After conversion to NTFS, XP fails on start-up

Hi,
I ran the Convert.exe utility to convert my IDE HDD from FAT32 to NTFS. Screen message indicated that Convert could not get exclusive control but would run again on reboot. On reboot, the process ran but left a blank screen with blinking cursor. Now, XP Pro fails on start up. After the first Windows screen there is a momentary flash of a blue screen with text (too quick for me to pause it) and the system automatically reboots. Normally, the system boots from the IDE HDD, where the XP Pro files are stored.

Selecting one of the other operating system options shown by the bios screens results in the following:

· Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Command Prompt give a list of XP file paths then system automatically reboots.

· Recovery Console or XP Pro Setup bring up a blank screen with blinking cursor.

I’ve booted from the optical drive using the demo version of Active@ Partition Recovery. This shows the IDE HDD, with logical drive C: and SATAII HDD, with logical drive D:. Scanning the IDE HDD, the folders and files appear to be intact.

Advice on how to fix this problem, or recommendations for a utility that is capable of doing so, would be much appreciated.

Barry

 

That's the F8 key

mickzer.

 

Just to confirm, when selecting recovery console is only a blank screen (your hard drive appears reasonable intact), there is no option to log into an existing setup?

 

Firstly, thanks to all of you for responding.
After seeing Tonyt’s response, as I had already tried Safe Mode and “Last Known Good Config” (forgot to mention latter in 1st post – sorry), and since I had installed SP3 and my XP Pro set up CD was at SP2, I went off to find out how to slipstream SP3 and create a bootable CD. Having done that (eventually!), I booted from the CD and selected Repair, got the C: prompt and ran chkdsk /r to recover any readable info from bad sectors. When that completed, I tried rebooting normally and XP started up!
Having, with your kind help, resolved this problem, I am going to be seeking advice before attempting any further changes to my system. However, I will leave it to tomorrow before making any further posts!
Thanks again.
Barry

 

hmmm...It sounds like the lesson from all this may be; it isn't a good idea to run the Convert.exe utility without first running chkdsk /r to catch and "repair" any drive errors.

I'd go one further and recommend a full drive image backup as well.

You got lucky this time Barry. Thanks for the progress update.