Hard-drive corruption question

M Skabialka wrote:
"propman" wrote in message

If your BIOS supports it....remove the problem drive's name from the list
of "bootable" devices.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. If I have no HDD listed as a boot
device, what does this accomplish? Right now I have floppy, then CD-ROM,
then Hard Drive.

Sent the other reply and then realize I didn't expand on this topic
sufficiently....sorry about that. :-)

What I am referring to is a system that has more than one hard drive
installed AND more than one hard drive is bootable; therefore, upon
booting up the system, a choice of which hard drive to boot (via the
BIOS) is available (basically a form of a boot manager). Some systems
BIOS's allow the addition/subtraction of boot-devices (in this case hard
drives)into lists of "use this device as a boot device" or "don't use
this device as a boot device" which is a bit more flexible than just the
more common sequential "floppy, then CD-ROM, then Hard Drive" sequence. :-)

M Skabialka wrote:
"propman" wrote in message

If your BIOS supports it....remove the problem drive's name from the list
of "bootable" devices.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. If I have no HDD listed as a boot
device, what does this accomplish? Right now I have floppy, then CD-ROM,
then Hard Drive.

Sent the other reply and then realize I didn't expand on this topic
sufficiently....sorry about that. :-)

What I am referring to is a system that has more than one hard drive
installed AND more than one hard drive is bootable; therefore, upon
booting up the system, a choice of which hard drive to boot (via the
BIOS) is available (basically a form of a boot manager). Some systems
BIOS's allow the addition/subtraction of boot-devices (in this case hard
drives)into lists of "use this device as a boot device" or "don't use
this device as a boot device" which is a bit more flexible than just the
more common sequential "floppy, then CD-ROM, then Hard Drive" sequence. :-)

I did reread all of the Op's previous posts, as you implied I had not,
before I made my last post and I was confused by some of the content which
is why I asked the OP to clarify what I thought was a detailed description
of the events that have occurred.
I suggest that if you have any meaningful suggestions to help the OP that
you suggest them instead of criticizing those of us who are trying to help
but are not sure of the details.

"propman" wrote in message
...
He's already posted all this information in previous messages...if you
really want to help the OP, suggest you read all back messages to catch-up
on topic. :-)


Curious wrote:
Do I understand correctly that you have a computer with only one hard
drive installed and it was working fine unstill you "added some other
hardware" to the system and that you have not been able to even to do a
F8 safe mode boot since even after you removed the "other hardware"?
However, you do get to the F8 screen and then even safe mode fail.
What was the "other hardware" you installed and now have removed?

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I cannot get any computer to which this drive is attached to boot at
all! They always crash. Therefore I cannot run chkdsk! This is the
reason for my initial post!

"Curious" wrote in message
...
Go to My Computer/right click on the drive/ select properties/ the
select tools/ then select check disk

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I not only removed the AGP video card - I took it back to the store
and got my money back. I tried with the other AGP card, and the
onboard video. The drive still crashes this or any other machine.
I cannot get to a prompt to run chkdsk by any method I can think of.

"Curious" wrote in message
...
If you remove the all of the "added hardware" you referred to can you
get back to booting your system with just it's original drive? If
yes you might try running checkdisk on the working system

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I have tried booting from the drive, booting a machine with this
drive as the slave, and booting a machine and then connecting this
through USB. In all cases the computer crashes.
F8 booting in safe mode crashes.
Booting from the OS CD and choosing repair crashes.

I did reread all of the Op's previous posts, as you implied I had not,
before I made my last post and I was confused by some of the content which
is why I asked the OP to clarify what I thought was a detailed description
of the events that have occurred.
I suggest that if you have any meaningful suggestions to help the OP that
you suggest them instead of criticizing those of us who are trying to help
but are not sure of the details.

"propman" wrote in message
...
He's already posted all this information in previous messages...if you
really want to help the OP, suggest you read all back messages to catch-up
on topic. :-)


Curious wrote:
Do I understand correctly that you have a computer with only one hard
drive installed and it was working fine unstill you "added some other
hardware" to the system and that you have not been able to even to do a
F8 safe mode boot since even after you removed the "other hardware"?
However, you do get to the F8 screen and then even safe mode fail.
What was the "other hardware" you installed and now have removed?

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I cannot get any computer to which this drive is attached to boot at
all! They always crash. Therefore I cannot run chkdsk! This is the
reason for my initial post!

"Curious" wrote in message
...
Go to My Computer/right click on the drive/ select properties/ the
select tools/ then select check disk

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I not only removed the AGP video card - I took it back to the store
and got my money back. I tried with the other AGP card, and the
onboard video. The drive still crashes this or any other machine.
I cannot get to a prompt to run chkdsk by any method I can think of.

"Curious" wrote in message
...
If you remove the all of the "added hardware" you referred to can you
get back to booting your system with just it's original drive? If
yes you might try running checkdisk on the working system

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I have tried booting from the drive, booting a machine with this
drive as the slave, and booting a machine and then connecting this
through USB. In all cases the computer crashes.
F8 booting in safe mode crashes.
Booting from the OS CD and choosing repair crashes.

Propman,
I have now read some of your other posts and realize that you like me are
trying to understand exactly what steps the OP has taken to resolve the
problem and to offer suggestions on how to.

"Curious" wrote in message
...
I did reread all of the Op's previous posts, as you implied I had not,
before I made my last post and I was confused by some of the content which
is why I asked the OP to clarify what I thought was a detailed description
of the events that have occurred.
I suggest that if you have any meaningful suggestions to help the OP that
you suggest them instead of criticizing those of us who are trying to
help but are not sure of the details.

"propman" wrote in message
...
He's already posted all this information in previous messages...if you
really want to help the OP, suggest you read all back messages to
catch-up on topic. :-)


Curious wrote:
Do I understand correctly that you have a computer with only one hard
drive installed and it was working fine unstill you "added some other
hardware" to the system and that you have not been able to even to do a
F8 safe mode boot since even after you removed the "other hardware"?
However, you do get to the F8 screen and then even safe mode fail.
What was the "other hardware" you installed and now have removed?

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I cannot get any computer to which this drive is attached to boot at
all! They always crash. Therefore I cannot run chkdsk! This is the
reason for my initial post!

"Curious" wrote in message
...
Go to My Computer/right click on the drive/ select properties/ the
select tools/ then select check disk

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I not only removed the AGP video card - I took it back to the store
and got my money back. I tried with the other AGP card, and the
onboard video. The drive still crashes this or any other machine.
I cannot get to a prompt to run chkdsk by any method I can think of.

"Curious" wrote in message
...
If you remove the all of the "added hardware" you referred to can
you get back to booting your system with just it's original drive?
If yes you might try running checkdisk on the working system

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I have tried booting from the drive, booting a machine with this
drive as the slave, and booting a machine and then connecting this
through USB. In all cases the computer crashes.
F8 booting in safe mode crashes.
Booting from the OS CD and choosing repair crashes.

Propman,
I have now read some of your other posts and realize that you like me are
trying to understand exactly what steps the OP has taken to resolve the
problem and to offer suggestions on how to.

"Curious" wrote in message
...
I did reread all of the Op's previous posts, as you implied I had not,
before I made my last post and I was confused by some of the content which
is why I asked the OP to clarify what I thought was a detailed description
of the events that have occurred.
I suggest that if you have any meaningful suggestions to help the OP that
you suggest them instead of criticizing those of us who are trying to
help but are not sure of the details.

"propman" wrote in message
...
He's already posted all this information in previous messages...if you
really want to help the OP, suggest you read all back messages to
catch-up on topic. :-)


Curious wrote:
Do I understand correctly that you have a computer with only one hard
drive installed and it was working fine unstill you "added some other
hardware" to the system and that you have not been able to even to do a
F8 safe mode boot since even after you removed the "other hardware"?
However, you do get to the F8 screen and then even safe mode fail.
What was the "other hardware" you installed and now have removed?

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I cannot get any computer to which this drive is attached to boot at
all! They always crash. Therefore I cannot run chkdsk! This is the
reason for my initial post!

"Curious" wrote in message
...
Go to My Computer/right click on the drive/ select properties/ the
select tools/ then select check disk

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I not only removed the AGP video card - I took it back to the store
and got my money back. I tried with the other AGP card, and the
onboard video. The drive still crashes this or any other machine.
I cannot get to a prompt to run chkdsk by any method I can think of.

"Curious" wrote in message
...
If you remove the all of the "added hardware" you referred to can
you get back to booting your system with just it's original drive?
If yes you might try running checkdisk on the working system

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I have tried booting from the drive, booting a machine with this
drive as the slave, and booting a machine and then connecting this
through USB. In all cases the computer crashes.
F8 booting in safe mode crashes.
Booting from the OS CD and choosing repair crashes.

I gave up. The OP got me so confused!

--


Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Curious wrote:
Propman,
I have now read some of your other posts and realize that you like me
are trying to understand exactly what steps the OP has taken to
resolve the problem and to offer suggestions on how to.

"Curious" wrote in message
...
I did reread all of the Op's previous posts, as you implied I had
not, before I made my last post and I was confused by some of the
content which is why I asked the OP to clarify what I thought was a
detailed description of the events that have occurred.
I suggest that if you have any meaningful suggestions to help the OP
that you suggest them instead of criticizing those of us who are
trying to help but are not sure of the details.

"propman" wrote in message
...
He's already posted all this information in previous messages...if
you really want to help the OP, suggest you read all back messages
to catch-up on topic. :-)


Curious wrote:
Do I understand correctly that you have a computer with only one
hard drive installed and it was working fine unstill you "added
some other hardware" to the system and that you have not been able
to even to do a F8 safe mode boot since even after you removed the
"other hardware"? However, you do get to the F8 screen and then
even safe mode fail. What was the "other hardware" you installed
and now have removed?

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I cannot get any computer to which this drive is attached to boot
at all! They always crash. Therefore I cannot run chkdsk! This
is the reason for my initial post!

"Curious" wrote in message
...
Go to My Computer/right click on the drive/ select properties/
the select tools/ then select check disk

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I not only removed the AGP video card - I took it back to the
store and got my money back. I tried with the other AGP card,
and the onboard video. The drive still crashes this or any
other machine. I cannot get to a prompt to run chkdsk by any
method I can think of.

"Curious" wrote in message
...
If you remove the all of the "added hardware" you referred to
can you get back to booting your system with just it's
original drive? If yes you might try running checkdisk on the
working system

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I have tried booting from the drive, booting a machine with
this drive as the slave, and booting a machine and then
connecting this through USB. In all cases the computer
crashes.
F8 booting in safe mode crashes.
Booting from the OS CD and choosing repair crashes.

I gave up. The OP got me so confused!

--


Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Curious wrote:
Propman,
I have now read some of your other posts and realize that you like me
are trying to understand exactly what steps the OP has taken to
resolve the problem and to offer suggestions on how to.

"Curious" wrote in message
...
I did reread all of the Op's previous posts, as you implied I had
not, before I made my last post and I was confused by some of the
content which is why I asked the OP to clarify what I thought was a
detailed description of the events that have occurred.
I suggest that if you have any meaningful suggestions to help the OP
that you suggest them instead of criticizing those of us who are
trying to help but are not sure of the details.

"propman" wrote in message
...
He's already posted all this information in previous messages...if
you really want to help the OP, suggest you read all back messages
to catch-up on topic. :-)


Curious wrote:
Do I understand correctly that you have a computer with only one
hard drive installed and it was working fine unstill you "added
some other hardware" to the system and that you have not been able
to even to do a F8 safe mode boot since even after you removed the
"other hardware"? However, you do get to the F8 screen and then
even safe mode fail. What was the "other hardware" you installed
and now have removed?

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I cannot get any computer to which this drive is attached to boot
at all! They always crash. Therefore I cannot run chkdsk! This
is the reason for my initial post!

"Curious" wrote in message
...
Go to My Computer/right click on the drive/ select properties/
the select tools/ then select check disk

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I not only removed the AGP video card - I took it back to the
store and got my money back. I tried with the other AGP card,
and the onboard video. The drive still crashes this or any
other machine. I cannot get to a prompt to run chkdsk by any
method I can think of.

"Curious" wrote in message
...
If you remove the all of the "added hardware" you referred to
can you get back to booting your system with just it's
original drive? If yes you might try running checkdisk on the
working system

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I have tried booting from the drive, booting a machine with
this drive as the slave, and booting a machine and then
connecting this through USB. In all cases the computer
crashes.
F8 booting in safe mode crashes.
Booting from the OS CD and choosing repair crashes.

M Skabialka wrote:
I ran the long diagnostics - says the drive is OK.
I looked at http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ - it doesn't list any utilities
for repairing the ntfs.sys file - the NTFS reader wasn't any help - I tried
that already.
Salvation seems to be for DOS, therefore FAT systems.


The following is the UBCD version you should try (not the one you have
listed above):

http://ubcd4win.com/

quote on

UBCD4Win includes network support and allows you the ability to modify
NTFS volumes, recover deleted files, create new NTFS volumes, scan hard
drives for viruses, etc. Our download includes almost everything you
need to repair your system problems. This project has been put together
to be the ultimate recovery cd and not a replacement OS (Operating
System). Please visit the "List of Tools" page for a complete list of
what is included in the latest version of UBCD4Win.

quote off

M Skabialka wrote:
I ran the long diagnostics - says the drive is OK.
I looked at http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ - it doesn't list any utilities
for repairing the ntfs.sys file - the NTFS reader wasn't any help - I tried
that already.
Salvation seems to be for DOS, therefore FAT systems.


The following is the UBCD version you should try (not the one you have
listed above):

http://ubcd4win.com/

quote on

UBCD4Win includes network support and allows you the ability to modify
NTFS volumes, recover deleted files, create new NTFS volumes, scan hard
drives for viruses, etc. Our download includes almost everything you
need to repair your system problems. This project has been put together
to be the ultimate recovery cd and not a replacement OS (Operating
System). Please visit the "List of Tools" page for a complete list of
what is included in the latest version of UBCD4Win.

quote off

I tried this software with suspect drive in the machine and no other drives.
It recognized that there is a drive in there, tells me the size, says it is
a Windows NTFS disk, but uses a question mark for the drive letter, so that
when I tell it to checkdisk that drive it won't accept ? as a valid
selection, or any other letter of the alphabet.
So close - yet so far....

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I read the manual online, and will try this and post back my results.
Thanks for the info on this software
Mich

"propman" wrote in message
...
propman wrote:
M Skabialka wrote:
I ran the long diagnostics - says the drive is OK.
I looked at http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ - it doesn't list any
utilities for repairing the ntfs.sys file - the NTFS reader wasn't any
help - I tried that already.
Salvation seems to be for DOS, therefore FAT systems.

Might want to try this:

NTFS4DOS 1.9 (read/write NTFS from DOS)
http://www.free-av.com/en/tools/11/a..._personal.html

I've downloaded it and will be trying out later....please let us know of
your experiences with it. :-)



Update:

Tried NTFS4DOS on 80 Gig Vista Home Basic......the program recognizes the
hard drive, plus the main partition and the "hidden" recovery partition
(both NTFS). Unfortunately, when trying a "dir" on the main partition, a
"stack overflow" is generated requiring a hard reboot.

This problem "maybe" could be fixed by editing the config.sys and/or
autoexec.bat but I don't have the inclination to do so right now.

I tried this software with suspect drive in the machine and no other drives.
It recognized that there is a drive in there, tells me the size, says it is
a Windows NTFS disk, but uses a question mark for the drive letter, so that
when I tell it to checkdisk that drive it won't accept ? as a valid
selection, or any other letter of the alphabet.
So close - yet so far....

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I read the manual online, and will try this and post back my results.
Thanks for the info on this software
Mich

"propman" wrote in message
...
propman wrote:
M Skabialka wrote:
I ran the long diagnostics - says the drive is OK.
I looked at http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ - it doesn't list any
utilities for repairing the ntfs.sys file - the NTFS reader wasn't any
help - I tried that already.
Salvation seems to be for DOS, therefore FAT systems.

Might want to try this:

NTFS4DOS 1.9 (read/write NTFS from DOS)
http://www.free-av.com/en/tools/11/a..._personal.html

I've downloaded it and will be trying out later....please let us know of
your experiences with it. :-)



Update:

Tried NTFS4DOS on 80 Gig Vista Home Basic......the program recognizes the
hard drive, plus the main partition and the "hidden" recovery partition
(both NTFS). Unfortunately, when trying a "dir" on the main partition, a
"stack overflow" is generated requiring a hard reboot.

This problem "maybe" could be fixed by editing the config.sys and/or
autoexec.bat but I don't have the inclination to do so right now.

M Skabialka

Have you tried inserting the problem drive in a computer as a second or
slave drive.


--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
..

M Skabialka wrote:
I tried this software with suspect drive in the machine and no other
drives. It recognized that there is a drive in there, tells me the
size, says it is a Windows NTFS disk, but uses a question mark for
the drive letter, so that when I tell it to checkdisk that drive it
won't accept ? as a valid selection, or any other letter of the
alphabet. So close - yet so far....

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I read the manual online, and will try this and post back my results.
Thanks for the info on this software
Mich

"propman" wrote in message
...
propman wrote:
M Skabialka wrote:
I ran the long diagnostics - says the drive is OK.
I looked at http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ - it doesn't list any
utilities for repairing the ntfs.sys file - the NTFS reader
wasn't any help - I tried that already.
Salvation seems to be for DOS, therefore FAT systems.

Might want to try this:

NTFS4DOS 1.9 (read/write NTFS from DOS)
http://www.free-av.com/en/tools/11/a..._personal.html

I've downloaded it and will be trying out later....please let us
know of your experiences with it. :-)



Update:

Tried NTFS4DOS on 80 Gig Vista Home Basic......the program
recognizes the hard drive, plus the main partition and the "hidden"
recovery partition (both NTFS). Unfortunately, when trying a "dir"
on the main partition, a "stack overflow" is generated requiring a
hard reboot. This problem "maybe" could be fixed by editing the
config.sys and/or
autoexec.bat but I don't have the inclination to do so right now.

M Skabialka

Have you tried inserting the problem drive in a computer as a second or
slave drive.


--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
..

M Skabialka wrote:
I tried this software with suspect drive in the machine and no other
drives. It recognized that there is a drive in there, tells me the
size, says it is a Windows NTFS disk, but uses a question mark for
the drive letter, so that when I tell it to checkdisk that drive it
won't accept ? as a valid selection, or any other letter of the
alphabet. So close - yet so far....

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I read the manual online, and will try this and post back my results.
Thanks for the info on this software
Mich

"propman" wrote in message
...
propman wrote:
M Skabialka wrote:
I ran the long diagnostics - says the drive is OK.
I looked at http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ - it doesn't list any
utilities for repairing the ntfs.sys file - the NTFS reader
wasn't any help - I tried that already.
Salvation seems to be for DOS, therefore FAT systems.

Might want to try this:

NTFS4DOS 1.9 (read/write NTFS from DOS)
http://www.free-av.com/en/tools/11/a..._personal.html

I've downloaded it and will be trying out later....please let us
know of your experiences with it. :-)



Update:

Tried NTFS4DOS on 80 Gig Vista Home Basic......the program
recognizes the hard drive, plus the main partition and the "hidden"
recovery partition (both NTFS). Unfortunately, when trying a "dir"
on the main partition, a "stack overflow" is generated requiring a
hard reboot. This problem "maybe" could be fixed by editing the
config.sys and/or
autoexec.bat but I don't have the inclination to do so right now.

Other parts of this posting show that I have tried this.

"Gerry" wrote in message
...
M Skabialka

Have you tried inserting the problem drive in a computer as a second or
slave drive.


--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.

M Skabialka wrote:
I tried this software with suspect drive in the machine and no other
drives. It recognized that there is a drive in there, tells me the
size, says it is a Windows NTFS disk, but uses a question mark for
the drive letter, so that when I tell it to checkdisk that drive it
won't accept ? as a valid selection, or any other letter of the
alphabet. So close - yet so far....

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
I read the manual online, and will try this and post back my results.
Thanks for the info on this software
Mich

"propman" wrote in message
...
propman wrote:
M Skabialka wrote:
I ran the long diagnostics - says the drive is OK.
I looked at http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ - it doesn't list any
utilities for repairing the ntfs.sys file - the NTFS reader
wasn't any help - I tried that already.
Salvation seems to be for DOS, therefore FAT systems.

Might want to try this:

NTFS4DOS 1.9 (read/write NTFS from DOS)
http://www.free-av.com/en/tools/11/a..._personal.html

I've downloaded it and will be trying out later....please let us
know of your experiences with it. :-)



Update:

Tried NTFS4DOS on 80 Gig Vista Home Basic......the program
recognizes the hard drive, plus the main partition and the "hidden"
recovery partition (both NTFS). Unfortunately, when trying a "dir"
on the main partition, a "stack overflow" is generated requiring a
hard reboot. This problem "maybe" could be fixed by editing the
config.sys and/or
autoexec.bat but I don't have the inclination to do so right now.