Harddrive/windows corruption

zaccary · 08-19-2006, 04:42 AM

Two days ago I booted my pc up for the first time that day. When the BIOS screens had finished and the windows loading screen was supposed to load an error came up saying that a file was missing on my windows. It told me to reinstall so I did. during the installation when it was copying the files it came up with another error saying that it could not copy a file, "to retry copying press ENTER, to skip press ESC" it said. I retried a few times but it didn't do anything so I skipped. The same error came up on the next file and the next until a blue screen came up saying that windows needs to shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

I rebooted and let it run this time. After the screen with a blinking curser at the top right of the screen at the end of the BIOS screens the menu came up with safe mode and such on it. I continued to load windows normally but it rebooted straight away.

On further attempts to reinstall windows the process didn't even finish the HDD check, it said that there was a problem with C:\ drive and windows cannot continue.

After this I tried to run CHKDSK from the windows repair console but it only got to 38% before saying that there were "one or more unrecoverable errors with this volume."

Just this morning I tried again, this time when the safe mode screen came up I tried "use the last configuration that worked"
It progressed even further and my spirits lifted. It got to the CHKDSK screen and checked both volumes and found lots of "orphaned files". All I remember is that lots of files/indexes were deleted until it was finished. The pc restarted again but the same thing happened, it rebooted when the BIOS finished and on the second boot the safe mode screen came up again. And again I pressed the "use the last configuration that worked" option and CHKDSK ran again. This time it screwed up part way through and has been doing so from then on.

PS. before all this happened my CD/DVD-RAM drive was not recognizing blank CD's and wasn't auto running DVD's, instead I had to sun them manually. Don’t know if this means anything but me added it anyway.

Hope you can help me through this. I am getting sick of my HDD's malfunctioning on me

PC eye · 08-19-2006, 05:11 AM

It sounds more like partition information was lost making a reinstall on the existing rather hopeless. You can try the "Fixboot" and "Fixmbr" commands to see if that helps at all. But you may be forced to reformat the drive to perform a clean install. If you have a spare drive already working or another system try copying any files you want to save after slaving the problem to the other for temporary keeping. Then use the installer to delete the current and create + format a new one. If the drive is good XP should go on easily.

SirKenin · 08-19-2006, 02:59 PM

It sounds like the drive is done actually, but there are two other possibilities, one being the controller is screwing up, the other that you have a bad ribbon cable.

My bet is the drive, but see what you can come up with.

Sacrinyellow5 · 08-19-2006, 03:10 PM

I agree, sounds like the drive might be going out on you. I had a smilar problem happen with a drive on my mac. You might need to do a fresh-full wipe on the drive and start over form the begining. Sounds like there might be some errors in the drive itself.

PC eye · 08-19-2006, 06:25 PM

I've had cheapo cd drives take a walk on a few occasions. So a bad drive there woouldn't be any surprise. My strongest feeling here is that the installer is having difficulty copying the setup to the hard drive itself. If the partition information is damaged that will easily prevent a normal installation of WIndows. A bad cable on the hard drive as well as the secondary for the cd/dvd combo if not slaved to the hard drive itself can't be ruled out. I've run into similar problems with damaged partition tables however.

zaccary · 08-20-2006, 02:52 AM

Right now i am reformatting my secondary drive to freshly install windows. then i hope to extract as much data as possible before reformatting that one aswell.

i am using SATA HDD's btw and my dvd/cd drive is not connected to my hdd's in any way. all of my cables are in properly so thats not an issue.

PC eye · 08-20-2006, 03:05 AM

You may want to correct your signature a little by adding SATA in front of the two Seagate models you have listed. Everyone here is assuming you were working with two ide drives.

zaccary · 08-20-2006, 07:47 AM

i have reformatted the secondary HDD but the same problem occurs. On the Windows installation it cannot copy files again. Now i am out of ideas and am beggining to think that mabey it is not my HDD's at all.

PC eye · 08-20-2006, 08:40 PM

It's possible that you have a bios problem creating a problem for the SATA controllers. But one question comes to mind on the need for a floppy prepared with SATA drivers when installing Windows onto one of the drives you have. I ran into problems when trying to help a friend use a single SATA drive alone in his case where the XP installer couldn't even see the drive. The need to have the installer grab the needed drivers when you browse to the floppy drive after pressing the option to setup RAID/SATA ar post time didn't see results there after several attempts. I ended up loaning out a spare ide drive so he could run the new build at the time.

08-19-2006, 04:42 AM	#1 (permalink)
zaccary New Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: perth, australia Posts: 20	Harddrive/windows corruption Two days ago I booted my pc up for the first time that day. When the BIOS screens had finished and the windows loading screen was supposed to load an error came up saying that a file was missing on my windows. It told me to reinstall so I did. during the installation when it was copying the files it came up with another error saying that it could not copy a file, "to retry copying press ENTER, to skip press ESC" it said. I retried a few times but it didn't do anything so I skipped. The same error came up on the next file and the next until a blue screen came up saying that windows needs to shut down to prevent damage to your computer. I rebooted and let it run this time. After the screen with a blinking curser at the top right of the screen at the end of the BIOS screens the menu came up with safe mode and such on it. I continued to load windows normally but it rebooted straight away. On further attempts to reinstall windows the process didn't even finish the HDD check, it said that there was a problem with C:\ drive and windows cannot continue. After this I tried to run CHKDSK from the windows repair console but it only got to 38% before saying that there were "one or more unrecoverable errors with this volume." Just this morning I tried again, this time when the safe mode screen came up I tried "use the last configuration that worked" It progressed even further and my spirits lifted. It got to the CHKDSK screen and checked both volumes and found lots of "orphaned files". All I remember is that lots of files/indexes were deleted until it was finished. The pc restarted again but the same thing happened, it rebooted when the BIOS finished and on the second boot the safe mode screen came up again. And again I pressed the "use the last configuration that worked" option and CHKDSK ran again. This time it screwed up part way through and has been doing so from then on. PS. before all this happened my CD/DVD-RAM drive was not recognizing blank CD's and wasn't auto running DVD's, instead I had to sun them manually. Don’t know if this means anything but me added it anyway. Hope you can help me through this. I am getting sick of my HDD's malfunctioning on me __________________ Intel Q6600 2.5GHz 2gig DDR2667 RAM ASUS P5K-E ATI X1950 2x120 + 500Gb HDD Thermaltake mouse and keyboard 600W ThermaltakeTough power PSU MMDS

08-19-2006, 03:10 PM	#4 (permalink)
Sacrinyellow5 Platinum Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: St. Louis Posts: 918	I agree, sounds like the drive might be going out on you. I had a smilar problem happen with a drive on my mac. You might need to do a fresh-full wipe on the drive and start over form the begining. Sounds like there might be some errors in the drive itself. __________________ Harvey Pekar "Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff" ------------------------------------------------- -Tower /AMD 64x2 Dual Core 4400+ (2.3Ghz) 3 GB DDR2/Geforce 8600GT(SSC)/160 SATA HD/DVD-RW/Vista Home -Laptop /Core 2 Duo T6460 (1.66Ghz)/2 GB DDR2/Intel GMA X3100/250 SATA HD/Vista Premium -Server /P4 2.26 Ghz/1 GB Ram/GeForce FX 5200/80 & 250GB HDx2/DVD-RW/XP -MAC G4(Quick Silver)/768 Mb Rams/40 GB & 2x120GB HD/DVD-RW/OSX Go Cards!

08-20-2006, 02:52 AM	#6 (permalink)
zaccary New Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: perth, australia Posts: 20	Right now i am reformatting my secondary drive to freshly install windows. then i hope to extract as much data as possible before reformatting that one aswell. i am using SATA HDD's btw and my dvd/cd drive is not connected to my hdd's in any way. all of my cables are in properly so thats not an issue. __________________ Intel Q6600 2.5GHz 2gig DDR2667 RAM ASUS P5K-E ATI X1950 2x120 + 500Gb HDD Thermaltake mouse and keyboard 600W ThermaltakeTough power PSU MMDS

08-20-2006, 07:47 AM	#8 (permalink)
zaccary New Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: perth, australia Posts: 20	i have reformatted the secondary HDD but the same problem occurs. On the Windows installation it cannot copy files again. Now i am out of ideas and am beggining to think that mabey it is not my HDD's at all. __________________ Intel Q6600 2.5GHz 2gig DDR2667 RAM ASUS P5K-E ATI X1950 2x120 + 500Gb HDD Thermaltake mouse and keyboard 600W ThermaltakeTough power PSU MMDS

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08-19-2006, 05:11 AM	#2 (permalink)
PC eye Diamond Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Inside a pc Posts: 19,739	It sounds more like partition information was lost making a reinstall on the existing rather hopeless. You can try the "Fixboot" and "Fixmbr" commands to see if that helps at all. But you may be forced to reformat the drive to perform a clean install. If you have a spare drive already working or another system try copying any files you want to save after slaving the problem to the other for temporary keeping. Then use the installer to delete the current and create + format a new one. If the drive is good XP should go on easily.

08-19-2006, 02:59 PM	#3 (permalink)
SirKenin banned Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 4,711	It sounds like the drive is done actually, but there are two other possibilities, one being the controller is screwing up, the other that you have a bad ribbon cable. My bet is the drive, but see what you can come up with.

08-19-2006, 06:25 PM	#5 (permalink)
PC eye Diamond Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Inside a pc Posts: 19,739	I've had cheapo cd drives take a walk on a few occasions. So a bad drive there woouldn't be any surprise. My strongest feeling here is that the installer is having difficulty copying the setup to the hard drive itself. If the partition information is damaged that will easily prevent a normal installation of WIndows. A bad cable on the hard drive as well as the secondary for the cd/dvd combo if not slaved to the hard drive itself can't be ruled out. I've run into similar problems with damaged partition tables however.

08-20-2006, 03:05 AM	#7 (permalink)
PC eye Diamond Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Inside a pc Posts: 19,739	You may want to correct your signature a little by adding SATA in front of the two Seagate models you have listed. Everyone here is assuming you were working with two ide drives.

08-20-2006, 08:40 PM	#9 (permalink)
PC eye Diamond Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Inside a pc Posts: 19,739	It's possible that you have a bios problem creating a problem for the SATA controllers. But one question comes to mind on the need for a floppy prepared with SATA drivers when installing Windows onto one of the drives you have. I ran into problems when trying to help a friend use a single SATA drive alone in his case where the XP installer couldn't even see the drive. The need to have the installer grab the needed drivers when you browse to the floppy drive after pressing the option to setup RAID/SATA ar post time didn't see results there after several attempts. I ended up loaning out a spare ide drive so he could run the new build at the time.

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