screen with the following info appeared:

KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR

If this is the first time you've
restart your computer. If this
these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed.
If this is a new installation, contact your hardware or software manufacturer
for any

If problems continue, disable or remove newly installed hardware or software
actions such as caching or shadowing.
______________________
*I wasn't able to copy everything written in the regarding the appearance of the above info because it only took less than a minute when this display shifted to the DOS-Prompt mode info I listed earlier.
______________________
*What will I do? Please please help me on this. Thanks a lot
________________________
Notebook: Neo Q-Note
Model: M3C
Product Code: M360C
OS: Windows XP Home Edition

 

Get your data back up asap, and whilst you can. Your hard drive is traveling south (no pun intended).

cheers ...

 

This is where the OP usually says, but how can I back up my data if I cannot load Windows??!?!??!?! And then follows up with, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN CHEERS!!!!!!!!"

What QHN is saying is that the most likely cause of your problem is that a part of your harddrive is physically bad--meaning the drive heads can no longer read data from them.

The first thing you should try is to use a windows installation cd to run the recovery console.

Insert the disk, start your computer. Windows will appear to begin an installation process as it loads files into memory. After a few moments, you will be given a menu screen to repair windows using the recovery console by pressing the R key.

follow the prompts until you reach a command prompt something like

c:\>

type
chkdsk /r
hit ENTER

Chkdsk will try to repair the file system and about half the time it actually will succeed and allow you to start your computer.

At this point, you should back up all your data.

Then, if you like, you can run another chkdsk from within windows by choosing START > RUN, typing CMD, hitting ENTER, and then typing in the command prompt that appears

chkdsk /f
<enter>

THen answer Y for yes, and reboot.

The computer will run another, shorter chkdsk during the reboot process, this time recording the results.

If windows reboots THIS time, go to event viewer and look for WINLOGON event, and look at the report. If you see anything in the line

??? bytes in bad sectors, it is a sign of physical harddrive degradation; if not, consider yourself blessed that you only had some serious file system corruption and you are probably OK for now

 

Possibly, but not necessarily. Getting the data backup is, however, the first order of business as you've pointed out.

From the OP's description, it sounds like some driver failed midstream and locked up the whole system; particularly on XP, a driver failure will frequently cause the screen to "freeze" up because the failed driver blocks everything, including the video drivers.

Nonetheless, the fact that it froze on the file upload, hard drive failure is a very distinct possibility, as you've pointed out.

At this point, however, the boot failure may be due to the fact that the OP did a hard power-off; if the system was in mid-read/write to the hard drive at that time, it almost certainly messed up the hard drive, and possibly the boot files.

So, once the OP's backed up all data, he might try booting into safe mode (if possible) and running chkdsk - keeping in mind that it could take many, many hours for chkdsk to run if the OP did bork the drive up by doing the hard poweroff.

 

where can I get the windows installation cd? Can I download it and burn in a cd? Thanks.

 

no--you cannot download a windows cd.

if you didn't get one with your computer, or you have lost it, you can download the following file

www.thecomputerparamedic.com/rc.iso

This is a standalone recovery console--it behaves like a windows installation disk in that it gives you access to the recovery console, but it has no windows install files on it.

However, you need to burn it as an image, not burn it on a cd.

If you don't know how to burn an image, use the following program

http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm

 

Another option is Puuppy Linux (live CD) - small and intuitive (commands similar to windows) loads entirely into RAM - Then mount the hard drive and copy files over to an external source. Worked the other day on my daughter's failing laptop drive when trying repair/boot cd failed. Worth a shot if the repair option can't get him in.
http://puppylinux.org/main/index.php?file=Download Latest Release.htm

 

I exactly did what you said and my notebook successfully rebooted, but there was a problem. I wasn't given the option to press "r" and instead, the following appeared:

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

The problem seems to be caused by the following file: partmgr.sys

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

If this is the first time you’ve seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed.
If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any Windows updates you might need.

If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup options, and then select Safe Mode.

Technical Information:

*** STOP: 0x00000050 (0xf7a584ab, 0x00000000, 0XF7A584AB, 0x00000000)

*** partmgr.sys – Address F7A584B base at F7A56000, DateStamp 00000000


A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

The problem seems to be caused by the following file: partmgr.sys

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

If this is the first time you’ve seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed.
If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any Windows updates you might need.

If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup options, and then select Safe Mode.

Technical Information:

*** STOP: 0x00000050 (0xf7a584ab, 0x00000000, 0XF7A584AB, 0x00000000)

*** partmgr.sys – Address F7A584B base at F7A56000, DateStamp 00000000

______________________
*What will I do? Thanks.

 

Neo Q-Noteis this your laptop?

My first guess is that your notebook uses a sata drive, rather than pata drive, and therefore you need to load an additional driver at the beginning where it says PRESS f6 to load additional drivers for storage ..... (or something like that)

I went looking for your laptop on this page and it does not list a drive type.

The only time I have run into this kind of error is when you have something odd going on with a non-standard drive.

This disk always works with vanilla pata drives.

I have an alternative, but it is a heck of lot larger than the 6mb file you downloaded. It is a 300 mb vista PE disk that will load on most computers and give you a windows like environment. Instead of doing what I directed above, you need to go to START > command line and run

chkdsk c: /f

check your email for download link

 

I saw some drivers for the Neo Q-Note on on the following sites:
Q-Note Empriva 330SX series Windows XP Drivers
and just in case...
Q-Note Empriva 330SX series Vista Drivers

The website says that they are "also applicable for any model with part number M3S on the regulatory label at the bottom of the notebook," and I'm guessing that this is your notebook comrade.

Just posted them, but I don't know if these would help gerry as these drivers are just the basic "Video, Audio, LAN, Modem, etc." drivers.

 

I cannot go to Windows desktop. I am stocked with the boot-up page, so how then can I go to "go to START > command line and run chkdsk c: /f"?

_____________________________
What is I just switch to Ubuntu and neglect fixing Windows instead? Will that help? Do you think that will be useful?

_____________________________
Thanks again for your replies

 

Did you burn the recovery disc? If so, you should boot into the recovery disc and run a chkdsk.

 

did you download the file from the link I emailed you?

 

"did you download the file from the link I emailed you?" - Gerry

-Uhm, not yet because I am still waiting for Ubuntu download to finish. But I have one concern, does that file, the one you emailed me, must be burn as an image (ISO image) to a blank cd then be inserted upon booting up my notebook?

 

- Hey, thanks for your suggestion. I was able to type in my notebook using PuppyLinux. It solved my problem temporarily though I am still figuring out to go back to Windows 'cos PuppyLinux is very limited and really encountered difficulty in connecting to the net using wi-fi. Were you able to connect via the net using PuppyLinux?

-Thanks, again

 

When the black command screen appeared, typing chkdsk /r didn't work even I tried it for several times. Tried the HELP with the list of commands still nothing happened. I check my BIOS and the hard disk says 0MB. Does that mean my notebook's saved files were all erased?

 

first, yes, you need to burn as an image

I don't know what you are referring to here.

On my second disk or Happy Puppy?

Happy Puppy was intended to rescue your files, not change you into a full blown Linux user (although there is nothing wrong with that).

On the second disk I sent you, it loads a WIndows like environment...did you go to
START > COMMAND LINE and run

chkdsk c: /f

or

chkdsk /f

The former is the desired command...the latter is testing the file system on the X drive, which is your cd

 

Was not intended as a replacement - was a means to get you into your files so could copy them over to an external drive or other form of back-up. As Gerryf19 mentioned - it's a small distro that works great for rescuing files if some of the options they are providing still can't get you in.

 

Why is that I see my hard disk memory having 0MB upon going to the BIOS? Does that mean my hard disk has crashed? What recommendation would you give me?

 

typically, bios reads total drive capacity, not formatted capacity...but you said harddisk memory...maybe the ram cache?

No idea. But, I would not worry about that for the moment.

You have not answered my questionsfrom post 17.

 

I already downloaded the file you sent me via email and burned it as an iso image on a cd from my desktop. Afterwhich, I inserted the cd upon booting up my malfunctioning notebook and only the following info appeared on the black screen:

boot-emulation: CD-ROM
_

_________________________
The underscore is blinking and I coudn't type anything. What does this suppose to mean?

 

It means that you either burned a coaster (bad cd burn--try one more time, but burn it at the slowest speed possible), or for some reason your cd/dvd is incompatible with the boot sector.

Let's see what else we can do--obviously, you have a second computer...what kind is it?

 

Okay,I will try re-burning the cd. May be the problem there was because I used a CD-R and just deleted its contents and overwrote it with the file you sent me. My other PC is a desktop which I don't have a problem with, INFO:
OS: Windows XP Home Edition, 2.5GB RAM, 1.6GHz, 512 Video memory, 160GB Internal Memory.

 

The drive in the latop--sata or ide?

The desktop--does it have an open ide or sata controller ?

 

May be the problem of the burned ISO file that you sent is my boot device set up which I altered upon attempting to install ubuntu. Can you tell me which should be the right and standard arrangement and the list that should be checked in the boot device under startup in the BIOS screen.

>F2 (for going to BIOS for my notebook)
>Startup
>boot device
>and then there are four segments
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th with subcategories each, which are the ones that should be checked per segment? Is is CD-ROM, Hard disk, PXE LAN?
Thanks

 

I cannot remember if the laptop is a SATA or IDE. Can i see that in the BIOS?
For the desktop, i will check it in a while...

 

For most users, Optical drive, hd, lan pxe is correct

 

Found a few of your laptops for sale on ebay---looks like they are 40gb sata drives....

Here's my thinking. If your desktop accepts sata, you can plug your laptop drive into your desktop--all you need is an extra sata cable and extra sata power plug on the power supply

turn off the desktop, hook it all up, boot the desktop--make sure you boot to the desktop's drive by setting the drive order or choosing a boot menu

Windows will start, detect the drive, and you can do several things

a) grab all your data off
b) run a chkdsk on the laptop drive from within the windows install on the desktop

determine the drive volume, open a command prompt and type (for example)

chkdsk d: /f
ENTER

if all goes well, drop the laptop drive back in the laptop, boot, enjoy
Then you boot

 

Isn't that quite risky? What do you think? Can tell me the step-by-step guide? My parents will kill me if our desktop crashes too

 

no, there is no risk. I do it all the time.

The only risk is to your laptop hardrive's OS (not the drive itself)

You just need to make sure hte desktop doesn't boot off the laptop drive so you need to be careful about setting the boot order.


I you boot off the laptop drive, it will at the very elast blue screen when windows tries to load, and at the worse, make your OS unbootable.

Not much risk in that since it is already unbootable.

steps(f1, Del, f2, f10...)
remove drive from laptop
turn on desktop and note the SETUP key
turn off desktop
open case
touch something metal on the case to discharge static electicity--don't touch the motherboard.
use extra sata cable to connect laptop drive
use power cable from PSU to connect to laptop drive
(leave case open--just place laptop drive next to case on something non-conductive like a book)
turn on the desktop
press the SETUP key noted earlier.
Make sure boot order has desktop harddrive before laptop harddrive
save setup config
computer reboots into Desktop OS
windows will load, detect new drive. With a drive that is failing, I usually do not because sometimes only one boot is all you get. I don;t think that is the case here.

Backup all your data from the laptop drive to the desktop drive (docs, music, photos)

run chkdsk on your laptop drive from the command prompt

Windows will ask you if it can unmount all handles...say yes

chkdsk should report any problems--it is says it fixed them all, shut down, remove laptop drive and put it back in the laptop...everything is up and running. Yeah

 

I tried booting up my notebook using a Windows98 installation disk. The installation was suddenly canceled and it was said that the system cannot detect a hard drive or I have a software/hardware that is malfunctioning. And if ever I have, it was said that I should repair or replace (hardware) or uninstall it (software). Lastly, it was always said that I should contact my software or hardware provider for further technical assistance. I guess my hard disk really crashed, what do you think?

 

No. Windows 98 cannot detect sata drives or the ntfs file system. That is exactly the result I would expect with using a windows 98 disk

 

I just checked my hard disk and it's an IDE. After checking that my notebook could no longer detect its hard disk, I read some articles regarding the symptoms of a slowly crashing hard disk wherein I found one condition which is the same as mine: problem upon booting up. Moreover, the worst case of an HD's crashing state is the BIOS's inability to detect the notebook's HD. I verified my findings by installing my Samsung 40GB IDE HD in a HD casing and plugged it on my desktop pc. The desktop wasn't able to detect the plugged Samsung 40GB IDE HD. My suspicion became stronger. Not contented, I brought my laptop with its unattached Samsung 40GB IDE HD to computer technician. Voila, the technician's diagnosis matched mine! He said that I have to buy a new IDE HD after having seen that there was a "partmgr.sys" error which means that there is an error in the system partition manager, that, obviously, is located in the hard disk. I asked if they sell IDE HDs, unfortunately, he said "no" because IDE HDs are almost phased out already. That is why IDE HDs are way more expensive compared to SATA HDs because there is a lot of competition and demand for SATA HDs compared to IDEs.
However, going back, since IDE HDs are uncommon and expensive in almost all computer shops I enquired in, I did some effective bartering measures with the technician so I can get his one remaining personal 40GB IDE HD (not bad for my old notebook since I plan to run Ubuntu and the age and model of my notebook can no longer accommodate further advanced specs) in exchange for my 160GB WD HD-SATA. I thought twice at first. A 40GB IDE HD is no longer available in the market. The least I can buy is a SeaGate or Samsung IDE HD costing like $89 with a minimum of 160GB. On the other hand, my WD 160GB SATA is just $33 to $35 which is, again, due to the demand thereby making the price attractive as offered by competitors (computer stores). I guess we had a good trade since he won in terms of memory capacity, and, me, in terms of monetary consumption. So I bought a casing for WD HD SATA and swapped it with his (technician) slightly and rarely used Samsung IDE 40GB HD. Then I installed the new Samsung IDE HD and presto, booted up my notebook successfully and finally installed Ubuntu (which I used to write this post)! Thanks again, Gerry, and everyone who helped me out in solving my notebook's booting up problem! (^_^) Cheers!!!!!!!!

 

Hmm, according to the few specs I could find for your laptop, it said IDE....so much for spec sheets

I don't disagree with your ultimate conclusion, but this doens't make much sense to me. A "partmgr.sys" error is a driver error. In order for your computer to even report a "partmgr.sys" it would have to be reading the harddrive.

Just by the virtue of not being able to find your laptop specs, you must live somewhere other than North America. 2.5 inch ide drives are still plentiful here...but, yes, a little more expensive.

Either way, I am happy you got it all sorted out.