Hard drive construction...lol

1976 Views 17 Replies 6 Participants Last post by anerd10950, Aug 26, 2004

Lead Agent

Discussion Starter · Jun 25, 2002

I have recently had to reformat my hard drive it started out that is was unable to locate or the file ntoskrnl.exe was corrupted and wanted me to reinstall it. I tried to copy it in DOS and it would not take, so I was left with no option but to reformat my c drive. This worked fine for one night and once I had to reboot the next day I was unable to load windows, it requested that I insert the boot disk. I then was unable to format or fdisk the hard drive it would just not register the command or would terminate the command. I tried running a scandisk on the c drive and it ran in less then a second, which could not be a good thing. I have run out of ideas and have tried taking it in to the shop to see if it was covered under warranty but it looks like I will be out of luck, I am just curious to know if anyone has any ideas what would cause this and if there was any other ways to fix it other then trashing it and buying a new one.
Thanks.

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1 - 18 of 18 Posts

JAMMAN

· #2 · Jun 25, 2002

Might not be the hard drive. Can you slave it to a good working system and try to format it that way? And I don't think Dos can write to NTFS.

Jason

· #3 · Jun 25, 2002

A: What O.S.?
B: How it is setup in CMOS to boot?
C: What boot disk did you use?
D: NTSF or Fat32?

Lead Agent

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jun 25, 2002

Ya I already thought of trying to hook it up to another computer and try it then but I wanted to confirm that it wasn't my hard drive was under warranty before I ripped it out and voided my warranty. ALso if there is a virus on it I really don't want to infect another system. But I am not sure really what to do.

Lead Agent

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jun 25, 2002

XP
98 boot disk
it is setup to boot from
floppy
ide-0
cd-rom
fat32

JAMMAN

· #6 · Jun 25, 2002

If it's under warrenty, take it back! Else wise you have to do something..........

BTW Danrak, I assumed NTFS because of the missing file ntoskrnl.exe . It was a bad assumption, and I stand corrected.

Jason

· #7 · Jun 25, 2002

JAMMAN said:
BTW Danrak, I assumed NTFS because of the missing file ntoskrnl.exe . It was a bad assumption, and I stand corrected.

Hey, you where just trying to help.

Who makes the hard drive?

TheTechIsIn

· #8 · Jun 26, 2002

If your XP OS is still installed try booting to console recovery mode and running the following programs at the command line:

fixboot
fixmbr

I think those are the names anyway, if either one gives you an invalid name type "help" and choose the command thats closest to the ones listed above from the list of commands it will display.

It may help unless it truly is a hardware problem. How old is the Hard-drive and what size? Also (just curious) why aren't you using NTFS?

JAMMAN

· #9 · Jun 26, 2002

why aren't you using NTFS?

Bingo! Hence my assumption. Any NT based OS will benifit from NTFS.

Lead Agent

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jun 26, 2002

It is a 20.5 G hard drive and I am not sure it was formatted earlier as fat32. just left it that way. The hard drive is only like 1year and 1/2. Thanks for the suggestions I will try them when I get the beast back...lol
I doubt that it is under warranty and will be stuck trying to fix it myself. I have already arranged to take it to a frriends to try to format it on their system so hopefully that will help to figure things out.

Lead Agent

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jun 26, 2002

I kinda hope it won't be under warranty, that way I won't be without for over a week.....how sad is that I would rather spend hours trying to fix it then wait a week and replace it with a new one. That just proves how damn stubborn i am...lol

Would could be ticking inside of the computer when I turn it on would my hard drive start doing that for any reaon. It only was ticking when I first turned it on while it was trying to load or when I would open a program and actually make the system work. Weird.....

Jason

· #12 · Jun 26, 2002

Have you tried going to the hard drive manufactures website and downloading their testing program?

JAMMAN

· #13 · Jun 26, 2002

OK. When you boot to the 98 floppy and elect command prompt, you get the A:\ . Type in C: and see if it gives you an "unable to read disk" or "drive not available" or something like that. If it goes to C:\ , do a simple DIR command and see if it shows you anything. I think it's funny that Fdisk doesn't do anything.

Check the cables.

It would be handy if your friend has partition magic, It can fix allot of strange HD problems. You will soon find out - good luck.

Lead Agent

Discussion Starter · #14 · Jun 26, 2002

Danrak:
No I haven't thought of that but then again that would require internet access which i am without right now

BUt ya I will keep that in mind when I get it back and take it to a friends.

Jamman:
I have tried that and the dir shows the os loaded with all it components, nothing strange about that. BUt I have no idea why FDISK won't run if I new I would fix it...lol
I don't think he has a program like that but I know people who do, so I will try that later. Thanks for all the suggestions you guys are alot of help!!!! I will let you know how it works out when I get it back tomorrow.

Jason

· #15 · Jun 26, 2002

Lead Agent said:
Danrak:
No I haven't thought of that but then again that would require internet access which i am without right now
BUt ya I will keep that in mind when I get it back and take it to a friends.

Most manufacturer programs will unzip itself onto a floppy. Can you use the computer you are on now to make the floppy? Or maybe have a friend drop one off to you? Worse case, you can always buy one. I think my store charges about 2 dollars to make a floppy. Sometimes they will give one away though. Depends if they ask me how much. If I have extras I usually say nothing.

JAMMAN

· #16 · Jun 26, 2002

Maybe you have a corrupt 98 boot disk. Floppy's are not forever.

Keep us posted (I'm real punny today) because it would be nice to know what the problem was exactly.

Good luck again:winkgrin:

colman77

· #17 · Jun 29, 2002

I'd be interested in looking at your CMOS settings....

anerd10950

· #18 · Aug 26, 2004

Unlikely but very possible

check the memory. Sound weird just do it :neutral:

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