1 Topic by zampanoo

  • zampanoo
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Topic: XP does not start after resizing partition

Hi,

I'd like to ask for some help after having attempted to resize a drive from 30GB to 8GB using GPartEd (0.3.5-6)

I tried this on a Motion LE1600, with XP Tablet PC Edition (SP2) installed, using the Live-CD on a USB stick.

0. I used JKdefrag to move my files to the front - and there is less than 4GB on the disk.

1. Resizing with GPartEd worked fine but when rebooting, I only got the Win logo (with the moving bar), and then a (top half bluish, illegible) screen shows for a fraction of a second and the tablet switches off and reboots again (and again...)

[XP seems to realize that something happened to the disk - but is it unable to run the disk check?]

[Here's something I probably should not have done: I removed the stick with GPartEd on it when asked to remove the CD from the tray (this message confused me, I admit)]

2. When switching on/off with the power button, XP offers me safe boot or to start normally etc. None of the options works - the safe boot loads lots of drivers up to a certain one (MUP... or similar) and then the machine switches off to reboot again (and again...)

3. Next, I got back into GPartEd with the idea to revert to the original size of the disk. This was possible but has no effect on XP - same behaviour as in 1 and 2.

4. Again in GPartEd, no further changes are possible - I get the `unclean Journal file' message.

Any ideas what to do next? I have a Recovery CD (but currently no CD drive).

Is a Repair via CD worth a try? Or should I run a checkdisk or checkntfs first? Or use any tools from the SystemRescueCD? (BTW - don't know any linux)

Not sure whether my description is sufficiently clear...

Thanks........................Stefan...............................

2 Reply by class413

  • class413
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Re: XP does not start after resizing partition

You could try the command
ntfsfix
from the gparted livecd, in the terminal window. It fixes some ntfs errors.
Another option, boot the windows "recovery console" (that is command line) and run from there
chkdsk /p
The /p option isn't very known, and is valid from the recovery console.
It is somehow like the option /f from the command line.
Another option from the command line is /x, that is used if you get a message that the drive is locked or used by another process (it forces unlock and run the check).

Normally, you would enter to the recovery console mode from the xp installation cd (booting from it). In the case of these preloaded windows without installation cd, I think there is usually a special keystroke on boot time to enter there.

*** It is highly recommended to backup any important files before doing resize/move operations. ***

3 Reply by zampanoo

  • zampanoo
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Re: XP does not start after resizing partition

Hi class413,

ntfsfix did do soemthing but did not solve the problem.

In the meantime, I have been able to run Bart PE from an external CD drive.

The C: drive did initially show as complete empty (file format: raw!.

After running chkdsk C: /f some errors messages popped up, and finally successful correction was reported.

Miraculously, the machine now boots again into XP, and works. Thanks a lot.


Under XP disk management, however, I now get two conflicting statements:

In one place the size of C: is given as 7.8GB with 50% full, while the bar chart states its size as 28GB.  I have not tried to see what GPartEd says about the partitions.

Two questions:

(1) How would I correct these conflicting statements?

(2) Should I try GPartEd again to resize or preferably a different program?

Thanks again......................Stefan..............................

4 Reply by class413

  • class413
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Re: XP does not start after resizing partition

I guess that the partition size is really 28GiB, but the filesystem within stays 7.8GiB. It didn't grow, most probably because of some error that we don't know (there is a report, but it stays in memory and is gone with the reboot (we need to copy it in floppy, usb or other drive).

To solve this, you can shrink the partition back to the original size, reboot into windows 2-3 times as needed, resize again to the size you want, and reboot into windows 2-3 times again as previous.
You could even try some of the previous gparted versions or the sysresccd, in the case you encounter some difficulty with the latest version.

*** It is highly recommended to backup any important files before doing resize/move operations. ***