| Author |
Message |
    
sportsnut
Citizen
Username: Sportsnut
Post Number: 2464
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Friday, June 16, 2006 - 10:54 am: | 
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This morning I awoke to find a blue screen on my slightly older than 1 year Dell laptop. When I tried to reboot the machine I received an error like this:
c:000021 unknown disk error systemroot\system 32\ntdll.dll (or something very similar.
A quick search on google indicated that I may need to restore XP on my machine since the .dll file is probably corrupt. Assuming I can find the disks that came with my computer will re-installing XP cause me to lose any data on the machine?
Also, what causes these types of errors?
Thanks |
Case
Citizen
Username: Case
Post Number: 1773
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Friday, June 16, 2006 - 12:39 pm: |
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Reinstalling the OS should be fine. Not to be harsh, but this is why you ALWAYS NEED BACKUPS ALL THE TIME. Especially a laptop - I dropped mine on a concrete stairway last month (don't ask) and it was an ugly, ugly scene.. but I lost 3 days worth of data because of a good backup strategy.
You might be able to boot into the recovery console and 'fixboot', just for giggles, but again: reinstalling the OS should leave your files alone.
If you're really nervous about it I can do it for you on Saturday (and pull the drive for a quick backup prior to the OS install), but I'll be gone for a week after that.
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Glock 17
Citizen
Username: Glock17
Post Number: 1134
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Friday, June 16, 2006 - 1:12 pm: |
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try restarting with either F10 i believe...this should pump safe mode up |
sportsnut
Citizen
Username: Sportsnut
Post Number: 2466
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Friday, June 16, 2006 - 2:23 pm: |
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Case, not being harsh at all. I understand and I have an external HD. I generally don't do much work type stuff on my laptop, mostly just surfing the net. I backed up my data about two months ago and haven't really done much new since then - just a quicken download and some itunes adds.
I guess I'm more concerned with how this happened. I need to look for the recovery disks when I get home. According to the Dell website I should have received them with the laptop, but I honestly don't remember seeing them.
Case, I may take you up on it if I can't find them tonight. I'll PL you with my name, address etc.
Thanks |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 14736
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, June 16, 2006 - 2:52 pm: |
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Sometimes, the system shuts down before flushing buffers to disk. In this case, a buffer is data that appears to be on disk but is only cached in RAM.
How it happens is irrelevant. It absolutely happens. You can bet on it. The only question is when it will happen next. That's why you need to prepare for it as an eventuality.
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sportsnut
Citizen
Username: Sportsnut
Post Number: 2468
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Friday, June 16, 2006 - 4:34 pm: |
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Tom, I'm not sure I understand, but thanks anyway. It just sucks. Lesson learned. |
Rastro
Citizen
Username: Rastro
Post Number: 3389
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Monday, June 19, 2006 - 10:58 am: |
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You can also turn off write-back caching. Not sure about hwo in XP, but there are detailed directions on the web. There is a slight performance hit, ut with todays HDs and processors, I doubt you'd see much unless you were doing very heavy drive-intensive work. |
sportsnut
Citizen
Username: Sportsnut
Post Number: 2475
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Friday, June 23, 2006 - 11:51 am: |
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I received the re-install disks from Dell. Actually was quite easy using their online chat. I got disconnected a couple of times and finally Dell just called my house and asked what I needed. That was on Saturday evening. The disks arrived yesterday and I booted the computer up and chose to do a "repair" installation. As of this morning everything was fine.
Of course the first thing I did was back up my laptop and my wife's and will do so every month or so.
Case, thanks for your help. |
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