blue screen of death

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jo-Anne
  • Start date Start date
J

Jo-Anne

Late last night, while running Malwarebytes (just to check, no indications
of malware) on my older computer, I got the blue screen of death. It took
forever to get Windows XP (SP3, fully updated) back up--blank screen for a
long time after the splash screen. I've never gotten the blue screen before
with this computer, which I've had for 6 years.

I immediately tried backing up with Acronis True Image. It seemed to be
doing OK, so I went to bed. When I got up today, I found that Acronis had
stopped the backup and showed two error messages indicating the possibility
of bad sectors on the disk. I Googled the error messages, and the first one
seems to be specifically Acronis; the second had only one entry in Google,
and it was in, I think, Chinese. For what it's worth, the first error
message was E000101F4: "Failed to read data from the disk. Failed to read
data from the sector 49,832,581 of the hard disk 1." The second error
message was EE00070003: "Failed to read data from the disk. A possible
reason might be bad sectors on this disk."

Right now, I'm backing up all my data files, Favorites, and OEQB to a flash
drive. I'll then also, if possible, back up the files to a DVD.

Could bad sectors cause the blue screen? And if so, what should I do?

I'll check also with the Acronis forum, but it wasn't Acronis that caused
the blue screen, so I'm figuring it's not the main problem.

Thank you!

Jo-Anne
 
The date and time was Thursday, August 20, 2009 10:40:47 AM , and on a
whim, Jo-Anne pounded out on the keyboard:
Late last night, while running Malwarebytes (just to check, no indications
of malware) on my older computer, I got the blue screen of death. It took
forever to get Windows XP (SP3, fully updated) back up--blank screen for a
long time after the splash screen. I've never gotten the blue screen before
with this computer, which I've had for 6 years.

I immediately tried backing up with Acronis True Image. It seemed to be
doing OK, so I went to bed. When I got up today, I found that Acronis had
stopped the backup and showed two error messages indicating the possibility
of bad sectors on the disk. I Googled the error messages, and the first one
seems to be specifically Acronis; the second had only one entry in Google,
and it was in, I think, Chinese. For what it's worth, the first error
message was E000101F4: "Failed to read data from the disk. Failed to read
data from the sector 49,832,581 of the hard disk 1." The second error
message was EE00070003: "Failed to read data from the disk. A possible
reason might be bad sectors on this disk."

Right now, I'm backing up all my data files, Favorites, and OEQB to a flash
drive. I'll then also, if possible, back up the files to a DVD.

Could bad sectors cause the blue screen? And if so, what should I do?

I'll check also with the Acronis forum, but it wasn't Acronis that caused
the blue screen, so I'm figuring it's not the main problem.

Thank you!

Jo-Anne
Click to expand...

Hi Jo-Anne,

Bad sectors can absolutely cause blue screens. I've had it happen
personally and on client machines.

You probably have a good backup prior to the crash, so just getting the
most current important data is all you need.

You could try running check disk with the /F parameter (will require a
reboot), but I would look into replacing the disk.


Terry R.
 
Terry R. said:
The date and time was Thursday, August 20, 2009 10:40:47 AM , and on a
whim, Jo-Anne pounded out on the keyboard:


Hi Jo-Anne,

Bad sectors can absolutely cause blue screens. I've had it happen
personally and on client machines.

You probably have a good backup prior to the crash, so just getting the
most current important data is all you need.

You could try running check disk with the /F parameter (will require a
reboot), but I would look into replacing the disk.


Terry R.
Click to expand...

Thank you, Terry! That's what I was afraid of. I do have an Acronis backup
from around a week ago. I guess I'll have to order a hard drive now.

Jo-Anne
 
The date and time was Thursday, August 20, 2009 11:55:07 AM , and on a
whim, Jo-Anne pounded out on the keyboard:
Thank you, Terry! That's what I was afraid of. I do have an Acronis backup
from around a week ago. I guess I'll have to order a hard drive now.

Jo-Anne
Click to expand...

Just make sure Acronis is verifying every backup after creating the
file. It's not set to verify by default, you have to change it to that.
Why I don't know. I had a lot of backups that weren't readable before
realizing that verify wasn't set and for unknown reasons the backups
failed to restore.

That's why I usually use a partition manager to create backup partitions
of my drives, since I have 3 hard drives on this workstation, but also
use Acronis or NTBackup to create files on external drives also.


Terry R.
 
Terry R. said:
The date and time was Thursday, August 20, 2009 11:55:07 AM , and on a
whim, Jo-Anne pounded out on the keyboard:


Just make sure Acronis is verifying every backup after creating the file.
It's not set to verify by default, you have to change it to that. Why I
don't know. I had a lot of backups that weren't readable before realizing
that verify wasn't set and for unknown reasons the backups failed to
restore.

That's why I usually use a partition manager to create backup partitions
of my drives, since I have 3 hard drives on this workstation, but also use
Acronis or NTBackup to create files on external drives also.


Terry R.
Click to expand...

Thank you again, Terry! I always use validation, as recommended by someone
whose name I don't remember but who wrote a wonderful beginner's guide to
backing up and restoring with Acronis. A while ago, I also made an Acronis
bootable CD and booted with it to confirm it worked (I had to change the
boot order, since my old computer has a floppy drive and it was set to be
the first thing to look at).

Jo-Anne
 
The date and time was Thursday, August 20, 2009 1:23:26 PM , and on a
whim, Jo-Anne pounded out on the keyboard:
Thank you again, Terry! I always use validation, as recommended by someone
whose name I don't remember but who wrote a wonderful beginner's guide to
backing up and restoring with Acronis. A while ago, I also made an Acronis
bootable CD and booted with it to confirm it worked (I had to change the
boot order, since my old computer has a floppy drive and it was set to be
the first thing to look at).

Jo-Anne
Click to expand...

Ah, yes, the bootable CD. That didn't work originally for me either as
the CD wouldn't recognize the drive to restore, but it would "see" it if
I wanted to select a new drive. After explaining the issue in the
Acronis forums, I received a special image from Acronis tech support
that finally worked properly. Glad I tested that before I needed it...


Terry R.
 
Your hd manufacturer will have a downloadable bootable cd/floppy with which
you can test your drive
 
Terry R. said:
The date and time was Thursday, August 20, 2009 10:40:47 AM , and on a
whim, Jo-Anne pounded out on the keyboard:


Hi Jo-Anne,

Bad sectors can absolutely cause blue screens. I've had it happen
personally and on client machines.

You probably have a good backup prior to the crash, so just getting the
most current important data is all you need.

You could try running check disk with the /F parameter (will require a
reboot), but I would look into replacing the disk.


Terry R.
Click to expand...

Quick question, Terry. If I run check disk with the /F parameter, is there
any chance that it can make things worse? What I'm hoping to do is make the
hard drive copyable (that is, be able to use Acronis to do a full image that
I can later restore to a new hard drive)--and once I do that, then replace
it. As I mentioned earlier, right now Acronis can't do a backup.

Thank you again!

Jo-Anne
 
Thank you, DL, but I don't really know who the manufacturer is. The hard
drive on my 6-year-old Dell Dimension 8250 computer is a 60-GB Ultra ATA/100
hard drive, 7200 RPM. When I click on Properties, it shows up as
"Manufacturer: Standard Disk Drives." The identification number is
IC35L060AVV207-0.

When I Googled that number, I found it attached to hard drives of varying
size for Dell, IBM, and Hitachi. The IBM and Hitachi drives were called
Deskstar. I went to the Hitachi website, clicked on Deskstar, and got a
short list of SATA drives, not ATA drives. I checked instead for diagnostics
and found this webpage, which might be what you’re referring to:
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

It says that "The Drive Fitness Test (DFT) quickly and reliably tests SCSI,
IDE and SATA drives." But I still don't know if what I have is a Hitachi IDE
drive...

Any suggestions?

Thank you again!

Jo-Anne
 
Jo-Anne said:
Thank you, DL, but I don't really know who the manufacturer is. The hard
drive on my 6-year-old Dell Dimension 8250 computer is a 60-GB Ultra ATA/100
hard drive, 7200 RPM. When I click on Properties, it shows up as
"Manufacturer: Standard Disk Drives." The identification number is
IC35L060AVV207-0.

When I Googled that number, I found it attached to hard drives of varying
size for Dell, IBM, and Hitachi. The IBM and Hitachi drives were called
Deskstar. I went to the Hitachi website, clicked on Deskstar, and got a
short list of SATA drives, not ATA drives. I checked instead for diagnostics
and found this webpage, which might be what you’re referring to:
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

It says that "The Drive Fitness Test (DFT) quickly and reliably tests SCSI,
IDE and SATA drives." But I still don't know if what I have is a Hitachi IDE
drive...

Any suggestions?

Thank you again!

Jo-Anne
Click to expand...
<snip>

Hitachi bought the IBM disk drive business for small computers a number
of years ago. Since Dell does not make its own disk drives but buys
them from other companies it is a good bet that your drive is a Deskstar.
 
Michael W. Ryder said:
<snip>

Hitachi bought the IBM disk drive business for small computers a number of
years ago. Since Dell does not make its own disk drives but buys them
from other companies it is a good bet that your drive is a Deskstar.
Click to expand...

Thank you, Michael! I guess I should try to figure out how to use the
Hitachi Drive Fitness Test, then.

Jo-Anne
 
Jo-Anne said:
Quick question, Terry. If I run check disk with the /F parameter, is there
any chance that it can make things worse? What I'm hoping to do is make the
hard drive copyable (that is, be able to use Acronis to do a full image that
I can later restore to a new hard drive)--and once I do that, then replace
it. As I mentioned earlier, right now Acronis can't do a backup.

Thank you again!

Jo-Anne
Click to expand...
The last time I had a boot drive start failing Ghost would not copy the
drive because of the bad sectors. I used Spinrite to fix the drive
errors and was able to clone the drive with no problems. It is not
free-ware but I have been using it since the days of DOS to repair
failing drives. In my case I needed information on the drive that was
placed on the drive after the previous day's backup and I didn't really
want to spend weeks installing, patching, etc. all of the programs on
the drive.
 
Michael W. Ryder said:
The last time I had a boot drive start failing Ghost would not copy the
drive because of the bad sectors. I used Spinrite to fix the drive errors
and was able to clone the drive with no problems. It is not free-ware but
I have been using it since the days of DOS to repair failing drives. In
my case I needed information on the drive that was placed on the drive
after the previous day's backup and I didn't really want to spend weeks
installing, patching, etc. all of the programs on the drive.
Click to expand...

Thank you, Michael! I take it that you didn't try checkdisk at all, then?
I've known about Spinrite for many years. Maybe I should give it a try.

Jo-Anne
 
The date and time was Thursday, August 20, 2009 8:13:06 PM , and on a
whim, Jo-Anne pounded out on the keyboard:
Quick question, Terry. If I run check disk with the /F parameter, is there
any chance that it can make things worse? What I'm hoping to do is make the
hard drive copyable (that is, be able to use Acronis to do a full image that
I can later restore to a new hard drive)--and once I do that, then replace
it. As I mentioned earlier, right now Acronis can't do a backup.

Thank you again!

Jo-Anne
Click to expand...

Hi Jo-Anne,

I doubt it would make things worse. What it would do is mark damaged
sectors as bad and if possible move the data to another area on the
disk. But if the data can't be copied, that might be a "worse
condition" if it was some data you needed. Marking the bad sectors
would probably allow Acronis to complete.

Since you have a backup from a week ago, I would just copy what may have
been created in the last week. Other than Windows Updates being last
week (which can always be reapplied), you probably wouldn't have
anything else to worry about.


Terry R.
 
Terry R. said:
The date and time was Thursday, August 20, 2009 8:13:06 PM , and on a
whim, Jo-Anne pounded out on the keyboard:


Hi Jo-Anne,

I doubt it would make things worse. What it would do is mark damaged
sectors as bad and if possible move the data to another area on the disk.
But if the data can't be copied, that might be a "worse condition" if it
was some data you needed. Marking the bad sectors would probably allow
Acronis to complete.

Since you have a backup from a week ago, I would just copy what may have
been created in the last week. Other than Windows Updates being last week
(which can always be reapplied), you probably wouldn't have anything else
to worry about.


Terry R.
Click to expand...

Thank you again, Terry! My backup was on 8/14, so I'm certain I even picked
up the patch Tuesday updates.

Jo-Anne
 
Jo-Anne said:
Thank you, Michael! I take it that you didn't try checkdisk at all, then?
I've known about Spinrite for many years. Maybe I should give it a try.
Click to expand...

When I first started using Spinrite, around 20 years ago, checkdisk did
not work on the disks I tried to repair. Spinrite has never failed me
so I use what I know works rather than hope that someone finally fixed
checkdisk. The other way to look at it is that you get what you pay
for. As checkdisk is a "free" utility I expect it to be less capable
then Spinrite, much like a lot of people feel that free Linux is less
than expensive Windows :)
 
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