Numerous problems

[shakru]

I built this computer and have never had any problems with it up until this point. I was editing the registry to stop AOL from starting all those annoying programs on startup. All I did was delete a few entries that had AOL in it. Also, I tried overclocking a little, but it wouldn't boot so I cleared CMOS and left it at default settings. Now, system takes over a minute to boot, used to be about 10 seconds, none of my games will run, they all ask to enter cd while it's in the drive. It won't retrieve my local settings and on logon gives about 4 files that are missing or unreadable and am told to run chkdsk. Finally, I can't download any files using Internet Explorer and computer is running unusually slow. (There's also 1,000 other small things not really worth mentioning, e.g. buttons won't show up in help and support center and system won't let me explore CDs.)

Here are the things I've tried to do to correct these: ran mcafee, no viruses, cleared CMOS, did nothing, impossible to run system restore, all I get is dialog box saying to restart, to no avail, won't let me reinstall windows because my disk is service pack 1a and I installed service pack 2, won't boot in safe mode and when I run chkdsk, all I get is "File record segment xxxxxx is unreadable". Is there anything else I can do besides reformatting my hard drive? I would really like to keep my data.

 

[Jump1ng]

Well its a good idea to never mess about with the registry unless you know exactly what you are doing.

There is a tool that will let you take backups of the registry in win2k/XP

http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/index.htm

use this in the future great tool!

Now to try and fix your machine. I would say the best option is to do a windows repair install as shown on this link

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

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Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.

 

[bcastner]

Use the instructions below to restore your registry to an earlier date:

http://www.digitalwebcast.com/2002/03_mar/tutorials/cw_boot_toot.htm

 

[shakru]

As stated in the problem, I am unable to download ANYTHING from the internet. I get that annoying red X dialog box that won't connect to server no matter where I try it. Although 2 days ago I could download anything. Also, I tried repairing XP but on startup I'm not given the option to boot from disc. I even tried holding down the enter key for the entire process and it did nothing.

 

[bcastner]

Have you changed your BIOS startup device order to list the CD Rom drive first?

 

[shakru]

I just thought of that when I was rebooting, can't believe I didn't think of it before. I was able to boot from the XP disc, but was unable to perform a repair installation because my hard drive is corrupt. What should I do now?

 

[bcastner]

Use Recovery Console and perform a chkdsk /r attempt at a repair.

If no joy, download from the Manufacturer of the hard drive their diagnostic/setup utility. It creates a bootable floppy. Boot from that and try their non-destructive repair utility.

 

[shakru]

Last time I tried to boot up it took about 6 minutes, I don't know if it will do it at all if I try again. The error messages telling me to run chkdsk are getting more frequent. A minute ago I tried to run a game demo, since my computer won't play any games on cds, and I got an error message saying it failed to initialize the video card!!! (FX 5700) Now my hard drive is constantly making that ominous clicking noise. The problem is getting worse by the minute. Could a deadly virus be eating through my hard drive? If the hard drive is corrupt I don't see how mcafee could have properly scanned it.

 

[shakru]

samsung had no diagnostic/setup utility on their site, only manuals and 1 useless program. I'm afraid to reboot because I might not make it back to windows. Are you sure chkdsk /r will repair a corrupted hard drive?

 

[bcastner]

No, I am not sure. But I am not sure what other choices you have. You could purchase something like "SpinRite" by Gibson Research.

 

[shakru]

seems like the program works, according to the testimonials, but for the same price I could get a brand new 160GB 7200RPM drive! I have an external drive en route so I'll just see what I can get off of it and then reformat.

 

[shakru]

I got the data I needed off of it, but now it cannot be formatted through the recovery console or Windows XP setup. It's already deleted all the data on it, but it won't reformat. I left it on for 24 hours and it was still at 0%. Is there anything I can do besides get a whole new hard drive?

 

[bcastner]

The hard drive is toast.
Purchase a new hard disk drive for the internal drive. You do not need anything huge if you are going to use an external 200 gig drive.

 

[aquias]

I've gotta agree with Bcast, I wouldn't trust the drive to not die on me or corrupt whatever data was stored on it.

If you're dead set against a new drive. Then you can get a 98 boot disk and attempt an fdisk and format c: /s from that diskette. It would be a last resort, but, again, I'd take the above advice and get a new drive.

 

[shakru]

Thanks so much for your help guys, but it seems my hard drive has given up the ghost. The BIOS won't even recognize it anymore. If I get an entirely new drive, will I be able to install XP on it with my old key or will I have to get a whole new copy?

 

[bcastner]

Likely the old key will work fine. If you do have to use the phone option it will be a no-hassle issue.

 

[shakru]

Awesome. Thanks everyone!

 

[bcastner]

I learned my lesson with S.M.A.R.T. enabled drives. When you get a warning at startup from the SMART system, backup the thing immediately. Do not turn the machine off until you complete a backup.

Drives roll-over and die that quickly when they go south.
You might never have the opportunity again to reboot and test the thing.