Hey Guys, So i have stumbled upon a situation I have little knowledge on. I woke up this morning to the following message on my computer... "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: system32\DRIVERS\pci.sys" It gives me the option to start Windows normally, or in safe mode ect... but nothing works, it just goes into a loop. So my question is... what do I need to do so that I don't lose any files on my hard drive, and get my OS back up and running? Thanks - DVDZane
this is a easy fix, you just need to run a chkdsk c: /f , this will fix the problem 95 percent of the time. Background on the problem, if windows has an abnormal shutdown while the drive was writing to the drive, this might occur. This causes the corruptions. The chkdsk will check the drive for irregularities/orphan files etc and will try and rebuild them. The /f is the command to fix the files as they are found. You need a windows installation cd to get into the command prompt to run the chkdsk. The best tool is a bartpe bootcd (you can make one using your windows installation cd) with a bartpe you can actually open the windows folder and check to make sure all the files are there.
Yes i have made recovery disks, but i hear these are only good to restore your system to what it was when you made the disks? jony, i do not have a windows installation cd. I think I am going to back up all my files onto an external, then access the recovery partition on the HDD some how? And try to fix the problem from there. Does that sound doable?
is this windows xp or vista? with vista, microsoft has the "vista repair utility available for download. It's bootcd that will bootup the computer and give you a command prompt. This bootcd only works with vista, I tried to see if it can access an xp installation but it won't do it.. http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Recovering+the+Vista+Bootloader+from+the+DVD unfortunately for xp, microsoft only has floppy downloads (total 6 floppys) to access the command prompt, most computer no longer have floppys. The only option if you don't have a xp bootcd, is to remove the drive from the computer (install it on an external usb enclosure) then connect it to a working computer. From within windows open my computer/right click on the drive/properties/tools/error checking/check now/put check marks on both boxes to fix errors/start This will run a scandisk which with boxes checked is the same as a chkdsk c /f.
Yes I am running XP. I have retrieved an OEM installation cd. So i am going to boot from that i think. And my plan is to just repair the file that is corrupt.
You have to repair all the corrupt files. Usually the error warning you get is generic, it will just show the first file that is corrupt. If you replaced that file next time you bootup, it will usually show another corrupt file. The chkdsk c: /f will fix all the corrupt system files. If your c: drive is large it can take half an hour or longer, it checks and repairs in 4 stages. Now that you have the oem disc, make a bartpe bootcd it takes 15 minutes to make. That's what I always use to run a command prompt on a non-booting xp hard drive and to browse the hard drive. The bartpe program will use the files in the oem disc to make it's own repair bootcd. http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
