You will need an XP installation CD to fix this.
http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_winxp&thread.id=214841

Then follow the instructions here

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;822800

I received the XP OS cd from Dell, put in, and clearly followed the directions to repair the missing/corrupted file. When I went to rename it, no message appeared saying that is couldn't be found, so I assumed that it replaced it in the System 32 operating system. However, I still receive the message after I reboot, just like before. Nothing is different?. I've tried it again, and I try to recopy the file again, and I get a message that the file is already on the comptuer (so I guess I correctly found and copied the NTFS file from the cd to the hard drive), and it asks if I'd like to rewrite over it, I've tried "yes" and "all," but nothing makes it work. Do you have any suggestions or ideas? Why does it say the NTFS file is still missing or corrupt if I've renamed/replaced it with a copied file from the cd? Is there any way to get Windows back up to recover some of my files off the hard drive?

 

please, I'd appreciate any help!!!

That`s not so good, it could be a hard drive or memory problem.

 

First of all in the Recovery Console type

chkdsk /r  (there is a space before the /)

Enter

 

If that does not help I think you should run the Dell Diagnostics and see what reports you get

 

 

To access them press F12 when you see the dell logo screen, then there will be an option that says IDE or Hard Drive Diagnostics. That will run a quick test, if you want a more thorough test select the option that says Boot to Utility Partition, then select custom test, select hard drive and then run test.

It's not looking good at all. I did the chkdsk /r which searched and found 1 or more errors and claimed to have fixed them. I then rebooted, and the ntfs error did not appear, so I thought that was the end of my trouble. Btt then a blue screen comes up saying A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to the computer followed by "SESSION 3_INITIALIZATION_FAILED". It suggests using Safe mode to disable or uninstall new hardware, but Safe mode does not work, and teh same message comes up. It also suggests disabling BIOS memory options like caching or shadowing, but I do not know how to do this.

 

I tried doing the chkdsk /r again with no luck, and I looked in the Setup menu for BIOS settings but nothing seemed to correspond to caching etc. I also ran a diagnostics test, an in depth one for the Hard Drive. It shows several errors...

 

During

It's not looking good at all. I did the chkdsk /r which searched and found 1 or more errors and claimed to have fixed them. I then rebooted, and the ntfs error did not appear, so I thought that was the end of my trouble. Btt then a blue screen comes up saying A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to the computer followed by "SESSION 3_INITIALIZATION_FAILED". It suggests using Safe mode to disable or uninstall new hardware, but Safe mode does not work, and teh same message comes up. It also suggests disabling BIOS memory options like caching or shadowing, but I do not know how to do this.

 

I tried doing the chkdsk /r again with no luck, and I looked in the Setup menu for BIOS settings but nothing seemed to correspond to caching etc. I also ran a diagnostics test, an in depth one for the Hard Drive. It shows several errors...

 

During the

Sorry about that... as I was saying, there were errors during the Read test:

 

Error Code 0F00: 0244 (not sure if 0 or Os), Msg: Block 68529161: Uncorrectable data or media is write protected. Then the same thing happens for Msg: Block 73096217, then 97691576, 87692211, 87692845, 87692846. During the Verify test, it happens again with error code OFOO: 1A44. I aborted the test before the end because it was happening over and over, there were around 15 to 20 errors after 80 percent of the Hard Drive test. I am thinking teh Drive must have been damaged or something, and is now dead, but if there is anything else that can be tried, I'd really appreciate it.

Well,it does seem that the drive has gone bad. :smileysad:

 

Is it under warranty?  If so phone/contact Dell and give them these error Codes from the diagnostics.

 

Do you have data you need to recover? 

You should be able to rescue your data by removing the hard drive and connecting it as a slave drive in another machine (a desktop machine). You'll need a 2.5" to 3.5" drive adapter, which is easily available and quite cheap.
Something like this

 

http://insidecomputer.stores.yahoo.net/la2tode3hadr.html

 

Then it looks like a new hard drive I`m afraid

Thank you SO much for your help. I've extracted the hard drive from the laptop and will soon buy the adapter. However, on the site describing and explaining the adapter, it mentioned software called Norton Ghost - do i have to have this to recover my files? Can i just browse through the hard drive and copy specific things onto a USB key for example without having this software? How does it work exactly, this stuff about creating a ghost image? How will the laptop drive be detected and used as a regular IDE drive - what does that mean?

 

thanks again so very much,

 

Colleen

Thank you SO much for your help. I have extracted the hard drive from my laptop and will soon try to buy one of those adapters. However, when I was looking on the description of the adapter, it mentioned software called Norton Ghost. Can I

When you hook the drive up to a desktop you should then see this new drive under "My Computer" and be able to access all the files. Just look for a new entry there.  You should be able to recognise it by the description

 

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colleenj wrote:

 However, on the site describing and explaining the adapter, it mentioned software called Norton Ghost - do i have to have this to recover my files? Can i just browse through the hard drive and copy specific things onto a USB key for example without having this software? How does it work exactly, this stuff about creating a ghost image?

Colleen

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