Is my hard drive toast???

[fohcue]

I am trying to find out if my hard drive has died. In my Dell
Optiplex150, it has a (small) 20Gb drive.This is the original drive
that came with the machine. When I was playing a game online at a
popular game site, the screen froze during play and I had no
alternative but to force the machine to turn off by holding the poer
button in. I restart the machine ( I use WinXP w/ service pack 2) but
before windows comes up it detects that it has been improperly shut
off and auto -runs the chkdsk tool. I am unable to skip disk checking
by pressing a button so it proceeds. It hangs when it gets to the 50
% mark ( checking the free space). I attempt to restart the machine a
number of times but always , it hangs at the 50% mark.
Next what I did was remove the battery on the board so that hopefully
chkdsk wouldnt run. I put the battery back and start it again and
this time, I am able to stop chkdsk from pressing a keyboard button( I
found where to enable the setting that allowed this, in the
bios)...Windows slowly comes on ....but it is very abnormal. If I
simply move the mouse , the reaction time is soo slow , its
rediculous. The icons were having problems just trying to appear.
Anyway, obviously , something is wrong. Next thing I did was make the
6 floppys needed to boot from floppy and either reinstall windows or
use recovery console etc; I chose to format the drive on the new
partition I just created....and before allowing setup to run the
install, it has to once again, check the drive.
At this point now it goes up to 72% where it then hangs and does
nothing more. if I select the option to (quick) format NTFS drive it
gives me an error message.....the long format ...hangs at 72%. The
error message is as follows:
The followingvalue in the .SIF file used by setup is corrupted or
missing: Value 0 on the line in section [ Source Disks Files] with key
"SP2.cab."
Setup cannot continue. to quit setup press F3.


I think my drive is dead . What do you say?

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Go to the website of the hard drive manufacturer and get their hard drive
diagnostics.

 

[D.Currie]

I am trying to find out if my hard drive has died. In my Dell
Optiplex150, it has a (small) 20Gb drive.This is the original drive
that came with the machine. When I was playing a game online at a
popular game site, the screen froze during play and I had no
alternative but to force the machine to turn off by holding the poer
button in. I restart the machine ( I use WinXP w/ service pack 2) but
before windows comes up it detects that it has been improperly shut
off and auto -runs the chkdsk tool. I am unable to skip disk checking
by pressing a button so it proceeds. It hangs when it gets to the 50
% mark ( checking the free space). I attempt to restart the machine a
number of times but always , it hangs at the 50% mark.
Next what I did was remove the battery on the board so that hopefully
chkdsk wouldnt run. I put the battery back and start it again and
this time, I am able to stop chkdsk from pressing a keyboard button( I
found where to enable the setting that allowed this, in the
bios)...Windows slowly comes on ....but it is very abnormal. If I
simply move the mouse , the reaction time is soo slow , its
rediculous. The icons were having problems just trying to appear.
Anyway, obviously , something is wrong. Next thing I did was make the
6 floppys needed to boot from floppy and either reinstall windows or
use recovery console etc; I chose to format the drive on the new
partition I just created....and before allowing setup to run the
install, it has to once again, check the drive.
At this point now it goes up to 72% where it then hangs and does
nothing more. if I select the option to (quick) format NTFS drive it
gives me an error message.....the long format ...hangs at 72%. The
error message is as follows:
The followingvalue in the .SIF file used by setup is corrupted or
missing: Value 0 on the line in section [ Source Disks Files] with key
"SP2.cab."
Setup cannot continue. to quit setup press F3.


I think my drive is dead . What do you say?

Run a hard drive diagnostic. The manufacturer of the hard drive will most
likely have one available at their website. You just run it from a floppy.

 

[Guest]

Consider that a new 80Gb Hard Drive costs bugger all and don't waste any time
[equals money].

I am trying to find out if my hard drive has died. In my Dell
Optiplex150, it has a (small) 20Gb drive.This is the original drive
that came with the machine. When I was playing a game online at a
popular game site, the screen froze during play and I had no
alternative but to force the machine to turn off by holding the poer
button in. I restart the machine ( I use WinXP w/ service pack 2) but
before windows comes up it detects that it has been improperly shut
off and auto -runs the chkdsk tool. I am unable to skip disk checking
by pressing a button so it proceeds. It hangs when it gets to the 50
% mark ( checking the free space). I attempt to restart the machine a
number of times but always , it hangs at the 50% mark.
Next what I did was remove the battery on the board so that hopefully
chkdsk wouldnt run. I put the battery back and start it again and
this time, I am able to stop chkdsk from pressing a keyboard button( I
found where to enable the setting that allowed this, in the
bios)...Windows slowly comes on ....but it is very abnormal. If I
simply move the mouse , the reaction time is soo slow , its
rediculous. The icons were having problems just trying to appear.
Anyway, obviously , something is wrong. Next thing I did was make the
6 floppys needed to boot from floppy and either reinstall windows or
use recovery console etc; I chose to format the drive on the new
partition I just created....and before allowing setup to run the
install, it has to once again, check the drive.
At this point now it goes up to 72% where it then hangs and does
nothing more. if I select the option to (quick) format NTFS drive it
gives me an error message.....the long format ...hangs at 72%. The
error message is as follows:
The followingvalue in the .SIF file used by setup is corrupted or
missing: Value 0 on the line in section [ Source Disks Files] with key
"SP2.cab."
Setup cannot continue. to quit setup press F3.


I think my drive is dead . What do you say?

Run a hard drive diagnostic. The manufacturer of the hard drive will most
likely have one available at their website. You just run it from a floppy.

 

[Jim Macklin]

If the drive was dead, all you'd get is a "disk not found"
from the BIOS. But you drive is corrupt. You need to open
the BIOS by pressing the correct key before Windows begins
to boot, while the BIOS POST is still in control. Then set
the BIOS to boot from the XP CD and either run the chkdsk
from the recovery console or just go ahead and reinstall XP.

But considering the age and other factors, you might be
better off to buy a new and faster (bigger too) hard drive
and do a clean install (you'll still need to set the BIOS to
boot from the CD) and then use the old drive as a slave and
copy over your files. You will also need to reinstall your
apps.


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


|I am trying to find out if my hard drive has died. In my
Dell
| Optiplex150, it has a (small) 20Gb drive.This is the
original drive
| that came with the machine. When I was playing a game
online at a
| popular game site, the screen froze during play and I had
no
| alternative but to force the machine to turn off by
holding the poer
| button in. I restart the machine ( I use WinXP w/ service
pack 2) but
| before windows comes up it detects that it has been
improperly shut
| off and auto -runs the chkdsk tool. I am unable to skip
disk checking
| by pressing a button so it proceeds. It hangs when it
gets to the 50
| % mark ( checking the free space). I attempt to restart
the machine a
| number of times but always , it hangs at the 50% mark.
| Next what I did was remove the battery on the board so
that hopefully
| chkdsk wouldnt run. I put the battery back and start it
again and
| this time, I am able to stop chkdsk from pressing a
keyboard button( I
| found where to enable the setting that allowed this, in
the
| bios)...Windows slowly comes on ....but it is very
abnormal. If I
| simply move the mouse , the reaction time is soo slow ,
its
| rediculous. The icons were having problems just trying to
appear.
| Anyway, obviously , something is wrong. Next thing I did
was make the
| 6 floppys needed to boot from floppy and either reinstall
windows or
| use recovery console etc; I chose to format the drive on
the new
| partition I just created....and before allowing setup to
run the
| install, it has to once again, check the drive.
| At this point now it goes up to 72% where it then hangs
and does
| nothing more. if I select the option to (quick) format
NTFS drive it
| gives me an error message.....the long format ...hangs at
72%. The
| error message is as follows:
| The followingvalue in the .SIF file used by setup is
corrupted or
| missing: Value 0 on the line in section [ Source Disks
Files] with key
| "SP2.cab."
| Setup cannot continue. to quit setup press F3.
|
|
| I think my drive is dead . What do you say?
|
| --
| Posted using the http://www.windowsforumz.com interface,
at author's request
| Articles individually checked for conformance to usenet
standards
| Topic URL:
http://www.windowsforumz.com/Hardware-hard-drive-toast-ftopict358512.html
| Visit Topic URL to contact author (reg. req'd). Report
abuse: http://www.windowsforumz.com/eform.php?p=1137854

 

[Guest]

No! F**kYOU!

 

[fohcue]

gee falcon , thanks alot! ..Not !
Everyone else, I appreciate your reply . Thankyou very much .

 

[fohcue]

gee falcon , thanks alot! ..Not !
Everyone else, I appreciate your reply . Thankyou very much .

Why wont it get past the 50% point on the chkdsk scan? .....or, 72%
when I’m trying to make it format?

 

[namniar]

Falcon's point is your online name is offensive. It is a shame that anyone
helped you or helps you in the future.

r.