CHKDSK hangs at 13% of first pass -- help!

[Guest]

My XP Pro system will not boot correctly. (Message pops up that the system32
directory is corrupted, run chkdsk.) Running chkdsk (either from the
recovery console or while attempting to repair the installation via XP setup)
hangs the pc at 13% of the first pass "Checking drive C:..."

Any ideas on how to fix this?

 

[Thorsten Matzner]

My XP Pro system will not boot correctly. (Message pops up that the system32
directory is corrupted, run chkdsk.) Running chkdsk (either from the
recovery console or while attempting to repair the installation via XP setup)
hangs the pc at 13% of the first pass "Checking drive C:..."

Any ideas on how to fix this?

I would do a repair reinstallation. If the HDD is older than 5 years
you may be better off replacing it and installing Windows XP on a new
disk.
"How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP"
(http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315341)

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the suggestion. Alas, a repair installation also tries to check
the drive before it copies files, and this also hangs at the same spot. The
HW is only 3 years old, but perhaps the HDD (IDE stripe RAID array) is kaput?
I'm going to try installing XP on a different HDD, then see if I can access
the bad disk.

Any other ideas?

 

[Thorsten Matzner]

Thanks for the suggestion. Alas, a repair installation also tries to check
the drive before it copies files, and this also hangs at the same spot. The
HW is only 3 years old, but perhaps the HDD (IDE stripe RAID array) is kaput?
I'm going to try installing XP on a different HDD, then see if I can access
the bad disk.

Good idea. There is no (cheap) way to check that the HDD is really
defective, but I would replace it to avoid data loss.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I would check the disk with the free diagnostic
tool that your disk manufacturer makes available
on his home site.