Windows Vista Forums
Vista Forums Home Join Vista Forums Windows 7 Forum Vista Tutorials Tags
Welcome to Windows Vista Forums. Our forum is dedicated to helping you find solutions with any problems, errors or issues you are experiencing with Windows Vista. The Vista forum also covers news and updates and has an extensive Windows Vista tutorial section that covers a wide range of tips and tricks.

Go Back   Vista Forums > Vista Newsgroups > Vista security

Vista - Bitlocker and Hardware Failure

Reply
 
Old 02-01-2008   #1 (permalink)
Dan


 
 

Bitlocker and Hardware Failure

Hi. I'm in such deep trouble over this.
I tried installing Dell MediaDirect 2 through the booting method. Apparently
that corrupted something in my C drive and now I can't boot Vista Ultimate.
Unfortunately I'm using Bitlocker which encrypted the whole drive. I tried
system recovery but it doesn't detect any HDD, so I had to use command prompt
to load the drive offline. It didn't detect any recent recovery points (even
though I'm sure there are some). I tried to run the system check tool in the
Vista DVD booting diagnostics. It reported that there was a file system error
or something and that it recovered it but the problem persists. Now I can't
even format or install Vista in the same drive! When the laptop tries to boot
up Windows, it says
"A disk read error occured.
Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to restart"

The last time i backuped my PC was 5 months ago and I know I should do
backups every 1 month. The 5 months-work is very vital. If any of you have a
solution, I'd be very grateful to hear from you.

Daniel

My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 02-01-2008   #2 (permalink)
Jesper


 
 

RE: Bitlocker and Hardware Failure

If I understand it correct, Dell Media Direct overwrites the boot sector
information on your hard drive to boot to a minimal OS, which can then read
information on your hard drive. Since your hard drive is encrypted, it would
not work anyway; not to mention the extraordinarily bad idea it is to give
attackers that steal your computer a one-button passwordless highway to your
personal information.

If system recovery does not find your hard drive then you are probably in
pretty lousy shape unfortunately. If you have a WinPE disk you can boot from
one of those. If you don't have one, you can build one on a different
computer for free. There is a step by step walkthrough in the Vista Security
Book in my sig, and a slightly abbreviated version at
http://windowsconnected.com/blogs/jo...0-usb-key.aspx.
You can then boot from that and see if you can use diskpart to rewrite the
system volume on the hard drive. I will caution you that System Recovery on
the Vista DVD should be able to do the same thing so your success rate may be
sub-optimal. It almost sounds to me like Dell managed to screw up the boot
sector itself.

Good luck!
---
Your question may already be answered in Windows Vista Security:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/047...otectyourwi-20


"Dan" wrote:
Quote:

> Hi. I'm in such deep trouble over this.
> I tried installing Dell MediaDirect 2 through the booting method. Apparently
> that corrupted something in my C drive and now I can't boot Vista Ultimate.
> Unfortunately I'm using Bitlocker which encrypted the whole drive. I tried
> system recovery but it doesn't detect any HDD, so I had to use command prompt
> to load the drive offline. It didn't detect any recent recovery points (even
> though I'm sure there are some). I tried to run the system check tool in the
> Vista DVD booting diagnostics. It reported that there was a file system error
> or something and that it recovered it but the problem persists. Now I can't
> even format or install Vista in the same drive! When the laptop tries to boot
> up Windows, it says
> "A disk read error occured.
> Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to restart"
>
> The last time i backuped my PC was 5 months ago and I know I should do
> backups every 1 month. The 5 months-work is very vital. If any of you have a
> solution, I'd be very grateful to hear from you.
>
> Daniel
My System SpecsSystem Spec
Reply

Thread Tools


Similar Threads
Thread Forum
Re: Vista cannot find any wireless networks - hardware failure? Vista hardware & devices
hardware failure? Vista hardware & devices
Failure to dectect network hardware/driver. Vista networking & sharing
Bitlocker and System Drive Failure Vista security
Hardware failure Vista installation & setup


Vista Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized,
sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation.
"Windows Vista", the Start Orb, and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.
© Designer Media Ltd

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46