PC problems thread

[Pol]

@Asheera
Everything can be checked, even I.

Stress test: prime95 or orthos
HDD test: - Download Hiren's Boot CD to get testers for Seagate, Samsung, Maxtor, Hitachi, WD and IBM.
Memory test - memtest on the same CD
Antimalware test - Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
Antivirus test - too many
and finaly components replacing test.
(That's really powerful weapon, assuming you have at hands replacement board, psu, procesor and so on... )

[Asheera]

Hiren's Boot CD seems like a very useful utility to have. Thanks Pol.

[Borsuc]

How does Hiren's Boot CD work? Can it create images, must it be booted? I tried using a Virtual Machine simulator (VMWare) and it crashed

(I know I should burn it to a CD and boot with it, but if it crashed in the simulator, what if it'll crash my comp for real?)

and I can hardly imagine how it can have all those on 100MB, it sounds fishy to me (Norton Ghost alone, installed, has >200MB)

[Pol]

@Borsuc
It's just technician helper, free for personal use. Like many others - ultimatebootcd, systemrescuecd, insert and three more others which sliped off of my memory.

They're collecting utilites for system testing, rescuing etc. Utilites not a full payed versions, so the mentioned ghost is an old dos version not exceeding 10MB alone. Surprisingly all dos utilites are very small, they're from smaller times.

I'm not sure, sometimes they may crash - they are expecting a devices or memory mapping used in real systems. If it's not presented it will draw a nice crash, linux based resuce cds may also crash, it's rarity but it can happen relatively easily from the same reason, they may not cope with some boards "memory managment".

[Asheera]

Utilites not a full payed versions, so the mentioned ghost is an old dos version not exceeding 10MB alone. Surprisingly all dos utilites are very small, they're from smaller times.

But they still do what they should do, no? For example, can you create the image of a partition of the Hard Drive using one of the programs there?

And about that crash issue, how can you avoid it? How can you make it not crash?

[Pol]

As for the imaging it can do that but I never used it for. Try to look for gparted live cd, ping or very simple selfimage program, which comfortably run from windows after installed like any other else.

[Pol]

@Asheera
Yes, you can.

And you cannot avoid the crash, that's not related to cd (at least from your perspective) but to the motherboard on which it's running. I never witnessed crashing the Hiren's Boot CD in reality, although it's true that I never tried it in any sort of emulator.

[Asheera]

Ok so the crashes are not random? That means, when it works then it will not crash some other time using the same procedure?

[Pol]

Ok so the crashes are not random? That means, when it works then it will not crash some other time using the same procedure?

Exactly. Either it's compatible with your PC or not. And almost always is Ash.

[Borsuc]

Hey Pol I've got this question maybe you could help out. I haven't tried selfimage yet and here's why.

I already tried 3 times to make an image with R-Drive Image, Norton Ghost and Acronis TrueImage. None of them worked -- they all gave me a "corrupted image" when I verified

I'm starting to think it isn't even random. When I try to defrag my system partition (the one I wanna backup), some files can't be defragged for some reason, no matter how many times I try. They are red, not unmovable (green).

I also scanned for bad sectors (but couldn't see the report as it disappeared in 1 sec) so they should be fixed, right? Or is it because of bad sectors?

or is it because of NTFS compression? I don't compress the whole drive but a few folders... should I uncompress it?


to be honest I'm kinda tired already of backing up it again after 3 times -- it takes a while, so I have to make sure first

[Asheera]

Ok it happened again.

Is there a possibility to be heating or something? This time, when I loaded the second Hard Disk (the one that worked before), it loaded Windows (in the sense that it got past the Welcome screen), and then after some 3 seconds of the desktop, it restarted my comp. Then, it didn't want to get to the Welcome Screen at all. I shut it down and after waiting for an hour (I unplugged it as well), now it worked.

What can it be? Overheating? Although I don't think why there would be any overheating.


Also, why can't I defragment some files on the C: drive, even when I'm running the defragmentor from the other Hard Disk (and C: is no longer in use, and doesn't even have any Unmovable parts anymore when defragmenting). What does it mean that I can't defragment some files? Bad Sectors or something else?

[Borsuc]

Crap that sucks too much and you scared me

not sure what's the problem with the defragging though, I seem to have the same (though I don't have two harddrives to check from the other one, damn).

Just another question: can the Acronis TrueImage 8 from Hiren's Boot CD restore from an image made with Acronis TrueImage 10? This problem is annoying as hell because I never thought about it before, and obviously for some reason it doesn't work, just to piss me off.

but what am I saying, the damn image is corrupted for some reason no matter what program I use. What the hell can it be? I asked this on a programming forum and still no response...



BTW Ash, try to go into the BIOS after it restarts and check the temperature, see if it's overheating (usually 40+ degrees Celsius is a bad sign, but it depends). Check the fans. Or the video card, if it's one of those monsters that eat too much power. Maybe open the case and start the comp with it opened, see if any fan doesn't work or something.

[Borsuc]

Now I'm really starting to get pissed. When I want to create a bootable media image (that is, an .iso file that boots Acronis TrueImage) it says "corrupted file". What file??? the one I create??? Why???

I didn't even back anything up (like a partition), just creating a simple .iso for boot, should work. What the hell is happening?

[Pol]

You cannot make an image from damaged harddisk. Ok, in fact you can do that with some more knowledge about your hdd "topology" and some file analyzis or wise software. But by itself it's no guaranted to work. You're supposed to capture an image from perfecty working hdd/partition to restore it somewhere else when the error occures.

And best to restore it with the same application with what you had captured it, backwared compatibiliy may be or not, they only way how to get it is to check documentation to used (Acronis) software.

NTFS compression shouldn't be a problem, unmovable file fragments either. Failing CRC could (means that sector can be read but it cannot be verified, so it's probably close to die completely)

@Asheera
Watch when you computer will be loading bios, hit what is necessary to enter in bios (DEL or F1) and read name, vendor of your hdd. Launch Hiren's Boot CD pick testing, harddrives and perhaps more to see utility from your hdd's vendor. Launch it. Check the output for SMART report (tripped or not) and bad clusters. Use full scan, or long test or whatever they will be calling that - it should resolve your situation.

Anyway yes, from your description, I think that your hdd is failing. It may not be damaged cluster it can be something simplier like disobedient power connector. Try to check if it's plugged correctly or use different one. That problem is not so much likely on newer SATA hdd though.

[Asheera]

When I try to create an image of the C: partition with SelfImage (from the secondary Hard Disk, so it's not even in use!), I get the following error message, exactly at the same place (I tried multiple times)

Code: Select all

Read thread encountered ESelfImageFileError exception: "Error while reading from \Device\Harddisk0\Partition1: Data error (cyclic redundancy check)

What's happening? What does it mean? And, if possible, how it can be fixed?

[darknessfood]

When making a partition, I use ghost. If you have just a simple floppy,you can run it.Just select the source you want to make a partition from, and select the drive where you want the partition...

[Pol]

@Asheera
It's not possible then, your hdd is damaged quite likely. Some clusters on your hdd are working and not so system doesn't trust them as they don't responed to original CRC record.

Move the data itself, that will still work until some fatal mistake. Try "terracopy" or some other tool for creating fast backup of files/drives. In case that you will run into troubles you may go with "unstoppable copier"

Hope that helps finally
(Sometimes also helps low format of hdd but it's not high chance here I think.)

[Asheera]

I just have one question, but to explain it better I need to name the Hard Disks. Let's say I have Hard Disk A, B and C.

Let's say I manage to copy the entire C:\ drive's files (with Windows) from Hard Disk A to Hard Disk B (when running Hard Disk B, so that C:\ is not in use), but copy them in a folder 'Old C' or something like that, not replace Hard Disk's B Windows. And then install a new Windows on Hard Disk C.

And then, if I boot up from B and replace Hard Disk's C newly installed Windows with the files from 'Old C' folder (that means the Windows that was in Hard Disk A), will it work when I boot up from Hard Disk C the same as when booting up from A? (that means, no reinstalls necessary, etc)

Will it work like I created an image of Hard Disk A's windows or is it different to copy all files from it?

[Borsuc]

It's not possible then, your hdd is damaged quite likely. Some clusters on your hdd are working and not so system doesn't trust them as they don't responed to original CRC record.

I'm not quite sure if her HDD is damage because it gives me a CRC error as well -- in fact I did some googling and found out that there are other guys who had similar problems but didn't have any responses, like here.

The problem is that it gives me a CRC error as well -- last night I tried out HD Tune (nice tool for HD health display) and scanned the whole HD with blocks of 64 MB... and guess what? No blocks were bad, all were ok. I'm starting to freak out because of this it sounds just too weird

If none of the blocks were "bad" then why doesn't it work? All the display info in that program says the HD is healthy and ok. Still, I tried 3 times to make an image with 3 different apps (including Norton Ghost and Acronis TrueImage, one of the best) and they both gave me error at the verification/validation stage -- and it always gives me the same error.

When I try to browse it seems fine, strangely enough, as if it isn't corrupted but of course I have no idea if I could be able to boot from it -- and it's unlikely I can test it since I have no other HD to test it unfortunately. I'm not sure whether I should ignore this "corruption" because it seems everything was copied, even if it was copied bad, since the size of the "virtual" disk is the same as the original C:\

Why does it give me CRC errors then? Should I be worried?

Move the data itself, that will still work until some fatal mistake. Try "terracopy" or some other tool for creating fast backup of files/drives. In case that you will run into troubles you may go with "unstoppable copier"

Never heard of those programs, will check them out thanks. But before that (and making yet another image) I would like to know if you know the problem itself -- after 3 times of failure I'm beginning to get tired of backing it up to be honest.

Thanks anyway

[Pol]

atm I don't have time for googling but my experience says me that if here's CRC error hdd is on 99% bad and will not pass surface scan test on the utility from its own creator.

I'm using selfimage, ping, terracopy and unstoppable copier and several others. Terracopy only at home(licence forbid other use until you're registered owner), this is copier - so it's not making images but just copy the folders and the reason for using it is a speed, essentially is very fast.

The hdd with crc errors may on the first sight appear to working nicely and lo and behold if the error is connected with sophistically damaged file system tables it does help low format followed by normal format. If it's not, then consider hdd to be useless and prone to be declared oficially dead.

Hdd may be dying for long times as a student I had a one which took almost year with its usable space still shrinking. This isn't likely to be seen today.

@Asheera
It may work if you will manually copy all the files(or program files, windows files ... just the important ones), with great care about system and hidden files. However mergin installations is risky, if here was an errror in some copied file you will install it back on the place. (You would also need to overwrite system files, ensuring that theirs attributes are staying)

Anyway yes, apart from that risk it's possible. (Never did that myself though. And here can be a hidden snag in the case of Vista system.)