is my hard drive dying?!

merlin1

well its had a full hard drive scan and no bad sectors were found at all, not one! its passed that test with flying colours...

the more i look into this the more i get the feeling it's software rather than hardware! :think:

easyhost

merlin1 wrote: »

well its had a full hard drive scan and no bad sectors were found at all, not one! its passed that test with flying colours...

the more i look into this the more i get the feeling it's software rather than hardware! :think:

well in that case you need an OS disc and then do a full rebuild of the OS

closed

Which virus scanners have you used sofar?

Why not factory restore it again, scan for rootkits, and post when you hit your first problem

paddyrg

"Flatten and rebuild" is where you give up on the computer as-is, format the hard drive (or at least the main partition if you have a recovery partition), and reinstall the OS as if it was a new drive. Allow a half-day to use the recovery partition to rebuild the main partition, install all the windows updates, then remove all the OEM rubbish the recovery partition forced on you (this step is optional, but wise), then install your Office programmes and browser choice. It is a big, slightly scary job first time, but it is not difficult - most of the time you watch progress bars and read books/magazines/TV whilst waiting!

If you want to try linux, find one you like and download/create a 'live' dvd - you put it in the drive and boot the computer from it - it will run slowly (limited by the speed of the DVD drive compared with a hard drive), but you get to do everything you could do with a full install, then as long as you don't choose the 'install' option, turn off the computer and it's gone. This means you can try as many linux flavours as you like, but I suggest Mint or Ubuntu first if you're new to it. If you can boot from USB keys, you can also have a look at pendrivelinux which will make you a bootable USB stick instead of using DVD's.

If you do decide to dual-boot, then I would suggest you format first, reinstall Windows (and get it right), THEN install whichever Linux flavour you choose (linux expects to share, Windows doesn't, so it is much easier this way round).

merlin1

closed wrote: »

Which virus scanners have you used sofar?

Why not factory restore it again, scan for rootkits, and post when you hit your first problem

hi again closed!

each time i have used a different anti virus, avira, avast, avg. the last system recovery i did was only about 3 weeks ago (if that) and i posted yesterday at the first sign of trouble which was the Fn key functions not working. it was through trying to resolve that issue that led me to find that system restore, chkdsk, and change startup programs have all got corrupted.

(i have just noticed the asus hotkey's file is missing in the hijack log)

i've just looked again at the sfc log from yesterday - found 5 issues it tried to fix like the chkdsk but was unable to - at the end of those it says "hash mismatch" ? i would post the log but it's huge on the width and it'll play havoc with the forum!

i'm struggling to find a fix for it on google but it appears to be a software problem that can keep coming after formats (found that info on vista forums)

merlin1

paddyrg wrote: »

"Flatten and rebuild" is where you give up on the computer as-is, format the hard drive (or at least the main partition if you have a recovery partition), and reinstall the OS as if it was a new drive. Allow a half-day to use the recovery partition to rebuild the main partition, install all the windows updates, then remove all the OEM rubbish the recovery partition forced on you (this step is optional, but wise), then install your Office programmes and browser choice. It is a big, slightly scary job first time, but it is not difficult - most of the time you watch progress bars and read books/magazines/TV whilst waiting!

i see thanks! i'm not sure where the recovery partition is - from what i can gather reading about asus laptops its hidden in the main c drive. D drive is just an empty data space. i've read some horror stories of people doing as you described and wiping their recovery partition... oops.

RussJK

aswMBR and Fix MBR again. Make a Dr Web LiveCD and leave it in the drive. Shut down the computer and leave power off for a few minutes to clear the ram. Load the Dr Web CD (and don't let the computer try to boot Windows, reset if you have to), update definitions via ethernet cable, and then settle in for a long scan.

It has a web browser.

http://public.avast.com/~gmerek/aswMBR.htm
http://www.freedrweb.com/livecd

merlin1

RussJK wrote: »

aswMBR and Fix MBR again. Make a Dr Web LiveCD and leave it in the drive. Shut down the computer and leave power off for a few minutes to clear the ram. Load the Dr Web CD (and don't let the computer try to boot Windows, reset if you have to), update definitions via ethernet cable, and then settle in for a long scan.

It has a web browser.

http://public.avast.com/~gmerek/aswMBR.htm
http://www.freedrweb.com/livecd

ok will try that thanks! is there anyway to update definitions prior to loading the cd? no ethernet cable, we are wireless here

paddyrg

merlin1 wrote: »

i see thanks! i'm not sure where the recovery partition is - from what i can gather reading about asus laptops its hidden in the main c drive. D drive is just an empty data space. i've read some horror stories of people doing as you described and wiping their recovery partition... oops.

Reboot and hold F9 - it shouk give you 4 options (3 of which are destructive, the default though is boot as normal!)

From http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=96388 ...

Asus Recovery System

I’d like to give you a brief description of the system recovery utility all notebooks from ASUS come with. You can use it from a special hidden partition on the hard drive by pressing F9 at system startup or from the included Recovery and Driver&Utility discs (to do that, you should press Esc at startup, select Boot from ATAPI CD-ROM Drive and then change the discs as requested). The system will offer four options to you:

1. If none of the following recovery options is selected, the computer will just be rebooted to load Windows (if Recovery is started from the hard drive) or run the bootable disc in the optical drive.

2. The first partition is deleted (the others remain intact) and a new system partition C: will be created.

3. This option removes all the partitions from the hard drive and creates a new system partition C:.

4.This option removes all the partitions from the hard drive and creates two new partitions C: (60% of the drive’s storage capacity) and (40%).

But I've never tried it - do backups first! And there is likely to be an ASUS tool for creating your own windows backup DVD - do it just in case you brick the system or replace the hard drive any time in the future

merlin1

aswMBR has scanned however this time line 604 is in bright red text. i hit fixMBR but the red text remains.

16:23:28.604 ntkrnlpa.exe CLASSPNP.SYS disk.sys acpi.sys halmacpi.dll iaStor.sys spyf.sys >>UNKNOWN [0x8509b938]<<

is that significant?

paddyrg; i have always done number4 as thats how it comes from factory - so if i do decide to format the drive i need option 2?