[RESOLVED] Errors and Problem Booting From CD to Repair

About 2 weeks ago I posted seeking information on a Hard Drive error a friend was getting. http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...d.php?t=240258

Well I went to try and boot from the XP CD and then the fun started. The Dell Dimension 8200 at first did not want to boot from the CD. I received a message of "Strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for Setup". After alternately pressing each option after a while the machine tried to boot.

When it tried to boot with the XP disk I would then get the error message:
"INF file txtsetup.sif is corrupt or missing , status 47872"

I had more than one XP CD laying around and I would get the same error message when I tried to boot from it.

I next attempted to boot from a Knoppix CD and it went flawlessly. I was able to access the hard drive which is good since I should be able to transfer my friends important files.

My question is what do I do know to try and boot to the XP CD to try and fix/restore?

A google search of "INF file txtsetup.sif is corrupt or missing , status 47872" has given me that I have to either zero the hard drive, run Memtext86+ as I may have corrupt RAM, to one "answer" saying boot from an XP disk and do a fresh install (of course the person did not read that the problem happens with booting from the CD).

The fact that I was able to boot with Knoppix leads me to think that the RAM is fine and that my problem with booting either from the hard drive (as in my prior post) or XP disk is a bad sector on the hard drive and/or a corrupt file interfering with booting from an XP CD.

Any help would be appreciated as I would rather not have zero his drive and hope that it will correct the problem and allow me to do a fresh install of XP.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Doc

Did you run memtest86+ and a hard drive diag or not? Don't just guess. I already told you to download UBCD5. It has the ram and hard drive diags, and tools to wipe the drive.

Also check the motherboard for bad caps. That might not be the problem, but it's easy to check.

I had an old version of UBCD which would not boot. I would get the "Strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for Setup" message.

The only thing I have been able to boot has been Knoppix which runs as it is supposed. As such the motherboard is fine along with the RAM since Knoppix would not work if there was a problem.

Doc

Just because Knoppix booted and ran does not necessarily mean that ALL of the system memory is good. I'd still try a MemTest run to see the results.

As I stated above, one of the problems is getting a CD to boot. If I can not get a CD that has MemTest on it to boot then I can not test the RAM.

I will download a fresh copy of UBCD5 and see if that will work. If not I will have to pull the hard drive and attach it to another computer so as to run Chkdsk and along with trying to repair XP that is on it. If I can not repair then I will zero the drive before placing back in the computer.

If a Knoppix CD booted, then the MemTest CD should also. You can create a MemTest Only CD instead of a UBCD that you may be able to get to boot. If it won't, then you have hardware issues. Try disconnecting the hard drive and use only the CD drive to boot and run MemTest. If that works OK, then it is a drive problem. If it doesn't, then you may have a CD drive, IDE Controller, memory, or motherboard problem.

Thanks, I will give it try later in the week and post back.

Doc

Well I ran UBCD5 and ran a full diagnostic on the hard drive and on the memory. All came back normal.

I was able to wipe the drive clean and then started to install XP but the CD would not boot no matter what I did (it works fine on other computers). I had a XP Slip Disk with SP2 on it that did eventually boot after numerous tries and was able to install XP.

Any way, once everything was loaded and updated I noticed that the USB ports are not working even though everything looks good within Device Manager and also the BIOS. It seems that there is something going on with the Motherboard.

I have told my friend that it is time for a new machine but that for now this machine will function.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Doc