PC freezes after some file in C:/ partition accessed

Greetings to everyone, this is my first post at this forum and i hope i will get help here.

My problems started two days ago, while using my PC as usual. I'm running on Windows XP pro SP2. My mouse and keyboard are PS/2. My simptoms were similar to these http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=215394&highlight=windows+xp+freeze+keyborard+mouse ,only my PC froze at welcome screen. I tried to fix problem in many ways(not necessarily in that sequence as you will read in next sentence). I cleaned my PC of dust(didn't help), tried reattaching periphery devices(didn't help), tried resetting bios by taking out battery(didn't help), tried different PS/2 mouse and keyboard(guess what, didn't help). Also i performed win installation repair, which is accessible after pressing F8, enter, R) using my windows cd(didn't solve my problem).
Then using the same win cd, in recovery console, i started chkdsk /r. Under minute it reached 50% then jumped to 75%, back to 50% and took a very long time to get to 75% and from there much faster to 100%. And that solved my problem(or as i thought). I experienced no problems till shutdown and approximately 6-8 after turning my on PC next day. And then it froze again.

I performed installation repair again, then chkdsk /r, fixboot, fixmbr.And from there my PC froze right after startup and loading desktop when i clicked mouse buttons or keyboard. Along the way i booted to safe mode numerous times and sometimes same problem occured there sometimes it didn't at all. [Side note: On the second day i noticed: all my system restore checkpoints vanished, i only had one from time when windows booted after performing chkdsk first time. ] After that i noticed that if i don't press keyboard, windows boots and is working like a charm. Using mouse and on screen keyboard i managed to scan pc with avz4, but no viruses or anything malware was found. From google i got the idea of performing clean boot( disable everything but microsoft services), but it didn't work.
And then i decuded that problem is most likely with partition C: (i also have D:/).Because when i tried to run registry scan with CCleaner everything froze at 44% and i had to reset PC, when i tried to run win disk defragmenter everything froze when it reached 85% in analyze (no problem analyzing D:/), when i tried to launch Auslogics boostspeed it froze when acquiring info about hdd formatting system(NFTS for me).

And then i ran out of options. I formatted C:/ and installed fresh windows.[Side note: While choosing partition to format i saw some strange 8MB of unpartitioned space, which i couldn't delete] Aaaaaand... didn't help. My PC kept freezing when accessing some point/part of C:/ i think. Every few times rebooting i get normal startup where i can open my browser and some programs, like right now when i'm typing this message using keyboard and mouse and no freezes. And this is third day of me having issued with freezing. Sometimes today i performed chkdsk c: /r — it starts from 25% very fast to 50%, jumps to 75%, back to 50% under minute to 75%, back to 50% and really slow to 73% and when about to change to 74%, jumps to 100% and finishes. So i did that plus fixboot, fixmbr but no positive result. Tried to right click on C:/ - Properties - Tools - Error check,mark both boxes, and then restart, but when it get to scanning HDD phase 1 goes well, phase 2 start get to 1 percent and PC freezes. The same happens when using Tweaking.com -windows repair tools tab 2( for error checking). I must say when win freezes red light on pc front panel is very bleak, turns on each second, unlike usual time when pc is running browser and Counter strike, for example, and red light seen for prolonged time,like when processor is loaded. Today i managed to register to this forum, search, read, download programs logs of which i will be attaching. I don't think this is problem with software because i'm running on fresh Windows and it still persists. But i ran TDSSkiller and it found zero of everything. I can't run OTL.exe because pc freezes. I downloaded from HDD manufacturer (WesternDigital) diagnostics tool, but it also causes complete halt after starting scan.

Almost forgot, i ruled out graphics driver( rolled back to old one, because installed newest like month ago). Also tried deleting keyboard driver via control panel - keyboard and then adding it by add new hardware).

Overall my guess is this has something to do with bad sectors on my HDD. And from here i'm going to need your guidance about my further actions.
Your ideas?

 

I think you are correct about it being a problem with the HD having bad sectors.

Two things you could try would be to get the WD DOS diagnotic tool which has to be burned to a blank CD. The file has to be written as an IMAGE file rather than data. Imgburn's "Write Image File to Disc" option would work. Then you boot from the CD to run the diagnostic. This would eliminate Windows being involved and having trouble accessing C:.

The other thought is when you did the fresh install, did you delete the C: partition, create a new one and then format to NTFS? That would be the scenario I would use. If you just formatted the existing C: it would not be quite as thorough.

The HD is probably going bad but it couldn't hurt to try either of the above.

 

Thank you for your reply.

I have already noticed it on manufacturer site and downloaded WD DOS diagnostics tool and ImgBurn, but i don't have blank CD and all the shops are closed at the moment.
Regarding your second thought, i must admit, i did not re-create C:/ but simply fortmatted existing and put new win there. Considering my win is still fresh i will move all programs that i have on desktop to D:/ and reinstall it like you said. Who knows, i might get lucky. Deleting C:/ partition will not affect D:/ , right?

Also, considering i have my current PC since 2006, and i was running on win that i deleted today since 2009, simpy buying new HDD isn't an option, and i'm thinking about getting new PC, so is here a forum where i can ask advice about what new PC specs should be to fit my needs?

Keeping in mind that my problem is likely with HDD, can i put to the same CD i will burn WD DOS tool, also memtest86+, just in case and to scan RAM?

 

Deleting C: during install will not effect D:. During install where it asks where to put it you would delete C: the smaller of your two partitions and then create a new one in the unallocated space.

One other thought I just had was that since you XP partition is mostly empty, you could split it into two partitions. Then do a new install on the newly created partition. If that XP ran then you would know that the problem with the HD was related to the old partition or was located at the beginning of the drive.

So basically shrink your current XP/C: partition to say 10-15gb and create a new partition in between the smaller C: and the D: partition. Then install another XP on the new partition and see if it runs. It may be a bit more complicated than you want to mess with and is only an idea.

On memtest, no the two programs would need separate CDs.

Easeus partition master would do the job. http://majorgeeks.com/EASEUS_Partition_Master_Home_Edition_d5967.html

http://www.partition-tool.com/easeus-partition-manager/split-partition.htm

 

I did as you suggested and deleted old C:/ partition and formatted it to ntfs. And put windows on again. And there is again another issue that bugs me. That is when i load to normal win mode, after loading all startup items win starts working so slow, that it took me hour simply to download and install one driver update using slimdrivers and open msconfig and notice that essential service named rpc locator is stopped. I'm thinking maybe this is issue? Because now red light is constantly red shining with full power and blinking like 1 time each ten seconds. Completely impossible to work.[ No sign of is in safemode with networking. In it i updated all drivers, logged to normal mode and now typing this reply.]
Although before it started happening i managed to scan HDD with tool easeus(will attach screenshot) and with another program( i don't screen) and here's what info second one gave me:
Total sectors:312,581,808
Blocked: 31,126 sectors (15.26 MB)

Good: 9959
Damaged:0
Bad: 41

Also, successfully ran OTL.exe. Don't know is it's of any use, but there some info on bad sectors, so i'll attach those two logs.

Another good news is that i launched error check tool, from C: - Properties - Tools and it didn't freeze. So it ran and i snapped pic of finish message.

So, right now I'm worried these HDD overloads will start again, how to ensure they don't?
Also wondering, did running win error check tool with both boxes ticked fixed my bad blocks/sectors problem?
Open to hear any opinions.


P.S. Suprised me forum this big doesn't have dedicated subforum where people can ask advice about new computer if they want to buy one or upgrade one.

 

I'll read your logs later but I think the HD is in bad shape since you have bad sectors after a fresh partition creation and full format. The full format should have marked any bad sectors as not to be used. That you now have several bad sectors on the new partition (according to chkdsk) means they are rapidly occurring. They will undoubtedly increase (you can verify by running chkdsk once a day to see that the line for bad sectors will increase).

That HD is not stable enough for an OS. You can probably use it for data storage but I wouldn't trust it with anything irreplaceable.

As far as a new machine you can post here in the Hardware section. You have to give an idea of what you will use the machine for and your budget. If just for normal tasks, I believe the advice is that a major brand PC on sale is probably as good as building your own if you want to keep the price down. With Christmas coming there should be plenty of sales.

 

Yeah, i noticed that other people asked about it in this subforum and i will do too if i feel like it.

I must say that screenshot from easeus is incorrect, because i definetely remember that it stated havin 41 bad sectors, but on ss it says 0, so note that.

Also, if it's of any intereset i dug out full win log about scheduled chkdsk. I will attach it.

Overall, I don't feel like byuing new HDD, because it will be like 1/6 or 1/5 of new PC price, that will be better than mine. But I think, i will try your suggestion about splitting C:/ and running winxp on clean part.

 

Hi,

That chkdsk log says you have errors in several files on a new install. A new install of XP is located in the first 4gb of the HD, so you definitely have problems in that section.

You can try doing an install in a second partition, say starting at 10gb offset, and see if after install if you run a chkdsk that it finds no files in bad sectors. Then you might be OK for a while. If it finds files in bad sectors then you have the same problem of it just being a matter of time when a critical system file is corrupted by being located/moved to a bad sector.

If you leave the current install intact and shrink the partition as that Easeus page suggested your new install will take the D: drive letter and rename your D: drive E:. Everything will work fine but the only way to keep your Windows drive with a drive letter of C: is to delete the 50gb C: drive and then create two partitions in that space (10gb and 40gb). Then delete the 10gb partition so it becomes unallocated space. So your hard drive would be 10gb unallocated, 40gb NTFS (empty for new install), and 100gb for your current data drive. Then Windows would take over the 40gb drive and assign it a letter of C:. If everything works ok you could later create a new partition in the 10gb to use for non-critical data.

I'm not sure if you can do all that with Easeus from Windows. You should be able to do it from the XP install disc paying careful attention to the screen allowing you to create and delete partitions. There is also Partition Wizard bootable CD (last download on the page, so scroll down) that would allow you to boot up from CD and run a partitioning program from disc but I think the Windows installer will allow you to delete C:, create two partitions in that space and then delete the smaller one and then install to the larger 40gb one if you follow the instructions on the screen.

 

Hi, thanks for not giving up on me

When i turned on PC today i was sursprised, because before loading windows chkdsk started, although i didn't schedule it. Operations it performed looked something different from previous times. BUt it said that moved bad sectors.

About that. Just now i created bootable cd (Hirens) and launched WD diagnostics tool. After extended scan it reported error code 0223 and said that fixed errors. But there was also some other tool for WD i think i'll try them out too, because i don't think it helped- i'm getting cyclic redundancy check data error all the time, using PC now.
Also, I think program you named comes on hirens boot cd and will perform all those action from there.
Also here's ss from hdd scanning tool which provides visual location on bad blocks(maybe you have some thought on that).

 

Yes, I'm thinking that maybe most of the bad sectors are at the beginning of the drive. As long as your XP system files are not in that location you might be ok. So if you are running on a partition that starts after the first 10gb of the HD maybe you will be OK for a while. (There are definitely problems with that HD and it should be replaced, I am just talking a workaround, not best practice.)

PW is on Hiren's. I think you will have to delete the 50gb partition, create the 10gb partition and then create the 40gb partition. Then delete the 10gb partition. You can format the 40gb to NTFS in PW. Leaving the drive layout as 10gb unallocated, 40gb with a NTFS partition and your existing data 100gb partition.

Then install XP on the 40gb partition which the installation CD should see as 40gb and label C: since it is the first partition on the HD.

If all that goes well then you can run a chkdsk /r on the new 40gb C: partition and see if it comes up with no bad sectors. Hopefully, the bad sectors are all located at the beginning of the HD in the unallocated space so this new 40gb partition will come up clean.

 

Oh, I just searched that error code and it says that the WD utility was able to correct the errors and the HD should be good. I'm not sure that is entirely true. I think if it were me I would still try loading windows with an offset of 10gb for reliability. But I have had luck with the WD diagnostic fixing HD in the past. http://support.wdc.com/techinfo/general/errorcodes.asp

 

Hm, i just done some calculations.
In that ss there's in 80 pixel on vertical
bad blocks take 16 pixels, that is one fifth or 20%
So my hdd is 149 gb, and 20 % of it would be 29 gb
I'm not sure my calculations is applicable to such device,
but that would make 28 or 29[because 16th line not full] GB untrusted, and leaves 20 gb for windows partition between current c and d.
So is it legit? i think yes

 

Yes, your math looks good. I'm not certain those diagrams are truly accurate but you can certainly run XP on a 20gb partition. The 30gb at the beginning of the drive is still probably OK for data files.

 

Hello
Yesterday my xp install gave up on me and started giving me bsod.
So i decided to use your trick and got fresh install of xp. But was surprised when it started showing kinda same problems as bad partition before. So i open HS Sentinel and it shows me that health if my hdd is 34%. But at a time when it all started health was 75%. I'm gonna run some programs to check for bad sectors. Btw during install my D: became f: and windows is now on D: And there's 29 gb partition named c at the beginning oh hdd

 

I would not trust a drive that has 34% health rating. Save yourself some headaches and time because the hd is dying.

 

Hello again.
To sum up, my problems started because of bad sectors of my HDD. If someone esle is experiencing issues like i described it's worth checking your HDD.

Bad sectors also started popping up on my hdd second partition so i went and bought a new one. Many thanks to sach2 for extensive help.