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HD Problem


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#1
catki86226

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Hi, I'm greatful for any help at all that you can give me.

My problem is very similiar to this one that's been posted.
http://66.102.7.104/...0F00:0244&hl=en

I have a Dell 8300 that's approximately 16 months old. I was playing a game, and since I had my virus protection turned off I went to reboot and got the Windows sign in screen. The three little blue dots that move across when windows is loading sort of stopped moving.

I tried to reboot-nothing
I tried a system restore-nothing
I ran the diagtnostic and got this

Error code: OFOO:0244
Msg Block 60813183
uncorrectable data error

SATA Disk S/N = WD WMAL91053484

I called dell tech support and they said it was the hard drive like the person above.

Is this unusual for a 16 month old 160GB had drive to just go? I'm the only one that uses this comp. I have virus prot/spyware prot, and I defrag once a week.

I'm wondering, well maybe it's wishful thinking but hoping maybe it's a problem with Windows like the person in the post?

I can get into all my documents,settings, etc, in safety mode.

I tried using the Windows reinstallation CD but when I put it in I'm taken to the screen saying I have an error and do I want to try safety mode.

I read your FAQ about changing the BIOs and mine are OK to read the CD.

When I go in the system in safety mode and click on the CD Drive I can get into the CD. It asks if I want to reinstall Windows (nothing about correcting errors) when I click that it says the windows on my system is a more current issue of windows than the one on the CD.

I guess what I'm asking, is there anything I can try before buying a new HD? Don't kill me, but I don't have a backup of my files (although I have lots of documents, etc copied on an external HD).

Thanks so much for any help you can give me.
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#2
austin_o

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Hi and welcome to Geeks to Go. You could try doing a repair of windows. See the guide at
http://www.geekstogo...ws-XP-t138.html
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#3
catki86226

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Thanks for your help Austin, it's very much appreciated.

I did try that but get an error message.I'll copy it and post the error message.


I'm afraid I made matters worse. I don't know if I should make a separate post or not or not.

I followed the suggestions in the link-

typed chkdsk /p hit enter

rebooted and apparently it was running a chkdisk and my computer just froze.

Now even when I go into safety, which I could before it starts the chkdisk again and freezes.

Is there a way to turn off or stop the chkdisk?

Help! :tazz:
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#4
austin_o

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Lets give it another try. You need to boot up from the windows install cd, then follow the procedure detailed in the guide. You may need to get into your bios to change the boot order to boot from cd first. One common access to the bios is to press the del key as the system first starts to boot. Your motherboard may be different. Check your system or motherboard documentation.
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#5
catki86226

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Thanks Austin. My computer is the only computer I have access to and I have to go to a neighbors house to check for replies to this post.

I changed the bios as you suggested.

This is what I did-

F12
Boot device Menu-#4 IDE CD-Rom Device

Windows setup

When I tried to run from the CD I got this message-

File mountmgr sys is corrupted.

----------
You know, a day before this happened, I got a warning that I had a PUP from McAfee saying a pup was found,

C:System Volume Information/_restore {B37680B2-BAOA-4ESD-BF3... is a potentially unwanted program.

I googled it and read that to get rid of it to disable system restore, restart and enable system restore again if I chose to.

I didn't have a chance to do that and can't do it now because I can't even get into my system in safety because checkdisk is frozen on my system.

Could that in any way be related?

Thanks for your help! If you have an opportunity to answer it might be a day before I can reply but I appreciate your input and will let you know either way whats going on.
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#6
austin_o

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Yea, it could be related. I found some interesting stuff in a google search. See
http://support.micro...kb;EN-US;234048
http://www.file.net/...untmgr.sys.html
You need to get the system booted to do any troubleshooting. Since you have a bootable cd, make sure you have the bios set correctly to boot from CD first, and give it a try. If you have a bootable antivirus CD, like Norton or McAfee try booting to that and doing some cleanup. My Norton System Works cd is bootable for disaster recovery. I suspect your McAfee cd would be as well.

You can check out the malware removal guide for other tools that will help you clean it up, see
http://www.geekstogo...?showtopic=2852 This enables folks to solve most problems on their own. If you still have trouble after that, post a hijack this log in the malware forum at
http://www.geekstogo...o-Here-f37.html

Edited by austin_o, 22 December 2005 - 07:44 AM.

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