'fraid it does sound like your drive is failing. Can you boot from a system floppy and see the files you need? If so this may be a good time to think about off loading them.
Good luck!
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Scandisk fixed files, now renaming DIR00001-->etc., can't get into Windows
ScanDisk runs on my Win95 box when booting, and it lists some errors, some in "C:\windows\inf" and some in other directories. Eventually it gets through them all and I let ScanDisk "fix" the problem, and then it started to scan the drive again. This time it is reporting directories like DIR00001, DIR00002, etc. and after like DIR00004 I stopped letting ScanDisk "fix" lest I zero out my entire drive.
However, when I quit ScanDisk prematurely it won't let me boot into Windows. It says "You may now safely turn off your computer. Press CNTL-ALT-DEL to restart". What is going on? If I let ScanDisk go through the DIR0000x directories, am I going to lock myself out of Windows? Is my hard drive dying, and if so, I'd like to get in and transfer important files before it dies!
Thanks!
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Answers
"You may now safely turn off your computer. Press CNTL-ALT-DEL to restart"
This is a sign the File Alocation Table (FAT) is gone ! Windows simply have no idea where to look for files.
Sooner or later ( my guess is sooner) you'll be forced to run FDISK / FORMAT.
Try to find Norton Disk Doctor for MS-DOS ( probably your friend are still running Norotn utilities ver. 3 or 4. )
Copy NDD.exe to bootable floppy and try to fix your HDD before you lose all your data!!!
good luck
I popped in a boot disk, it said "Starting Windows 95..." but then after loading the CD-ROM drivers it drops me to an A: prompt. What's up? Are my files lost? I don't mind formatting as long as I can do a backup. By the way I let ScanDisk go all the way through but it still says "You may now safely turn off your computer. Press CNTL-ALT-DEL to restart".
Make sure you're using correct Win95 boot floppy:
start computer with floppy and at a:\ prompt type:
ver ( it'll return operating system version ).
Once you're sure your floppy OS version is OK type:
fdsik /status ( to make sure partitions and HD geometry are fine).
After that run:
scandisk c: /autofix /nosave /nosummary
Try,then,to access c:\windows\temp and delete all temporary files either by typing:
del *.* when you're in c:\windows\temp
or
deltree /y c:\windows\temp (before deltree command type: PATH c:\windows\command)
Also make sure root directory c:\ is cleaned from *.CHK files (type del *.chk while in c:\ ).
You've probably worked this out from nedvis' answer but in reply to your last comment:
The A: prompt is there because the boot disk contains the operating system that's being used not the C: Drive. If DOS can see the c: drive you can get to it by typing C: <enter>
The important question is can you still see files on your C drive? If you can they can be backed up, if not the error is more serious.
When I type ver at the A: prompt, it tells me "Version 4.00.950" which I believe is the original version of Windows 95. Does this mean that I have actually version B on my hard drive (which is why I'm can't boot to my OS with that boot disk)?
Also, when I type C:, it tells me "Invalid drive specification".
I don't want to go further before I hear from you guys.. thanks!
Error message "Invalid drive specification" indicates that your HD is not registerred (1) , it is FAT32 (32) or
file allocation tables and MBR are gone for good (3) .
Before you fdisk and format your hard-disk it'll be good idea to use Win98 floppy boot disk and see if you can access your files on hard-disk using FAT32 bootable floppy.
Open BIOS setup and make sure your hard-disk CHS parameters (# of cylinders,heads and sectors are correct) or select option AUTO(detect) . If the HD is larger than 8 Gb enable LBA translation mode.
Even with win95 boot floppy you can examine your HD with the command : fdisk /status
It'll show you current partitions, active partition status and hd usage.
If you're getting error message when booting Windows cannot detect hard-disk etc... it could be sign that a) BIOS cannot "see" hard-disk (IDE controller failure , IDE cable loosed , no power to the HD etc.)
b) MBR (master boot record is alterred by virus, third party partitioning software or is dammaged
c) you're using wrong version operating system .
So ,consequently , open PC case and make sure you can hear your HD spinning. Check the cables attached to HD. If needed clear CMOS ( VRAM ) .
Popped in a Win95 version B bootdisk and it loaded my CD-ROM drivers and dropped me to a A: prompt again, after saying "Starting Windows 95". This time I could get to the C: drive. There's like hundreds of .chk files, but it seems like my files are intact.
I went into C:\windows and typed "win" to start Windows. A quick message popped up, something about "Registry services may be" (it went too fast for me to read), but it seems like it's something like the problem here: http://support.microsoft.c
I typed fdisk /status, and it listed my C:, D:, E: drives, and listed my hdd usage at 100%???
Where do I go from here, thanks for your help!
Looks like some of the files that you've lost include the registry and it's back-up. Suggest you consider *urgently* connecting up your drive to a PC with a bootable hard drive so that you can copy what is salvageable across. Even though you can see the file names it does not automatically follow that the files are still intact.
If you need advice on how to do this please post again.
Sorry but he outlook for the drive itself is pretty bleak.
Good luck!
..."There's like HUNDREDS of .chk files..."
It looks like you hit the root directory limit.The FAT (File Allocation Table) format has a maximum limit to the number of files that may be present in the root directory ( c:\ ). On most systems running MS-DOS and Win95, this limit is 511 files.
REPEAT BOOT PROCESS TRY TO ACCESS C:\ AND THEN DELETE ALL *.CHK FILES
At C:\ prompt type :
del *.chk
and get rid of those hard-disk check utility log files that built up over the time, since you apparently have hard-disk in pretty bad condition.
Right after that run
scandisk /all /nosave and run surface test.
Rescue your files - The sooner , the better .MASQUERAID gave you the same advice.
I deleted all my .chk files in the C:\ directory (actually I copied them to another directory just in case), then I ran scandisk /all /nosave /nosummary. But still, without the bootdisk I just the "You may now turn off your computer" display after the Windows 95 logo and the bootdisk still drops me to a A: prompt.
Any advice from here?
The .CHK files are just occupying space. Although it is possible to recover data from them it is unlikely that you'll be able to do it with any reliability. With that in mind they could be safely deleted.
Have you managed to copy the <<important files>> you mentioned in your original posting to another medium? If so you could try reformating the disk and reinstalling Windows, but (and this is a very big but) the drive has proved unreliable and my advice remains the same - go buy yourself a new one (or run the risk that when you are least prepared this is going to happen again).
M :o)
the chk files are created by scandisk when it finds and error with them. most of the time they are useless, but in your case they are the remains of your windows stuff. put your hard drive in another computer, backup all the data you need, contact your manufacturer to see if your hard drive is still in warranty. act accordingly and get a new drive, then reinstall windows. the more you turn your computer on and off the worse its going to get.
Thanks guys, seems like popping the hdd into another computer is the best method, BUT.. I can't figure out how to remove the stupid thing. If anyone is familiar with Compaq Deskpro 2000's, I opened up a new question here:
http://www.experts-exchang
Thanks!
Alright guys, finally got the hdd into another computer.
SMART diagnostics is reporting drive performance/fitness as normal (92%). The only "curious" thing that I can see is that Speedfan reports the drive's "Write Error Rate" at 100, but "Worst" at 93.. I'm not sure exactly what this means but a less-than-100% "Write Error Rate" in the past seems to me like bad news. Is this where the problem may lay? Anything else to check for? In any event, I will backup critical files now and will wait for your responses.
It sounds like Windows or some other application may have trashed your directories. Running Scandisk checks the file's integrity. Lost files and directories are then saved as the DIRXXXX directories and xxxxxxxx.CHK files. The hard disk itself may or may not be OK.
You will need to move the hard disk to another working machine as the second hard disk and transfer out all your important data.
Then use FDISK to remove all partitions, recreate them, and then FORMAT them. Use Scandisk to thoroughly check (with surface scan) to ensure the hard disk is OK.
After that, you can reinstall your OS and applications.
As for your backed up data, they may or may not be usable depending on how badly your directories were trashed.
Good luck!
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by: w3xPosted on 2003-06-24 at 09:19:41ID: 8790569
I want to add that when I exit ScanDisk prematurely, it says ScanDisk was not finished and that I can press any key to continue booting Windows. It is then that the Windows splash screen comes up briefly and then I get the "You may now safely turn off your computer. Press CNTL-ALT-DEL to restart" error.