C: drive has continual errors found.....

  • Thread starter Thread starter geronimo
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geronimo

I need to defrag the C: drive as it is about 24% fragmented. When I
try to play music or video, it is all choppy now, perhaps because
Windows XP is running so poorly now. Its a WD 120 drive, and the smart
drive monitor is not saying there is a problem with it. CHKDSK runs
and always finds some errors, such as orphaned file fragments. then I
run Diskkeeper 10, and after it finishes there is little to no
improvement. But I can no longer run Diskeeper, as Windows is
continually flagging that there is something wrong with the file
system, and scheduling CHKDSK to run on the next reboot. Aparrently
the errors are not getting fixed or new ones crop up on every reboot.
So the fragmentation will just keep getting worse until it takes
forever to do anything, or open anything, because of the framentation.

I think I need to run something beyond the CHKDSK utility to get to
the bottom of the problem with the C: drive file system (NTFS). ANy
ideas?
 
geronimo said:
I need to defrag the C: drive as it is about 24% fragmented. When I
try to play music or video, it is all choppy now, perhaps because
Windows XP is running so poorly now. Its a WD 120 drive, and the smart
drive monitor is not saying there is a problem with it. CHKDSK runs
and always finds some errors, such as orphaned file fragments. then I
run Diskkeeper 10, and after it finishes there is little to no
improvement. But I can no longer run Diskeeper, as Windows is
continually flagging that there is something wrong with the file
system, and scheduling CHKDSK to run on the next reboot. Aparrently
the errors are not getting fixed or new ones crop up on every reboot.
So the fragmentation will just keep getting worse until it takes
forever to do anything, or open anything, because of the framentation.

I think I need to run something beyond the CHKDSK utility to get to
the bottom of the problem with the C: drive file system (NTFS). ANy
ideas?
Click to expand...

If you're getting this many errors, I would start backing up the stuff you
want to keep and think about getting a new HDD.

SteveH
 
geronimo said:
I need to defrag the C: drive as it is about 24% fragmented. When I
try to play music or video, it is all choppy now, perhaps because
Windows XP is running so poorly now. Its a WD 120 drive, and the smart
drive monitor is not saying there is a problem with it. CHKDSK runs
and always finds some errors, such as orphaned file fragments. then I
run Diskkeeper 10, and after it finishes there is little to no
improvement. But I can no longer run Diskeeper, as Windows is
continually flagging that there is something wrong with the file
system, and scheduling CHKDSK to run on the next reboot. Aparrently
the errors are not getting fixed or new ones crop up on every reboot.
So the fragmentation will just keep getting worse until it takes
forever to do anything, or open anything, because of the framentation.

I think I need to run something beyond the CHKDSK utility to get to
the bottom of the problem with the C: drive file system (NTFS). ANy
ideas?
Click to expand...

I suggest you salvage what you can, while you can. Then run the
manufacturer's utilities.
 
I need to defrag the C: drive as it is about 24% fragmented. When I
try to play music or video, it is all choppy now, perhaps because
Windows XP is running so poorly now. Its a WD 120 drive, and the smart
drive monitor is not saying there is a problem with it. CHKDSK runs
and always finds some errors, such as orphaned file fragments. then I
run Diskkeeper 10, and after it finishes there is little to no
improvement. But I can no longer run Diskeeper, as Windows is
continually flagging that there is something wrong with the file
system, and scheduling CHKDSK to run on the next reboot. Aparrently
the errors are not getting fixed or new ones crop up on every reboot.
So the fragmentation will just keep getting worse until it takes
forever to do anything, or open anything, because of the framentation.

I think I need to run something beyond the CHKDSK utility to get to
the bottom of the problem with the C: drive file system (NTFS). ANy
ideas?
Click to expand...

You can boot from the WinXP CD and press R key to Recovery Console to run
chkdsk or scandisk.
Before doing that check your RAM as that causes disk corruption. I would
also use new 80 conductor IDE cable too.

_kent
 
geronimo said:
I need to defrag the C: drive as it is about 24% fragmented.
Click to expand...

Unlikely you will see any difference when its defragged.
When I try to play music or video, it is all choppy now,
perhaps because Windows XP is running so poorly now.
Click to expand...

You have a fault that needs to be fixed.
Its a WD 120 drive, and the smart drive
monitor is not saying there is a problem with it.
Click to expand...

Post the Everest SMART report.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4181

Most likely the DMA has been turned off, what is shown
in the Device manager for that drive and its controller ?
CHKDSK runs and always finds some errors, such
as orphaned file fragments. then I run Diskkeeper 10,
and after it finishes there is little to no improvement.
Click to expand...

Because fragmentation isnt the reason for the choppy audio and video.
But I can no longer run Diskeeper, as Windows is continually
flagging that there is something wrong with the file system,
and scheduling CHKDSK to run on the next reboot. Aparrently
the errors are not getting fixed or new ones crop up on every reboot.
Click to expand...

Win turns the DMA off when its seeing a high level of errors over
the cable to the drive. That may well be what is producing those
chkdsk errors too. If the DMA is turned off, try a new cable, and
dont use one of those stupid round cables. You'll have to manually
turn the DMA on again AFTER you have swapped the cable,
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817472/
So the fragmentation will just keep getting worse until it takes
forever to do anything, or open anything, because of the framentation.
Click to expand...

That is just plain wrong, it doesnt happen.
I think I need to run something beyond the CHKDSK utility to get
to the bottom of the problem with the C: drive file system (NTFS).
Click to expand...

Yes, but you dont need to run anything, just check if DMA is turned off.
 
Paul said:
With the price of drives, why fool around ? Replace it.
Click to expand...

And find that it doesnt fix the problem if its actually a bad cable
that has seen Win turn the DMA off due to CRC errors on the cable.
 
YOu are absolutely right....I have XP Pro, and so I could not get the
DMA information except by starting devmgmt.msc from the run command
line. (this is a bug with some Windows versions). I have "DMA if
available" selected, but it is running in PIO mode! No wonder. The
secondary controller is currently in DMA mode...it is only the primary
controller that has switched to PIO! I do have those round IDE cables
on this PC...and you are probably right that it is just a bad cable
causing all the trouble. Thanks much!!
 
I replaced the primary IDE cable, rebooted, checked under IDE/ATAPI
devices, primary channel....however the C: drive and slave are still
operating PIO mode! Has the same choppy MP3 playing. I guess it is
completely automatic as far as the mode switching? SOmething is still
wrong, causing WIn XP to use only PIO mode?
 
geronimo said:
I replaced the primary IDE cable, rebooted, checked under IDE/ATAPI
devices, primary channel....however the C: drive and slave are still
operating PIO mode! Has the same choppy MP3 playing. I guess it is
completely automatic as far as the mode switching? SOmething is still
wrong, causing WIn XP to use only PIO mode?
Click to expand...

reset the cmos and/or make sure that 'auto' is selected for UDMA/ATA on the
primary and secondary controller
 
I think AMDtower and Conrad made some good points. I like this WD
drive--I doubt there's anything wrong with it. As much as I dislike
Norton, their WinDoc works pretty good at correcting sys problems. I
would do as others have suggested for starters: backup whatever files
you can save. My inclination beyond that would be to do a fresh install
of the OS. Start from the OS Install CD, zero-out the harddrive and do a
fresh install of your operating system. I would not mess around with
flashing the bios.
 
I checked the CMOS for some option about drive data transfer mode.
Every option on the first page of CMOS about drives is alreadyset for
AUTO. Elsewhere there was nothing to set transfer mode....except for
the printer there was an option about DMA modes. Its an ABIT A7N8X
mobo. Anyway the BIOS has never been changed. MS had a doc about
this problem....it says that after 6 CRC errors it will revert to PIO
mode...and switching back to DMA mode is NOT automatic. I applied
what it said would be the fix. Per instructions, I added the registry
value "Drive error counter success=1"
(it wasn't exactly that, but something to that effect). This is
supposed to reset the CRC error counter, and allow Windows to
re-enable DMA once again....but after adding this value for IDE
channel 001, and rebooting, it is still operating in DMA mode. I need
to look at some Windows event log (Where?) and see if perhaps errors
are continuing even with a new cable. thanks Geronimo
 
geronimo said:
YOu are absolutely right....I have XP Pro, and so I could not get the
DMA information except by starting devmgmt.msc from the run command
line. (this is a bug with some Windows versions). I have "DMA if
available" selected, but it is running in PIO mode! No wonder. The
secondary controller is currently in DMA mode...it is only the primary
controller that has switched to PIO! I do have those round IDE cables
on this PC...and you are probably right that it is just a bad cable
causing all the trouble. Thanks much!!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback, too rare in my opinion.
 
geronimo said:
I replaced the primary IDE cable, rebooted, checked
under IDE/ATAPI devices, primary channel....however
the C: drive and slave are still operating PIO mode!
Click to expand...

Yes, thats normal, you have to reset that manually.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817472/
Has the same choppy MP3 playing. I guess it is
completely automatic as far as the mode switching?
Click to expand...

It automatically disables DMA on a high enough level of CRC
errors over the cable, but you have to turn it back on manually.
SOmething is still wrong, causing WIn XP to use only PIO mode?
Click to expand...

Yes, you have to turn DMA back on manually, it wont do that automatically.
 
reset the cmos and/or make sure that 'auto' is selected
for UDMA/ATA on the primary and secondary controller
Click to expand...

Its disabled at the OS level, not the bios level.

It has be be re enabled manually at the OS level once the cable has been replaced.

 
Rod Speed said:
Its disabled at the OS level, not the bios level.

It has be be re enabled manually at the OS level once the cable has been
Click to expand...
replaced.

yeah gotcha however I was thinking that maybe it was disabled in the bios
to begin with....obviously wasn't the case.
 
It sounds like your OS has become corrupted beyond repair, since ChkDsk will
repair errors that it's capable of. Sorry to say it's about time to
reformat and reinstall the OS and your programs. This happens with
regularity with any Windows installation unfortunately.
 
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