jhknight56072@e

i have a Stop 0x0000007B (0x82792030, etc.) inaccessible boot device error
with all kinds of unhelpful suggestions.this is on a blue screen windows will not start, period. I've tried all the BIOS settings and start settings, and every suggestion on microsoft for this error. trouble is it was a used computer that did not come with a windows disk or a rescue disk or manuals of any kind. I can get to the screen with safe mode options but windows will not start in any mode. there is no record of last good start. i found a way to get to DOS prompt but chkdsk will not work, not recognized command.

what happened; I was loading a program and the computer hung so I got impatient and killed the power so I could restart. it did not start, get a blue screen error (above) every time. the only change i made was plugged in a usb memory drive. am I screwed? there is some information I'd love to salvage but it is not life or death information, but then it is years and years worth of work, surfing and photos. I'm guessing if I want that infor I'll have to take the thing in to someone who can bench the hard drive?

RichardIII

Hello jhknight56072@e, and welcome to TSF

I will have to ask a couple of questions:

1. Did you turn the computer on again, within let's say a minute?
2. What is the filesystem (NTFS, or FAT)?
3. What did you use to get in DOS?

I can understand this, an I will try to help you as much as I can from this distance. However I do need the answer to these questions above.

I'll be waiting for your reply with the answers.

jhknight56072@e

I turned off the power then tried to turn it back on almost at once. I've done this many times when the machine hung for whatever reason and cant get in to end task with no probs.

I'm not completely sure what the file system is, i'm thinking it was ntfs?
I accessed DOS with an old rescue disk from another system.

RichardIII

Many people do it unpunished, many times a day; but for the hard disk this is the worst that can happen to it, besides being smashed with a 40 tons steam roller

If it is NTFS, then accessing it from DOS with a Windows 9x boot floppy won't be possible.

What we could try to get past the point where it crashes, is:

1. Shut down the system,
2. Take out the hard disk, and let it cool down to room temperature.
3. Pack it in a zippy bag (with als little air in it as possible)
4. Put it in the fridge (not the freezer (yet))
5. Let it stay there for a few hours.
6. Take it out of the fridge and out of the zippy-bag.
7. Dry it with kitchen tissue paper.
8. Put it back in the system, connect all cables and start the computer.

I used this trick recently in a similar situation, and it worked. However; it this is necessary to access the disk, then I would get my data off that disk asap (to USB or so) and get myself a new disk...

If you can use the disk this way long enough (couple of hours) then you might be able even to make an image of the drive which you could restore to the new drive. I am afraid this drive has to be labeled "Unreliable".

Before you dispose the old drive, download DBAN, make a floppy with it; mount the old drive as the only one (safest) and wipe the old disk with DBAN.

jhknight56072@e

ever heard of defibrilating a ni-cad drill batttery with a car battery to get it to charge? putting the harddrive in the freezer sounds similar... but how in the world would that make a difference? I suppose it's worth a shot. the rescue flopply I used is from ONtrack Fix it Utilities, probably not up to date enough for win 2000.?? anyway, the hardrive is going into the fridge as you read this. fingers crossed.

RichardIII

No, that one is new to me, the HDD-in-fridge I heard before, and I didn't believe a word of it. But recently I had a case where that was the last resort to get access to that drive (also data recovery) and darned! It worked. (If you have liquid air, or freezing spray, that maight do to (spray the liquid air as a liquid on the sealed side of the HDD and it will stay working. Got the data off it, and trashed it (DBAN).

Looking for your results in a couple of hours!

jhknight56072@e

(hint) a dead ni-cad jolted with twice it's rated voltage may restore it

jhknight56072@e

i wanted a new computer anyways, this thing was a poj w crappy a/v cards and a slow hard drive. got any use for the Pentium 3 motherboard? HD still in fridge...
what I have never tried before is this; IF I get the thing running my new Vista computer has sofware to import files from another computer but I've never tried that before, I assume it will work?

RichardIII

Hi jhknight56072@e

Thanks for the hint regarding the NiCads!

(hint) Look at your OS to the left of your posts, you might remove the "n"

No, I don't know any use for a P3 mobo, but I do know good use for a P3 computer w. 2 network cards (NICs) and a small hard disk: Put a Linux firewall distribution on it (available for free), tune it, and you have a great firewall!!!

jhknight56072@e

sorry i mispelled windows. new keyboards a little sticky.

the HD in the fridge didn't work :(

RichardIII

I still can't used to my lappie's external keyboard... know the feeling!

OK, so that HDD is toasted as for booting from it... now let's see if we can get the data from it so you can use it on a new, or at least other, computer.

Since we don't need to write to the device (since you probably will erase it securely with DBAN (freeware!) later), the NTFSDOS driver by Mark Russinovich (Now MS) should be sufficient, but wait... there is more I found the link to a perfectly legal complete NTFS access (meaning read and write) for DOS at this page (This used to be datapol.de ebfore Avira bought them); the program is free for personal use!

Using that you could read the data from the drive and copy it to another one. This brings me to the question: Does this system have a second HDD?

jhknight56072@e

the POS is only equiped with one hdd. how would I download and get a program into the computer that won't start, my new puter has no floppy drive?? if I burned onto a cd rom don't know if it would boot that .

RichardIII

Well, if you would have a second (older) HDD laying around then you could use that, but then we bump into the "floppyless system" problem. Do you have friends, relatives, neighbors who have a USB floppy-drive? (I have one especially for this purpose! I've ran into this before, and I hate it!), if you could borrow that for a few hours, then you could use that to create the floppy. USB floppy drives don't need drivers, they go in just like a thumbdrive.)

How would you burn it to CD... the program wants a floppy to write to, it won't let you create an image for burning to CD <SIGH>.

In the mean time you could download and install the program, so that when you find (or even buy, they aren't that expensive) an USB FDD, you can start right away!

jhknight56072@e

so you're saying this software - once i get the sytem to DOS prompt- will allow access to the files on the hdd??

RichardIII

OK, this might solve the 'floppyless new system' you're currently facing, but would cost you US$ 4,-- which would be a bargain.

I found this site: Bootdisk.com

Which claims to have a CD ISO image (bootable) which includes that very driver, so you would create it on the new system, boot from the CDROM on the old system, and then go ahead with your data saving procedures.

Still you would have to have a second drive in that system...

RichardIII

Absolutely, and I have an older version installed (I just downloaded the newer version) and it helped me very well!!!

jhknight56072@e

trouble. I downloaded the software, file size only 20871kb?? what do I do with it? looks like I have to run and install it on my Vista puter to save on a floppy???? or can I put it on a usb drive? (when you say USB floppy are you taling a 3.5" floppy disk drive or a micro memory chip key usb drive??) I have a USB chip but that wouldnt' be bootable

RichardIII

OKay, the extension of this file should be ".ISO"; this is a file which you should use to create a CDROM, in the ISO are the programs and tools you need.

The file as such is not executable.

jhknight56072@e