"Parameter is Incorrect"

[21Jumper]

Help you guys!
Ok, first off, I'm running WinXP Pro, 448MB RAM. I have 2HDs, a 13.6G that came with this PC when I first bought it and a 45G one that I added on afterwards. The 45G is partitioned into 43 and 2Gs respectively. Now last night, I was just deleting some files on the 43 one and my computer just started to S L O W D O W N really badly. So I restarted and it took forever to boot up! I get to the boot screen fine, but after that, that's when I hear this sound coming from what I believe is the HD trying to access data. When I'm finally able to get on the desktop, I go to "My Computer". The HD icon is there for the 43G one, but when I click on it, I don't get any properties or what not. If I try to open it up, it gives me the error message "Cannot access D:/ ; Parameter is Incorrect". I also have CoolMon on and it says the content of D(43GB) is "0mb" which can't be right cuz like I said, I was still freeing up space last night. And even if I was deleting files, I know I still have over 1GB of space. Did my HD just die? Or maybe just that partition? Cuz I can still access the 2GB partition...

 

[mechBgon]

It sounds like the drive will need that partition reformatted, at a minimum. I'd run a thorough checkup on it using Microsoft Scandisk and then with the drive's manufacturer's checkup utility (download it from Maxtor, Seagate, Western Digital or whomever).

 

[Mark R]

Sounds like a dead hard drive. See if you can download the manufacturer's diagnostic toolkit -when the drive fails, arrange for an RMA.

In the mean time, fire up 'event viewer' and have a look through the system logs - you'll probably see a few dozen 'disk' errors - see here for what I saw when the exact same thing happened to me.

 

[21Jumper]

Thanks for all the help so far guys. Ok, a little update. Not sure if this'll help but now under "My Computer", that drive is now listed as "Local Disk" instead of the volume label I gave it before. Is this a good sign or what? 2nd, I don't have that event viewer thing. Or do I? It finally allowed me to right-click on the HD and I chose "format" and it looks like it's doing so. Hopefully it'll be fixed after.

 

[mechBgon]

Ask Windows Help about Event Viewer, it should get you there Good luck, but I'd still take the suggestion and run the drive manufacturer's diagnostic ASAP. An untrustworthy drive is better RMA'ed.

 

[21Jumper]

K, going to WD's site now. But here's another weird thing. I restarted in MS Dos mode using a floppy startup disk and in it, I could access the drive! It had the correct volume label AND I could see the dir folders of my files. But when I get back to the regular Windows Dekstop, it's still slow as hell and My Computer's still displaying it as "Local Disk"

Does it seem like there's hope?

 

[Turkish]

Hey there,

First of all, have you tried running System Restore? If no, it may be your savior.

If you did and still have the problem, have you tried running check disk and system file checker?

Go to Run and type "chkdsk c: /f" assuming it's c: drive that has the problem. I assume chksdk will work since this drive is not your local drive for Windows, if it doesn't and gives you an error such as

Checkdisk cannot run because the volume is in use by another
process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be
checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)

Choose yes, and hit reboot. Then go to Run again, and type "sfc /scannow". That will check for corrupted system files although Windows is installed in a diffrent drive.

Also,
Have you installed any applications/drivers that may have changed your hardware properties? If yes, those maybe causing it as well.
Have you inspected System Log with Event Viewer? Anything unusual? Post whatever you see in System Log that might be causing the problem.

I will try to look for an answer for your problem, in the mean time, goodluck.

Xiety

 

[21Jumper]

Originally posted by: Xiety
Hey there,

First of all, have you tried running System Restore? If no, it may be your savior.

If you did and still have the problem, have you tried running check disk and system file checker?

Yes I have and it wasn't able to fix it. Haven't tried check disk and system file checker cuz right now, I'm running the WD diagnostic and it's taking reeeealy long. Only upto about 2% but I don't mind. It said during the test that there were problems detected and if I wanted to fix it so that's what it's doing right now.

Go to Run and type "chkdsk c: /f" assuming it's c: drive that has the problem. I assume chksdk will work since this drive is not your local drive for Windows, if it doesn't and gives you an error such as

Checkdisk cannot run because the volume is in use by another
process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be
checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)

Choose yes, and hit reboot. Then go to Run again, and type "sfc /scannow". That will check for corrupted system files although Windows is installed in a diffrent drive.

Also,
Have you installed any applications/drivers that may have changed your hardware properties? If yes, those maybe causing it as well.
Have you inspected System Log with Event Viewer? Anything unusual? Post whatever you see in System Log that might be causing the problem.

I will try to look for an answer for your problem, in the mean time, goodluck.

Xiety

The C: drive is actually working fine. It's the D partition (43GB size) that's acting up. All I had there were music and movie files. Haven't installed anything new. I was just deleting some stuff the I realized I didn't need anymore.

Haven't tried the Event Viewer thing yet cuz like I said, the system is running v e r y s l o w right now. I've been backing up data bit by bit on the "working" drives with what resources I have. I'll update this as soon as I have anything new. Thank you really for all the inputs you guys.

 

[21Jumper]

Well it's official. I let the diagnostic run all night and when I woke up this morning, it said that there were too many errors on the drive so I should just obtain an RMA. So I guess my question would be can this really still be returned to WD? Cuz I bought this 2 years ago. Does that matter?

 

[amdskip]

Originally posted by: 21Jumper
Well it's official. I let the diagnostic run all night and when I woke up this morning, it said that there were too many errors on the drive so I should just obtain an RMA. So I guess my question would be can this really still be returned to WD? Cuz I bought this 2 years ago. Does that matter?

It should have a 3 year warranty but it starts from when the drive was manufactured. Check your warranty status here.

 

[Turkish]

Yes, as amdskip mentioned, WD has 3 year warranty at least. Call them, RMA it and ask if there is anychance they can restore your data somehow... I don't really know much about WD procedures, but hey, goodluck.

Xiety

 

[wjal]

If that was a FAT32 partition, you may be able to recover that partition with Cristophe Grenier's TESTDISK (freeware). DrD has conveniently placed it on a stripped down 98SE bootdisk which is available HERE. Choose the wpartnfix.exe file Download it to a Windows folder like My Docs or whatever and extract it to a floppy by clicking on it and boot from the floppy. The command to start is TESTDISK.
You can find out more about it at www.cgsecurity.org.
I don't know of any freeware for NTFS partition recovery but there are some in the shareware and Pro varieties. GetDataBack is a good one.
RMA is the way to go but it wouldn't hurt to get some of that data back first.
Update: TestDisk now works with NTFS as well but you might have to download v4.5 from cgsecurity and add it to a boot disk yourself.

 

[21Jumper]

How ironic is this? I checked the warranty on it, and it expired last August 20th! Talk about bad luck. I took it out of the case yesterday.

Anyway, what do you guys think of this, a friend of mine is willing to sell me his HDs. I have a choice to get a 60GB for $50 or a 60 and 45GB for $75? It's used but he says he's never had any problems with it and I trust him on it. Should I go for it or bite the bullet and just get a new 120GB for a few more $?

 

[Turkish]

Get a new one, sometimes 120GB WD SE are as cheap as $40 with rebates/coupons...
your friends wont have warranty and if something happens you ll be pissed at him rather than your stupidity (not saying that you are stupid, you got the idea)