[pb204]

So, either I did not understand your directions, or DISM still isn't working.  I tried DISM 4 times after 4 variations of saving the notepad lines. When I copied the lines to notepad and went to save them to my desktop, I had a choice to save as text or all files. I tried both. In the end it didn't seem to make a difference.  It showed mode (I think) as ANSI. I didn't change that. You didn't tell me that it was necessary to reboot, but for the third attempt, I tried DISM after a shutdown. Each of those times, when I clicked on dismfix.bat and ran as an administrator, the command prompt black window opened and closed so fast I could barely see it. When I ran DISM after each of those tries, it got to either 76% or 76.1% with the same error message as before. The 4th time, I tried copying the lines off directly off the Geekstogo blog, instead of off the email that I opened in Thunderbird and again replaced the dismfix and ran as admin. This time the command prompt black window stayed open a couple seconds before it closed and I could see it run down a few lines. But DISM only got to 75.5% with the same error code again.

 

Am I doing something wrong, or is it still the computer?

[Advertisements]

Download, Save, right click and run as admin.

[RKinner]

Download, Save, right click and run as admin.

[pb204]

Things don't seem to be improving much if at all. When I told you yesterday that I tried to run dismfix and dism 4 times, I failed to mention that all 4 times were in safe mode, because I was having trouble opening programs in normal mode. 

 

It seems that if my computer sits powered down for several hours, I am able to do one or 2 things in normal mode before it goes non responding.  So, after my computer had rested for a few hours, I downloaded the dismfix in normal mode and tried to run it as admin. It opened the command prompt and when it started to run it said windows update service could not be stopped. Next it showed something about Windows software distribution download old and that a duplicate name exists or file could not be found. At some point it said to try again later, and then shortly after, it shut itself down.

 

I tried to run dismfix again in normal and it appeared to get a little further.  I don't remember it saying "try again later", but it again said "windows update service could not be stopped" and about  the software distribution duplicate name or file not found. Then "intelligent transfer started successfully" and "cryptographic stopped successfully".  Then it stopped running and closed itself.  I thought 3rd time's a charm, but I could no longer open and run dismfix, even after restarting the computer a couple of times.  Some attempts I could open the icon and click on run as admin and then it was non-responsive and failed to open the command box, other times I could't even open the icon, just got a spinning blue ring.

 

I noticed that in normal mode, but not in safe mode, when I was able to open the dismfix, under the run as admin, there was an option to scan with Avast.  Is that of any use to me?

 

I shut down and started in normal again and ran DISM again and it got to 83.8% and gave a new error: 0x800f081f.  This was the first time I ran in normal, so I don't know if that was a change.

 

I then powered down and restarted in safe mode and tried dismfix.  The command window says this service cannot be started in safe mode and shuts down.  I tried DISM again and it got to 76% and the same prior error code.

 

 

 

Do you think we are going to be able to fix my problems? Is there any benefit in going back to a prior restore point?  It would be preferable to fix, but I do have original restore DVD's that I made when I bought the computer originally as windows 8. I guess Microsoft should recognize my system and allow me to upgrade to windows 10?  I think I have all my photos backed up on an external drive. It would be a lot of work to reinstall my programs and printer.  Would that be the ultimate fix or could that possibly not work?

 

What do we do now?

[RKinner]

You can certainly try a restore point.  Take the oldest one so you can go back as far as possible.  See if that helps.

 

See if you can get Speccy to work.

Get the free version of Speccy:

 

http://www.filehippo...download_speccy (Look in the upper right for the Download

Latest Version button  - Do NOT press the large Start Download button on the upper left!)  

Download, Save and Install it.  Tell it you do not need CCLEANER.    Run Speccy.  When it finishes (the little icon in the bottom left will stop moving), 

File, Save as Text File,  (to your desktop) note the name it gives. OK.  Open the file in notepad and delete the line that gives the serial number of your Operating System.  

(It will be near the top,  10-20  lines down.) Save the file.  Attach the file to your next post.  Attaching the log is the best option as it is too big for the forum.  Attaching is a multi step process.

 

First click on More Reply Options

Then scroll down to where you see

Choose File and click on it.  Point it at the file and hit Open.

Now click on Attach this file.

[pb204]

OK, I downloaded and ran SPECCY and ran it in safe mode.  I think I attached the file below. When I ran SPECCY, it said Graphics cannot be started in SafeMode.  I will try it in normal mode after I send this message.

 

Prior to downloading SPECCY, I tried to do a restore point.  I tried several times in normal mode, each time non responding in the control panel when I tried to open the system restore option. I  shut down and restart 2 or 3 times and no luck. In safe mode I did not have available the option to check how much hard drive was being used to store restore points.  I was able to select restore in safe mode. There were only 3 restore points, I selected the earliest 3/13/2017 which was a Windows Update. (the 2 subsequent ones wereinstalled digital coupon printer and a more recent Windows Update on 3/22/2017).  After several minutes of scanning the reply said System Restore did not complete successfully.  It failed when copying the registry from the restore point and gave unspecified error (0x80070017).

 

I will send this and try to run SPECCY in normal mode and send another message.

 

 PAT.txt   73.14KB   219 downloads 

[RKinner]

 

05

Attribute name Reallocated Sectors Count

Real value 524

Current 76

Worst 76

Threshold 5

Raw Value 000000020C

Status Good

...

Status Good

C4

Attribute name Reallocation Event Count

Real value 615

Current 75

Worst 75

Threshold 0

Raw Value 0000000267

Status Good

C5

Attribute name Current Pending Sector Count

Real value 600

Current 77

Worst 77

Threshold 0

Raw Value 0000000258

Status Good

 

 

 

 

Looks bad for your hard drive.  When a sector on a drive goes bad it compensates by moving the data that it can read to a spare sector on the drive.   Sometimes data does get lost when this happens.  Most drives have about 200 spare sectors tho some have more.  Yours claims it has already done that 524 times and still has 258 pending.  If the SMART info is correct your drive is about to fail.  Let's get a second opinion.

 

http://www.filehippo...nload_speedfan/

 

Download, save and Install it (Win 7 or Vista right click and Run As Admin.) then run it (Win 7 or Vista right click and Run As Admin.).

 

click on the S.M.A.R.T. tab.  Click on the down arrow to the right of the Hard Disk box.  Select your hard drive.  Click on Perform an In-depth Online Analysis of this hard disk.  Your browser will open.

 

At the bottom of the new page will be a line:  

 

The link to get back and see a new report about this hard disk in the future is this.

 

Right click on the underlined "this" and select Copy Link Address.  Move to a Reply and Paste (Ctrl + v).

 

Also Speccy shows a lot of connections from System Process.  Let's see if we can see what is going on:

 

Get Process Explorer

 

http://live.sysinter...com/procexp.exe

Save it to your desktop then run it (Vista or Win7+ - right click and Run As Administrator).  

 

View, Select Column, check Verified Signer, OK

Options, Verify Image Signatures

 

 

Click twice on the CPU column header  to sort things by CPU usage with the big hitters at the top.  

 

Wait a full minute then:

 

File, Save As, Save.  Note the file name.   Open the file  on your desktop and copy and paste the text to a reply.

 

[pb204]

Thanks for your reply, even though it is not good news.  Here is the copy of the Process Explorer data while in safe mode. Do I need to try it in normal mode too? Info about attempts to run Speed Fan is below the process explorer info:

 

Process    CPU    Private Bytes    Working Set    PID    Description    Company Name    Verified Signer
System Idle Process    98.41    0 K    4 K    0            
procexp64.exe    1.03    36,464 K    59,904 K    1020    Sysinternals Process Explorer    Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com    (Verified) Microsoft Corporation
firefox.exe    0.23    191,520 K    243,336 K    2820    Firefox    Mozilla Corporation    (Verified) Mozilla Corporation
dwm.exe    0.17    48,828 K    99,964 K    84    Desktop Window Manager    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows
System    0.06    148 K    7,640 K    4            
Interrupts    0.05    0 K    0 K    n/a    Hardware Interrupts and DPCs        
explorer.exe    0.02    51,664 K    130,324 K    652    Windows Explorer    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows
csrss.exe    0.01    1,520 K    6,688 K    592            
TabTip.exe    < 0.01    2,492 K    12,904 K    2764    Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows
services.exe    < 0.01    2,220 K    6,016 K    716            
svchost.exe    < 0.01    6,896 K    16,612 K    1120    Host Process for Windows Services    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows Publisher
WmiPrvSE.exe        1,924 K    8,400 K    3984    WMI Provider Host    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows
winlogon.exe        1,768 K    9,072 K    640    Windows Logon Application    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows
wininit.exe        1,004 K    5,256 K    580            
thunderbird.exe        167,920 K    202,232 K    3280    Thunderbird    Mozilla Corporation    (Verified) Mozilla Corporation
TabTip32.exe        1,208 K    4,828 K    3004    Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Helper    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows
svchost.exe        3,468 K    8,820 K    888    Host Process for Windows Services    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows Publisher
svchost.exe        5,636 K    20,008 K    820    Host Process for Windows Services    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows Publisher
svchost.exe        8,056 K    21,356 K    488    Host Process for Windows Services    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows Publisher
svchost.exe        8,304 K    13,556 K    368    Host Process for Windows Services    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows Publisher
svchost.exe        4,492 K    15,288 K    1144    Host Process for Windows Services    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows Publisher
svchost.exe        3,360 K    9,928 K    1048    Host Process for Windows Services    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows Publisher
svchost.exe        5,496 K    17,972 K    1532    Host Process for Windows Services    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows Publisher
svchost.exe        9,944 K    20,120 K    1112    Host Process for Windows Services    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows Publisher
svchost.exe        1,544 K    7,416 K    992    Host Process for Windows Services    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows Publisher
svchost.exe        1,088 K    5,460 K    1040    Host Process for Windows Services    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows Publisher
svchost.exe        1,560 K    7,024 K    1664    Host Process for Windows Services    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows Publisher
smss.exe        368 K    1,188 K    412            
sihost.exe        4,440 K    21,276 K    1520    Shell Infrastructure Host    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows
ShellExperienceHost.exe    Suspended    36,928 K    78,336 K    2008    Windows Shell Experience Host    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows
SearchUI.exe    Suspended    24,284 K    68,380 K    2280    Search and Cortana application    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows
RuntimeBroker.exe        3,544 K    19,444 K    2448    Runtime Broker    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows
lsass.exe        4,348 K    12,740 K    724    Local Security Authority Process    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows Publisher
HelpPane.exe        3,692 K    21,296 K    2976    Microsoft Help and Support    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows
dllhost.exe        4,832 K    12,580 K    2136    COM Surrogate    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows
ctfmon.exe        2,036 K    10,900 K    1184    CTF Loader    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows
csrss.exe        1,196 K    3,804 K    516            
ApplicationFrameHost.exe        4,320 K    18,600 K    3564    Application Frame Host    Microsoft Corporation    (Verified) Microsoft Windows

 

 

I installed SpeedFan from the File Hippo link you gave me prior to doing the process explorer. All of this was done in safe mode. It looked like Speed Fan installation was complete, but when I clicked on run as administrator, I got an error message "speedfan driver not installed. Is Speed Fan Service installed? OK."  So I tried to download again and install from FileHippo thinking something did not complete, but I got the same message. File Hippo said it was version 4.52 and in the list of prior versions it also listed 4.52, so I assume the one I used was the final version and the prior 4.52 was the beta version. There was something about possibly needing to reboot, so I tried that and got the same error message.  The Almico website also shows 4.52 as the latest version, but in their question and answer section there was a notation that some tools like Norton may interfere with the download.  Could Avast be interfering or the Windows firewall or does it not work in safe mode?

 

Additional questions:  I never had a hard drive fail on me to my knowledge, so I don't have any experience in this area. If my hard drive is indeed failing, can I buy a new internal hard drive like at Best Buy and install it? I found a YouTube video that shows me how to remove the back panel of my computer to access the hard drive and memory compartments. I haven't tried it yet.  Online reviews said that new internal hard drives do not include connecting cables.  Do I need some kind of new cables or can I use what is already there? Once I install a new hard drive, would I be able to use the recovery DVD's to reinstall Windows 8 and get a free upgrade to Windows 10 from Microsoft.  Or are the recovery DVD's specific to my original hard drive, and thus require me to buy new Windows 10 software?  Would these changes be compatible with my all in one touch screen?  If I had to resort to a new computer, I don't think I could use this screen as a monitor for a new computer.  Am I correct?

 

Thanks for helping.

 

 

[RKinner]

Speedfan's driver apparently can't load in Safe Mode.

 

Replacing the drive isn't that hard.  

 

 Short term back up everything you don't want to lose then buy a new drive preferably a Western Digital Black ( they really do seem to be better and last longer) 

Amazon has one that will work and give you some extra space and a boost in speed for about $75:

WD Black 1TB Performance Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6 Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD1003FZEX

or if money is tight go with a blue for about $50

WD Blue 1TB SATA 6 Gb/s 7200 RPM 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch Desktop Hard Drive (WD10EZEX)

or even the exact same drive

for $1 more:

Toshiba 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5 Internal Hard Drive (DT01ACA100)

 

and a USB to SATA adapter 

 

You have to get one that works with a 3.5" drive so it will need a power supply since I doubt your all-in-one has any spare power connectors.  Something like:

ORICO 6619US3-BK SuperSpeed USB 3.0 to SATA Hard Drive Docking Station for 2.5" and 3.5" HDD, SSD [8TB Support] for about $23 on Amazon (a bit of an overkill but I know these work)

or 

ORICO Toolfree USB 3.0 to SATA External Hard Disk Drive Enclosure Case for 3.5" SATA HDD and SSD[Support UASP and 8TB Drives] for $20

 

 

and clone the drive.  You can use the program from your new hard drive or even from Seagate or you can use one of the free ones:

 

http://www.techrepub...-cloning-tools/

 

 

 

Some of them require you to boot from a CD or USB drive (it's faster that way but others can clone from within windows.  Make sure that it says it knows how to work with GP/Win 10  (vs MBR).  I found out recently that not all cloning software can do GPT.   http://www.disk-part...-disk-1004.htmlsays AOMEI can do it.  http://www.backup-utility.com/disk-clone-software.html

 

You plug the new drive into the usb adapter and the adapter into your PC's USB jack.

 

I would let Windows Disk Management format the drive and make sure it's GPT.  Run the cloning software.  (Make sure you know the source drive is the old drive and the destination is the new.

 

Once the cloning software finishes you shut it down and swap out the old drive with the new.

 

Then boot and see where you are.  Perhaps DISM will run all of the way.  

[pb204]

Today I tried to open Speedfan in Normal Mode, neither right click nor left click opens it.  I just get the spinning blue ring and not even the error message like in Safe mode. I shut it down to prevent further damage. I am using a different computer to post this message

 

So, I'm not a computer geek and don't know how to read the reports I've been sending. I don't understand most of what I read online about sectors and partitions and how the hard drive works, but I can follow directions if they are written for the layman. From what you have read in the reports, do you think that getting a new hard drive and cloning the old one has a fair chance of making my pc workable again?  Or could there be additional problems?

 

I've never done cloning of the hard drive, but I'm willing to try if it is worth the effort.  Can you can keep this blog topic open till I get the drive and adapter and assist me if I have problems.  My main concerns are whether I can do the cloning operation in Safe Mode because Normal Mode is basically useless, and secondly, if I cloning from a damaged hard drive, will the cloned drive have damaged operational files that make it useless?

 

When I was recently copying about 2 years of my picture files to an external drive, I got messages 3 or 4 times that a picture was unable to be copied and I could skip that one.  Does the cloning process work similarly and flag any potentially damaged files?  Is DISM capable of repairing my problems if it runs on a new hard drive? You said that I apparently have damaged sectors and the computer was moving things to others.  Would they get move back where they belong on the new drive?

 

When you clone a hard drive, does Microsoft recognize it as the same computer and eligible for Windows 10 updates?  I see in the news that a major update is starting to roll out later this month.

 

Thanks for your help. Sorry if I am asking stupid questions. I need the Dummies edition of cloning hard drives.

[RKinner]

No problem keeping the topic open.  Unlike most of the people here I never close my topics.  

 

I don't know about safe mode and cloning programs but there are cloning programs that can be run from the CD/DVD drive that don't need windows.  I'll look for one.

 

Windows should not need to be reactivated after the cloning.  

 

Search for 

 

msconfig

 

hit Enter

 

This should open a new window.  Click on Diagnostic Startup

 

Then OK.  Reboot.  

 

Does it go into Regular mode now?

[pb204]

Last evening, I did a normal startup and tried to enter msconfig in the search box, but it goes non responding. (My desktop looks normal with the usual wallpaper and the beacon icon for wifi internet connection, but it doesn't respond or load programs normally). I can't even click to shut down or do "control alt delete" to stop a program from running. This is the way it has been lately.

 

So I powered down manually and go into safe mode with command prompt and figured out how to select diagnostic startup and rebooted. (Safe mode with internet has my regular desktop but a black background and I have to connect to the wifi manually. It indicates safe mode in small print)  I go back into normal mode and it still looks like normal mode. There is no print telling me that I am in diagnostic mode and the wifi beacon looks normal.  But I was now able to open Speedfan and run as admin, select my hard drive and run the SMART. It produced an analysis chart right below the selections,

 

Apparently the diagnostic mode blocks the internet connection because the report did not open in my browser and I got an alert: " an exception has been raised trying to post.  Can't resolve host name to IP addr. Please report to alfred @almico.com."  I tried to open Firefox and it doesn't show my yahoo tool bar or the browser window.  Microsoft edge would not open either.

 

So I wrote down some of the stuff in the report.  I guess it basically agrees with SPECCY.  I got a red warning circle indicator in front of Current Pending Sector Count  100 100 and RAW 000000000258. Green OKs for Raw read error, the 2 performance items, reallocated sector count, seek error rate, spin retry count and uncorrectable sector count and nothing in the first column of the other items.

 

I went ahead and ordered the WD black 1TB because of the better warranty and the adapter. They should arrive tomorrow (Monday).  I wanted to give you an idea of what is operable for me in Normal mode, Safe mode and Diagnostic mode, so you can help me find a suitable cloning program. 

 

Thanks again for the assistance.

[RKinner]

Did you get the new drive yet?

[pb204]

Yes, I did get the new WD black drive and have been trying to do a little research on the free cloning programs.  From the reviews I've read, it appears that the Aomei is the most user friendly and beginner oriented of the independent free cloning programs.  The Acronis WD edition may be even easier, but I don't think it offers on going auto backups.  Do you have an opinion as to which I should try?

 

In an earlier post, you made some mention about some cloning programs having the ability to boot from a CD or USB drive rather than from Windows.  Would that mean downloading the program and copying it to a CD/DVD or flash drive? Could I do that on our other computer, then run it on my dying computer off the CD or flash drive?  I haven't used my computer in a few days, but I assume the status is the same as when I last used it.  That is, I can only access the internet to download these programs in Safe Mode with internet. Diagnostic mode seems to block internet and Normal mode becomes non responding in almost everything, even the file explorer and search windows.  

 

If I can't use a CD or USB drive, should I try to download the cloning program in Safe mode and run it in Diagnostic Mode? Or can I run in the command prompt some way?

 

Next questions are about the formatting.  From what I read online and in the poorly translated from Chinese instructions on the ORICO hard drive dock, a new drive needs to be both partitioned and formatted.  I don't understand about selecting the partitioning volume size.  With a 1TB disk drive, do I go ahead and set the volume at 1TB?  Can I partition and format it on another computer or does it need to be done on the computer In which I will be installing it?  I'm just thinking ahead to how I will access Windows Disk Management on my dying computer.

 

Thanks for the help.

[RKinner]

Clonezilla has a good rep tho I've never used it and it can boot from a USB or CD.

 

http://clonezilla.or...ezilla-live.php

 

I've used AOMEI several times so it's an option if you can get it to work on the sick PC.  I have it on my PC now.

 

Did you try msconfig then

 

Go to Services tab and click on the box to hide Microsoft Services then uncheck

everything that remains unless it has to do with your networking.  Go to Startup tab and uncheck everything unless it has to do with your networking.  OK and

reboot.

 

If your second PC is a win 8 or 10 then it won't hurt to hook up the Orinco to it and let it look at the drive.  You have to make sure it uses GPT and not MBR when it sets up the drive.  If it accidentally get MBR (because you connected it to a Win 7)  then you have to use diskpart to change it to GPT:  

 

http://www.disk-part...t-gpt-4125.html

 

However, most cloning software will take a raw drive and make it into an exact copy of the source drive.  There isn't really a need to format or partition it beforehand.  That being said I like to connect up the drive and look at its SMART info (with Speccy or Speedfan) before going to the trouble of trying to clone.  If it turns out I got a bad drive I can just return it without wasting the time it takes to clone.  This process usually requires it be MBR or GPT and I've found that trying to clone a GPT drive onto an MBR drive doesn't work so you want to watch that.

[pb204]

This is the link to the Speedfan SMART info from plugging the new drive into the second computer.  At first it showed 100%, then it changed to 95%.  Is that still okay?

 

http://www.hddstatus...cation=AA081C6B

 

 

Now I'm going to see if I can download AOMEI to the sick computer.