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HD CRASH - BOOT SECTOOR?

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7 replies

by cspano

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Dear sirs,

My PC, a locally assembled in Greece, is a PENTIUM III at 600 MHz, with 256 MG memory, with an ASUS TEK P3B-F Rev 1.01 Motherbard and ACPI BIOS rev 1004 10-19-99-i440bx, running at Windows 98 SE ver 4.10.2222, with MsOffice 2000 Pro, using McAfee and Zone Alarm.

Two hard Disks are connected on it both Western Digital, the master C:\ of 20 GB (type WD20-5BA-P760) in one partition and another of 20 GB (type WD20 0BB ? 00AUA1) in two 10 GB partitions D:\ and E:\.

For some time now the master (C:\) disk [which boots into windows and holds the registry and windows files] has shown a deterioration i.e. delays in booting, gradually consuming memory while running multiple Applications, gradually reducing speed and finally hanging, some times the system hangs and when rebooted it turns to BIOS with the error that last boot was running at 400 MHz.
At the same time Asus Temster Software reports that the processor is overheated (67-85 deg C). For the last week I cannot bootto the system as the system is running very slow to boot and load windows, to end up to the message : error reading drive c: abort, retry, fail, ignore?

I used Norton Rescue of Norton Utilities and Norton Disk Doctor to rescue operations, the speed has been somehow restored - I do not know for how long as after some time the disk slows down again to finally stop responding.

Although I do not get a specific message I suspect that the boot sector is damaged.

Any ideas on how I can revive / repair the damaged BOOT SECTOR and my disk and valuable data?

If the solution is to replace the master how do I restore the system and my data on the new disk? Do I have to re-install everything again? Are there any useful instructions about it?

Any help welcome.

7 replies

by timmitchell

As I read your post, I don't see anything that would indicate to me that the boot sector is bad (maybe there is something you've seen there that you didn't include in this post?). If you're having various errors like failure to boot, slow access when it does boot, CPU overheat indication, etc., I would lean toward assuming that the mainboard is headed south, particularly if your IDE controllers are integrated into the mainboard.

If I'm wrong and your MBR is corrupt, you can remedy the problem if you have access to another Win98SE machine. Create a bootable floppy on the other machine (under Add/remove programs in Control Panel). Boot the other PC (the bad one) with the boot floppy, and at the command prompt, type "sys c:". This will copy the necessary files to your troublesome computer. Do note that it will overwrite your boot files, so if there are any needed lines in your config.sys or autoexec.bat, you'll need to recreate them.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

by cspano

Actually I had no specific message that the boot sector is bad, and it may weel be that the fault is on the motherboard. Then again how it happens that the other HD is working normally? An if it is the case with a faulty motherboard what is the solution? Replacing it? Ant practical help on how you do it and what might be ifluenced on the PC?
Many thanks anyway
SHRAX

by timmitchell

If the other HDD is working OK, you might try putting both HDDs on the same IDE controller.... you may have a problem with one of your IDE controllers. Of course, with two HDDs on one controller, that leaves no room for CD ROM, etc.

Unfortunately, modern mainboards do not support component-level repair. Replacing it will cost you some $$, but replacing it is more practical than trying to isolate a mainboard problem and trying to fix the board itself.

by wgeiser

Sure You dont have a virus?
-Use Your McAfee Bootdisk and scan your disk c: Even it says that disk is not bootable, and all Files are OK, check if all cables are OK.
-Try to start disk from win98 boot diskette and do a system recovery.
-If that dont work, save your data to d: or e: and format c:, reinstall win98
-Had similar prolems caused by Mcafee. Disable the autostart and system should be up again in 45sec.
-Run Mcafee manualy by starting the program after system is up.
-maybe C: is faulty. Use D: as Your bootdisk by changing master / slave jumper
Good luck!
Werner

by shadowcat

if you believe that it is the MBR you can fix that in DOS mode. if you believe that it is the HD itself you will not have to reinstall everything. Most retail HD's come with a utility disk and if you buy an OEM HD (no box) you can always download the utilities from the manufacturers web site.

The utilities disk will have a complete diskcopy program that works much faster then xcopy it will also be able to format the hardrive for you and the HDs don't have to be the same size or manufacturer. it would be a good idea to download the utility anyway from the manufactures web site just to check the HD.

Good luck.

by radiic

while reading through your post. It sounds like you may have a couple of problems and that it is hard to discern which one is causing what. Its sorta like when i walk into work in the morning and someone says the server is down. ( Scratch head, okay which one...etc.etc.etc.) Usually winds up that the client left there machine on all night,and they need to reboot. So it is not the server. Get IT>

One thing that bothers me is the fact that your cpu is running hot. Why> Good ventilation,fans work, fan is rated for cpu. Is there a setting that has overclocked your cpu and making it work harder. In the old days we had to make sure the right jumper was pinned, most settings for cpu are in the bios now. Check that out.

Second isWWW (Welcome to the World of Windows) As most of us know after loading a fresh install of W98 after you load a bunch of programs and uninstall them your hard drive gets very fragmented. WHY>? Because of that beautiful swap file and the way MS handles files, and free space. Thats why Norton made a killing. Norton Speed disk is a computers best friend. Try Running speed disk with just its default setting, and i would imagine you will see some great speed improvements. I like to change the settings and put folders first then files sorted by name. Run Speed disk with a passion. Once a day. I sometimes see my system 3 % fraged when i havent even done that much on it in a day.

I would say your HD is fine for now. And the good thing is that you have a second drive where you can make sure that you have your important docs,pics, and stuff stored. Here is another idea, try the eval version of Ghost and ghost the image of drive c: to d: that way if c: does fail you can replace and restore the image and be up in no time without having to reinstall all your progies.

Hope this helps ya.

Rad

by kahopkins

From what you've listed, I would look at the overheating processor before suspecting the hard drive itself. Usually, if the boot sector is damaged, Norton utilities will let you know while checking a drive for errors.

The CPU overheating would cause the problems you're having, with slowdowns and eventual stoppage, since it is the primary unit that allows access to the HDD controller.

My advice is to reseat the CPU, check the cooling fans and try running it at a slighly lower speed.

Ifyou're going to replace the drive, the best commercial program I've come across for transferring system and data intact is Power Quest's Drive Image software (www.powerquest.com).

I have also found that by using the attrib function to reset all files on the drive to regular archive types
(attrib -r -s -h x:\*.*), I can copy all files from one drive to another
(xcopy /e/s source\. destination\.)without a problem and boot from the destination drive. Resetting the attributes usually takes a very long time, same as copying files, depending on how much data is on the drive.

After copying files, make sure you remove the defective drive and boot from floppy to use Fdisk to make the new drive active.

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