Help Computer Gurus

[ksmmspt]

Hi,
I've got a problem with my pc's hard drive. I was attacked a while ago by a virus which did some damage to my hard drive. It interferes with my disk defragmenter program (the program will not finish). My system is xp and it told me once that there was a problem on the hard drive and to run the program: chkdsk /f. I ran it twice and it reported no problems. But, it still won't defrag itself. Anybody got any ideas or suggestions? I really don't want to buy another computer. Thanks

 

[jretrodude]

Maybe?

Try running your anti-virus program norton or whatever you have. Make sure your updates for your anti-virus program are up to date. Do a full scan if that doesn't work try a system restore and go back a few days or weeks? Depending on how far you can go back to. If that still doesn't work you may have to uninstall your windows program and do a reinstall. Should be a function to do a backup of all your files to save so you don't lose any valuable information. Hope this was of some help for you.

 

[loki993]

does it say that it cannot run the check disk with windows running and will run it at the next reboot?

 

[Jbenn911]

Try running your anti-virus program norton or whatever you have. Make sure your updates for your anti-virus program are up to date. Do a full scan if that doesn't work try a system restore and go back a few days or weeks? Depending on how far you can go back to. If that still doesn't work you may have to uninstall your windows program and do a reinstall. Should be a function to do a backup of all your files to save so you don't lose any valuable information. Hope this was of some help for you.

As a follow up..If you have actual windows disks or a system restore disk with your windows on it that can be booted from, you can try a "repair" of windows. You can also try rebooting in safe mode and running all your scans again and try defragging

 

[ksmmspt]

does it say that it cannot run the check disk with windows running and will run it at the next reboot?

Yes. And it runs at the next reboot. Is this significant?

 

[ksmmspt]

Try running your anti-virus program norton or whatever you have. Make sure your updates for your anti-virus program are up to date. Do a full scan if that doesn't work try a system restore and go back a few days or weeks? Depending on how far you can go back to. If that still doesn't work you may have to uninstall your windows program and do a reinstall. Should be a function to do a backup of all your files to save so you don't lose any valuable information. Hope this was of some help for you.

I have tried everything listed above except uninstalling my windows program. Could you tell me how to do that? Thanks

 

[Jbenn911]

Yes. And it runs at the next reboot. Is this significant?

When you run chkdsk with the "/F" after it, it must be run before Windows actually starts up. It needs to be able to have complete access to the disk. So long as it ran after you rebooted that's fine...

There is another chkdsk option you can try it is chkdsk /r that will attempt to locate and recover information off of a bad sector on your hard drive. You might want to try that before you reinstall windows

One other thing that will screw with defragging is a full hard drive. If you are less than 15% or so free, it probably wont finish.

You really dont want to "uninstall" windows either. Put anything important you may have document wise(pic's, emails, etc etc) onto a CD or some other drive. Then drop in your Operating System disk and boot from that..

 

[loki993]

Yes. And it runs at the next reboot. Is this significant?

yes and no. its actually a normal thing windows does like Jbenn911 said. the thing is when it runs at the startup it does not do a checkdisk /f, it only does a quick scan, therefore you get stuck in this loop like youre in now. this is an issue with windows not many people know about. what you have to do is while you systems starting up tap the f8 key, which should bring you into the advanced startup options or something like that. when you get there you need to start windows in dos mode. when you get to the c: you need to run the checkdisk /f , i believe the command is chkdsk /f, run a /r also, this will fix the bad sectors if it finds any, it should look like this: chkdsk /f /r from there than it will work and do it right. after that startup like normal it should let you defrag then.

 

[ksmmspt]

Thanks for the info. I'll try that and post back in a few minutes.

 

[ksmmspt]

I hit F8 and my choices are as follows:

Safe Mode
" " with Networking
" " with Command Prompt

Enable Boot Logging
" VGA Mode
Last Known Good Configuration
Directory Services Restore Mode
Debugging Mode
Disable Automatic Restart on System Failure

Start Windows Normally
Reboot
Return to OS Choices Menu

Which do I choose to allow me to enter DOS? Thanks

 

[ksmmspt]

Help NEW PROBLEM

I just ran chkdsk /f /r on my main computer and it had a report on it with an unknown error. Now when I try to start the system, it states the following:

Loading PBR for descriptor ...done

A disk read error occurred
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart


When I restart the system, this same message reappears and nothing else happens. I can go into F2 or F12, but I'm not sure what to do there. Please help!!!

 

[GNandGS]

Its 3:30am where Im at so I know better than try some thoughtful response but Im going to assume you have data you need still on the drive?

Either do it yourself or have a buddy or have the son/daughter of said buddy put your drive in another computer for data recovery. This assumes you dont have any pr0n on the machine. <grin>

After you have all your data then the risks are much lower by experimenting with solutions.

I might suggest the diagnostic software from the drive manufaturer if conserned with actual physical issues.

 

[Jbenn911]

It's not a Dell by chance is it ??? loading PBR error is usually a Dell problem as some of their models have Disk Overlay software on there. If there is a physical hard drive problem it can corrupt that software... GNandGS' advice is right on the money...Get your needed data off there and then try to fix it

 

[ksmmspt]

It is a Dell Demension 8400. I've been doing some searching on their discussion boards and this is apparently a common problem. I called Dell and trouble shot it with the lady from India and she wants me to restore the hard drive to original settings which will wipe out all of my data. I told her to call me back in a few days after I have someone hook it up as a secondary or external drive on a known working computer to try to get as much off as I can.

This really blows as I have a lot of family pics on the hard drive that I would like to save. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Damn, I wish I had a Mac!!

I'll eventually try to get back on the original problem I had on the other computer, which is what I'm stuck with using now! Thanks for the input. So far you guys have been dead on.

 

[Jbenn911]

yeah, i've come across that more with Dell's than any other PC I've worked on, it's something in the way they setup their hard drive partitions..If you can get it hooked up to another PC as a slave, you should be able to get your data off...If you cant get the data off, drop another msg here..I have a couple websites saved that will walk you thru a repair install of windows(saves your data) and how to repair the Partition Boot Record(PBR error you are seeing)

 

[ksmmspt]

I really appreciate the help. I sure hope we can save everything. If not, I'll post back for the other info on a repair. Is this too risky to try first? I probably should try to retrieve all my data first. Thanks!!

 

[Jbenn911]

The repair install is painless, but wont help if there is a physical issue with the hard drive...I always back up my(and customers) photos, doc's, etc etc, before I screw with windows..It's tough enough when windows is running correctly...LOL....The important thing you need to find out before you do any type of re install is if they installed some kind of Drive Overlay. If that's there and you do a fixpart or fixboot, you will lose it all...It probably doesnt have an overlay, but never know with Dell....