Vista - Your hard drive is corrupt and unusable

The Event Viewer of my friend's computer shows a lot of errors saying
that his hard drive is corrupt and unusable. On every re-boot the
Disk Checker starts up and does its thing only to report there are no
problems.

Could there be some other hardware problem that would cause Vista to
report these type of errors? My friend did take his machine into the
shop to be checked out be a Certified Technician and they told him
that everything was OK. At least they did not charge him for the
service.

I am a bit concerned that he had a lot of programs operating in the
background which caused a lot of memory swapping as he has only 1GB of
memory. What is the minimum amount of recommended memory for Vista
now? I think it used to be 1.5GB, has that changed?

Thanks
Al

"Alfred Kaufmann" <al_kaufmann@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4dc015pdg7kto3jtp63eu0qjnmalfl3iuh@xxxxxx
Alfred

It is time to do a destructive restore. Judging from what you stated in your
earlier post, you have been brought into play rather late in the game.

There comes a point where a user does so much damage to an operating,
installing one rogue anti-spyware utility after another, that trying to
repair it will take way longer than it is all worth.

Normally, users who get into this state tend not to be the kind who have
backed any data up to external media, so you will have to tell your friend
that it is all a lost cause.

Your friend may learn from the experience, but you will have to do a little
tutoring of your own if you don't want to go through the experience again..


--

Mike Hall - MVP Windows Experience
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/

On Sun, 17 May 2009 12:30:52 -0400, "Mike Hall - MVP"
<mikehall@xxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Mike,

Thanks for the reply, I was thinking along the same lines and was
maybe just looking for confirmation.. The Certified Technician told
him the same thing but he did not like that he would have to
re-install his programs. I don't see the problem as all he is
concerned about is saving some pictures and re-installing one photo
program.

I will make a backup of his pictures tell him to take the machine back
for a "destructive restore". Sounds better than format drive C: :-)

Al

Alfred Kaufmann wrote:
Alfred, bad RAM can make it appear as if drives. video cards and just
about everything else is faulty.

I would suggest that you go into the store and check the RAM prices, his
1G might be one or two memory sticks and with the price of memory these
days it might be better to simply remove the 1G and buy one 2G stick.
When sure all is well you can put the 1G back if you like and see if
problems occur. Allow some hours to run the memory test.

In article <4dc015pdg7kto3jtp63eu0qjnmalfl3iuh@xxxxxx>,
Alfred Kaufmann <al_kaufmann@xxxxxx> wrote:You should never buy a hard drive in Washington DC. Make sure
the next one is shipped from someplace like Utah.
It could be that the disc drive is itself is fine but the
file system data structures have been damaged. One way to fix this is
to boot a windows CD/ROM and follow the path to "recovery console". When
it finishes booting type chkdisk /r and come back later. Much later.

If that doesn't work I'd suggest a format and reinstall before you
give up on the drive.

Of course, the results from these kind of procedures depend a lot
on using the proper load. For a typical home desktop I prefer Winchester
high brass in #4, but if it's a server size system you might want to go
to BB shot. You ARE using a 12 gauge, aren't you? Only an inexperienced
tech would use a 20 on Windows. If you think the shop he took it to used
a 20 then take a few extra minutes and reseat the cables that attach the
drive ot the motherboard, and make sure the system BIOS properly recognizes
the drive. Do the first thing by opening the case and finding the cables
then pull the end out of the connector it's plugged in to and put them back
ALL THE WAY. Do the second by hotting the key that it says when you
boot (you know, hit DEL for setup or whatever).

On Sun, 17 May 2009 17:33:14 -0500, Charlie Tame <charlie@xxxxxx>
wrote:
Thanks for that suggestion. I just added Memtest86 to the pile.
Al

On Mon, 18 May 2009 00:35:04 +0000 (UTC), wrat@xxxxxx (the wharf
rat) wrote:
I have no idea what type of hard drive he has in his little HP tower -
I did not build it or recommend it.
U so funny!
Al

In article <b8u215dm0m0m2idqsbj9bt29g1krsvsisa@xxxxxx>,
Alfred Kaufmann <al_kaufmann@xxxxxx> wrote:Just a typical shotgunner, covering my total lack of knowledge
of electricity by using 3 /12" shells.