[Windwos Vista] Windows Boot Manager problems

Hey all. Before I start, I want to thank everyone @Neosmart who volunteer your time and effort to help people like us.

This problem started after I did a defrag on Windows Vista, shut it down the proper way and then when I reboot, I got this Windows Boot Manager error regarding files missing/corrupted.
File:ntoskrnl.exe
Status: 0xc0000098

I went to further google the problem and tried to do some self help to no avail.

Firstly, I did more than 3 times of startup repair by booting up my USB flash drive which had a copy of Windows Vista repair in it but to no avail and got this error report
Problem event: StartupRepairV2
Problem signature 1: external media
PS2: 6.0.6000.16386.6.06001.18000
PS3: 6
PS4:262148
PS5:NoRootCause
PS6:CorruptVolume
PS7:0
PS8:1
PS9:chkdsk
PS10:0
OSversion:6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
LocaleID: 1033

I couldn't do a system restore either as there was no restore point to begin with. In command prompt, I did a C:\>chkdsk /f and got no problems with the check. I got an error about logging though: failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50

After these first steps, I followed the instructions from the following links:
How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows

Recovering the Windows Bootloader from the DVD - EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

There was a problem though. When I tried to do a rebuildBCD or bootrec.exe /ScanOS, I got Total identified Windows Installations: 0.
I didn't know what to do when this happen but I just continued to do the commands as instructed in the webpage.

Another thing which I thought would be helpful is this: I did bcdedit /enum all and got this:
1) Windows Boot Manager
Identifier: {bootmgr}
device: partition=C:
description:Windows Boot Manager
Default: default
displayorder: default
timeout:12
2) Windows Boot Loader
identifier: {default}
device: partition=C:
path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description: Microsoft Windows Vista
OSdevice: partition=C:
systemroot: \WIndows
3) WIndows Boot Loader
identifier:{random numbers and alphabets)
device: partition=e:
path: \Windows\system32\root\winload.exe
description(recovered): WIndows (TM) codename "longhorn" preinstallation environment
OS device: partition=e:
systemroot: \Windows

Frustrated, I installed Ubuntu on a different set of partitions and managed to get ubuntu running. From ubuntu, I am able to look and copy files in my C: drive which means my files could be thankfully recovered. However, I still cant seem to get Windows Vista running again and I am very new and uncomfortable with working in Ubuntu(not to mention many windows programs dont work well even with WineHQ). Is there any way I can get my Windows Vista to boot properly? I am pretty sure its a boot problem because the files which I copied from the C drive still works in anohter computer which means they are not corrupted or anything like that. If you have any questions or need any further diagnosis, feel free to post it. I will gladly follow up.

An extra note:I wish I could run easybcd from ubuntu and fix the problem for Windows Vista but unfortunately, that is just impossible.
 
Last edited:
I have a same problem. In my case, I can boot with safe mode but not normally. I tried all the instructions from most of the websites. I don't have external or internal problems nor found any error from repair recovery. It happened right after window update. I tried every recover checkpoint to reboot but not working. It still won't reboot normally.
 
Last edited:
If you can get into safe mode, then it's not a boot problem that you need a repair disc to fix.
It's a corruption of the OS. If you just did a Windows update, then that's most likely to be the cause.
Luckily, that's the one time that you can get free one-to-one support from Microsoft.
Follow the links from Windows Update > Update History for an email address at MS
 
I told you, contact MS through the WUD email links and they'll walk you through the steps necessary to get past whatever failed in the update process, either by mail or by phone if necessary.
 
Here is the chkdsk results:

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)...
199680 files records processed.
File verification completed.
0 bad file records procressed.
0 EA records processed.
44 reparse records processed.

CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)...
575888 Index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
5 unindex files processed.

CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 3)
199680 security descriptors processed.
Security descriptor verification completed.
15110 data files processed.

CHKDSK is verifying USN journal...
1468152 USN bytes processed.
USN verification completed

Windows has checked the files system and found no problems.

115806207 kb total disk space
39228924kb in 74833 files
60300kb in 15111 indexes
0kb in bad sectors
271047kb in use by system
65536kb occupied by log files
76245936kb available on disk

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
28951551 total allocation units on disk
19061484 allocation units available on disk
Failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50

--------------------------------------------------------------------
I did another startup disk and this is the log:

Startup Repair diagnosis and repair log

No of repair attempts: 7

Session details:
System Disk=\Device\Harddisk2
Windows Directory = C:\windows
Autochk run=0
Number of root causes = 1

Test performed:
Name: check for updates
Result:completed successfully. Error code = 0x0
time taken: 0 ms

Test performed:
Name: system disk test
Result:completed successfully. Error code = 0x0
time taken: 0 ms

Test performed:
Name: Disk failure diagnosis
Result:completed successfully. Error code = 0x0
time taken: 0 ms

Test performed:
Name: Disk metadata test
Result:completed successfully. Error code = 0x0
time taken: 0 ms

Test performed:
Name: target OS test
Result:completed successfully. Error code = 0x0
time taken: 172ms

Test performed:
Name: Volume content check
Result:completed successfully. Error code = 0x0
time taken: 343 ms

Test performed:
Name: Boot manage diagnosis
Result:completed successfully. Error code = 0x0
time taken: 109 ms

Test performed:
Name: System boot log diagnosis
Result:completed successfully. Error code = 0x0
time taken: 0 ms

(Event log diagnosis, Internal state check, Boot status test)

Root cause found: Boot status indicates that the OS booted successfully.

Session details

System DISK=\Device\harddisk2
Windows directory=C:\windows
Autochk run=0
no of root cause=1

...Another round of testing(the exact same as above)
...Another round of testing
Root cause found: boot critical file C:\ntoskrnl.exe is corrupt
 
Last edited:
I told you, contact MS through the WUD email links and they'll walk you through the steps necessary to get past whatever failed in the update process, either by mail or by phone if necessary.

As Terry already said, you will have to contact Microsoft for help with this. We are not them and cant tell you what all of that information means.
 
Back
Top