Dadburn It, have to reformat at home

[BriBaby]

Gonna lose all my mp3's, the Jeff Beck video's I downloaded (thanks to Diamond Dust), pictures, etc. I guess it's some virus. I know, backup, backup, backup. What a bummer

[Bbach1]

Originally posted by BriBaby:

Gonna lose all my mp3's, the Jeff Beck video's I downloaded (thanks to Diamond Dust), pictures, etc. I guess it's some virus. I know, backup, backup, backup. What a bummer

I feel your pain. Been there, done that. Now I'm a backup fool.

[A String]

There are things you can do! For example, use a virus program or online virus check like Panda Scan to remove the virus, then insert your OS CD and reintsall the OS. You won't lose the info that way.

 

Or use a partion program (Like Partition Magic) to add a partition to your HD. Then move the stuff you want to save over to the other side and format the bad side.

 

Or add another HD and move the files over before you format.

 

There are a lot of things you can do. Losing the files should be a last resort.

[BriBaby]

A String said:

 

Or add another HD and move the files over before you format

 

Perfect idea!!! I should have saved the $40.00 I paid for phone "help" from HP and put it towards a new hard drive.

 

Thanks!

[A String]

Originally posted by BriBaby:

A String said:

 

Or add another HD and move the files over before you format

 

Perfect idea!!! I should have saved the $40.00 I paid for phone "help" from HP and put it towards a new hard drive.

 

Thanks!

I didn't mean to offend. If I can offer you any help with this matter, let me know. Like I said, there are options. If you want to, you can leave a full discription of your problem here and I can give you some suggestions.

 

The HP guys are putzs. I bought an HP Pavillion from them 7 years ago. Everytime something went wrong, I would call them. After some debating, the end result was always,

"I don't know...You'll have to format and use your recovery CD."

 

Bastards. Since then, I have learned how to take care of all of these problems myself and 99% of the ones they had me format for, were fixable. The solution wasn't instantly obvious so they took the easiest route for them.

[cosmo115]

Originally posted by A String:

Originally posted by BriBaby:

A String said:

 

Or add another HD and move the files over before you format

 

Perfect idea!!! I should have saved the $40.00 I paid for phone "help" from HP and put it towards a new hard drive.

 

Thanks!

I didn't mean to offend. If I can offer you any help with this matter, let me know. Like I said, there are options. If you want to, you can leave a full discription of your problem here and I can give you some suggestions.

 

The HP guys are putzs. I bought an HP Pavillion from them 7 years ago. Everytime something went wrong, I would call them. After some debating, the end result was always,

"I don't know...You'll have to format and use your recovery CD."

 

Bastards. Since then, I have learned how to take care of all of these problems myself and 99% of the ones they had me format for, were fixable. The solution wasn't instantly obvious so they took the easiest route for them.

I don't think you offended him at all A. It appeared that he was very appreciative of your advice and he wishes he came to you before he paid the $40 for useless help.

 

FYI the boss (aka my wife) just called and said "the computer has a message that windows delayed write failed - data has been

lost the computer also is making a moaning sound". Any thoughts?

[Funk Jazz]

Originally posted by cosmo115:

"the computer has a message that windows delayed write failed - data has been

lost the computer also is making a moaning sound". Any thoughts?

yikes. that doesn't sound good

 

how old is your hard drive?

[A String]

Cosmo:

 

What OS are you using? If it's win98, restart in DOS and type "scandisk" without the quotes. Let it do a surface scan. (This will take a few hours depending on the size of your HD.)

 

If you are running Winxp, click on the "Start" button (Lower left corner) and click on "Run". In the box type "chkdsk" without the quotes. Once again, let it run a full surface scan.

 

If you are having HD issues, this will be one of the first places it will show up. If the scan finds a bad sector, it will mark it as bad and move stuff over to a new block. This is only a temporary fix. If scandisk finds bad sectors, HD failure is imminent! Back up immediately!

 

Let me know what the results of the scan are.

[cosmo115]

Originally posted by A String:

Cosmo:

 

What OS are you using? If it's win98, restart in DOS and type "scandisk" without the quotes. Let it do a surface scan. (This will take a few hours depending on the size of your HD.)

 

If you are running Winxp, click on the "Start" button (Lower left corner) and click on "Run". In the box type "chkdsk" without the quotes. Once again, let it run a full surface scan.

 

If you are having HD issues, this will be one of the first places it will show up. If the scan finds a bad sector, it will mark it as bad and move stuff over to a new block. This is only a temporary fix. If scandisk finds bad sectors, HD failure is imminent! Back up immediately!

 

Let me know what the results of the scan are.

Thanks A!!! FYI I have XP Professional. Since I'm not home and the boss doesn't have the patience to wait for the Scandisk, I'll check when I get home.

 

FunkJazz, in answer to your question the hard drive is about 8 months old.

 

Come to think of it, if you don't mind me borrowing your computer expert ear, A String, please let me know your thoughts about this.

 

I purchased this Gateway a little over 3 years ago and I purchased it through small business rather than personal, just so I get a "free" 3 year warranty. It came with a 40GB HD. About a year or so later the HD crashed and burned and Gateway replaced it with a 60GB HD (bonus for me). About a year after that the 60GB HD crashed and burned and Gateway replaced it with an 80GB HD (super bonus for me). Then about 6 months after that (a couple months before the warranty expired) the 80GB HD crashed and burned and this time Gateway sent me a 40GB (rat dogs!!! but I have a 120GB second HD so I wasn't that upset). Now as you can tell, it appears that we might have another HD problem. BTW, the boss has been e-mailing me all morning, so it seems like its working for now at least. http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/23/23_29_107v.gif

 

Prior to the warranty expiring, Gateway was "shockingly" clueless as to why my HDs were dying like flies and I think I have an idea (which I mentioned to Gateway, but they still had no clue), but I wanted to get your opinion.

 

I think the problem might be that we basically keep the computer on 24 hours a day (unless we go on vacation). We don't use it 24 hours a day (FYI I'm normally at work), but the boss likes to keep it on for convenience of not having to go through the normal start up of the computer etc. when she wants to check her e-mail or she gets the urge to look for something on-line.

 

Could this possibly be the problem?? The reason I say possibly is because we have Tivo (the greatest invention known to mankind) and that has a HD that runs 24/7 and seems to work harder than our computer HD and we've had Tivo for over 2 years without a problem http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/15/15_10_2.gif (FYI he's knocking wood)

 

Please let me know your thoughts.

 

If you stayed awake this long, THANK YOU!!!

[Funk Jazz]

if you don't mind me butting in here: when you do shut down the computer, do you go through the microshaft process? i mean: start/shutdown/etc?

 

that process is critical for lifting the hard drive reader off of the cylinder and extending the life of your hard drive. if you are just powering off the needle is still on the cylinder and can cause bad sectors.

 

just food for thought. this kills a lot of hard drives, because people don't think they need to shut down their 'puters.

[cosmo115]

Originally posted by FunkJazz:

if you don't mind me butting in here: when you do shut down the computer, do you go through the microshaft process? i mean: start/shutdown/etc?

 

that process is critical for lifting the hard drive reader off of the cylinder and extending the life of your hard drive. if you are just powering off the needle is still on the cylinder and can cause bad sectors.

 

just food for thought. this kills a lot of hard drives, because people don't think they need to shut down their 'puters.

Thanks, FunkJazz. We shut it down using the "normal" MS shutdown process, but the problem is we only do it when we go away.

 

BTW, please feel free to butt in anytime you'd like.

 

P.S. Did you just change your name from "funk jazz"?

[A String]

There are several issues that can cause this problem (Isn't there always!). One of the first ones that comes to mind is the one that Funk Jazz mentioned. (Remember that a computer crash or freeze where you need to shut down with the reset or power switch is the same thing as a bad power down. As he mentioned, this can cause bad sectors on your HD.)

 

Has there been any other problems? Bad ram is one of the biggest culprits for causing computer trouble. Also, do you know what Wattage your power source is? Sometimes an inadequate power supply will cause components to burn out. Another thing to consider would be the IDE slot on the mother board. How many things are plugged into the one slot? Are there two drives on the one slot? if so, has the other drive been having problems as well?

 

Go through some of this info and let me know every piece of info you can think of however relevant you think it is.

[BriBaby]

Originally posted by A String:

Originally posted by BriBaby:

A String said:

 

Or add another HD and move the files over before you format

 

Perfect idea!!! I should have saved the $40.00 I paid for phone "help" from HP and put it towards a new hard drive.

 

Thanks!

I didn't mean to offend. If I can offer you any help with this matter, let me know. Like I said, there are options. If you want to, you can leave a full discription of your problem here and I can give you some suggestions.

 

The HP guys are putzs. I bought an HP Pavillion from them 7 years ago. Everytime something went wrong, I would call them. After some debating, the end result was always,

"I don't know...You'll have to format and use your recovery CD."

 

Bastards. Since then, I have learned how to take care of all of these problems myself and 99% of the ones they had me format for, were fixable. The solution wasn't instantly obvious so they took the easiest route for them.

Checking back in here at work. I was not being sarcastic at all, I REALLY wish I had had that idea before I wasted the $$ to the tech line. I agree, this is the 3rd time they have told me to reformat, I am getting sick of it. It probably is not a virus at all, but I figure I can use the extra storage space, so for now the 2nd hard drive seems like the way to go.

[A String]

Originally posted by BriBaby:

Originally posted by A String:

Originally posted by BriBaby:

A String said:

 

Or add another HD and move the files over before you format

 

Perfect idea!!! I should have saved the $40.00 I paid for phone "help" from HP and put it towards a new hard drive.

 

Thanks!

I didn't mean to offend. If I can offer you any help with this matter, let me know. Like I said, there are options. If you want to, you can leave a full discription of your problem here and I can give you some suggestions.

 

The HP guys are putzs. I bought an HP Pavillion from them 7 years ago. Everytime something went wrong, I would call them. After some debating, the end result was always,

"I don't know...You'll have to format and use your recovery CD."

 

Bastards. Since then, I have learned how to take care of all of these problems myself and 99% of the ones they had me format for, were fixable. The solution wasn't instantly obvious so they took the easiest route for them.

Checking back in here at work. I was not being sarcastic at all, I REALLY wish I had had that idea before I wasted the $$ to the tech line. I agree, this is the 3rd time they have told me to reformat, I am getting sick of it. It probably is not a virus at all, but I figure I can use the extra storage space, so for now the 2nd hard drive seems like the way to go.

Don't forget to try a virus scan. The one I recomended is free and because it is online, it is up to date with all of the newest viruses. You can find it here:

Panda Scan

Be sure to keep us updated on your progress.

[BriBaby]

Thanks A,

 

I will keep y'all posted. Appreciate all the suggestions!

[BriBaby]

WOO HOO! I got a new 120 gig hard drive at Best Buy for $59.00 (after rebates), installed it and afeter some installation problems were ironed out, it works fine. I still have the other hard drive in my machine that I can get all my old files off of. Big lesson learned. BACK UP, and forget about calling HP tech help.

 

Thanks for your help and suggestions all!!

[Dak Lander]

Originally posted by A String:

Don't forget to try a virus scan. The one I recomended is free and because it is online, it is up to date with all of the newest viruses. You can find it here:

Panda Scan

Be sure to keep us updated on your progress.

NOTE! That online scan only works with IE4.0+.

[webe123]

Originally posted by BriBaby:

WOO HOO! I got a new 120 gig hard drive at Best Buy for $59.00 (after rebates), installed it and afeter some installation problems were ironed out, it works fine. I still have the other hard drive in my machine that I can get all my old files off of. Big lesson learned. BACK UP, and forget about calling HP tech help.

 

Thanks for your help and suggestions all!!

Yeah, it really pays to back up your stuff regularly. I am a complete beleiver in it. Every file I have and want to keep is either on CD or DVD recordable media. If I download anything from the net, it goes immideately to a CD or DVD. I try to think of it this way in the form of a question to myself....."If I shut down my computer and it refuses to come back up the next time I boot up, is everything saved I want to keep?"

 

Then if it is not, I make sure that I burn a CD or DVD depending on the size of the file or files I want to save. I don't know how many times I can tell you that this kind of backup has saved me hours of fustration trying to retrive files that I sometimes did not save to disk and wished I had.

[A String]

Two backup tips:

 

1. Ghost.

Get a DOS version of Ghost. (Or the DOS version included in the full version). Format your computer, install the OS. Upgrade everything and install all of the drivers. Clean temp folders and empty the trash. Now make a ghost image. Once saved, you can restore your entire system in about 10 minutes. Simply use a Win98 Startup disk. Restart with the disk in the drive. Run ghost from DOS. It will replace anything on the drive with the original setup you saved. (It's like your very own recovery CD!)

 

2. Rewritables.

Buy a rewritable CD. Each night, burn any stuff you acquired or created through the day onto it. Eventually, the disk will be full. Then you copy the contents onto a regular CD and erase the rewritable so you can start again.

[webe123]

Originally posted by A String:

[QB]Two backup tips:

 

1. Ghost.

Get a DOS version of Ghost. (Or the DOS version included in the full version). Format your computer, install the OS. Upgrade everything and install all of the drivers. Clean temp folders and empty the trash. Now make a ghost image. Once saved, you can restore your entire system in about 10 minutes. Simply use a Win98 Startup disk. Restart with the disk in the drive. Run ghost from DOS. It will replace anything on the drive with the original setup you saved. (It's like your very own recovery CD!)

QB]

I tried to make a "ghost image" before, but ended up screwing up my hard drive! (had to end up removing and replacing the partition and reformating) Exactly HOW do you do it on win xp pro?

[A String]

Originally posted by webe123:

Originally posted by A String:

[QB]Two backup tips:

 

1. Ghost.

Get a DOS version of Ghost. (Or the DOS version included in the full version). Format your computer, install the OS. Upgrade everything and install all of the drivers. Clean temp folders and empty the trash. Now make a ghost image. Once saved, you can restore your entire system in about 10 minutes. Simply use a Win98 Startup disk. Restart with the disk in the drive. Run ghost from DOS. It will replace anything on the drive with the original setup you saved. (It's like your very own recovery CD!)

QB]

I tried to make a "ghost image" before, but ended up screwing up my hard drive! (had to end up removing and replacing the partition and reformating) Exactly HOW do you do it on win xp pro?

What program were you using? The DOS version of Ghost does not tamper with your harddrive at all. If you run Ghost from DOS (Using a Win98 Startup Disk if you have WinXp) Simply load up to the A:

-Assuming your Ghost program is installed onto a second drive (D: for sake of example) type D: and hit enter

-then type CD GHOST and hit enter

-then type GHOST and hit enter

-Ghost will start up.

-To make a back up, choose "From Partition", then "To Image".

-Choose the D: and the Ghost folder. Name your ghost image (I usually use the date ie. Sept2104.)

-Save the image. You can save it with or without compression. If you compress, it will take up less room, but take longer to make and restore.

 

As for restoring, same process, but choose "From Image" and then "To Partition".

[webe123]

Originally posted by A String:

Originally posted by webe123:

Originally posted by A String:

[QB]Two backup tips:

 

1. Ghost.

Get a DOS version of Ghost. (Or the DOS version included in the full version). Format your computer, install the OS. Upgrade everything and install all of the drivers. Clean temp folders and empty the trash. Now make a ghost image. Once saved, you can restore your entire system in about 10 minutes. Simply use a Win98 Startup disk. Restart with the disk in the drive. Run ghost from DOS. It will replace anything on the drive with the original setup you saved. (It's like your very own recovery CD!)

QB]

I tried to make a "ghost image" before, but ended up screwing up my hard drive! (had to end up removing and replacing the partition and reformating) Exactly HOW do you do it on win xp pro?

What program were you using? The DOS version of Ghost does not tamper with your harddrive at all. If you run Ghost from DOS (Using a Win98 Startup Disk if you have WinXp) Simply load up to the A:

-Assuming your Ghost program is installed onto a second drive (D: for sake of example) type D: and hit enter

-then type CD GHOST and hit enter

-then type GHOST and hit enter

-Ghost will start up.

-To make a back up, choose "From Partition", then "To Image".

-Choose the D: and the Ghost folder. Name your ghost image (I usually use the date ie. Sept2104.)

-Save the image. You can save it with or without compression. If you compress, it will take up less room, but take longer to make and restore.

 

As for restoring, same process, but choose "From Image" and then "To Partition".

Well it was Norton Ghost, don't remember which version I had. But like I said, I did something very wrong. But I will try to use what you posted. Thanks.

[BlueZet]

Originally posted by A String:

There are things you can do! For example, use a virus program or online virus check like Panda Scan to remove the virus, then insert your OS CD and reintsall the OS. You won't lose the info that way.

 

Or use a partion program (Like Partition Magic) to add a partition to your HD. Then move the stuff you want to save over to the other side and format the bad side.

 

Or add another HD and move the files over before you format.

 

There are a lot of things you can do. Losing the files should be a last resort.

just make sure your OS is on a drive that is not NTFS or format will automatically go to the next partition - leaving the OS and wiping all the data you wanted to keep in the first place - I learnt this by experience!!!

[webe123]

Originally posted by badblues:

Originally posted by A String:

There are things you can do! For example, use a virus program or online virus check like Panda Scan to remove the virus, then insert your OS CD and reintsall the OS. You won't lose the info that way.

 

Or use a partion program (Like Partition Magic) to add a partition to your HD. Then move the stuff you want to save over to the other side and format the bad side.

 

Or add another HD and move the files over before you format.

 

There are a lot of things you can do. Losing the files should be a last resort.

just make sure your OS is on a drive that is not NTFS or format will automatically go to the next partition - leaving the OS and wiping all the data you wanted to keep in the first place - I learnt this by experience!!!

THAT could have been what made my hard drive mess up! I did not know that! So you can only use it on a FAT 32 file system?

[A String]

NTFS file systems are only available for use with Win2000, WinNT and WinXP. The Win98 startup disk will not recognize the NTFS file system. If you are using one of these, your best bet for formatting is to use the format option within the OS. Right click on the drive and in the drop down menu, you will see "Format". If you are using Win98 or Win98SE, you will have a Fat table which is Fat32. In this case, you can run the format option from the Startup disk.

[webe123]

Originally posted by A String:

NTFS file systems are only available for use with Win2000, WinNT and WinXP. The Win98 startup disk will not recognize the NTFS file system. If you are using one of these, your best bet for formatting is to use the format option within the OS. Right click on the drive and in the drop down menu, you will see "Format". If you are using Win98 or Win98SE, you will have a Fat table which is Fat32. In this case, you can run the format option from the Startup disk.

Well I have fat32 and use win xp, but as far as the format option you mentioned for NTFS.....that will only work on a secondary hard drive...not the one win xp is on (your c: drive) For that, you have to use the win xp disk to reformat and take off the win xp operating system.

[A String]

First off, I should mention that you absolutey can use NTFS with WinXp. During the install, it will ask you if you want to upgrade to NTFS or leave it on Fat32. NTFS is a far superior file system and I would highly recommend it. (Don't forget that converting the drive will effectively erase everything that is currently on it.

 

I suppose your problem wasn't with the NTFS file system. If you are still using the old Fat32 file system, then it should have worked fine with the format command. My guess is you have some other problems or possibly a virus.

[webe123]

Originally posted by A String:

First off, I should mention that you absolutey can use NTFS with WinXp. During the install, it will ask you if you want to upgrade to NTFS or leave it on Fat32. NTFS is a far superior file system and I would highly recommend it. (Don't forget that converting the drive will effectively erase everything that is currently on it.

 

I suppose your problem wasn't with the NTFS file system. If you are still using the old Fat32 file system, then it should have worked fine with the format command. My guess is you have some other problems or possibly a virus.

No.... what I was saying that if you have NTFS, you cannot reformat the hard drive that has the win xp operating system on it from WITHIN WINDOWS XP. You have to use the original win xp CD disk to do that. That was all I was saying about formatting the c: drive from win xp.

 

Now as far as the NTFS system....I tried it and hate it! Sorry, that is just me. I may be forced to use it if I ever get longhorn, but for now I am happy with FAT32.

[A String]

Originally posted by webe123:

Originally posted by A String:

First off, I should mention that you absolutey can use NTFS with WinXp. During the install, it will ask you if you want to upgrade to NTFS or leave it on Fat32. NTFS is a far superior file system and I would highly recommend it. (Don't forget that converting the drive will effectively erase everything that is currently on it.

 

I suppose your problem wasn't with the NTFS file system. If you are still using the old Fat32 file system, then it should have worked fine with the format command. My guess is you have some other problems or possibly a virus.

No.... what I was saying that if you have NTFS, you cannot reformat the hard drive that has the win xp operating system on it from WITHIN WINDOWS XP. You have to use the original win xp CD disk to do that. That was all I was saying about formatting the c: drive from win xp.

 

Now as far as the NTFS system....I tried it and hate it! Sorry, that is just me. I may be forced to use it if I ever get longhorn, but for now I am happy with FAT32.

My mistake. Sorry about that.

 

As far as the NTFS likes or dislikes, it seems strange to hate a file system. May I inquire as to your reasons? My reasons for preferring NTFS? NTFS is substantially faster then Fat32 and has much better error handling. I'd be interested in hearing the downsides incase there is anything I missed.

[webe123]

Originally posted by A String:

Originally posted by webe123:

Originally posted by A String:

First off, I should mention that you absolutey can use NTFS with WinXp. During the install, it will ask you if you want to upgrade to NTFS or leave it on Fat32. NTFS is a far superior file system and I would highly recommend it. (Don't forget that converting the drive will effectively erase everything that is currently on it.

 

I suppose your problem wasn't with the NTFS file system. If you are still using the old Fat32 file system, then it should have worked fine with the format command. My guess is you have some other problems or possibly a virus.

No.... what I was saying that if you have NTFS, you cannot reformat the hard drive that has the win xp operating system on it from WITHIN WINDOWS XP. You have to use the original win xp CD disk to do that. That was all I was saying about formatting the c: drive from win xp.

 

Now as far as the NTFS system....I tried it and hate it! Sorry, that is just me. I may be forced to use it if I ever get longhorn, but for now I am happy with FAT32.

My mistake. Sorry about that.

 

As far as the NTFS likes or dislikes, it seems strange to hate a file system. May I inquire as to your reasons? My reasons for preferring NTFS? NTFS is substantially faster then Fat32 and has much better error handling. I'd be interested in hearing the downsides incase there is anything I missed.

My reason? I can reformat easier with a win me or win 98 boot disk if I have FAT 32 installed, rather than trying to use the NTFS file system and use the win xp CD. ( I have reformatted with FAT 32 for years and am just used to it...I also reformat every few months...so it is a big issue with me, wheas it may not be a problem with someone else.) Also, when I was using NTFS it was at the same time I used a brand new westrern digital raptor (10,000 RPM) hard drive on my ASUS A7N8X motherboard and kept getting the win xp "bluescreen of death". I don't know if it was the hard drive, the file system, or even the memory I changed out later on....but it is working fantastic for me now, so I am not gonna mess with it until longhorn comes along and I have to switch over to it's file system.

 

I guess you could say, that for me, I am just used to using the FAT32 file system. It is stable, works great and all I ever had was problems when I tried the other file system. So I will probably stick with this until longhorn comes out.