Computer ****ing me up the wall.

[JKTrix]

I've had a problem similar to this a few times on the same machine, and i found a different (and slightly convoluted) way to work around it.

Equipment:
-2 PCs (the messed up one and a working one) with the same basic OS, having the same updates on both PCs is a plus.
-1 external USB hard drive case to match the type of HD it is

I happen to have these lying around my house, but I'm a special case.

Method:
-Take the HD out of the messed up PC, stick it in the HD case, plug it into working computer.

-On the working computer, navigate to the path where that particular '.sys' file is.

-On the messed up HD, navigate to that same folder.

-From here, you copy the .sys files from the working one to the not-working one, replacing them. You might want to backup the .sys files in there first, just in case. You can either copy the one .sys file it stops on, or copy the entire set of files just in case it hangs on another one. I personally copied all of them.

-Stick the HD back into the gutless PC, turn it on, it should run fine.

If you have to do any more updates, do so. I did this when my Alienware conked out on me after I was tinkering with it. I had XP Pro SP2 + extra stuff. I was able to restore it using my mom's IBM with XP Home with no Service Packs at all. I had to Reinstall SP2, but that was all.

I hope it's not too late and that you haven't erased everything yet. I don't think harddrive cases should be too expensive, or hard to find.

[Endless]

But even with a full install CD for Win2k (which looks like it loads exactly like the WinXP one), it stalls at the same point when it tries to "Load Windows".

Are you sure it actually boots from the CD? It's been a long time, but I don't remember my XP install disc saying "Loading Windows". It should say "press any key to boot from the CD-ROM", then go to a blue screen.

[Tifa's Real Lover(really]

You can also get a DVD burner for about $NZ35 now, so they're quite cheap.

woa, hook me up

[Rostum]

Trix, I wish I could do that, but I only have one PC and one Mac. =( I don't have anyone to help me up here since I only just moved up to this state. But if Chkdisk doesn't work then I might try finding a computer repairs place somehow.

But even with a full install CD for Win2k (which looks like it loads exactly like the WinXP one), it stalls at the same point when it tries to "Load Windows".

Are you sure it actually boots from the CD? It's been a long time, but I don't remember my XP install disc saying "Loading Windows". It should say "press any key to boot from the CD-ROM", then go to a blue screen.

Oh, it does boot from the CD and it loads all the setup files in the blue screen. Then it says it's loading windows (I'm assuming to install it, not load into the actual OS).

So how do I run this Chkdisk? I can't even find a download for it. =\

[o_O]

I think your best option is to download and burn a Knoppix CD (or any other live CD you want) and backup/format/reinstall from there.

Here's exactly what I'd do:

• Download/burn Knoppix ISO
• Put Mac hard drive in PC
• Boot into Knoppix
• Mount bad drive in Knoppix
• Copy needed stuff over to Mac
• Fire up QTParted, or cfdisk/fdisk if you're comfortable
• Format bad drive
• Reinstall Windows

This is assuming you have enough space on your Mac drive to back up your important stuff.
If not, simply resize your Windows partition as small as possible, create a new one and put your backed up stuff there and format the first partition. Note that it needs to remain the first partition because Windows doesn't like to be on anything else.

[Rostum]

Thanks face, that sounds like a feasible option. I probably can't use the Mac HDD, but partioning the PC's HDD sounds alright.

The only problem I can see is that because of the corrupt .sys file, I can't even format. It even hangs just before it gives me the options to format. ; ; It seems like it hangs just before the repair and format options. ><;

[ValiantKnight]

Unless the CD is scratched/messed up... booting "from" a CD should not care about any files on the hard drive, only whether it has errors/bad sectors/etc on it.

You should be able to format a corrupted windows partition on a drive, as long as there is no "physical/logical" erm... its hard to describe, but basically unless theres errors that chkdsk can fix, it should let you format it.

Nero and some other CD-rom burning utilities allow you to make "boot" CDs, which will work for this I believe, I have only made one before, and it was a while ago. You would need access to a computer with a floppy, CD burner, and some CD burning software, as well as NTFS4DOS.

I'm still not sure if the partition is FAT or NTFS, but being 2000, I am assuming NTFS.

You would download/run NTFS4DOS and let it make a NTFS4DOS floppy, then ... well it differs for each CD burning software, but there is typically an option in the Boot CD section to point to what you want to use as the "boot image". And you'd point to youre a: drive.. and you could put some other stuff on the CD if you like or just burn the floppy to it.

Then boot from the CD on the malfunctioning computer and let it run its thing and follow the prompts.

That's just my only idea if it's freezing during formatting or reinstall attempting and safe mode as well.. that the actual drive has disk errors like bad sectors in the operating system area of the partition.

[Rostum]

Hmm, I'm not quite sure if I understand that. Doesn't the upgrade to Windows XP turn the drive format to FAT? Also, I don't have access to a floppy disk drive. =(

And I'm pretty sure my CD's aren't scratched, they look clean to me. Both Win2k and WinXP stall at the same place. I've formated my computer a lot in the past with the Win2k floppy boot discs and CD, and have never had these troubles.

[o_O]

I've had a bit of a search for the same problem, and as Unne said, there aren't any helpful hits. The reason for that is that there seem to be 150 different fixes that may but probably won't work.
One person seems to think flashing his BIOS fixed it, while reinstalling video drivers worked for someone else, etc.

A simple thing you could try would be to browse the XP CD on your Mac, try to find the AGP440.sys file, boot into Knoppix from the live CD and copy the file over using a flash drive or something similar, though that actually probably requires some form of decompression utility to extract the file.

You could even try stealing the file from a library (or other publicly accessible) computer!

Hmm, I'm not quite sure if I understand that. Doesn't the upgrade to Windows XP turn the drive format to FAT?

The upgrade likely would have formatted the drive as NTFS, rather than FAT32. FAT32 was used by Windows 98, mainly.

From a Knoppix CD, mount the drive and then run "fsck" from the command line; that will check the filesystem for errors.

[Endless]

Thanks face, that sounds like a feasible option. I probably can't use the Mac HDD, but partioning the PC's HDD sounds alright.

The only problem I can see is that because of the corrupt .sys file, I can't even format. It even hangs just before it gives me the options to format. ; ; It seems like it hangs just before the repair and format options. ><;

Wait, when you load the XP/2k install CD, it hangs at the same .sys file?

[Samuraid]

I don't think it hangs on that specific file per se. AGP440.sys is the last sys file in a long batch of them to load. It may be loading correctly, and Windows is hanging on something else after the sys files load.

[ValiantKnight]

I was just merely saying that the "CD" should be able to format/reinstall on any drive, regardless of corruption unless to my knowledge.... there's
A. different unknown data format on the drive.
B. errors on the drive that chkdsk can fix.

If its not NTFS, but FAT instead, then you would merely need a windows 98 bootup disk I would think, anything that can boot the system that has chkdsk on it. Substitute the Win98 bootup disk instead of the NTFS4DOS bootup disk, and you may need to manually put chkdsk on the win98 disk(it's chkdsk.exe and its in the c:\windows\system32 folder by default). Windows XP full version CDs have chkdsk on them and a recovery console, but its a little work to get to, and you have to know the administrator password. Typically these days if you bought your system from Dell, or another mass producer, you never know the administrator password, as they create a second account called owner...

I'm a little sketchy but I think to get to recovery console, you'd boot up from Windows CD, try to repair, and it should give option of recovery console or automatic repair?..

Console brings you to a DOS-type prompt, and you can run chkdsk from there I think, but am not sure.

I merely suggesting chkdsk because you say it freezes during formatting, which sounds like bad sectors/etc.... otherwise go with some of the other suggestions.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058

[Endless]

I don't think it hangs on that specific file per se. AGP440.sys is the last sys file in a long batch of them to load. It may be loading correctly, and Windows is hanging on something else after the sys files load.

If the 2k/XP install CD is hanging too, it's not a problem with his Windows install, it's the hardware.

[Rye]

Gosh, I just had the same problem with my laptop! Not letting me reformat (just giving the options), giving me options to do Safe Mode, Normal, and that last configuration, but not letting me go past that, etc. I brought it into the place I bought it, Best Buy, because I have a 3 year warranty there, and they thought it was the hard drive, but it turned out to be the RAM. I have a Gateway and they told me recently made Gateways (I bought my laptop 5 months ago) for some reason have faulty RAM. Now I have to wait another week or two for my laptop to get back from Gateway. ;__;

I don't know how to fix computers, not computer saavy, but that might be a reason, if you happen to have a new Gateway.

[Rostum]

Awww *comfort* Rye. ; ;

Yeah, I spoke to someone over the phone explaining it, they seem to think it's a hardware issue and are going to come in to check through it. I'll tell you guys how it goes from there.

I am really thankful you guys have been helping me though, even though it's all a bit sketchy in detail. I'm going to guess this was more trouble than it's worth because I have an upgrade CD and not a full version.

So yeah, I'll let you know how it goes.