Boot loop and repair issues.

Hi all, new here. Mmkay, here is my current problem. Today I set my main computer to run a chkdsk and resarted to start the chkdsk. From there the problems began. The first indication that there was a problem was a black screen with a grey status bar, similar to the windows 98 boot scandisk bar. After a minute or so of this the computer reboots, I have tried safemode and last known good startup.

My system has not had an issue like this before. I am running XP Pro SP2. I tried to go into the system recovery console and run a chkdsk /r and it hangs at 50% and stops doing anything. I have tried to do a repair install and get this message:

The following value in the .SIF file used by setup is corrupted or missing:

Value 0 on the line in section [SourceDiskFiles] within key "SP1.CAB "

From there my only option is to exit the setup. Does anyone have any ideas for anything I can do from here or that I can do to fix this problem? Any ideas would be great, thank you.

 

I have also tried the recovery console prompt, C:\Windows\system32 copy userinit.exe wsaupdater.exe, to try and work through this but to no avail.

 

Hi sinis,

Suspect you need to do a clean install, i.e. wipe out everything by running fdisk from a 98 boot floppy (download from www.bootdisk.com) and delete and remake the partition(s), then format and reinstall windows.

 

Something like this happened to me while running defrag. I backed up the disk first by connecting it as a slave disk in another XP pc that was also partitioned NFTS. Connecting it to a W98 pc partitioned in FAT32 was not possible.

Check out this link with relevant information:

http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

I suspect one of the most recent windows updates as source for the problem. I do not know exactly how. I will avoid updates.

 

Hi Sinis:

For how long? I've had chkdsk /r run for a couple of hours before completion. I think if I valued what was on the machine I'd start chkdsk again and go to a movie or start it at bedtime and see what it looks like in the morning.

I've had it run up to 70%, then drop back to 40% and start over from there. I don't know, maybe worth a shot.

Martin