Windows 2000 Server will only startup in safe mode, getting weird error message

Today I was going to move my Windows 2000 Server over to another room. When I tried shutting it down, it wouldn't shut down. When I went to "Start" for a shutdown, the desktop would fade out but when I clicked on any key it would bring you back.

So, blip, reboot to see if I can do a proper shutdown after it went back in. Now it doesn't startup. It locks up during startup with that progress bar at the bottom. So I tried it in safe mode and got this error:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WinNTsystem32configsystem
Disk I/O error: Status = 00000100
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WinNTsystem32configsystem.alt

And there are about five other things that load up before that. Then it locks up again. I've tried fixboot and fixmbr in the Recovery Console. I tried to reload the OS on top, but Win2000 wants me to delete the partition before it will load. Any help will be appreciated.

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Without knowing the complete history of the system, error logs, etc., I can only offer possible solution options. These errors usually indicate a corrupted registry. The file listed corresponds to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEM section of the registry. Since the system won't reboot, the corruption has been stored in the registry load files.

First, build a 2000 boot disk and attempt to boot that way. I doubt that will work, but its an easy step to try just in case.

Second, if you have a recent backup or at least a copy of the registry, use a second system to pull the registry files off that system. Then use NTFSDOS from www.sysinternals.com to replace the corrupt files. You'll lose any configuration or registry changes that occurred between the failure and the registry backup.

This was first published in January 2002

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