marc baltique
New Member
posting from another computer:
Dell Desktop (6 months old)
running Vista Home 32
No problems whatsoever for 6 months until Monday night black screen with blinking cursor.
Rebooted.
Got the message saying cannot start up normally.. disk may need synchronizing (can't remember the exact wording of any of messages)
1. tried to run chkdsk. hung for HOURS.
2. tried to run repair thingie from vista disk. that says it may take an hour or more but i gave up after 6 hours.
3. tried booting into safe modes. does not boot past crcdisk.sys
4. used vista disc again. said i cannot restore to an earlier point because of disk errors. was able to run cmd prompt. all my files are still on the C:
moved some files to external drives without error using the move command.
5. used linux knoppix or whatever it's called hoping to "fix" what i can or at least find out why it's not booting at all. decided i'm in way over my head.
normally i wouldn't care, just move all my personal stuff to externals and try to reformat, but 1) i've got programs i no longer have working install discs to and 2) don't want to reformat a hard drive that's dead.
so.. what can i do?
i've read things about deleting/renaming files like pcmcia.inf (whatever) or disksub.sys (again.. not positive that's what it's called)
i am a TOTAL newb so please explain how come a hard drive that "failed" "has errors" still allows me to move files from C: to externaldrives without fail?
all hope can't be lost right?
please obi wan...
ps.
i have no idea what my total specs are. i know i've got 2gb ram, 120 gb HD but beyond that i can't tell you.
Dell Desktop (6 months old)
running Vista Home 32
No problems whatsoever for 6 months until Monday night black screen with blinking cursor.
Rebooted.
Got the message saying cannot start up normally.. disk may need synchronizing (can't remember the exact wording of any of messages)
1. tried to run chkdsk. hung for HOURS.
2. tried to run repair thingie from vista disk. that says it may take an hour or more but i gave up after 6 hours.
3. tried booting into safe modes. does not boot past crcdisk.sys
4. used vista disc again. said i cannot restore to an earlier point because of disk errors. was able to run cmd prompt. all my files are still on the C:
moved some files to external drives without error using the move command.
5. used linux knoppix or whatever it's called hoping to "fix" what i can or at least find out why it's not booting at all. decided i'm in way over my head.
normally i wouldn't care, just move all my personal stuff to externals and try to reformat, but 1) i've got programs i no longer have working install discs to and 2) don't want to reformat a hard drive that's dead.
so.. what can i do?
i've read things about deleting/renaming files like pcmcia.inf (whatever) or disksub.sys (again.. not positive that's what it's called)
i am a TOTAL newb so please explain how come a hard drive that "failed" "has errors" still allows me to move files from C: to externaldrives without fail?
all hope can't be lost right?
please obi wan...
ps.
i have no idea what my total specs are. i know i've got 2gb ram, 120 gb HD but beyond that i can't tell you.