Topic: Computer Problems

[addicted2dvd]

I did some more of my windows updates... and one of them seemed to have fixed the problem I was having.

[Najemikon]

Keep Karsten's post handy in case it comes back, Pete.

[addicted2dvd]

I got it... copied it to my F Drive.

[RossRoy]

It's my turn! 


Yesterday, I was calmly watching Smallville.. Then I got called for dinner. Paused the episode, went up.. When I came back down, I found my computer going in a "boot-reboot" cycle over and over. And Microsoft, in yet another puzzling move, decided it's a good idea to show the blue screen, and yet reboot right away, before I can even see the error!

Anyways.. Boot normal? Doesn't work. Boot "last known good"? Worked once (just long enough for me to backup the important stuff), now doesn't. Boot "Safe mode"? Doesn't work.

So I'll see tonight if I can boot it with a BartPE CD or Rescue CD of some sort and test out stuff to see what failed. Though I think it might be the hard drive, because each time it reboots, it does a chkdsk and each and every time it has to correct some corruption... and I've been suspecting imminent hard drive problems for a little while now (programs taking way to long to start, recorded TV show skipping here and there, Azureus reporting failed hash checks more than usual). Now I just have to find which of the three hard drive might be the cause..

Unless it's the RAM.

Oh well, I have 10 days of vacation coming, so I'll have time to diagnose.

[Najemikon]

First off, there will be a setting somewhere telling your PC to try rebooting when there is a problem, instead of just stopping on the Blue Screen. However, Mr Blue Screen would tell you what is commonly known as "sod all"!

It sounds like you have a dodgy sector or two on your hard drive. I recommend you boot from your Windows CD... and... erm... oh damn. I can't remember how to get to the blasted command prompt! ARGH! I think it's the recovery console option. Anyway, when you get to the prompt , type:

fixboot
fixmbr
chkdsk /f

The first two are belt and braces, should only take a second and worth doing. The last one should take a long time. I've seen a lot of PCs like this and this little routine normally solves it, with one caveat.

On rare occasions, it can't repair the disk because it is the system disk, but I've never had it fail if I remove the drive and connect it to another PC as slave, then run chkdsk against the drive letter.

[RossRoy]

I think it's the recovery console option.

It is

Anyway, when you get to the prompt , type:

fixboot
fixmbr
chkdsk /f

That's what I was planning to do, right after doing a scan with Western Digital's diagnostic tool since all three hard drives, afaik, are still under warranty.

[Halo2]

Automatically restarting on bluescreen is always turned on by default. To change it, right click on My Computer, select p-roperties and then the Advanced tab. There, select Startup and Recovery. There you can uncheck the box for Automatic restart. These instructions are for all Windows versions up through XP. Vista is very similar to this with some items named differently. I am away from my computers, only have my sister-in-law's XP machine to verify with.

I agree with Jon, the messages presented on a blue screen, only a systems engineer could love. However, they sometimes can be "helpful". Like when it tells you "unmountable boot volume" you can bet you have a bad hdd. If you have another machine to search with, you can sometimes get helpful information searching on the text error or the first alphanumeric string (0x000000xx), the strings that follow are parameters of the error.

Good luck to you, hope the hdd isn't the problem and you can salvage your data.

[RossRoy]

However, they sometimes can be "helpful". Like when it tells you "unmountable boot volume" you can bet you have a bad hdd. If you have another machine to search with, you can sometimes get helpful information searching on the text error or the first alphanumeric string (0x000000xx), the strings that follow are parameters of the error.

Exactly why I was hoping to be able to see it. But now, I can't even get in the system to turn automatic restart off (although, it's usually one of the first things I do after a reinstall. Guess I forgot last time)

Good luck to you, hope the hdd isn't the problem and you can salvage your data.

The data itself is already salvaged. Worst case I'll have to reinstall Windows, which is not a big deal.

[RossRoy]

What the heck did I do to deserve this? Now it's my dvd writer that just gave way!

It reads fine and is seen by the system with no problem. But I've tried writing with 5 different burning software (nLite, CD Burner XP, Nero, ImgBurn & Windows itself) and it hangs every time when I load the blank CD.

I changed the burner with an old one I had laying around (which doesn't do DVD, only CD) and it works like a charm.

 

EDIT: I should mention that this happened on my work computer, trying to burn some stuff to DVD. My home computer is still offline at home preventing me from sleeping! (when you'Re used to sleep with the purr of the fans, having them be completely off means there's a problem, and I can't sleep! haha)

[Achim]

What the heck did I do to deserve this? Now it's my dvd writer that just gave way!

It reads fine and is seen by the system with no problem. But I've tried writing with 5 different burning software (nLite, CD Burner XP, Nero, ImgBurn & Windows itself) and it hangs every time when I load the blank CD.

I changed the burner with an old one I had laying around (which doesn't do DVD, only CD) and it works like a charm.

 

Its your system's way of telling you that it's time for a Blu-ray writer

[Najemikon]

Weird. I could have sworn I'd replied to this. Anyway, I was saying that I've had dreadful history with writers. Every one has just stopped functioning in a similar way after a relatively short time.

[RossRoy]

I'll reiterate: What did I do to deserve this?

On the previous computer (the one that started rebooting on its own) - I can't get to the recovery console! At least, not the standard way.

The installation CD doesn't "see" the current windows installation so doesn't offer me to start the recovery console. Yet, when I try to boot the system normally, it does try to start Windows and reboots halfway through..

Guess I'll just yank out my current system drive, reinstall Windows to one of the other 2, and test the old system drive in another system when I get the chance.

Unless I can find a way on Google to forcibly start the recovery console...

[Najemikon]

Bloody thing. I know it doesn't help now, but I strongly recommend using something like Acronis TrueImage when you are up and running. You can save images of your drive to another "secret" partition and when something goes wrong, just use the boot utility and choose which image you want. It copies it to the primary partition (even if its a new drive) and away you go.

[RossRoy]

Well, like I said, the backup/reinstall is not the problem - I don't mind reinstalling Windows at all. What bugs me is that it half died. I'd prefer it to have completely died - no more access to the hdd (I already had the backups). And now, I'm too scared to reinstall on the same hdd - since the problem might be physical on the drive, and not logical.

Anyways, I managed to boot the machine into a BartPE type windows, and am running a chkdsk /r at the moment. Might take a while - the disc is 500gb after all! hahaha

[RossRoy]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention - Even Western Digital's diagnostic tools won't run - the system is SATA based (no IDE, except the DVD reader/burner) and it seems to not like it. Even if I put the SATA in IDE-Compatible mode (they are in IDE-ENhanced mode normally).

Crappy thing.. isn't it supposed to get easier with time as technology advances? But no! They have to still base their diagnostic software on DOS (well, Caldera's DR-DOS to be exact) which can't handle SATA (afaik) - and since I can't get into Windows, what does that leave me with?