Computer won't boot - problem with hard drive after loading many pics

[RalphTheCow]

I had an XP Pro computer that was working well Saturday.

I downloaded many pics from two digital cameras onto it Saturday, then turned it off.

Today on boot it got stuck in a chkdsk loop with many thousands of error messages saying something about now Indexing file x. I didn't add thousands of files so I doubt it wa sjust indexing them. I guess this big load may have pushed a possibly marginal disc over the edge.

Unfortunately I then interrupted the chkdsk with a reset, and now the computer won't boot, giving a list of Windows files that it apparently isn't finding, preceded by something like disk(0).

I tried booting from the Western Digital Data Lifeguard CD to run diagnostics on the hard disk, but it says a Windows Installation may be on the disk, so to use Data Lifeguard for Windows?? How can I do that when Windows won't boot?

It also appears that the BIOS isn't finding the disc since it shows the Primary IDE Master as the DVD drive, but apparently the Western Digital CD can see it.

I was thinking I could buy a new disc and reinstall Windows on it, then try to see what can be accessed on the "bad" drive. Any other suggestions? It is only about three years old and was only about 20% full, but I have heard a whine from the computer which I thought was a fan.

 

[btcomm1]

Yeah, I would buy a new laptop HD and then reinstall windows, then see if you can get any data off of that other HD with a USB external case.

 

[Tegeril]

If you can create a BartPE disk, you can boot the system and replace the offending (missing) system files from a recent system restore point (C:\System Volume Information\...) Also can force a 5 stage chkdsk /r on the drive.

That said, you should also try the Hitachi Drive Fitness test. It will quickly determine a smart or bad sector failure on all drives (and more if the drive is manufactured by Hitachi).

 

[RalphTheCow]

Originally posted by: Tegeril
If you can create a BartPE disk, you can boot the system and replace the offending (missing) system files from a recent system restore point (C:\System Volume Information\...) Also can force a 5 stage chkdsk /r on the drive.

That said, you should also try the Hitachi Drive Fitness test. It will quickly determine a smart or bad sector failure on all drives (and more if the drive is manufactured by Hitachi).

Thanks, Tegeril. It passed both the quick and full Hitachi Drive Fitness tests. That is a pretty nice utility. Now in the process of making the BartPE CD.

 

[Tegeril]

You're quite welcome. I end up doing this sort of thing on a far too regular basis at work - and then people look at me with sad faces like those when I tell them the drive is dead and there is no way we can recover any data (we're a free service for the university, beyond that they get to start paying big bucks).

The chkdsk should be allowed to run completely and afterward, try to reboot. If that still fails, then you hopefully will have an error that will pinpoint a specific registry hive or similar system file that is missing that you can either replace by scheduling a SFC or simply extracting it from a Windows cd, or restoring it from a system restore point. If you need more information, I can write out a more detailed set of instructions, but the same info can be found with Google

 

[RalphTheCow]

Uh-oh. chkdsk /r said it can't access the volume. It is still c: in BartPE, right? So Hitachi said the disc was ok, but Bart doesn't seem to agree. But Windows does give the splash screen when I try to start normally, and it gives all those errors when I try safe mode, so it seems like it is getting to the disc at least a little.