WinXP does disk check on start up, then repeats and repeats..

Pullo

Hi
So i have this little problem. The computer runs a disk check on start up to check the file system on C:
After this is done it restarts the computer and the same thing happens again and again and again. If i cancel it, it restarts and runs the disk check again anyway. I've tried starting with last known good configuration and safe mode but the same thing happens then too. It's XP Pro by the way.
Does anyone have any idea how to help? Do you need more information about the computer or anything?

CB

It does a disk check on start-up any time it was unable to complete the boot process the time before.

Likely one of your system files is corrupt for one reason or another.

I would recomend that the very first thing you do is slave that drive to another system (one with good virus protection) and get all the important stuff off of it, then put it back into the original; case and either run a repair install of windows, or just reformat and reinstall from scratch.

If someone else knows some less drastic measures please speak up, but AFAIK, this is the way to go once it's reached this point.

Pullo

Thanks for the advice. I'll wait and see if anyone has any other advice to give but i suppose i might have to do that. This computer should have good enough virus protection (F-Secure 2007) so i guess i could put it into this one. Do you believe if one of the system files is corrupt the most likely reason is a virus?

CB

Actually no, a virus would proly manifest differently, but there is a small chance that it is a virus, and if it is, it's better to be safe than to take the chance (small as it may be) of infecting a second working system with whatever has happened to this one.


Without more information, I would say that themost likely candidate is a bad block in the boot sector of an aging drive. You can really only count on a magnetic drive to remain free of bad blocks for about 3-4 years, and if one of those bad blocks occurs in your boot sector, or in the system files of the OS, then it would likely look like this.

After you move the important files off of the old drive, I would run a dick checking utility to find any possible bad blocks, and mark them off, so that the new install doesn't try to write to them... I do this before any new install anyway (especially on an older drive), just in case.

Pullo

I have a SATA hard drive in my computer so i couldn't put the problem one in mine since it's an IDE. I found an old IDE with Win 98 installed on it though and put it as master and the other as slave. Unfortunately as soon as i started the computer i hit loads of problems, blue screens and various error messages. I got it to start windows after a few restarts but i didn't do much until i got error messages again and had to restart. Also got a message about missing system files which were restored when it restarted though. But in the end the computer ****ed up every time i simply tried opening My computer, so i gave up on that now. I'm not sure what else to do now, don't know if i can be bothered really. I think i'll just tell my parents they can take it to some computer shop if they want it repaired.

CB

All a PC shop is gonna do is reformat the system. If you've already given up on keeping the data, you might as well just reformat the system yourself.

There is a reason just throwing the other drive in didn't work. XP sets itself up to match your hardware configuration, and a drive that works on one compination of parts, might not work to boot another system without a lot of reconfiguring, you really do need to slave this drive to a system that is already known to be working.

So, you could reformat this second drive as a master in the system (your parent's system?), then make sure it's working before putting the first drive in as a slave.

Alternatively, you could still plug it into the second system (your personal system?), even though your own HD is SATA... AFAIK, they haven't made a MoBo yet that doesn't have at least one IDE channel. Yours proly has your optical drives plugged into it. You can unplug one of your optical drives, and plug the HD into the now-open end of the IDE ribbon.

Pullo

Thanks again for the help. I will try doing as you said tomorrow. It's getting a bit late here now:) I really appreciate the help.

Pullo

I tried formating the other drive with win 98 on it and install xp on it, but during the first step of the installation when it copies system files to the hard drive there are a lot of files which can't be copied for some reason. I've tried with different XP CDs but the same thing happens. The hard drive is quite old though, maybe has about 4gb of space so maybe that could be a reason why it's not working. File system is FAT32. Any advice on this? Or should i just unplug the optical drive of my own system and plug the HD into the IDE of my system as you said in the 2nd alternative?

CB

Oh Geez, sorry. I would never have suggested that If I'd known it was only a 4g drive. That wont work...

Yeah, try to get it slaved to your other system. Don't forget to update your virus security first.

Pullo

No worries, i wasn't sure myself how large it was until i connected it as it was a few years ago it had been in use. I found a 40 gb though but i had the some problem with that one. It came from some company that wanted it completely erased so i thought i'd try it. It had 5mb of bad...something on it though. So it wasn't in the most perfect condition i suppose.
I'll try that next then, hope it'll work:)

Pullo

Hi, i've now gotten as far as to having copied all the important files to my system. Also did a virus scan but all it could find were files already put in quarantine by the anti-virus program on the other HD. I've now put it back in my parents' computer and tried to boot with the XP cd to enter setup and then doing a repair installation. But before i get that far i get a blue screen that tells me it has shut down windows to prevent damage to the computer. Should i instead try the recovery console or simply format the C: drive and install windows from scratch?

CB

I'm glad you managed to get the important files off, that was the critical part

Now you can just delete the partition information and start from scratch. If it still doesn't work, you may need to replace the drive, but at least you got your important information safe, and new drives are not very expensive.

Pullo

The most recent update: I started from scratch with the hard drive and tried installing windows, but had the same problem, couldn't copy some files...so i went to buy a new hard drive as they're not that expensive, got a 250gb one for 59€. Plugged it in, created a new partition, formatted it to NTFS and then the installation started...but then when i went to check on it, the same thing had happened, couldn't copy some files. And it's not because of the XP cd because i tried 3 different ones when i tried installing it on the old hard drive...Do you have any idea what the problem could be?

CB

Hmm... if it's not the HD, it's either the Optical Drive or the Mother Board. Can you tell me more about those two components?

Is this system a prefab?

Pullo

I was thinking it must be either one of those two as well. The system has been updated so many times that the only thing left from the original is the case and possibly the power supply.
The optical drive is a Samsung dvd master 16e sd 616 and the motherboard is...a bit trickier because i don't know where there is any documentation for it. But at least it's a Soltek mother board. If the BIOS String ID is of any help it's 10/16/2001-8363/A-686B-6A6LMSN9C-00. I couldn't find anything myself when searching for it though. It seems like the 10/16/2001 part of it can't be found on any site i've been to. Is there any other information you'd like to have?