Windows Crashed!!!

[punkrockguy318]

My Windows XP just totally crashed. I just got a BSOD about disks and i should check them. Now, everytime I boot - I just get a black screen after my bootloader, and BIOS. I dont know what the problem is!!! I'm using windows XP

[redwench]

well, we dont know what the problem is either :p that was on the blue screen. yank out that drive, install it as a slave on another computer, and see if you can access the files on it at all.

[punkrockguy318]

Well... I went into Arch-Linux (I'm using a dual boot system). I mounted windows, and all my files were intact (sigh of releif).

I went into recover console, and i FIXMBRed. Well, that erased my LILO (bootloader), but Windows still boots the same.

Microsoft.com says that I should to the REPAIR install option with the CD. That's what I'm doing now!

[redwench]

yup, that would be on the list right before a full format and install.

assuming you get windows up and running again, download the hard drive diagnostic program from the manufacturer and run it.

[punkrockguy318]

Repair sort of worked... I can boot up... Log in... And then I have about 45 seconds to do whatever i want before a BSOD comes up for a second, and the machine reboots. Somtimes my hdd gets checked when I boot up... I'm using NTFS btw... I've searched microsoft suppport base... they're no help... any ideas?

[redwench]

download the hard drive diagnostic program from the manufacturer. run it on another computer if necessary.

disable the reboot on error if you can, so you can actually see what it is.

if you cant, youll really have to stick it in another computer and run a bunch of programs to check it. or you can just format and reinstall, but youll lose your data.

[Ropeuse]

How old is your machine It could be a bad power supply or a fan going on the cpu and the cpu is overheating.

[punkrockguy318]

I ran all the checks from SeaTools (even though I have a Samung... samsung has little support)... Everything went fine except for the filesystem checks... They all failed... Looks like I have to reformat... What could have caused this?

[redwench]

samsung has no hard drive diagnostic? odd. well, lo and behold, they do have a diagnostic. right smack dab on their website.

http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/shdiag.htm
http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/hutil.htm

[punkrockguy318]

Woah! I missed that. But even on the SeaGate test it said the psysical drive was okay, but the filesystem was dead.

[redwench]

if its not a seagate, its not real meaningful to run it. although its probably correct, you do need to run the right program for your drive, as error codes are needed to return it under warranty.

assuming that it verifies the problem, scandisk with error correction. if you can access the files on another computer, back them up. if you cant, i think you might want to fiddle around with the repair console.
you will have to partition, format and reinstall, but you might be able to pull off data first. if thats not a concern, just start the partitioning. finding what caused the problem to begin with would be a good idea however, or youll get to repeat this (if youre lucky) in a few days or weeks.

[punkrockguy318]

Well... I deleted the partition... But the hard drive wont format!!! It took FOREVER to format... and when it was done, it went into setup and displayed an error message and rebooted. I checked the connections to the hdd, they're all fine. I tried it again by deleting the partiotion, rebooting, and then formatting but it was the same results. Uh oh...

[redwench]

drive still under warranty?

[punkrockguy318]

Nope - looks like I need a new one. I ran the diagnostics... Here's what happened...

Simple Surface Scan.... FAILED
Data is uncorrectable

Random Surface Scan
Error: drive has defects

Full Surface Scan
Talk to your local dealer


The rest passed. The drive is way over warrenty. Should i buy a new one? What brand do you reccomend so this won't happen again?

[redwench]

well, first youd better find out what caused the failure. unless you want to kill a new one. age could have killed it, if its over 3 years old. otherwise, something else caused it.

all brands will fail from time to time. chances are, somewhere along the line, another drive will fail regardless of brand. western digital is a nice manufacturer, most of their better drives have a 3 year warranty.

[punkrockguy318]

it's two years old. i dont know what caused the failure... i mightve fried it with Static electricity... I don't know!

[punkrockguy318]

What are the possible causes?

[redwench]

various power oddities, including static. overheating. bad ram/motherboard. physical shock. debris inside the drive. magnetic fields. aside from just a regular mechanical failure of the drive, of course.

[punkrockguy318]

I believe this was a regular failure, it was starting to declide.

But on the brightside, I made my first order from newegg.com. It was a pleasent experiance: i bought a streamlined IDE cable and a WD 80 gig hdd. Everything shipped fast, nice site layout. My computer works fine now, that's a lot everyone!