Symptoms

"Database Corrupt .PsMain" or "STOP in PsMain" during boot or when performing recovery.

Cause Data corruption to the Pointsec system area and/or physical failure on the hard drive. Solution

PsMain error on boot If you see "Database Corrupt .PsMain" or "STOP in PsMain" error message when booting, proceed as follows: 1. Try to boot with nothing external hooked up except the power (not even the docking station) and see if you can boot then. If you can boot after removing the external devices, check to see which of them caused the problem. The most common would be a USB stick plugged in during boot. If this does not resolve the issue, proceed to step 2. 2. Run the Pointsec tool for resolving "0x50012b8" error. If running this tool does not resolve the issue, you will need to decrypt your machine using the recovery file. 3. If your disk is not encrypted, you can run fixboot. 1. IMPORTANT: Make sure your disk is not encrypted yet! Do not run fixboot on a machine that is encrypting or is encrypted, this can result in data loss. Instructions for fixboot can be found at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654. 2. Uninstall Pointsec. 3. Run a defrag and a full checkdisk with the repair option. (If checkdisk finds bad sectors, this drive may be failing and you may consider trying with another disk.) PsMain error when recovering If you see a PsMain error when recovering, proceed as follows: 1. If you get a PsMain error before you can get to the recovery preboot login, try to prepare the recovery disk on a different machine and a new floppy. If you still get a PsMain error before the recovery preboot login, please call Check Point Support for assistance in creating a working recovery media. 2. If you still get a PsMain error, run psscan to verify the integrity of the drive. (You can get this tool from Check Point Support). 3. If you get this far, the psscan probably found errors on the drive. You can try making a sector-by-sector image of the drive. Then load it onto another drive and try to decrypt again. Alternatively, you can send this drive to a 3rd Party data recovery laboratory.