Loading PBR for Descriptor 2 .... done and then it freezes

[Willybolly17]

Hi

I have a Dell Dimension 3100C which has been working fine for the last few years

Unfortunately this morning, it decided to throw a wobbly  - it starts to boots up and very quickly flashes on the Screen "Loading PBR for Descriptor 2 ... Done" and then the screen goes black and then appears to hang.

I have the Dell Repair CD and am able to get to the DOS prompt.

I tried both CHKDSK /p and CHKDSK /r - the first time I ran/ r it said there were one or more errors - I ran /r again - no suggestion of errors and /p no suggestion of errors. I then run FIXBOOT and reset the boot order to Hard Disk first and I get the same PBR error and a black screen.

I also have the Dell diagnostic disk and ran the quick (20 minute) version and it came back clean. I did not run the full diagnostic as I did not have time - is it worth doing this?

On this and other sites it suggests that the hard disk is a problem - but why if CHKDSK is not reporting errors? The suggestions then vary from scrapping the hard disk to running a restore which is going to wipe the hard disk. This seems very drastic!

Late last year on another PC I was able to solve an unmountable boot sector by doing the CHKDSK and FIXBOOT following advice from your Guru Allan. Before I took his advice, there were suggestions that I would have to replace the disk or wipe the disk - this drastic action was not necessary.

http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php/topic,113401.15.html


Kind regards



Willybolly17

[Allan]

Checkdisk looks for certain software issues and bad sectors, but it doesn't know about the mechanics of the hard drive. I'm guessing the drive is shot.

[Geek-9pm]

Be careful. Your Dell has three partitions. That error message means that the normal OS  partition did not boot correctly.

Make sure you have done a full backup to a USB device. There is a small, but real, possibility that you may have to restore the OS to the original factory settings.
http://forums.cnet.com/7723-7586_102-321564.html

For more, search the dell support site. This is a common problem. It points to a HDD flaw in the place where the OS sits.

[Willybolly17]

Hi

Thanks Geek - I have read what it says in the Dell Support area about this.

I have also removed the Dell HD as you suggested and copied the entire HD to a back up device using a USB HD docking station (K: drive).

I have tried to do a system restore on the Dell (which does not appear to be destructive!). The relevant section is

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kcs/document?c=us&l=en&s=gen&docid=DSN_361058&isLegacy=true


I cannot use the first method via the Desk Top because it never gets to the Desktop on the Dell PC!

I have tried to use the second method via Safe Mode on the Dell PC but again it give the PBR error message and then hangs before getting to Safe Mode!

Using the Restore disk on the Dell, I am able to get to the C:\WINDOWS prompt and I am then able to Change Directory to go to

C:\Windows\system32\restore\  on the Dell PC. When I do a DIR rstrui.exe is present but when I type in the command line it says that it does not recognise the program. However if I do the same thing on the K drive via my laptop using the Command Prompt, it appears to run up and present me with a single restore calendar (my C drive?)

On my laptop connected to the HD via the USB docking station if I use Windows Explorer to go to the Exe on the K drive and then double click on it runs up giving me the option to use the restore from my C: drive or the HD from the Dell (K: Drive) - it gives a calendar with a number of restore points. At this stage I exited out of the program because I suspected it would apply the K: restore to my laptop C: drive! Is this the case?

Why is the Dell not recognising the C:\Windows\system32\restore\rstrui.exe file? Is there any way of running it so that it applies to the Dell HD while linked to my laptop? Can I boot up on my laptop (a Toshiba Satellite) using the K drive to see if the PBR error has gone away?

Any guidance would be gratefully received! I hope that this is clear!

[Geek-9pm]

At this point I am at a loss. 
It looks like you have to reset to the original factory state of the OS. A full virgin install. After that you can install programs that were not part of the original set. And then get your documents of the backup.

Maybe someone else has a better alternative. 

[Willybolly17]

Hi Guys

Thank you for your help.

I took the HD out of the PC and ran it from my laptop. First of all I ran my Virus scan - it found a 4 or 5 Trojans in the System Volume Folder (strangely Kaspersky postponed dealing with these. I ran Windows Explorer went to the drive, right click and get the Properties  and then went to Tools ran the Error Checking - this showed no problems and then ran the Defrag program - again no problems.

I took the disk back to the host PC and it ran - I saw the PBR message flash up but it went straight to the Windows XP screen and went through to the Desktop. No problems. Shutdown and started again with no problem.

So I do not know what I did that cured it, but it did.