Ok so i just quit hl2 and got me a BSOD - pagefile.. something something.. restart > then i get a "Disk Read Error" in dos, "press ctrl alt delete to restart.." I cant get to safemode, and when i put the xp cd in it starts booting, gets to 'inspecting hardware' then screen goes black but sounds like its still doing things, only, its STILL doing it and its been about half hour now? Anyone any ideas or knowledge to send my way please? [EDIT] skip to end please..
What are your system specifications? It'll help us diagnose the error. My first thought would be that it is either the hard drive or power supply (possibly memory). Try replacing them with known good spares.
Ok sorry, AMD xp 2400+ Abit NF7-s v2.0 (BOUGHT A MONTH OR SO AGO) Seagate barracuda 160GB SATA (BOUGHT WITH MOBO) 512mb of some ram.. 256 of it might be samsung? i dont know.. quite old though.. Radeon 9600 pro 256 Tagan 380w PSU (ALSO BOUGHT WITH MOBO) Running xp pro, also i am using some new sata cables that i bought with the new drive etc. . thanks anytihng would be appreciated if it means getting out of RMA'ing - i had enough of that with maxtor. BTW - have been running weekly ish backups onto an external hd so data is expendable, but lets keep that as last resort because noone likes a reinstall. thanks
Try the Seagate support tools -> SeaTools. That will let you know whether there is an issue with your HDD.
I ran Seatools - System memory test was ok, but then its come up with 10 bad sectors - (how do these things happen anyway???) So anyway, bad sectors were repaired and i rebooted - only to be greeted with Disk Read Error again.. whaatttdoooiiiidooooo ??
Once upon a time without proper researching I overclocked. In doing so I overclocked the PCI bus as it wasn't clocked. Its supposed to be at 33 and I had it at 38. Then a few weeks later my hard drive had a Disk Read Error. I formatted it and it worked again, for a few weeks, when it had the same problem. I put the PCI bus back normal, but alas the Disk Read Errors would not stop. I formatted it again, and the same thing happened. This continued for some months, me not giving in to the fact that my hard drive was at the gates of hard drive heaven. Then one morning the inevitable happened. My PC didn't detect a hard drive. It wouldn't format or go through any diagnostic tools because it didn't exist. Batten down the hatches. You're in for a rough ride. Have you overclocked? Have you overclocked the PCI bus. And from past experience, your hard drive is probably on its way out.
My condolences.. No man, no overclocking im running everything at stock speed despite the temptation with this great board.. serious? drive going? its like.. i got it in june :S? Ok well good for their 5 year warranties - anyone any ideas how something like this can happen? what is it that causes these errors and bad sectors? i mean i was gonna suggest its the Master Boot Record getting corrupt but that cant be if it keeps happening - so surely it cant be the hard drive but some other evil component? or both? Dammit, the amish have it easy..
If you bought the hard drive about a month or so ago take it back, bad sectors usually get worse and worse over time. The disk read error is probably because some critical file was written on one of those sectors, Its usually unrecoverable unless you can find the corrupt file and copy it across from another computer
Eliminos - did replacing the drive solve the problem? or are we looking at multiple levels of ****** components?
For me I put in an old IDE drive and everything works. However the roasted drive was SATA, and I have yet to test another SATA drive in here, so there is a possibly the controller could be dead too.
Ok thanx. I forked out an old 6gig IDe i had in a computer in the attic... works fine.. booted up with good old windows 98 lol. The problem now is i was about to wipe that drive and my sister realise theres files on there that she doesnt want to let go, but hasnt used/seen for nearly 7 years? someone help me make sense of this please ? Thanx for all the help, gonna install xp on the 6 gigger and RMA the seagate.. dw.. i will come running back if theres more problems heh. tc, party.
Right... I believe i got the same prob the other day. I accisdently corrupted the entire drive when i was messing around with the partitions. First things first. I am asumming you have access to another computer? since your posting here. does the other computer your using to post have any sata support? If so plug you your sata drive in and boot into that pc's windows. Once into windows go to mycomputer and see if you can acess the drive (also take note of its drive letter). Next go to Start> Run> and type the following:"chkdsk /f d:" (without the qoutes) Note : in this command the "d:" is the drive being checked Please change that that to your sata drives letter This will bring up a command prompt console and it will begin check your drive and should sort it out your drive should be fine now and you should be able to boot from it in your PC . -Frank Edit: More info on chkdsk here
Hmm thanx very much, just a couple of things - firstly im using a non sata laptop .. .... .. ill have to get the computer running on IDE drives then put the sata in - or was the point to use the drive in a completely different system?? secondly when i ran seatools it found 10 bad sectors - 8 of which were in root c:\Windows... seatools zeroed them i think - will chkdsk rectify this you think? Party
No. If you format the Seagate and reinstall Windows it should work, but then again if more bad sectors appear you'll have the same issue
But are bad sectors physical damage to the drive? i mean is my drive now prone to get more bad sectors because i have had some now? does my bum look big in this?
Ok - i ran chkdsk on the drive using another windows install, finished that, put the original drive back in - no disk read error but it says that C:Windows\config\system has been corrupted [this is because seatools repaired the bad sectors which happened to be here..] so it tells me to go into windows recovery console from the installation cd ok so im there now but i have no idea what im meant to do? i have C:\Windows in front of me in DOS and i dont know what to do to repair the corrupt system folder??
try: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307545 [edit] Oh & where it specifys c:\windows\repair\ change it to: C:\System Volume Information\_restore{D86480E3-73EF-47BC-A0EB-A81BE6EE3ED8}\RP1\Snapshot the "_restore{D86480E3-73EF-47BC-A0EB-A81BE6EE3ED8}" is machine specific (so you'll have to do a dir, once your in the system volume information folder). Once your in the _restore{xxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxx} folder do another dir command & look at the RPxx folder with the latest modified / created date. So the command you'll use should be something like: copy C:\System Volume Information\_restore{D12345E1-23EF-45BC-A0EB-A56BE7EE8ED9}\RP31\Snapshot c:\windows\system32\config\system This'll just save you having to re-run recovery console to recreate the system restore points, so that you can then run the system restore to set your computer to the way it was before it died. (does that make sense?? ) The repair folder that the MS article refers to is the one created on first install, so everything will be set back to the way it was when your machine was first installed. Anyway, Good luck! [/edit]
i tried the microsoft steps (but before i read this post) - it fixed things in terms of that i could start up the computer but when i get there no programs run so i backed up my files and am now zero filling the drive. thanx for all the replies but now my concern is whether this drive is on its way out etc. - as i said before - as my hard drive has had bad sectors is it now prone to get them again? has it incurred physical damage etc? Party. EDIT: Yes thanx it makes sense now as to why no programs would run :S god i wish they wouldve told me that lol, the drive is already 30% zeroed.. . .oh well, with my luck with hard drives im sure i will need this for next time.. thanx
Hey reviving this thread cause my friends just had a disk read error problem too but i cant access his system volume information folder in order to copy the files to windows? now that i try.. i cant even access my system volume information folder :S any ideas please i really need to get to this..
