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Or, why you should always have a Windows 2000 box handy! So your NTFS partition gets corrupted and next thing you know BSOD with ntfs.sys being listed as the faulting driver. And damn is this thing a bitch to fix.

So how did I go about trying to fix the box:

  • Boot to BartPE disc and watch it barf all over itself and BSOD just like the Windows XP installation.
  • Even though I know better, remove the drive from the machine and try and connect it to my laptop via USB. BARF!
  • Load up Knoppix and try and run ntfsfix. Failed with a message to run chkdsk. Um… well duh.

Um, ok, not good. Here is where the issue comes in, working on the machine at home, my desktop is not a machine with which I ever f’ with. It’s my baby and I don’t do stupid things to it… which leads me to need to get a development/bitch box. One of those spiffy new Dell e510-n’s might just do the trick, hell if I’m going to build one for this purpose, not worth the effort. Next issue, my desktop does not have a floppy drive… can’t even tell you the last time I used a floppy at home, so I didn’t see the need. So the “easy” option (if you don’t have a Windows 2000 box) for fixing this does not work for me… damn. The easy option being:

To repair a NTFS volume by using Recovery Console, use the following steps:

  1. Start the computer by using a Microsoft Windows 95/98 startup disk with CD-ROM support (or from another computer with a CD-ROM drive, insert the Windows 2000 installation CD-ROM).
  2. Change to the CD_ROM:\Support\Bootdisk folder, and then run Makeboot.exe or Makebt32.exe to create the four Windows 2000 Setup disks.
  3. Using Notepad, modify the Txtsetup.sif file on the first Setup disk you created in step 2:
    1. In the [FileSystems.Load] section, locate the line that begins with “ntfs.”
    2. Insert a semicolon (;) at the beginning of the line, as shown in the following example:

      [FileSystems.Load]
      fat = fastfat.sys
      ;ntfs = ntfs.sys

  4. Save your changes.
  5. Start the computer that is experiencing the “stop 0×24″ error message by using the four Setup disks. When the Welcome to Setup dialog box is displayed, press F10 to start Recovery Console.
  6. Run the following command to repair the corrupted NTFS partition:

    chkdsk driveletter: /p

  7. Type exit to quit Recovery Console, and then restart the computer.

So, as we said, that is not an option. My only option, take a spare HD and load Windows 2000 on it with a FAT32 partition. Great, and me with out a damn 2000 disc laying around. I used to have one, but it got scratched all to hell. Off to Piratebay we go, and 5 hours later, nice shiny Windows 2000 disc. Now the install. Ok, done. Now to perform the “easy” option (if you have a Windows 2000 box handy):

  1. Make sure the drive that contains the corrupted NTFS volume is disconnected, and then start Windows by using Safe mode.
  2. Rename the %SystemRoot%\System32\Drivers\Ntfs.sys file to Ntfs.old, and then shut down the computer (this action prevents the Ntfs.sys driver from loading).
  3. Reconnect the drive that contains the corrupted NTFS volume.
  4. Restart the computer, and then run the following command on the corrupted NTFS volume:

    chkdsk driveletter: /f
    NOTE: The Chkdsk tool has built-in support for NTFS and does not require the Ntfs.sys driver to make repairs.

  5. After you use the Chkdsk tool to repair the corrupted NTFS volume, rename %SystemRoot%\System32\Drivers\Ntfs.old to Ntfs.sys, and then shut down and restart the computer.

2 hours of chkdsk later, VOILA! it works! It really really works! At least if nothing else, I can say this: I learned that chkdsk has a built in driver for the NTFS filesystem. At least the customer was happy they got a working computer back.

For the complete Knowledge Base article on this head here. Look for some other interesting tip soon I’m sure.

Posted: 10/5/2005 in: