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Windows Corruption Issues, please help

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-maddog-

-maddog-

Member
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Joined
Apr 25, 2005
I have had a problem recently where windows has gone completely non responsive and had a ton of hard drive usage. I rebooted only to find windows with a BSOD saying it couldn't mount. I ran the recovery console and used the chkdsk utility and fixboot. Now the same thing happened again, but chkdsk says the drive has unrecoverable problems. I tried installing a new xp install over the partition, but xp refuses to recognize the install on the partition and will only reformat it and reinstall fresh. Now I have another problem GRUB won't even load and the screen says read disk error.
 
It sounds to me like your hd is going bad. You can check the SMART status, but even if it said the drive was ok I'd get another one. In my limited experience, SMART is 100% correct when it finds problems, but it doesn't always find them. It'll sometimes say a drive is ok when it's on the way out.

You can also check your ram, but I'm 90% sure it's your hd.
 
Yeah, how old is the drive? Does it make and clicking sounds and is it a laptop HDD or a drive subjected to high or highly variable temps?

Something along those lines could explain a HD failure if that's the case, which I would agree with from what it sounds like.
 
I noticed it occasionally made a clicking noise when I was trying to repair the install.

So far I think either a: windows(or virus, trojan or other software) nuked itself or b: it is the drive.
 
Well I'd pop the bad drive into another computer and back up anything of importance, reformat the bad drive and try a fresh start.
 
Jayws said:
Well I'd pop the bad drive into another computer and back up anything of importance, reformat the bad drive and try a fresh start.
Click to expand...



I am hoping not to have to do that, it is going to be a pain replacing much of the data(thankfully most of it was not non replaceable) and I'm not sure if I can legally reinstall and activate office and acrobat pro.
 
The computer is around 3 years old. How do I check the smart when I can't boot? The computer is an asus m6ne.
 
-maddog- said:
The computer is around 3 years old. How do I check the smart when I can't boot? The computer is an asus m6ne.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure tbh. You'll need a boot disc of some kind. I use a BartPE disc for most of my diagnosing and repair, but that needs to be compiled before you need it. If you can get the factory drive tools for your drive, they should be able to give you SMART status.
 
Update: Fresh install and it runs pretty well. I have installed HDDlife notebook edition and it says I have 44% status for raw read errors(higher number is better). Often while gaming I have issues where the hd light stays lit and the game freezes every few seconds when I move around in the game. I think it is the hard drive :(
 
Thanks for the update. If you haven't done so, you need to get non replaceable data of the drive ASAP. As soon as drives start showing errors it's usually a very quick downhill slope to death. It would be better to buy a drive now so your data is easily transferable. the longer you wait the harder it'll be.
 
If he did a fresh install, he had to format....how is he going to recover the data if it has been formatted?
 
thideras said:
If he did a fresh install, he had to format....how is he going to recover the data if it has been formatted?
Click to expand...


Doh!! Reading comprehension ftw!! LoL, I neglected to read half of his last post I guess :)
 
Thankfully the only important things I lost completely were a short paper I was writing at the time and my firefox user data. After looking at the monitoring software, my error read rate seems to increase with temperature (sometimes the drive hits around 55 C).
 
So It's a laptop then? My dad had a laptop with a dying hdd. It started grinding and clicking, very unpleasant. We think it was the heat that eventually killed it.
 
Last edited:
Hardin said:
So It's a laptop then? My dad had a laptop with a dying hdd. It started grinding and clicking, very unpleasant. We think it was the heat that eventually killed it.
Click to expand...

My drive can hit around 55 C. My Asus is one hot little laptop. I think it actually came with a warning not to use it on your lap:eek:
 
55? Wow, you could almost cook some hotdogs with that thing :beer:

Just curious, is 44% raw read error the only SMART error that you are getting?
 
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