How To: Fix Windows Boot Failure
Applies to: all versions of Windows
Symptoms
When you start your computer, one of the following things happens:
- The system halts displaying a black screen with no text.
- The system halts displaying the message: "Boot failure. System halted."
Cause
This error may occur because the computer is trying to boot from a disk that is not bootable, or because the boot files on the disk are corrupted.
Solution
Check the boot drives
- Check that there are no removable drives connected to the computer which it might be trying to boot from, including floppy disks and CDs / DVDs.
- Go into the BIOS Setup utility and check that the hard disk settings are correct and that the first drive in the boot order is the hard disk.
If this does not resolve the issue then you will need to try repairing the hard disk boot sector. If you are using Windows 95/98/Me and have made a recovery disk then you can use this. If you have original Windows 2000 or Windows XP installation media then you can boot from this and use the Recovery Console to perform a repair from the command line.
If you don't have a bootable repair disk then the easiest way to fix this problem is to use Spotmau BootSuite or Spotmau PowerSuite Golden.
Use Spotmau BootSuite
and fix this problem in seconds!
- Insert the Spotmau BootSuite CD and start the computer. The main menu will appear.
- Click 1. Hard Disk Tools.
- Click 1. Partition Genius.
- Click 1. Partition Genius.
- When Partition Genius starts, click Tools, Repair MBR.
- You should see the message "Repair Master Boot Record (MBR) OK!" Click the X button to close Partition Genius, then restart the computer.
and fix this problem in seconds!
Using the Windows Recovery Console
If you have a Windows 2000 or Windows XP installation CD from Microsoft you may use the Recovery Console to run tools to repair the boot records.
- Insert the Windows CD and start the computer.
- When the Welcome to Setup screen appears, press R.
- Select the Windows installation you wish to repair (usually number 1) and press Enter.
- When prompted, type the administrator password and press Enter.
- If the primary hard disk partition is a FAT partition, type the command:
FIXBOOT
and press Enter. - Type the command:
FIXMBR
and press Enter. - Remove the Windows XP CD from the drive and restart the computer.
If this does not resolve the problem:
- Insert the Windows CD and start the computer.
- When the Welcome to Setup screen appears, press Enter to set up Windows XP.
- Press F8 to accept the license agreement.
- Select the Windows installation you wish to repair and press Enter.
A repair installation of Windows will be performed.
Prevention
It's difficult to prevent problems like this from ever occurring but making regular and frequent full backups of the system are a good precaution that can make recovery quicker and easier.
An excellent tool that will aid recovery from this kind of trouble is MagiCure Professional. It works by taking snapshots of the system at regular intervals and allowing you to restore them when a problem occurs. It runs before Windows loads allowing you to restore a good working system even if Windows will not start.