Main WinXP HD Corrupt; Trouble Booting; Chkdsk Problems; Help Appreciated

Dark_Light · 12-08-2007, 06:18 PM

WARNING: Huge post ahead. I'd appreciate it if you read everything. I tried to include as much detail as possible, therefore the following wall of text.
There is a brief summary at the end, but it probably isn't enough to form a solution from.
Thank you in advance.

Okay, well, I have quite a story, but I will try to keep it concise for you guys.

It started a while back when I was looking into installing Ubuntu Linux. I eventually got around to trying it, and so I tried to defragment my HD. I was told that chkdsk has been scheduled to run on that disk, you know, this error;

Code:

Disk defragmenter has detected that chkdsk is scheduled to run

on the volume: xx



Please run chkdsk /f

So anyway, I tried to do that, but as you probably know, could not as the HD was in use;

Code:

The type of the file system is NTFS 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)

So anyway, I said yes, and proceeded in Restarting the computer, but nothing happened. After numerous more attempts, I got bored of this and thought I would just do it later, so I went on with Windows for a little longer.

But from then on, every time I rebooted the computer, it would start trying to check this disk, but say it couldn't because it is in use. I thought this was strange, as it is meant to work as the computer is booting up, but I just ignored this and carried on. I can't remember exactly what it said, but it was definitely something along the lines of, "disk checking failed, disk is in use".

After a while, I was finally bothered again, and so I booted into Safe Mode, and attempted to do it from there. Now unfortunately, I can't really recall what happened there (sorry, but I didn't think any of this was going to happen so I didn't take down every detail as it happened). It either allowed me to check the disk, or it gave me the same message. I am pretty sure it did work, but either way, I rebooted back into Windows. Here, I attempted to Defragment/Analyze the drive, but was once again told that chkdsk was scheduled to run. I went and tried it again, this time the graphical interface way, (right-clicking on the drive and then going Properties > Tools > Check Disk or whatever it is) and I had no hope it would work, I just did it for whatever reason. And strangely, it did work, but as I didn't think it would actually start, I didn't tick either of the boxes (Automatically fix file system errors, and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors), so logically I wasn't running 'chkdsk /f', or any other parameters, but only 'chkdsk', right?
So anyway, I waited for it to finish, so I could do it again but with the parameters required. Eventually, once it had finished, I ticked both boxes and began the process. At this point, I had to go out, so I turned my monitor off and left the utility to do what it had to.
When I came home, there was some error, once again, I can't remember exactly what it said, so sorry about that. I just remember it was something like "Disk check failed", and I know that is very bleak, but it was something like that.
So anyway, rather frustrated and annoyed, I sat down, ran Steam, and played some Garry's Mod 10, for a good few hours.
Now, during this time, I saw a message, a popup notification from the toolbar, stating something about one file being corrupt, it was like this (not exactly, just from Google'ing around):

Code:

Application popup: xx.exe - Corrupt File : The file or directory
C:\$Secure is corrupt and unreadable. Please run the Chkdsk utility.

Me being the fool I am, as well as the fact that I was sick of the whole issue, chose to ignore it, and continued to shed away precious time, the last minutes of my poor 80gb HD, playing a video game.
But my HD didn't wish to give up. A while later, I got another message. The same message, the same file, everything.
I began to worry. I closed Garry's Mod, for possibly the last time. I can't remember exactly what happened now, but I do remember clicking on the Start Menu, to find that ALL the shortcuts which led to anything on the C drive had disappeared. I couldn't open anything on C drive, I only realized now as all my Steam games are on my External HD.
So, I restarted my computer in hope of being able to run chkdsk. What a big mistake.
The computer shut down, turned back on, displayed for me the BIOS manufacture page as it always does, before showing nothing more that a blinking horizontal line. Like a DOS command line, you know, just the flashing _ .
I stared in awe.
Also, I can't read the boot menu, so I can't use the HP Recovery Console.
After a while, after numerous restarts, after checking BIOS settings, I resolved to using my Ubuntu LiveCD to try and rectify the issue.
So here I am writing this thread now, after a whole day Googling around aimlessly, I turn to you guys. Please help me.
I tried accessing the HD from Linux, only to come to this error;

Code:

Cannot mount volume.

Unable to mount the volume 'Storage'. (Storage is the name of the partition)

Details>

Failed to mount '/dev/sda1':Input/output error NTFS is either inconsistent, or you have hardware faults, or you have a SoftRAID/FakeRAID hardware. In the first case run chdsk /f on Windows then reboot into Windows TWICE. The usage of the /f parameter is very important! If you have SoftRAID/FakeRAID then you must first activate it and mount a different device under the /dev/mapper/ directory, (e.g. /dev/mapper/nvidia_eahaabcc1). Please see the 'dmraid' documentation for the details

But the strange thing is, the Recovery partition of the same HD is working fine, and I can read and write files on it perfectly.

I was running Windows XP Service pack 2, and I am writing this from Ubuntu Linux 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon LiveCD.
Intel Pentium 4, 2.8ghz
768mb DDR Memory
Nvidia Geforce 5100fx, 64mb Video Memory
Maxtor 80gb HD 7200rpm + 320gb Seagate Freeagent External HD.
I know this information isn't really relevant, but just in case.

I'd appreciate any information, suggestions, questions, solutions, resources, whatever you can do to help.
Please. :)

I think a boot CD which has some form of chkdsk installed on it would be the most useful, but everything I have found from Google requires my Windows XP setup CD, which I do not have.

My problem in a nutshell:
Tried to defragment HD, has to run chkdsk /f.
Tried to run chkdsk, didn't work.
Eventually did work, but didn't use parameters.
Tried again with parameters, didn't work.
Frustrated, played Gmod.
Pop up notification stating one file is corrupt and unreadable.
Ignored it, continued playing Gmod.
Same error, become worried, closed game.
Nothing on C was accessible.
Turned computer off, rebooted.
Unable to boot into Windows, can't read boot menu so can't use HP Recovery Console either.
Using Ubuntu LiveCD.
Please, oh please, any help.

Any help.

**Doby** · 12-08-2007, 08:20 PM

Can you run a non distructive reinstall of windows from the recovery partition by tapping F10 at startup?

This assumes the hardrive is not failing, if it is who knows what will happen but either way you have to try.

Did you create recovery cd's/dvd's using the HP program provided with the computer?

If the non distructive reinstall should work I suggest you do this

Dark_Light · 12-09-2007, 05:15 AM

I may be able to get my hands on a Windows XP CD, from a friend.
So don't give up on all of your suggestions! :)
And, I'll try what you suggested tomorrow, I don't have time right now. But thank you, I appreciate your help.
I'll post results tomorrow.

And about the recovery CD's, I am not sure. This computer is a hand-me-down from my dad, so I'll have to ask him about this.

Thanks again for your help, I appreciate it! :D
Any other help is also appreciated, thank you!

12-08-2007, 06:18 PM	#1 (permalink)
Dark_Light Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 2 OS: WinXP SP2 + Ubuntu Linux 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon	Main WinXP HD Corrupt; Trouble Booting; Chkdsk Problems; Help Appreciated WARNING: Huge post ahead. I'd appreciate it if you read everything. I tried to include as much detail as possible, therefore the following wall of text. There is a brief summary at the end, but it probably isn't enough to form a solution from. Thank you in advance. Okay, well, I have quite a story, but I will try to keep it concise for you guys. It started a while back when I was looking into installing Ubuntu Linux. I eventually got around to trying it, and so I tried to defragment my HD. I was told that chkdsk has been scheduled to run on that disk, you know, this error; Code: Disk defragmenter has detected that chkdsk is scheduled to run on the volume: xx Please run chkdsk /f So anyway, I tried to do that, but as you probably know, could not as the HD was in use; Code: The type of the file system is NTFS 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) So anyway, I said yes, and proceeded in Restarting the computer, but nothing happened. After numerous more attempts, I got bored of this and thought I would just do it later, so I went on with Windows for a little longer. But from then on, every time I rebooted the computer, it would start trying to check this disk, but say it couldn't because it is in use. I thought this was strange, as it is meant to work as the computer is booting up, but I just ignored this and carried on. I can't remember exactly what it said, but it was definitely something along the lines of, "disk checking failed, disk is in use". After a while, I was finally bothered again, and so I booted into Safe Mode, and attempted to do it from there. Now unfortunately, I can't really recall what happened there (sorry, but I didn't think any of this was going to happen so I didn't take down every detail as it happened). It either allowed me to check the disk, or it gave me the same message. I am pretty sure it did work, but either way, I rebooted back into Windows. Here, I attempted to Defragment/Analyze the drive, but was once again told that chkdsk was scheduled to run. I went and tried it again, this time the graphical interface way, (right-clicking on the drive and then going Properties > Tools > Check Disk or whatever it is) and I had no hope it would work, I just did it for whatever reason. And strangely, it did work, but as I didn't think it would actually start, I didn't tick either of the boxes (Automatically fix file system errors, and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors), so logically I wasn't running 'chkdsk /f', or any other parameters, but only 'chkdsk', right? So anyway, I waited for it to finish, so I could do it again but with the parameters required. Eventually, once it had finished, I ticked both boxes and began the process. At this point, I had to go out, so I turned my monitor off and left the utility to do what it had to. When I came home, there was some error, once again, I can't remember exactly what it said, so sorry about that. I just remember it was something like "Disk check failed", and I know that is very bleak, but it was something like that. So anyway, rather frustrated and annoyed, I sat down, ran Steam, and played some Garry's Mod 10, for a good few hours. Now, during this time, I saw a message, a popup notification from the toolbar, stating something about one file being corrupt, it was like this (not exactly, just from Google'ing around): Code: Application popup: xx.exe - Corrupt File : The file or directory C:\$Secure is corrupt and unreadable. Please run the Chkdsk utility. Me being the fool I am, as well as the fact that I was sick of the whole issue, chose to ignore it, and continued to shed away precious time, the last minutes of my poor 80gb HD, playing a video game. But my HD didn't wish to give up. A while later, I got another message. The same message, the same file, everything. I began to worry. I closed Garry's Mod, for possibly the last time. I can't remember exactly what happened now, but I do remember clicking on the Start Menu, to find that ALL the shortcuts which led to anything on the C drive had disappeared. I couldn't open anything on C drive, I only realized now as all my Steam games are on my External HD. So, I restarted my computer in hope of being able to run chkdsk. What a big mistake. The computer shut down, turned back on, displayed for me the BIOS manufacture page as it always does, before showing nothing more that a blinking horizontal line. Like a DOS command line, you know, just the flashing _ . I stared in awe. Also, I can't read the boot menu, so I can't use the HP Recovery Console. After a while, after numerous restarts, after checking BIOS settings, I resolved to using my Ubuntu LiveCD to try and rectify the issue. So here I am writing this thread now, after a whole day Googling around aimlessly, I turn to you guys. Please help me. I tried accessing the HD from Linux, only to come to this error; Code: Cannot mount volume. Unable to mount the volume 'Storage'. (Storage is the name of the partition) Details> Failed to mount '/dev/sda1':Input/output error NTFS is either inconsistent, or you have hardware faults, or you have a SoftRAID/FakeRAID hardware. In the first case run chdsk /f on Windows then reboot into Windows TWICE. The usage of the /f parameter is very important! If you have SoftRAID/FakeRAID then you must first activate it and mount a different device under the /dev/mapper/ directory, (e.g. /dev/mapper/nvidia_eahaabcc1). Please see the 'dmraid' documentation for the details But the strange thing is, the Recovery partition of the same HD is working fine, and I can read and write files on it perfectly. I was running Windows XP Service pack 2, and I am writing this from Ubuntu Linux 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon LiveCD. Intel Pentium 4, 2.8ghz 768mb DDR Memory Nvidia Geforce 5100fx, 64mb Video Memory Maxtor 80gb HD 7200rpm + 320gb Seagate Freeagent External HD. I know this information isn't really relevant, but just in case. I'd appreciate any information, suggestions, questions, solutions, resources, whatever you can do to help. Please. :) I think a boot CD which has some form of chkdsk installed on it would be the most useful, but everything I have found from Google requires my Windows XP setup CD, which I do not have. My problem in a nutshell: Tried to defragment HD, has to run chkdsk /f. Tried to run chkdsk, didn't work. Eventually did work, but didn't use parameters. Tried again with parameters, didn't work. Frustrated, played Gmod. Pop up notification stating one file is corrupt and unreadable. Ignored it, continued playing Gmod. Same error, become worried, closed game. Nothing on C was accessible. Turned computer off, rebooted. Unable to boot into Windows, can't read boot menu so can't use HP Recovery Console either. Using Ubuntu LiveCD. Please, oh please, any help. Any help. __________________ -Dark_Light <3 This is a signature. You're all trees.

12-08-2007, 08:20 PM	#2 (permalink)
Doby Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Central PA (USA) Posts: 7,926 OS: XP sp2/ Vista My System	Re: Main WinXP HD Corrupt; Trouble Booting; Chkdsk Problems; Help Appreciated Can you run a non distructive reinstall of windows from the recovery partition by tapping F10 at startup? This assumes the hardrive is not failing, if it is who knows what will happen but either way you have to try. Did you create recovery cd's/dvd's using the HP program provided with the computer? If the non distructive reinstall should work I suggest you do this __________________ Would you like to help TSF fight cancer and other diseases??? JOIN TEAM TSF

12-09-2007, 05:15 AM	#3 (permalink)
Dark_Light Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 2 OS: WinXP SP2 + Ubuntu Linux 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon	Re: Main WinXP HD Corrupt; Trouble Booting; Chkdsk Problems; Help Appreciated I may be able to get my hands on a Windows XP CD, from a friend. So don't give up on all of your suggestions! :) And, I'll try what you suggested tomorrow, I don't have time right now. But thank you, I appreciate your help. I'll post results tomorrow. And about the recovery CD's, I am not sure. This computer is a hand-me-down from my dad, so I'll have to ask him about this. Thanks again for your help, I appreciate it! :D Any other help is also appreciated, thank you! __________________ -Dark_Light <3 This is a signature. You're all trees.