windows XP SP2 no longer boots after using knoppix 3.6

[MrReapa]

I'm in a big bind here. I was trying to back up some files on a hard disk form another computer. i hooked it up as a slave to my computer and tried booting in knoppix. i booted knoppix fine just to find out i had downloaded the german version by accident. i restarted the computer using the restart button on the box (not the shutdown from knoppix). when i tried to reboot into windows, it froze after the loading bar reached max. i then tried to boot into safemode and it loaded a few files, the stopped and rebooted. then i tried running a windows repair from the instalation CD, completed that fine. when i tried to reboot again i got the same problem. it loads into the windows xp logo for a second, then i get a BSOD and it reboots.

coudl this be caused by my shutting down of ym computer without propperly shutting down knoppix? here are my computer specs:

windows XP SP2
athlon 1.333 ghz
FIC AD11 mainboard
768mb of RAM
geforce 4 ti4400
SB audigy platnum EX

also my harddrive has a partion. i disconnected the other harddrive that i was trying to backup data from.


i am totally stumpped. anyone have any ideas? also keep in mind i am a total linux noob.

[j.drake]

I would try these in order, until you can get it fixed (warning - I am a PC hobbyist, not a computer professional)

1. I assume you booted Knoppix from CD? If so, couldn't have done anything permanent to the system from what you describe. I can only assume your problem comes from somewhere else. If you installed knoppix, sounds like you might have hosed your MBR. There's a sticky at the top of one of these forums telling you how to "ungoof your MBR" - you might look for it and see if it helps. Again, don't worry about this if you booted from CD.

2. Couldn't tell from your description - Knoppix on your PC, or the other?

3. (Windows) Can you get into scandisk or safe mode? If not, look at BIOS settings. If scandisk doesn't fix, try booting into safe mode

4. If you can boot into safe mode, see if you can do a system restore to your last restore point

5. If you can get into safe mode, then run msconfig from a run prompt. Temporarily shut down all non-essential services, and do a selective reboot. If it boots, look at the services you shut down, and re-enable one at a time until you find the offending service.

jd

[wgeiser]

Hi, I had a very similar experience like MrReapa describes.
While using Knoppix 3.6 from the CD-ROM the performance was choppy so I decided to log out. Knoppix closed all the processes but then stopped working - I never got the message where it sais to remove the CD and hit Reurn. So I pressed Reset and wanted to start Windows XP SP2 again. But Windows wouldn't start anymore, it froze during the loading bar display and then it rebooted by itself. I then booted into safemode successfully and could access all the disk. As soon as I rebooted it it hung again.
I have a set of 6 Windows XP setup diskettes. I booted with the startdiskette but didn't continue past the first screen. I restarted the computer again and from then on Windows worked again.

The big question is, does the KNOPPIX CD-ROM version change anything (maybe MBR) on the Windows disk if it can't be logged out properly???

I just checked the startup messages of KNOPPIX 3.6 re. harddisk access. Here is an excerpt of it:
.
.
Monitor is . . .
Using Modes . . .
Scanning for Harddisk partitions and creating /etc/fstab . . . Done.
.
.

So KNOPPIX 3.6 is accessing the harddisk to write on it. I also realized that each time the CD-ROM was aktiv the harddisk light would be on too.

[death879]

I have the same problem and the only way i could get to my desktop was to go into the safe mode menu and picking Last Known Good Configuration. And then i realized that my drivers weren't installed.So it has something to do with the drivers.

[Edix]

It has been my experience that these issues are usually mbr related a quick repair mbr from the XP boot disk usually fixes the problem not only with knoppix but any os that manages to change the windows mbr if thats what your booting to.

[OErjan]

/etc/fstab is in RAM, not written to harddrive., believe me, if it was you would likely not be able to see anything on the HDD after reboot.
NOTHING is written toHDD, BUT a shoutown like that might cause a NTFS filesystem to think itself corupted.
this because the filesystem was not cleanly unmounted.
Personaly i ALWAYS unmount all hddpartitions before shuting down, just for this reason.
kindly OErjan

[ICPUG]

If NOTHING is written to the hard disk how can Windows see anything different when it boots up, irrespective of whether Knoppix unmountd the drive or not? Why does it not see what it saw before and boot up as before?

I find this experience a little worrying. We are told Knoppix is safe because NOTHING is written to the hard disk. Yet it would appear there is more than one isolated case where a problem appears to have occurred.

ICPUG

[foamrotreturns]

Knoppix is safe. It's the user practices that aren't.
Like it was suggested before, ALWAYS unmount your hard drives before you reboot.
I would wager that all of the people in here that had problems like this had accessed the windows partition from within Linux before the problem. It doesn't write to the hard drive, but it definitely mounts the partition read only. The Filesystem is smart enough to know that it's been mounted, and if it gets shut down without unmounting, it could have a hissy fit.

[GreyOwl]

<< Knoppix is safe. It's the user practices that aren't. >>
<< Like it was suggested before, ALWAYS unmount your hard drives before you reboot. >>

Thankyou! This post probably saved me from the same fate.

As a brand new user, can you suggest where one might go to find information such as
"always do this ,,,, and NEVER do this"?

Thanks again.

[GreyOwl]

<< Knoppix is safe. It's the user practices that aren't. >>
<< Like it was suggested before, ALWAYS unmount your hard drives before you reboot. >>


Woops! Spoke too soon. Tried to unmount the drive and received an error message

" Could not unmount device. The reported error was: unmount/mnt/hda.1: device is busy"

I have closed all the sessions on the desktop. The drive is not being accessed
Is there such a thing as a 'force' command?

Ahhh, the actual command is umount. Did a 'umount /mnt/hda.1' in a terminal session and it reported the drive was already unmounted (even though the icon showed mounted),, did a shutdown and rebooted OK.

All is well in the Linux world.