Fix-a-long #1

MobileTechie

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I don't know if any of you are up for this but I thought it might be fun to do a fix-a-long: one of us posts the details of a job they've done recently and we reply with what we would do next. Then the OP posts what they did next and so on. Could be fun an educational for the OP and the repliers alike, finding out how others do things etc, especially if we can pick "clean" jobs where a logical process took place and actually worked.

So to start it off, below is a job I've been working on. I know how it ends obviously. I would propose that the replies on what to do next cover the technical steps primarily but if you want to add other aspects of the job then feel free.

If you think this is a irritating waste of time then also let me know! :-)

Details:

I'm called by a customer with a Sony Vaio VGN-FE28H (this is not the one I've previouly posted about by the way!). The symptoms are that the PC won't boot. On startup the user gets the message that Windows did not start up properly and they have options to use last known config etc. None of the these options works. They all result in Windows starting to boot but a short while after the XP logo comes up a blue screen flickers up for 1/2 a second and it resets and loops back to the start. Using Safe Mode stops at MUPS.SYS.

So what do you do next?

NB - If you want to play, please don't read the others people's replies first and don't just google it! just post your own answer.
 
Last edited:
I like this idea...

#2 After you have looked at the blue screen error you can boot into safe mode and find the Minidump file. (Loacted: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump)

Or you can use the little tool 'Who Crashed' (Look at tools of the week)

This can give you indication on what caused the crash.

:)
 
Oh, I think the OP is supposed to follow up with an update after each troubleshooting step. I could be wrong.
 
I've been waiting for a few replies before the next step:

I did what Nick suggested so my step 2 was:-

Step 2: F8 and then Disable Automatic Restart

So now we have time to read the BSOD error and it is: "Inaccessible Boot Device" Stop Error 0x0000007B"

What do we do next?
 
Sounds like fun. Take out the battery, discharge any power by pushing the on button, take the ram out and reseat it.......replace battery. Boot with your favourite flavour of boot virus scan live disk. I would take latest download of Dr Web as my preferred weapon.
 
Step 3: In this case I decided to check the drive with MHDD. I did this because if it was on the way out I didn't want to be messing around unknowingly breaking the drive even more.

Anyway, the drive checks out perfectly.

So what to do/check now?
 
What is MHDD? Maxtor HD Diags?

not sure what it stands for but it's a low-level disk tool. It's very good. It deals directly with ATA cutting out the OS and BIOS so you get a better picture of what is really going on. Also allows you to make changes too. Check it out for sure!
 
OK this seems to have run out of steam! But for completeness this is how it ended:

Step 4: Boot into XP CD and start recovery console. Run chkdsk /r.

Problem solved.



Hmm - not sure how useful that all was but if anyone else has one they'd like to post please do so - I'd like to have a go at solving one :-)
 
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