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Hi all, I needs ur help.... How to fix the HHD that have bad sector, because of this, my computer cant start to windows, and I lets the Scan disk program running.... but then the Scan disk juz hangging at 51% complete, So how to fix it.
The systems is
Windows 98
HDD Seagate 1.7GB
CPU Pentium MMX 200MHz
Pls Help me...
Exit the Scandisk and do a defragment on the HD.
Go To: Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools> Disk Defragmenter
Scandisk could be fixing the errors. you do have a slow machine and some things take time with Win 98 and by the way how long do you wait before rebooting the computer?
try booting from your start up disk then run the scandisk from there and make it to do surface scan
Lol...i'm so dumb, I took the 1.7GB as 1.7Ghz...yeah, Addict could be right, since you have a slow box, it mite be fixing the prob. Let us know aprox. how long it hangs for.
Defrag won't do anything but tell you to do scan disk. Scan disk is what is going to fix your bad sectors. The only think I can think of is try booting into safe mode and seeing if you can get windows to load.
If not, maybe try booting off the Windows 98 boot disk and running scan disk from there. That way you are not running it off the hard drive, just from your floppy drive and RAM.
It sounds like you have some serious hard drive sector issues if your computer is locking up during a scan disk. So you need some utility that runs off a disk that is bootable. At least that is what I would assume.
Just a thought...
~AciD
It hang for a long time... i think it jammed already.... My pc can't enter the windows because it's still in dos mode. My I try to defrag it using another PC that running win XP?
Acid is right...sorry about the defrag info. Also you might consider doing a significant upgrade on your comp. I purchased a 1.2ghz, 256 RAM, 20GB HD for $300 bucks...it runs pretty good. Also, If the scandisks dont work, try reformating the HD, Unless u have very important stuff in there.
By the way, Can we fix the bad sector, and how do we fix them, or using what software?
If you use scan disk, its going to have to sit for a long time and run through your hard drive. You have to set it up to do a surface scan which may take up to 6 hours to fix a drive with errors. I would suggest as I said before and using a boot disk then running scan disk and fix the errors. Make sure you run the surface scan, then just let it set over night and whie you go to work. If its still at the same spot after that amount of time, we will have to rethink things.
And yes it would be easy to upgrade the system, if it wasn't a laptop. Laptops are pretty much stuck as they are when you buy them, hardware wise that is (exceptfor external stuff). The newer laptops with the modular bays can have aded batteries and hard drives and such.
Good luck...
~AciD
Yap, juz now I try to running at Surface Scan, but it hangging at Directory Structure at 51% complete from few hours ago.... So how to skip Surface Scanning process?
You don't want to skip the scan though, because the surface scan is about the only way to pick up the bad sectors and fix them. Or at least from memory that is what I remember always doing.
~AciD
So, do I need to wait it for a long time, or I need to restart it again? Waht if I'm going Format it, izzit the problems will solve or the Bad sector still remain?
A bad sector is typically something physically wrong with the hard drive. Though I have formatted my hard drive before when it said that there was a bad secotr, and it went away some how. Windows 98 is a bit weird like that. Its up to you if you would want to format, but I would try to let it go scanning the disk.
~AciD
OK Thanks, I'll try it....
Another thing you might want to worry about is getting a new comp. That 200 Mhz will limit you with how much you can use your computer for as well as fixing anything wrong with your computer. You could find a good one for cheap you just gotta keep you eye out. Good luck with your HDD though.
PeacE
-BoB
True the computer is old, but it can still be a good portable device. I mean look at the new PDAs coming out, they are only 300MHz and 400MHz, which will do about the same thing as that laptop. So really if you can fix this HDD problem, it is not something to get ride of, laptops are very useful tools for those who might be on the road a lot and such. Plus as long as you aren't trying to play Quake III or something with high graphic needs, that laptop should be great. Sure it might only run well with Windows 98 SE, but thats about all you need for a good running word processor... right?
Just a thought...
~AciD
Good point about the speed issues. Its a perfect computer for alot unless as acid pointed out that you are going to be playing/using anything that needs alot of resources or high graphics needs etc...
PeacE
-BoB
if all else fails, and only if all else fails, then save your important crap to a few discs and get yur pc set to its original settings...
only if all else fails
try calling your local pc repair guy
That's true, if none of this works you might want to try putting your hard drive as a slave into another computer and back your stuff up. Though if it's physical damage, any computer will have problems reading the hard drive.
But even on that note, if you can get your drive out and into another computer, there might be your whole solution to trying to run a surface scan on it. Because then you can run everything in a windows envirornment that is untouched from your problem at hand. Maybe it would work better?
Worth a shot before you go spending the money on tech support or a local PC specialist...
Just a thought...
~AciD
I had several bad sectors myself. Now I too believe as AciDriveHB said, something physicaly wrong with the drive.
However I repartitioned my drive, and the bad sectors apreared to disapear. Weather they were realy physical damage or a glitch I dont know. Just that scandisk does not report bad sectors anymore. this may be a good thing or bad, but thought I would mention what I did.
JohnHACK,
One of the best thing you can do is going to your hard drive manufacturer's web site and download the specific tool for your HD.
You can find a tool for your's (Seagate) clicking HERE
Take care,
DKRR
Occasunaly drives ship with bad sectors, and if you are unlucky during a hard reset while the disk is being accessed it can get a physical bad sector. Scandisks flags these sectors and so after that they are ignored. If you keep devloping bad sectors you may have a serious problem, you may have a bad HD, or their are a few viri that hid in bad sectors.Quote:
Originally posted here by journy101
I had several bad sectors myself. Now I too believe as AciDriveHB said, something physicaly wrong with the drive.
However I repartitioned my drive, and the bad sectors apreared to disapear. Weather they were realy physical damage or a glitch I dont know. Just that scandisk does not report bad sectors anymore. this may be a good thing or bad, but thought I would mention what I did.
Also whenever scan disk finds these bad sectors, the information is saved in the partition table (as was explained to me years ago). So something to note if you delete your partition table for that drive, it will "forget" where the bad sectors are. Which can cause problems if you are installing an OS, or even jus trying to format the drive.
Something to keep in mind when formatting a drive with bad sectors...
Just a thought...
~AciD
If ur system is that slow and the scandisk takes a long time to run just let it run to completion. maybe leave it running connected to a power supply overnight and it should be done the next morning. The scan disk will map out the bad sectors and it will prevent these areas from being used again.
If it isnt then u have a major problem and I suggest trying to salvage whatever important info you have and replacing the hard drive. Contrary to what some people might say, it isnt that difficult to replace a hard drive on the notebook. If it really reaches that point, you can PM me and I'll be willing to guide you through replacing the hard drive. All I need would be the notebook model and the sixe of the drive. If its IBM, Toshiba & Dell, I am quite familiar with these notebooks.
OK Thanks... I'll try what u all said...
Wow I didnt realise Scandisk could be so involving.
Check these out
This one talks about what makes a bad cluster
And this one is the index page
Happy scandisking!! :airoff:
Also if you do reformat your pc and you still have bad clusters download this http://www.ariolic.com/download/activesmart.zip its a bit of kit called active S.M.A.R.T it'll tell you if your hard drives broken or about to break or if its using more power than it should etc.
Cheers
V$D$
I have to agree with DKRR on his comment..Quote:
One of the best thing you can do is going to your hard drive manufacturer's web site and download the specific tool for your HD.
I have had a problem similar with Quntam, Western digital, and Seagate drives.. the tools that the manufacturers use lock the bad cluster out in the firmware of the HDD and it will physicly not see the cluster again..even after a format or repartition..
The problem these tools "repair' are as JohnHACK mentioned.. "during Scandisk the system will lock" it will get to 20% or 51% or 96% or 7% whatever.. Also the computer will intermittantly lock.. you will find it is while it is trying to load the same file.. and the only cure is.. Reset or power down..
If the drive is a 1.7Gb (if I remember the thread properly).. some some tools may not apply..but I can be wrong..so still give it a go....
Cheers
"Bad Sectors" don't usually go away. If they are "Bad"; the format program will mark them so the computer never uses them again. If more Bad Sectors show up; it's usually a sign the drive is about to fail (permanently) Can you say 'Backup' ?
Hard Drive Manufacturers usually allow for 5 p/cent bad sectors when shipping.
IDE drives can no longer be 'Low Level' formatted (That is done at the factory)
If the ScanDisk hangs at 51% that's a sign of a damaged file/sector. (as everyone has indicated)
Possibly hit the F8 key after power up; go to Safe Mode then Scandisk (or use a DOS boot disk)
I've never made it through a format with a bad sector, now that I think about it. Because it comes up and says the hard drive may be damaged... well that is in XP at least. Back in the 9x days anytime I would format and install it usually skipped over the bad sectors, then screwed up the installation later because I THINK it was trying to write to those sectors. Pop a new drive in and bam it goes.
And as for a low level format, all it is (again as explained to me) is deleting all your partition tables on your drive, basically making it how it comes from the factory. Which we don't have the option in CMOS anymore, but you can still do it just as easy and recreate the table with fdisk on a Win98 boot disk or using the XP OS installer.
Just a thought...
~AciD
If it's not possible to use scandisk to fix the problem you have with bad sectors on the HDD you could try to norton utilities to fix the problem. Otherwise dump the HDD and get a new one.
have a nice day