Hello all, this is my first post so please bear with me...

A few days back my computer started doing CHKDSK at boot up because it said drive C was "dirty." It went through 3 steps in which it verified files, and they all passed, and then my computer would boot up normally. It would do this every time I started the computer.

Someone told me my hard drive might be going, so I went to My Computer > Right clicked C drive > properties > tools > and did Error Checking. I believe I checked both options there. (Sorry don't quite remember) A pop up window then told me that the test would be performed during the next start up.

So the next time I went to boot up, it did CHKDSK, but this time it had 5 steps. Whenever it got to step 3 it would freeze at exactly 25% every time. (I tried rebooting a few times).

I tried booting in safe mode but that froze as well. I eventually selected the option at the F8 boot menu "Use last setup that worked" (or something to that effect) and the system booted up fine.

The problem now, however, is that I randomly get the 'blue screen of death'. The first time I got it, it was right after Spybot had finished a system search. It had found a few bad things and right when I clicked to get rid of them I got the blue screen. The second time I got it was completely at random the next day when I was just browsing the net. I haven't used the computer since then (I've been using my laptop.)


From what I have read it seems that I either have a bad HD or a corrupt system file. I was wondering if any of you folks could steer me in the right direction as to what steps I should take to diagnose the problem and solve it. I'm willing to buy a new HD if I have to. If you need any information that I have not given please ask and I'll try to get it on here. I can boot the computer up to get any info you may need, but I don't want to mess around with it myself because the BSD is inevitable.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!!

-Christian


Dell dimension desktop 8400
3.2 GHz processor
160GB HDD
2GB ram
Running Windows XP home edition
Geforce 8600 GT

sysinternals forum



I've just been having the same problem with one of my partitions the above corrected it.

Please post the BSoD code it should look something similar to the following:

0x00000000 (0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000,0x000000000

Also note down any other details about the error given on the screen.

If chkdsk is getting stuck it does appear that you have bad sectors on the hdd and it should be replaced, although a zero format could solve the problem but this would destroy all your data.

If you haven't done this bit I would suggest you do it NOW BACKUP YOUR DATA

If you can connect the hdd up to another PC so much the better.

Don't let chkdsk run if you have to boot up your OS just press any key when prompted to stop it from running.

Hi

Might want to see if the makers of the HD have a program you can run to check HD and see if it is going bad. I knwow that some do..

Also as was mentioned best back up in case..

Best

Grand Dad

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

All the main hdd testing tools can be found on this free CD if your unsure who your hdd manufacturer is.

Please be aware that the download for this CD is approx 100mb.

You may find you need to do the following:


Delete the whole value in the reg entry. Leave the bootexecute there but delete the value data.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager]
"BootExecute"=hex(7):00,00

If you export the registry afterwards the "BootExecute" line should look like this.

HDD Regenerator 1.51



This software might recover the data from the bad sectors however it isn't cheap so you would need to decide if the data was worth it. However this program can be mechanically very intensive so it could stop your hdd from working if it's a mechanical fault on the disk. You need to evaluate the risk of using such a program.

Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier

This program is free and should get the majority of your data off, however it doesn't attempt to repair the disk.

Personally I would just buy a new hdd.

Various Disk Imaging Tools

This link has all the software you need to copy your data to a new hdd, most of them listed here are free.