What's this mean?

i run chkdsk and receive the following message:

The volume appears to contain one of more unrecoverable problems.

I take it this ain't something that's good. What's up?

 

Doesn't sound too good at all, if you still have access to the drive i suggest getting everything backed up quick in case it packs up all together

What Make/Model is your drive, might be worth downloading and running the manufacturers diagnostics program

 

agree with GLS, try the diag. If the drive passes mechanically then your file system is most likely hosed and you'll have to wipe the partition. I take it since you said chkdsk that this is a w2k or XP install?

 

actually, i'm trying to install XP but it says setup can't format the partition. i ran chkdsk to see what it came up with. not sure what to do next - how do i get to see the driver diag?

 

Do you know what make the hard drive is

 

if you're attempting to format the partion have you already deleted it and recreated it? The problem may be in the partition table. Delete and recreate the partiton in windows XP setup, rather than trying to format it. The diag is something that you can download from the drive manufacturer. Who made the hard drive in your unit? WD, Maxtor, Seagate are the big three.

 

fw190 - i attempted to go through the XP setup and that's how i got the error message.

fw190 & gls - i'm not completely sure about the make of the hard drive my device manager just shows Intel(r) 82801BA Ultra ATA under hard disk controller. so, whatever came on the dell when i bought it in 2000.

here is what is strange to me - i can reinstall windows ME and it doesn't seem to encounter any problems! wacko!

 

i guess maybe i haven't already done it this way but i'm pretty sure that i have. in the windows XP setup i click to install XP. it goes to the screen showing the partitions. i choose to delete the partition that leaves me with a unpartitioned free space. i click enter to install in the unpartitioned space. it goes through and asks if i want to install as ntfs (quick), fat (quick), ntfs, or fat. i choose ntfs and click enter. ask if i'm sure and i say yes. then goes to next screen that says it is formatting the partition. shows the yellow progress bar at the bottom of the screen. it gets all the way through and shows 100% then goes to the next screen that says Setup was unable to format the partition. The disk may be damaged. Is there another way to do this that i don't know about?

 

anybody else have any ideas?

 

In Device Manager, expand the '+' next to 'Disk Drives' and you should see your Hard Drive make/model underneath that. You can also use Aida32 to ID the drive. Then you will need to download the drive diags, we can help with that if you need it.

 

expanding the disk drives line shows:

GENERIC IDE DISK TYPE47
GENERIC NEC FLOPPY DISK

 

Try the link I gave for Aida32.

 

sorry took so long, had to download to floppy to get it onto my desktop. anyway, tell me exactly where to go. i've got the file on my desktop now.

 

Once you get Aida32 installed, go to Storage > ATA and read what it says under Device Description.

 

or you could simply open the case and look on the top of the drive for the label.

 

alanc - i open up aida and click on ATA and it shows nothing under device description. what now?

 

Time to go with Fw190's suggestion.

 

the only thing i see is a sticker that has western digital on it and then a dell sticker.

 

Well looks like the manufacturer is Western digital heres some tools for their hard drives
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download2855.html

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3505.html

 

Thanks General

Tito that 1st link the good General posted is the website online diags, the second one you download and run, then it will create a boot floppy that will test your drive at bootup. I think the boot floppy program is probably a more thorough test. Let us know the results.

 

i ran scandisk last night (thorough scan) took a long time but it said that it found no errors - so i don't get why when i ran chkdsk it said there were one or more unrecoverable problems. will try those downloads. they both seem to be internet dependent - i mean you must be connected to the internet to use them. is this correct. i've only got one line to connect with and would have to unhook from my laptop to do this. thanks

 

haha, thanks alanc, you answered my question after i started writing.

 

No problem Alan, didnt see you about so thought id step in

Agree the second one looks the better bet, im interested in the outcome of this one

 

how can i get this folder on a disk so i can put it on my other comp?

 

Download and run this one on any PC, it will create a boot floppy. Then you boot the problem PC with that floppy in the drive. Make sure the Boot Order in your BIOS is set to boot from Floppy Drive 1st.


@General Lee -- glad to have you here. Teamwork is a good thing

 

alright, my bad, obviously i'm still learning how to do all this stuff. ok, i am running the full media scan. just finished the quick test and found no errors. the full media scan is in progress as i'm typing. will let you know what it shows. approx. 9 min. remaining. i really appreciate all help from you guys. MG's is a rockin site!!

 

ok, full scan reported NO ERRORS FOUND

ERROR/STATUS CODE: 0000

 

I think it's time to FDISK the partition in question. If anyone has another idea, please step in (looks like the General is offline for the moment).

Tito are you familiar with FDISK? Your ME boot floppy has it, or you can download a boot floppy here, and here is a good guide for FDISK usage.

What you want to do is run FDISK from the boot floppy, delete and then recreate the partition in question as FAT32 (if it was NTFS previously it will initially show up as a NON-DOS partition), and then attempt to format it. If you're successful in doing that then try the XP install again.

 

ok alan, will try that. i'm not real familiar with fdisk but i think i can get it done. will read about it and try it.

 

You're doing great Tito, the info at Black Viper is excellent but if you have any questions just ask.

I've got to step away for awhile but (*Arnold voice*) I'll be back.

 

i got it deleted and recreated. now it's formatting. i've to got to be gone for awhile as well. will let it format and try to install. should i install with xp setup and choose to not change the existing format (to ntfs, meaning keep it as fat32)? thanks for the help again! back in about an hour.

 

Yes, boot from XP CD and install as normal. FAT32 or NTFS is your choice. Most of us around here think NTFS is a better file system. It has never let me down.

 

you're not saying to install ME first then go back and install XP, right? i deleted and recreated partition with ME cd then formatted it. after that it goes to the install part. do i drop in the XP install cd then and proceed that way or continue with the ME cd?

 

So the formatting was successful? That's a good sign.

Now you can reboot to the XP CD and perform the install of XP, at this point you won't need the ME CD.

 

i'm going to try to go step by step here so i get it right

should i choose to setup windows XP now
or repair a windows XP installation using Recovery Console

 

"Setup XP Now"

Here's a good step-by-step guide for instaling XP:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/xp_pro_install_-_graphic.htm

 

alright, i get to the page that shows my partitions

i have cartition1<fat32>, i delete this partition and have an upartitioned space now. i choose to create a partition and choose the maximum mb i can to create the new partition which is now cartition1<new(raw)>. i hit enter to install in this partition. goes to the format screen then went directly to the following screen. i'll write it down exactly as it appears:

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any Windows updates your might need.

If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced startup options, and then select safe mode.

Technical information:

*** STOP: 0x00000050 (0xE10AF068, 0x00000000, 0x80829F93, 0x00000001)

don't know if all that means anything to you or not

 

OK, I'm looking into this. In the meantime let's go with what MS says above.
Go into BIOS and disable any shadowing or caching.
Have you installed any new hardware?
What model Dell is this?

Adryn if you're looking in we could use some help with this STOP error...

 

nothing new has been installed

how can i get into BIOS?

dell dimension 4100

 

Not sure about Dell...

When booting 1st starts, try pressing Delete, F1, or F2

 

i'm into setup - do you know how do disable caching and shadowing from setup

 

You're talking BIOS setup? It's usually under a "Chipset" or "Advanced Chipset" menu. Look around for it. Like I said I'm not really familiar with Dell PCs. Let me look for some info on your model...

 

went back to try again - haven't changed anything in BIOS as i wasn't actually in there. went through and created a cartition and dartition. installed xp on cartition chose ntfs and hit enter. the setup went through the format process and goes all the way to 100% then says:

Setup was unable to format drive C. The hard disk may be damaged. Make sure the disk is on and properly connected to your computer. If the disk is a SCSI disk, make sure your SCSI devices are properly terminated. See your cmoputer or SCSI adapter documentation for more information.

Setup cannot continue. To quit Setup, press F3.

i am truly at the end here, i don't know what could be the problem. could it be the xp disk?

 

Did you get Dell's extended warranty? It may be too late to save the disk, but they may ship you a new HD that you could then setup and make the existing one a slave, then transfer any files you have not been able to save. Otherwise, sounds like HD failure. *unless I read the thread too quickly**

 

no extended warranty plus the computer was bought 4 years ago. something strange is definitely going on. none of the checks find errors and anything on the drive. i have no idea.

 

Tito,

Is this a Dell OEM CD, or a Microsoft XP CD?

Also how big is this drive?

 

Looking through this post, errors you've received, and errors you are getting when trying to format, it certainly doesn't look good.

Edit:

Didn't read post closely enough. This is what I would try, if I were in your position.

Get the latest BIOS update.


Low level format the drive, or debug the drive. There are certain things repartitioning and formatting will not always remove (Drive overlays come to mind).

Am I correct to understand that Windows ME does work fine on this machine?


How to use debug to clear a hard disk of partition info

 

Thanks for looking in Adryn, a fresh perspective can only help

 

I hope it works out. It sure looks like a damged drive, but if scandisk and other utilities come up clean, I can only think of it being something thats residual on the drive that Windows ME doesn't care about, or the BIOS on the computer is not compatible enough for XP.

We have had issues in the past where a computer could not format with NTFS or above a certain GB size in XP setup, and received an identical error that Tito911 did. Updating the BIOS seemed to do the trick most of the time.

Something else you can try as well is loading a standard HAL, instead of ACPI. This will get you past quite a few compatibility issues.

Note: I recommend F5, not F7.

How to Force a Hardware Abstraction Layer During an Upgrade or New Installation of Windows XP