CompTIA A_ Certification All-In-One Exam Guide, Seventh Edition - Michael Meyers [293]
Windows Complete PC Backup Assuming you made a backup while the system was running properly, you can select this option to restore your PC.
Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool Bad RAM is an all-too-common problem for any computer and often shows itself during startup. Recognizing this, Microsoft added this tool to test your RAM for errors. This is an incredibly powerful tool for the job. If your RAM is bad, the Memory Diagnostic Tool will locate and report the error to you. You replace your RAM and the problem is solved.
Command Prompt The Command Prompt is just as it is named: a full-blown command prompt, not to be confused with the Windows 2000/XP Recovery Console. You can run any command prompt program from here.
Practical Application
Troubleshooting Windows
Chapters 4, 12, 14, 15, and 16 introduced you to the essential tools for troubleshooting and repairing Windows. You know about Disk Management, Device Manager, Event Viewer, and more. You’ve spent countless hours preparing systems for disaster with Windows Backup and System Restore. While learning about the tools, you also learned how to use them. This section puts it all together and shows you a plan to deal with potential disasters for a Windows computer.
This section looks at Windows problems from the ground up. It starts with catastrophic failure—a PC that won’t boot—and then discusses ways to get past that problem. The next section covers the causes and work-arounds when the Windows GUI fails to load. Once you can access the GUI, the world of Windows diagnostic and troubleshooting tools that you’ve spent so much time learning about comes to your fingertips. First, though, you have to get there.
Failure to Boot
Windows boot errors take place in those short moments between the time the POST ends and the Loading Windows screen begins. For Windows 2000/XP to start loading the main operating system, the critical system files NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM, and BOOT.INI must reside in the root directory of the C: drive, and BOOT.INI must point to the Windows boot files. If any of these requirements isn’t in place, the system won’t get past this step. Here are some of the common errors you see at this point:
No Boot Device Present / Inaccessible boot device
NTLDR Bad or Missing
Invalid BOOT.INI
Windows Vista or 7 no longer use these files, so you need to look for an entirely new set of errors to tell you that there’s a boot failure. Luckily, the only truly critical file that has any hope of corruption is the BOOTMGR file, and Windows Vista will normally restore this on the fly if it detects an error. In all but the rarest cases, the Windows Boot Manager detects a problem and brings up a Windows Boot Manager error like the one shown in Figure 17-54.
Figure 17-54 Boot Manager error
Note that these text errors take place very early in the startup process. That’s your big clue that you have a boot issue. If you get to the Windows splash screen and then lock up, that’s a whole different game, so know the difference.
If you get one of the catastrophic error messages and you’re running Windows 2000 or XP, you have a three-level process to get back up and running. You first should attempt to repair. If that fails, attempt to restore from a backup copy of Windows. If restore is either not available or fails, your only recourse is to rebuild. You will lose data at the restore and rebuild phases, so you definitely want to spend a lot of energy on the repair effort first! If you’re running Vista, the repair process for boot failures is exactly the same as a failure to load the GUI. Read about the System Recovery Options in the next section to see what you need to do.
Attempt to Repair by Using Recovery Console (2000/XP)
To begin troubleshooting one of these errors, boot from the installation CD-ROM and have Windows