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From: GT on 27 Jan 2010 04:28
Virus attack has 'broken' Windows (my own fault). Boot now fails half way
through Windows XP loading screen - restarts with no warning. Safe mode is
the same! All my data
files *are* backed up, but I want to avoid the annoyance of re-configuring
all my XP settings and restoring 700GB of data to my second partition.

The primary hard disk is 1TB sata. It was partitioned 50GB Fat32 system C:
with WinXP pro and the rest as data drive D:.

The partitions and tables are fine, just a few windows system files are
corrupt, but the WinXP install cannot 'see' the partition in order to repair
install - it just sees an empty 137GB drive. I have reduced the C: to under
32GB (used Ubuntu) to 'please' the windows installer gods, but the windows
installer cannot see it.

Can anyone suggest a way that I can repair my XP installation on my primary
partition without affecting the secondary partition?



From: Darklight on 27 Jan 2010 04:27
GT wrote:

> Virus attack has 'broken' Windows (my own fault). Boot now fails half way
> through Windows XP loading screen - restarts with no warning. Safe mode is
> the same! All my data
> files *are* backed up, but I want to avoid the annoyance of re-configuring
> all my XP settings and restoring 700GB of data to my second partition.
>
> The primary hard disk is 1TB sata. It was partitioned 50GB Fat32 system C:
> with WinXP pro and the rest as data drive D:.
>
> The partitions and tables are fine, just a few windows system files are
> corrupt, but the WinXP install cannot 'see' the partition in order to
> repair install - it just sees an empty 137GB drive. I have reduced the C:
> to under 32GB (used Ubuntu) to 'please' the windows installer gods, but
> the windows installer cannot see it.
>
> Can anyone suggest a way that I can repair my XP installation on my
> primary partition without affecting the secondary partition?

why don't you just reinstall the reinstall won't touch the d drive.
As you can choose what partition to install to.
Or use the repair function. winxp has a repair system when you start the
install from cd you can press r key on keyboard to go into repair mode and
from there you should be able to repair xp.
From: GT on 27 Jan 2010 06:08
"Darklight" <nglennglen(a)netscape.net> wrote in message
news:P-ednQ1kWZpNm_3WnZ2dnUVZ7sOdnZ2d(a)bt.com...
> GT wrote:
>
>> Virus attack has 'broken' Windows (my own fault). Boot now fails half way
>> through Windows XP loading screen - restarts with no warning. Safe mode
>> is
>> the same! All my data
>> files *are* backed up, but I want to avoid the annoyance of
>> re-configuring
>> all my XP settings and restoring 700GB of data to my second partition.
>>
>> The primary hard disk is 1TB sata. It was partitioned 50GB Fat32 system
>> C:
>> with WinXP pro and the rest as data drive D:.
>>
>> The partitions and tables are fine, just a few windows system files are
>> corrupt, but the WinXP install cannot 'see' the partition in order to
>> repair install - it just sees an empty 137GB drive. I have reduced the C:
>> to under 32GB (used Ubuntu) to 'please' the windows installer gods, but
>> the windows installer cannot see it.
>>
>> Can anyone suggest a way that I can repair my XP installation on my
>> primary partition without affecting the secondary partition?
>
> why don't you just reinstall the reinstall won't touch the d drive.
> As you can choose what partition to install to.
> Or use the repair function. winxp has a repair system when you start the
> install from cd you can press r key on keyboard to go into repair mode and
> from there you should be able to repair xp.

Because WinXP CD can't see the partitions - it just sees an empty 137GB
drive. When I boot on an Ubuntu CD, I can see both partitions and all files,
so the tables and drives are OK, but something is preventing Windows CD from
seeing the 31GB primary partition.


From: GT on 27 Jan 2010 06:09
"Darklight" <nglennglen(a)netscape.net> wrote in message
news:P-ednQ1kWZpNm_3WnZ2dnUVZ7sOdnZ2d(a)bt.com...
> GT wrote:
>
>> Virus attack has 'broken' Windows (my own fault). Boot now fails half way
>> through Windows XP loading screen - restarts with no warning. Safe mode
>> is
>> the same! All my data
>> files *are* backed up, but I want to avoid the annoyance of
>> re-configuring
>> all my XP settings and restoring 700GB of data to my second partition.
>>
>> The primary hard disk is 1TB sata. It was partitioned 50GB Fat32 system
>> C:
>> with WinXP pro and the rest as data drive D:.
>>
>> The partitions and tables are fine, just a few windows system files are
>> corrupt, but the WinXP install cannot 'see' the partition in order to
>> repair install - it just sees an empty 137GB drive. I have reduced the C:
>> to under 32GB (used Ubuntu) to 'please' the windows installer gods, but
>> the windows installer cannot see it.
>>
>> Can anyone suggest a way that I can repair my XP installation on my
>> primary partition without affecting the secondary partition?
>
> why don't you just reinstall the reinstall won't touch the d drive.
> As you can choose what partition to install to.
> Or use the repair function. winxp has a repair system when you start the
> install from cd you can press r key on keyboard to go into repair mode and
> from there you should be able to repair xp.

As above - It only offers me the option to create a new partition!


From: Paul on 27 Jan 2010 07:58
GT wrote:
> "Darklight" <nglennglen(a)netscape.net> wrote in message
> news:P-ednQ1kWZpNm_3WnZ2dnUVZ7sOdnZ2d(a)bt.com...
>> GT wrote:
>>
>>> Virus attack has 'broken' Windows (my own fault). Boot now fails half way
>>> through Windows XP loading screen - restarts with no warning. Safe mode
>>> is
>>> the same! All my data
>>> files *are* backed up, but I want to avoid the annoyance of
>>> re-configuring
>>> all my XP settings and restoring 700GB of data to my second partition.
>>>
>>> The primary hard disk is 1TB sata. It was partitioned 50GB Fat32 system
>>> C:
>>> with WinXP pro and the rest as data drive D:.
>>>
>>> The partitions and tables are fine, just a few windows system files are
>>> corrupt, but the WinXP install cannot 'see' the partition in order to
>>> repair install - it just sees an empty 137GB drive. I have reduced the C:
>>> to under 32GB (used Ubuntu) to 'please' the windows installer gods, but
>>> the windows installer cannot see it.
>>>
>>> Can anyone suggest a way that I can repair my XP installation on my
>>> primary partition without affecting the secondary partition?
>> why don't you just reinstall the reinstall won't touch the d drive.
>> As you can choose what partition to install to.
>> Or use the repair function. winxp has a repair system when you start the
>> install from cd you can press r key on keyboard to go into repair mode and
>> from there you should be able to repair xp.
>
> As above - It only offers me the option to create a new partition!
>

First of all, did the AV tool you used to clean the disk, "quarantine"
the infected files ? Any chance you could look at the files that
were removed from their proper place, to begin to understand what needs
fixing ? Maybe the WinXP install CD refuses to "repair" C:, because some
key files that would make it look like an install, have been removed.

If the AV tool just threw all the quarantined files away, you'll have no
record of what was removed. Some standalone (Linux CD) type scanners,
can store the quarantined files in RAM disk, and as soon as you
reboot, any record of what was removed is lost. If you used a tool like
that, then you'd need to compare the file manifest of C: with a
non-broken machine, to figure out what needs replacing to "prime the pump".

With respect to doing a reinstall with your WinXP CD, to that 1TB drive,
make sure the WinXP CD you're using, is slipstreamed to some service
pack. If you were to Repair Install from a WinXP Gold (no SP) CD, the data
partition could get trashed by the lack of big disk support. Make sure
the CD you're using is at least SP1. If you use the "Gold" or original
release WinXP CD, it will see the 1TB drive as 137GB, and have problems
if it attempts to access the second partition. You have to be very careful
with stuff like that. On my current machine, I managed to run "broken" that
way for a while, by making sure no partitions extended above 137GB. Then,
once I was running the proper minimum Service Pack on my multiboot machine,
I could safely place or extend partitions above 137GB. So maybe your issues
are partially due to the Service Pack level of the CD ?

For slipstreaming, you need a Microsoft Windows CD, plus at least one
downloaded Service Pack file, then use a tool like NLite from nliteos.com.
If I knew my current install was SP2 on the hard drive, I might slipstream
in SP2 using this tool.

http://www.nliteos.com/guide/part1.html

You can still get SP2 and SP3 for download. I tried to find a working SP1a
link, but that is gone now (you'd have to get someone to send you a copy
if you wanted that one). This link is SP2.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=049c9dbe-3b8e-4f30-8245-9e368d3cdb5a&DisplayLang=en

Also, something else I've read, is Repair Install as an option, expects
you haven't updated some of the bundled tools. For example, Microsoft
expects you to uninstall IE8, before using Repair Install on a
partition. Repair Install is a "nice to have", as long as you're not torpedoed
by dependencies you don't know about (like IE or WMP "upgrades").

I haven't experienced all of the above, but these are some things
I've read about as potential issues or things to research. I think
I'd be most concerned about using tools/environments that respected
the >137GB issues, to avoid damage to the data partition. Once that is
taken care of, you have more time to figure out how to get a Clean Install
into the lower partition, if it is too trashed to support a Repair Install.
At the very least, when you're using your WinXP CD, it shouldn't be
mentioning "137GB" in the setup screen at all. That tells me large
disk support is broken on the CD you're using. I know this, because
I've experienced that here (seen "137GB" in the installer partition
window, when it was looking at my 250GB SATA drive). After preparing
a slipstreamed installer CD, it could see the whole 250GB and there
was no longer any mention of 137GB. As soon as I saw that "137GB" reference,
I knew I had to stop and do something else.

Good luck and good backups :-)
Paul
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