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delayed write failed

C

cscs

Member
i've read the other delayed write failed error thread on this forum ( http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=27&threadid=1330062 ), but haven't had any luck with the suggestions, as it seems that my drive is beyond the point that most of the users there got to.

i can't safe boot, last known good config, safe boot with command prompt, or any boot at all, it just gives me a blue screen with UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME. does this mean that my drive is completely facked? or does it mean that if i reformat the drive, it'll be fine?

i'm going to try and install another HD with XP and see if i can access the bad drive, should this work? also, i'm going to try out ultimate boot cd and see if i can change the appropriate registry settings.

has anyone else gotten to this extent of this DWF error? does anyone else have any suggestions? i'm still not 100% certain what the cause / fix is. anyone?

thanks very much
 
I all ready knew you had a bad Hard drive as soon as I read the topic. At least windows gave you fair warning before the thing completly crashed.
 
How about this: I get a delayed write error when moving a data file to quicken. This is copying from a zip disk to Quicken. The file is where it is where it's supposed to be but if I remove the zip disk too quickly I get the warning.

This happens on two computers and only on XP. What's wrong?
 
Delayed write errors are related to write back caching and usually indicate a problem with the drive, IDE controller and/or IDE drivers.

Make sure you have the latest BIOS, chipset drivers and IDE drivers for your system and test the drive for errors. If it still doesn't work try using the standard Windows IDE drivers.
 
I had a WD 20 gig hd drive that came back from RMA that did the same thing. UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

after a few hours of format & trying to get an os installed on it I had to turn off dma mode in the bios to get it to install properly.

But that made it real slow being multi word dma something....

You wanna know how I fixed it?

As it turns out XP had problems with my drive being ATA100 so i went to WD's website & got their UDMA util and put the drive in ATA66 mode.

Since then the drive's been running like a champ. 🙂
 
thanks for your help and suggestiosn, everyone. i setup a 2nd hard drive, formatted it with a fresh copy of XP, ran GetDataBack (highly recommended) and it found *all* of the important content i wanted, safe and sound. What a program.

Will try to reinstall XP on the other drive tomorrow, but I'm curious if anyone knows what causes this problem? So that I can avoid it in the future.

Thanks everyone.
 
Originally posted by: cscs
thanks for your help and suggestiosn, everyone. i setup a 2nd hard drive, formatted it with a fresh copy of XP, ran GetDataBack (highly recommended) and it found *all* of the important content i wanted, safe and sound. What a program.

Will try to reinstall XP on the other drive tomorrow, but I'm curious if anyone knows what causes this problem? So that I can avoid it in the future.

Thanks everyone.
Click to expand...

Assuming that you are not suffering from the "XP large system cache" issue, then perhaps a critical sector in the filesystem went bad, enough so that XP wouldn't boot any more, but the majority of your data files were still readable. After backing up your data, I would suggest using mfg diag tools to "write zeros" or "erase disk", and then do a surface scan, and see if it has any issues.

Also, do you have XP SP1 installed?
 
uh oh, i wish i'd have read this PRIOR to reinstalling everything 🙁

is there no way to do a surface scan while everything is already installed?
 
Originally posted by: KristopherKubicki
I always get those errors before it starts clicking 🙁 Sorry buddy.

Kristopher
Click to expand...

Yep. Had to RMA a 15krpm SCSI drive not too long ago with this error. Thought is was the cable first or a bad OS, but it turned out to be a bad drive.
 
I have a friend that has that problem on an Intel 810 based EMachine. I've tried a couple of times to fix it with no luck yet.

What I've tried so far...
Replace 80 wire IDE cable
Turn off write caching
Try MS Vs IAA IDE drivers
Replace HDD (cloned it from old drive)

Problem is still there. The PC still works, but it gets that message all the time. Next, I'm going to put the drive on the other IDE controller, last resort is a fresh XP install (if they have the EMachine restore CD).
 
Originally posted by: cscs
btw, i wasn't able to get any firm results when i googled 'mfg diag tools'. does it have another name?
Click to expand...

What brand is your HD? Btw, "mfg" is just shorthand for "manufacturer".

If you have a WD (Western Digital), then go to http://www.wdc.com/ , and download their DOS bootable-floppy version of "Data LifeGuard" (diagnostics).

If you have a Maxtor, then likewise, go to http://www.maxtor.com/ , and download their "PowerMax" diagnostics (NOT MaxBlast - that is their installation software, used only for new blank HDs).

If IBM/Hitachi, then their is called "DFT" (Drive Fitness Tools or something).

Samsung and Fujitsu also have diagnostic software available, I'm not sure what it's called.
 
Originally posted by: cscs
thanks for your help and suggestiosn, everyone. i setup a 2nd hard drive, formatted it with a fresh copy of XP, ran GetDataBack (highly recommended) and it found *all* of the important content i wanted, safe and sound. What a program.
Click to expand...

Question about getdataback:

How long does it take to complete a scan for what you are looking for? I have an 80 gig WD drive that I want to recover everything on, but when I ran getdataback it took hours to even get thru 1% of a scan, not to mention the time it would have taken to actually recover the data.

Are there any pointers that you'd reccomend when using getdataback?
 
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