Ok. I've recently tried to install MEPIS Linux. Or, well, attempted to.
I first defragmented my NTFS partition and then made a 6 GB partition
of it into free space. So I tried to go back into Windows XP to see if
anything went wrong and it went something like this:
load...load...load... stop. Error message with some random numbers.

I'm guessing that the partitioning directly led to the problem, so I went back
and enlarged the NTFS partition to reinclude that 6 GB portion.
Still Windows doesn't work normally. I logged in by safe mode and looked at
the C drive stats and it says that the 6 GB portion isn't part of C
-though my Linux partition tool says otherwise.

Anyway, I'm stuck using safe mode - I'm actually writing this from safe mode
with networking, and I'd like to know how to fix this thing.

Does anyone know how to get windows to recognize that the partition has been
increased - or if I have yet another problem? I'd like to see my graphics again.

Does Windows give a specific error message when you try to load it? The fact that Windows does not see the partition and Linux does makes me think that the partition doesn't have the right type. What does the Linux partition say it is, does it say it is NTFS, or free space, or FAT32? Windows often doesn't read partitions if they aren't the right type.

The Windows XP CD is your friend. You can put that in and start going through the steps of installing windows, but before you actually install or format anything, there should be an option to repair Windows' system files.

If that doesn't work, try the option in the boot menu for "last known working settings" or whatever.

Other than that, I dunno...recently my mom's computer wouldn't even boot windows... I had to download/use BartPE [it's kinda like a modular Windows you can boot from a CD] to get in and back up her files to CDs and then reformat the hard drive and reinstall winxp...that was a PAIN. =/

@ghostrider: Linux says that the space is actually part of my NTFS partition.
What I don't get is that the partition wasn't formatted, so I thought that you could just reattach it.
And the error message is just a variable display in hexadecimal, I'm guessin' a display of stack
or registers right now. No english whatsoever. - I think it's a BIOS display actually.

@Johnny: Lol. I don't have the windows cd right now. And I did try the Last Known Configuration thingy.

Well, if there's any hope, I've noted that after about 30 boots, I've logged into my normal configuration.
Which means I'm leaving the computer on all day.

Thanks for taking your time guys, and I'd appreciate any more help.

After 30 boots? I think you should probably keep the computer running, and just as a precaution, get all your important files off your computer so if you do need to do something like reformat your hard drive you at least have your data. You could also create a Ghost image using Norton Ghost. What does Windows classify the partition as, part of the NTFS partition or something else, like unallocated space? I don't know of any free partitoners for Windows but whenever I'm on Windows and need partitioning I use PartitionMagic 8.0.

Your partitioner could have easily just erased the data from that part, and not call it formatted. From what I've noticed, Windows defines something to be formatted when it has some sort of file system, and unallocated when it does not.

Also, what partitioner did you use to detach and reattach the partition of free space you made. Free partitions, or cheap ones, might not update all the data stored in the Master File Tables, which may be causing an error

And finally,

Since your logging into Windows, even if its in Safe Mode, this isn't a BIOS error. Its either a nasty bug, or Windows being Windows.

Post back. I'm interested to see how this turns out.

Yup, already backed up my data a while ago.

As far as Windows is concerned, it doesn't exist. I mean, I don't have any windows partitioning program, I'm just going by the lowered disk space count in the control panel... which is really trivial now that I think about it.

I used QTPartEd, which came as part as the MEPIS live cd. Of course, the CD might be corrupted, but I've checked the MBR table and the 6 GB is part of the NTFS partition. I haven't looked at the source code of QTPartEd yet, but I doubt that a program would reformat partitions without explicitly being told to do so in a Unix development system.

Oh, haha. Funny thing about that. I get the same error message when I log into Safe Mode also. Just that it occurs a lot less often. Plus I have one of those new Dell BIOSes and mine's been shutting the OS down whenever the system's about to get into a lock. (I believe when thread switches are mishandled and the cpu gets stuck in a one-thread loop from some asm experiments gone horribly wrong - think LOADALL with a Pentium 4) But, it was just a venture. At this point I have no clue where the error could be coming from.

I think I'll just wind up reformatting the whole thing because windows doesn't accept partition transplants.

Its good to hear that you backed everything up . I just googled QTPartED and it looks like good software, but I'm looking at screenshots not code. Since you have it all backed up I would just reformat it.

Oh, well hell, you know what you're doing...why am I even bothering? lol

Probably a dumb question, but did you try the Disk Manager from Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management? It might show that invisible partition of yours...it shows the RAW partitions that won't show up elsewhere in Windows...

about this problem! .. use Partition Magic of PowerQuest .. you can check for errors and fix them or reconvert it to NTFS