Inaccessible boot device - urgent help needed

[Sydney]

Hi, I am unable to boot my Thinkpad T61 into Windows XP. This is my data-PC that is going offline at the end of this year, so yes: I absolutely insist on keeping XP on it - just in case somebody is about to suggest moving on to Win 7
Back story, it is lengthy, sorry, but I have tried so many things that it just adds up. For the short version, scroll down to "-----"
Nearly a week ago, my computer had probs booting, had to try a couple of times until it worked - partially, that is. Everything was running fine except a) Firefox (Opera was o.k., portable Firefox was o.k., so was Thunderbird) and b) Avast. (Tried things like Explorer, Nero - everything else was o.k.).
Firefox caused the system to freeze. I was able to identify one folder (cookies.sqlite) in the profile that caused this - even when I tried to just copy the folder to an external hard drive.
When I tried to run an Avast virus scan, the system crashed with a blue-screen and the problem code "Stop 0x00000077 KERNEL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR".
Both happened multiple times, the system ran chkdsk multiple times, so I saved all my data and did a system restore with Acronis from a 2 week-old backup, that worked just fine. Did updates, ran Avast again (including a boot-scan), both came back clear. Same with anti-malware-scans (Malawarebytes, Superantispyware, Spybot).
So, so far everything was hunky-dory. The system worked, but being concerned about a failing hard-drive, I ran chkdisk again manually, which returned some faults that were fixed. I then ran Seatools which came back with errors. Ran the Hitachi tool (it's a 3 y/o Hitachi hard-drive) that also showed a "bad disk" result. I used their fixing feature that only fixes (moves?) faulty clusters. Ran their scan again - still faulty. Rang Hitachi. They suggested to do a full disk erase and the re-scan the disk and if still faulty I would have to replace it. I initiated this, but judging from the progress it would have taken months to run (after 12 hours it was still at 0%). So I aborted it and got myself a SSD as a replacement as I really very much do need a functioning computer now.
----
I restored the old (functioning) Acronis- backup from 2 weeks ago to the SSD and that's when things went really bad. First of all, the restore took some 18 or 19 hours (when that same restore to the HD the day before had only taken about 4-5ish). Acronis said the restore was successful, but when I tried to boot the computer the screen just remained dark with only the cursor blinking in the left upper corner. I was able to enter BIOS and the SSD was recognized correctly (It's the Samsung 840 EVO SSD, so it is definitely compatible with XP).
Getting desperate, I decided to give up on it and just re-install that HD that was presumably not entirely o.k., but at least working for now. And again, the restore through Acronis suddenly took 18-19 hours on the HD as well. Again it was successful as per Acronis, but when trying to start the computer, the same thing happened: screen remained black with only the blinking cursor.
Since then, I tried so many things, that I might not remember them all, but here are some:
- Tried to run XP from a CD, wanting to access the recovery console. For some strange reason, I don't get that option, just the option to re-install the operating system. (It is not an original XP-CD but a copy from a friend who made this for me for this explicit reason "in case something goes wrong"). The installation seems to work fine (both HD and SSD are recognized and the Windows-files get copied). Then, when the computer restarts, it only goes to the dark screen with the cursor again. Or, if I leave the CD in, it says to press any key to start from CD (again on a black screen).
- Tried to run XP from bootable diskettes. I get as far as as the last one. When XP is about to start I get a blue-screen with error code 0X0000007B, which is "inaccessible boot device". I tried this multiple times.
- Did a Lenovo Rescue & Recovery (on the SSD) from an old backup from 2010 (with little software and no data). It was successful and I was also able to see that the Acronis restore that I had done before had been successful as the data was displayed when I set the R&R up. Except it did not solve the boot-problem (no change).
- Made sure the hard-drive settings in BIOS are in "compatibility mode"
- tried running mbrfix but failed as I didn't know how to. It's an exe-file that I cannot boot from and that opens a DOS-window only on a computer with a functioning windows os.
- tried to run an MS-DOS-diskette - unsuccessfully. I can boot from it, but don't know what command to enter and what that would do.
- tried to run the Lenovo Master Boot Record Repair Kit on it, which didn't work (wrong indication so to speak as this is supposed to fix non-booting computers that have both SafeGuard Easy and Rescue and Recovery installed, which isn't my problem.
- tried to get the last functioning version of XP to run, which didn't work as there didn't seem to be one (pressed F8 on startup and nothing happened - just that cursor again)
- tried to press F6 which is supposed to fix problems with driver support, it then prompted me to insert the CD or diskette with the driver that I do not have (and wouldn't know which one anyhow. Plus Lenovo drivers should be on the system ???). Also I think there was some option about BIOS that I am weary about for the obvious reasons.
I might have tried a few other things, but honestly do not recall. I am obviously getting pretty desperate here. I just don't have the computer-knowledge to analyze this logically. I also do not have any professional repair shop to turn to (unless I send the computer somewhere for a repair, which I can't do for time-reasons). Your help is therefore much appreciated. Or - if this is too technical, if anyone could suggest a forum where to turn to, I would be very grateful.
Sydney

[Cigarguy]

Long post, sorry but I only skimmed over it.

If I suspect that any OS drive is failing and/or the partition tables might be screwed up, I'd pull said HDD, install into an external caddy and pulled off all the valuable data as I can. Off course if I get nothing from this process, no big deal, that's why I have all critical data backed up in triplicate.

From your description of things, sounds like a hardware issue. It may very well be the XP install on the HDD have gone bad but the XP boot disks should be booting without issues. Download and run a live Linux install to double check.

[Sydney]

Have my data backed up - no worries there.
Able to run Linux Mint live no probs.
XP boot disk not doing its job (as described).

[Brad]

If you have access to another T61 I would try that setup there.

It is possible like CG said it is a hardware issue. Motherboard?

Brad

[Sydney]

Motherboard o.k. as per PC Doctor.
No, unfortunately, no access to another T61 (typing this on my old T30).

[Brad]

Even though PC Doctor does not find a problem there still could be an issue and in my opinion the motherboard has failed sorry to say.

Brad

[robert213]

What version of Acronis True Image did you use?

My Acronis True Image Home 11 does not support SSD. I purchased Acronis True Image 2013 for use with SSD(s).

I don't know how to answer your question.

Whenever I am lost ...
1) I purchase a used SATA 80GB HD from eBay.
2) I install Windows XP Pro from IBM Recovery DVD(s).
3) I install Windows XP SP2 and/or SP3 as needed.
4) I install Acronis True Image 2013
5) I clone SATA 80GB HD to Samsung 840 SSD.
6) I install Avast! anti-virus and Zone Alarm Firewall.
7) I create a Limited/Standard user account.
7) I install remaining applications for install programs stored in advance on external 500GB HD.
I place original HDD with problems in external USB enclosure and copy data files to SSD.

Sorry, I am not much help ...

[Sydney]

Hi, thanks for your replies, everyone.
I still don't know what the cause of this conundrum was, but it was definitely not a hardware problem, the computer is up and running again with the same components.
On top of whatever the cause of this was, the XP CD must have been bad. I was only able to sort this mess out once I purchased a new one. I wiped the HD, re-installed XP from the CD, then re-installed my Acronis backup and everything was fine (no more CHKDSK issues).
Did the same thing with the SSD (also had to do a clean install from the XP CD before the Acronis re-install worked). Now the SSD is running equally well (had to align it, but that was easy enough with "Mini Tool Partition Wizard" and I will still tweak the BIOS, have not gotten around to that yet).
I am thinking that maybe something was wrong with the master boot record ?? Thankfully, someone also pointed me to a great HD-checking tool ("MHDD") which helped finding out the true state of my HD (fine). Those manufacturer's tools (Seatools, Hitachi etc) will return a "bad disk" result even if the disk is still fine, and one is left entirely in the dark as to what it is that that particular tool claims is wrong with the HD.
There were 2 other things that I had tried that were not successful but that might help someone else: I checked the contacts inside the hard-drive slot and I reset the BIOS by removing the power plug, battery as well as the CMOS-battery. I also tried installing Windows 7 from a CD as it is available as a download and once I saw that that worked just fine, it was obvious that this was some sort of software rather than hardware issue (had to nuke the disk again before installing XP though in order to get rid of all those Win7 "leftovers).

What I learned:
1) absolutely forget about HD manufacturer's tools to check their HDs. They're going to give you false positives without any details and when you phone the helpline all they are going to do is try sell you a new one.
2) If you cannot access the HD but it does show in the BIOS, nuke your disk, then do a clean install of your OS and THEN restore an Acronis update.

I hope that this is going to help someone else at some stage

[Shredder11]

The program MHDD as mentioned in the previous post is also included on the excellent Hiren's Boot CD:

http://www.hirensbootcd.org/files/Hiren ... D.15.2.zip (592.5MB)

Link is from here: http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/

Full CD contents listed here: http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd

[cadillacmike68]

Blinking cursor problems can sometimes be corrected by booting a Win98 startup diskette and running FDISK /MBR. This re-writes the partition tables and overwrites the area where XP (& vitsa) store volume letter assignments, etc. These can get erroneous info in them, especially if a bootable disk is seen in a non-boot spot by windows, like after a clone / restore if you don't remove the drive before win starts back up.