If your computer hangs on restart and you can’t get past the Verifying DMI Pool window, it is possible that you have a virus or some other type of start up problem.

Verifying DMI Pool… and then the computer locks up.

In the past week I have received no less then 10 data recovery support calls about this problem, as well as having 2 machines in our data recovery lab suffer from it. My guess would be some new malware/virus that attacks the MBR. The following is a walk through of how to fix the problem. I want to preface it by saying that I can’t be sure that every time this happens that this is how to fix it, but recently it has been. Also you should be sure to back off the data on the drive you need before you try this fix, you should be able to use software like DART XP or Recover It All in order to see your file structure.

1. Get into your bios. This is usually done by hitting F2 or the DEL key.
2. Change your boot sequence so that you boot from the CD then the hard drive.
3. Insert your Windows XP CD and Reboot the machine.
4. Once in the windows install you will be given the option at the bottom to repair your current windows install. You are going to want to hit “R”. You will be dropped to a black screen with white text.
5. You will want to choose the Windows install you want to fix. Usually this is going to be “1”
6. You will now be prompted for the Administrator password for the machine. Enter the password and you will be given a dos prompt.
7. Now type /fixmbr, you will be prompted with a warning and asked if you really want to do this, hit “y” and enter. NOTE: please make sure you have backed off your data before you try this fix it can cause a serious geometry issue.
8. You are again at the dos prompt, this time type /fixboot, again you will be prompted with a warning hit “y” and enter.
9. Remove the Windows CD, and reboot the machine.

Hopefully this has fixed your problem and the machine boot right up. If not you can give DTI Data Recovery a call or try our data recovery software.

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