| Original message ([an error occurred while processing this directive] Views )[an error occurred while processing this directive]
|
Replies:
|
| OmegaDog 1091th Post
 
Red Carpet Premium Member
    
    
    
|  "A completely-different problem, but..."
, posted Mon 16 Feb 04:01
... yeah, computer difficulties suck. On my end with my laptop, just last Thursday morning, one tiny block of my 30 GB hard drive out of 58 million went bad -- and that block happened to contain some essential Windows XP boot-up info, meaning I can't use WinXP right now. (I kept getting the Blue Screen of Death with the UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME message.) I also couldn't use my computer for that day, until a friend of mine was able to download and burn the latest distribution of Knoppix -- a version of it that boots and runs Linux (with GUI) entirely off of the disc drive.
It's just that one tiny bad block that's causing me grief (I ran diagnostics on the HD, and everything else is working fine). I think I might know how it's partially my fault too: my computer hasn't been able to shut down normally when I hibernate the comp with the USB2 PCMCIA card, then restore without it. I just waited until all processes seemed to be done to manually shut off my laptop. I'm guessing (though I'm not certain that) that time, the turning-off coincided with one final hard-drive access, screwing up the block in the process.
I'm still using Knoppix -- I haven't found a way to isolate the bad block and replace the file/info that was on it. I'm at least able to use my comp and the other 99.999% of my hard drive; I can play movies and music off it just fine (in fact, I'm listening to MP3s off of my HD right now). But, I can't write to the HD because Linux doesn't support the default file system that WinXP uses. (There are distros that have NTFS support so that I could write to it -- I'd need to have my friend download and burn another 700MB image file.) And, because the Knoppix CD needs to stay in the disc drive, watching DVDs and burning CDs aren't options for me right now.
I spent the entire weekend Googling for a solution, and absolutely nothing has worked. In the Recovery Console off the Windows XP Install CD, CHKDSK keeps telling me that the error is unrecoverable, no matter what switches I use. FIXBOOT and FIXMBR are of no help. And I unfortunately can't change files around right now, at least until that same friend can burn that other ISO for me where I'd be able to change files.
To resolve the problem, I'm tempted to go out and buy an external 30GB USB2 hard-drive, back everything up (I've already backed up essential documents), format the HD, and start clean. I'm really hoping a reliable drive is cheap...
"I must pay for my past sins... Let's fight!""I have no choice. You will lose!" | CCT: NEXT STAGE IS 16 |
|
| Undead Fred 1333th Post
Red Carpet Executive Member
  
| "Re(1):A completely-different problem, but..." , posted Mon 16 Feb 12:14
quote:
... yeah, computer difficulties suck. On my end with my laptop, just last Thursday morning, one tiny block of my 30 GB hard drive out of 58 million went bad -- and that block happened to contain some essential Windows XP boot-up info, meaning I can't use WinXP right now. (I kept getting the Blue Screen of Death with the UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME message.) I also couldn't use my computer for that day, until a friend of mine was able to download and burn the latest distribution of Knoppix -- a version of it that boots and runs Linux (with GUI) entirely off of the disc drive.
It's just that one tiny bad block that's causing me grief (I ran diagnostics on the HD, and everything else is working fine). I think I might know how it's partially my fault too: my computer hasn't been able to shut down normally when I hibernate the comp with the USB2 PCMCIA card, then restore without it. I just waited until all processes seemed to be done to manually shut off my laptop. I'm guessing (though I'm not certain that) that time, the turning-off coincided with one final hard-drive access, screwing up the block in the process.
I'm still using Knoppix -- I haven't found a way to isolate the bad block and replace the file/info that was on it. I'm at least able to use my comp and the other 99.999% of my hard drive; I can play movies and music off it just fine (in fact, I'm listening to MP3s off of my HD right now). But, I can't write to the HD because Linux doesn't support the default file system that WinXP uses. (There are distros that have NTFS support so that I could write to it -- I'd need to have my friend download and burn another 700MB image file.) And, because the Knoppix CD needs to stay in the disc drive, watching DVDs and burning CDs aren't options for me right now.
I spent the entire weekend Googling for a solution, and absolutely nothing has worked. In the Recovery Console off the Windows XP Install CD, CHKDSK keeps telling me that the error is unrecoverable, no matter what switches I use. FIXBOOT and FIXMBR are of no help. And I unfortunately can't change files around right now, at least until that same friend can burn that other ISO for me where I'd be able to change files.
To resolve the problem, I'm tempted to go out and buy an external 30GB USB2 hard-drive, back everything up (I've already backed up essential documents), format the HD, and start clean. I'm really hoping a reliable drive is cheap...
Man, I need a new HD.
I've had a catastrophic HD failure too a while back (while trying to finish a massive term paper, of course). Unfortunately, I had the disk I/O error problem, and lost the drive completely (I did have a bunch backed up since I had recently gotten a CD burner). But I know I've told this story several times, so I'll quit talking about it.
Anyway, I doubt this will work, but what happens when you boot up with your WinXP disk in the drive? Will it let you re-install Windows that way?
BLARGBLARG PLACE YOUR BETS!
|
| OmegaDog 1095th Post
Red Carpet Premium Member
| "Re(7):A completely-different problem, but..." , posted Tue 17 Feb 12:32:
With regards to the hard drive, I think I will have to resort to asking one of my friends to see if they have an extra 30 GB. Thing is, most of my friends (a) either have smaller hard drives than I've got for my laptop, or (b) don't have anywhere near 30 GB free. I've e-mailed other friends that might, though -- they have yet to get back to me about it (I only get to see them occasionally). In the meantime, I'm still using Knoppix boot-up CD, configuring it as much as I can, and saving the configs to my 64MB USB stick. And I'm still playing MP3s and such fine off the HD.
I would make the switch completely to Linux, but there are a hell of a lot of programs, games, and the like that are only available for Windows. I could try playing around with WINE to make those same programs work under Linux, though -- maybe with a next computer, if I decide to go Linux-only, I'll do that. (For those of you that use WINE to run Windows programs, what've been your average, best and worst experiences with it?)
For the near future, though, I'll definitely be playing around with this Knoppix disc after I can get Windows XP working again, though.
EDIT: Man... a three-hundred GB HD is now for consumers? I mean, I know a terabyte HD is available off somewhere for the megal33t, but still... shows how much I haven't been keeping up with more recent computing stuff.
"I must pay for my past sins... Let's fight!""I have no choice. You will lose!" | CCT: NEXT STAGE IS 16 |
[this message was edited by OmegaDog on Tue 17 Feb 12:46] |
| OmegaDog 1096th Post
Red Carpet Premium Member
| "Re(9):A completely-different problem, but..." , posted Tue 17 Feb 13:36:
quote:
Are you still having trouble with UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME error? I have gotten that error like 3 times before, but there is an easy solution to it. You need the Windows XP main disc, and just have it look for any errors and it will fix it. It may take more than one time, but it usually does the trick. If that doesn't work, I know there is a different method to fixing it, but I can't remember. The first time I fixed the problem I used the other method, but the 2nd two times, the disc works.
All the sites and forums off of Google that I've checked seem to refer to CHKDSK, FIXBOOT, and FIXMBR off of the Windows XP install disc's Recovery Console. I've tried those programs several times already, and they don't seem to do the trick.
I've tried CHKDSK /R -- that's the command you mentioned that's supposed to scan the disk, locate bad sectors, and then try to recover any readable info from them. I've run the program several times (the only switches are /P and /R, and I've even tried combinations of those, even though /R implies /P). Each time, the scan gets to a supposed 33% and then tells me the volume has "one or more unrecoverable problems."
When I run FIXBOOT, it initially doesn't recognize the filesystem of the hard drive, then recognizes it as NTFS and says it's written a new boot sector (after a split second of work). Doesn't help my situation any -- I still get the same problem. [When I run it a second time during a recovery console session, it recognizes again that it's NTFS, though, again, it doesn't really help. After rebooting and then running FIXBOOT again, it still goes through the process of not initially recognizing the file system.]
FIXMBR doesn't work either -- everytime I run it, no matter what programs I've run before it, it says that it doesn't recognize the partition table. After going through the warnings and having the program work (and it only seems to require a split second), it says that it has written a new master boot record, though I don't notice anything different -- same problem persists. I ran it several times. I even tried directing FIXMBR directly to the main partition of the HD where I was having problems (there's also a mini-partition where diagnostics programs are stored); when I booted up afterward, I was greeted with "Invalid Partition Table" instead of the WinXP logo and BSOD. I was able to restore it to its previous condition (WinXP logo then BSOD), by using FIXBOOT, though.
I've even run the programs in different orders, hoping one order somehow fixes it -- but it doesn't seem to do any benefit (thankfully, though, no harm either).
And through all this, the hard drive still seems to be working fine through Linux. I can access everything that I've tried accessing so far (documents, images, music, movies). And listening to MP3s for hours on end has been no problem at all. Also, when it reaches that little section of the hard drive when it hangs, the HD doesn't do any horrid sounds -- it actually does rhythmic-type, normal-sounding accesses.
Any other suggestions are definitely welcome. If it involves moving files around, I'll go see if I can get a Knoppix distro variant that supports writing to NTFS partitions.
[Also, reinstalling WinXP would go through the format process first. Especially since it only seems to recognize that 1MB of my HD is used, when it's actually about 98% used. ]
"I must pay for my past sins... Let's fight!""I have no choice. You will lose!" | CCT: NEXT STAGE IS 16 |
[this message was edited by OmegaDog on Tue 17 Feb 13:48] |
| DarkZero 630th Post
Red Carpet Regular Member
| "Re(10):A completely-different problem, but..." , posted Tue 17 Feb 19:19
quote:
Any other suggestions are definitely welcome. If it involves moving files around, I'll go see if I can get a Knoppix distro variant that supports writing to NTFS partitions.
I'm usually the absolute last person to say something like this, because I think far too many people leap to the Final Decision whenever ANYONE has a technical problem, but it sounds like you've really gotten to the point where you should just get a copy of the new version of Knoppix, get a 30GB+ drive from someone, move the data over, and reformat your original drive. You've already gone farther in fixing this problem than 90% of the people in my MCSE class would or even could, and if you're not seeing results by now, then it's time to throw in the towel. I know it will be hard getting the disk and getting a drive that works for you, but it looks like it might be your only choice left.
There may be other solutions to your problem that could fix this, but honestly, I wouldn't even bother with them. Once you go beyond the Windows XP CD, you start gambling with your data every time you run a new program. It could fix your problem or it could just corrupt the hard drive even more and cause data loss.
|
| OmegaDog 1098th Post
Red Carpet Premium Member
| "Re(1):Omega Dog..." , posted Wed 18 Feb 12:05
I could take out the HDD and install it as a slave on another -- but since all the other information is fine, and I can access the other information perfectly under Linux, I don't think I'll need to remove the HDD from my laptop. If I'm going to connect to another computer to transfer the information, I think all I will need is a crossover cable. (In fact, that's what I did with another computer, while I had Linux, in order to share some anime music videos.) Then I'll just go through the processes of reformatting, repairing, and reinstalling.
And, thanks for the information on how the arrow of the HDD works (tu analogía de un tocadiscos de vinilo sí ayudó.). Ever since I've been using my father's old 8086, I've always used a "park" function before I turned off a computer -- it's just that, with this computer I have, I found myself in this situation where the shutdown procedure wouldn't complete (because of the removal of the USB2 PCMCIA card during hibernation). From now on, though, I think I'll leave that USB2 PCMCIA card in...
"I must pay for my past sins... Let's fight!""I have no choice. You will lose!" | CCT: NEXT STAGE IS 16 |
|
|
|
and find that truly good cup of coffee.
"Omega Dog..." 