Vista boot freeze at crcdisk.sys , can't repair

This morning my notebook refused to boot, hanging at the point where green bars go across a long rectangle with (C) Microsoft underneath it. It's an HP dv8000t (Dual Core 2500, 2gb RAM, 2 x 80GB HDD, 128MB GeForce Go 7600, 17" WSXGA+, DVD-RW, wifi and bluetooth, came with XP Media Center and I upgraded to Vista Home Premium). I tried booting in safe mode and it hung at crcdisk.sys. Google found many descriptions of this problem but none of the suggested solutions have worked. I called Microsoft but the only solution they could suggest was a clean reinstall.

Here's what I have tried:

Rebooting from install disk and repairing the install: says it can't repair the problem. It sometimes reports "Problem Signature 05: CorrupAcl" but can't fix it.

Via the advanced repair options, I used the memory diagnostic tool, no problems found

Disabled SATA in the bios, as suggested in some forums, but it made no difference.

Via advanced repair options I opened a command prompt and tried other solutions found on various forums. These involved deleting/renaming files and then repairing the install. Files I renamed were:
\windows\system32\drivers\pcmcia.sys
\windows\system32\drivers\1394bus.sys
\windows\system32\drivers\ohci1394.sys
\windows\system32\driverstore\filerepository\pcmcia.infblablabla
\windows\system32\driverstore\filerepository\1394.infblablabla
\windows\system32\driverstore\filerepository\sdbus.infblablabla
\windows\inf\sdbus.inf
\windows\inf\sdbus.PNF

That didn't help. None of the files were replaced by the repair, and it still froze on crcdisk.sys

I then tried renaming \Windows\system32\drivers\crcdisk.sys. Install repair did not restore this file but after this, safe mode boot would get to \Windows\system32\drivers\ecache.sys before freezing. Normal boot would report that ecache.sys was a critical system file that was missing or corrupt. I tried renaming ecache.sys. The repair process replaced the file, but it was still reported as missing/corrupt.

At this point the only option seems to be a clean install. Fortunately I use a backup service which will send me all 80GB of personal files on DVDs for $40. Not the end of the world, but a bit inconvenient.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Cheers,
Elizabeth

As with any PC issue, the more you do to resolve it introduces more &
more variables to contend with. One thing I would do is turn off every
peripheral in the PC not required for boot. ( Legacy USB, Audio, NIC).
It's interesting that one of your messages indicated issues with ACL.
Have you done any checks on the NTFS volumes ? Do you know if
the HP notebook uses TPM ( Trusted Platform Module) and do you
use the BitLocker technology in Vista ?

My first inclination would be to use a Bootable imaging tool and take a
system image to a removable drive. Once obtained you can extract your
data yourself. True Image Home 10 is about the same cost as your
recovery service.

You can make a 'repair' installation with the Vista DVD if you have it. You
will not lose all your files. This might not be the case with a recovery
DVD though.

Thanks for the replies.

In reply to R. McCarty: Unfortunately, the BIOS doesn't allow me to disable very many things -- only SATA, wifi and bluetooth. Disabling those doesn't change anything.

I don't know about TPM -- I've never heard of it before, so if it is something I'd be bound to notice then the answer would be no. I searched for it on hp.com and it is only mentioned as a feature of business models. Mine is a consumer model so it probably doesn't have it.

I'm not using Bitlocker.

So far I haven't tried anything I can't undo eg. I've kept note of which files I have renamed so I can change them back.

I do have a USB hard drive, though I haven't used it for ages. I'll see if I can find it and if it is big enough (can't remember if it was 40gb or 80gb) then I'll check out the imaging tool you mentioned.

In reply to Synapse Syndrome: Sadly, the repair option on the Vista install disk isn't helping. It says that it is unable to repair the problem :(

Cheers,
Elizabeth

Hello,

I have encountered the same problem .. First I thought the DVD and
then the SATA but nothing seems to be the problem.. .tracing back by
log I've figured out that these all started when I upgraded my BIOS to
0602BETA!!.. I had to downgrade to 0503 and everything works fine...

Hope this helps.