Scandisk data

Is it possible to access wherever Scandisk stores its information on bad
areas of disks to delete that information? I suspect that when I bought a
new hard disk a little while ago and transferred all my data to it, the copy
program I was using caused a write error to one area of my new disk.
Scandisk ever since has reported a error in one location which has never
changed since day one. I thought I would try and restore the bad area if it
is possible.
Thanks
Alan

How to Cause ScanDisk for Windows to Retest Bad Clusters
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=127055


--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Alan" wrote in message
...
Is it possible to access wherever Scandisk stores its information on bad
areas of disks to delete that information? I suspect that when I bought a
new hard disk a little while ago and transferred all my data to it, the
copy
program I was using caused a write error to one area of my new disk.
Scandisk ever since has reported a error in one location which has never
changed since day one. I thought I would try and restore the bad area if
it
is possible.
Thanks
Alan

Ron,
Thanks for that info. I followed the instructions but unfortunately the PC
froze about 1/3rd of the way through the disk scan. The displayed clock and
the sector count stopped and the disk activity LED was permanently on. I
have some questions to confirm I am doing this correctly.
- The article does not mention Win 98SE, is there any problem with this?
- I assume I have to run a "Thorough" Scandisk as against the "quick" one
for this to work?
- I have to run in "Safe" mode as "Normal" has to many restarts. Even "Safe"
mode is still generating restarts but does finish - is this OK?
- In "Thorough" mode should I tick the two options 'Do not perform
write-testing and Do not repair bad sectors in hidden and system files. I
didn't when it froze?
- The registry entry initial value is not as per the article although
accepts the changes OK. Any problem with this?

When I ran the Scandisk in "Thorough" mode before without changing the
Registry it ran to the end OK so I do not think there is too much of a
problem.
Thanks again for your help.
Alan
"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...
How to Cause ScanDisk for Windows to Retest Bad Clusters
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=127055


--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Alan" wrote in message
...
Is it possible to access wherever Scandisk stores its information on bad
areas of disks to delete that information? I suspect that when I bought
a
new hard disk a little while ago and transferred all my data to it, the
copy
program I was using caused a write error to one area of my new disk.
Scandisk ever since has reported a error in one location which has never
changed since day one. I thought I would try and restore the bad area if
it
is possible.
Thanks
Alan

You seem to have done everything right. You might want to change the
registry setting back to what it was so that scandisk at least performs as
it did originally.

One thing you might want to consider is checking out the hard drive.
Determine the brand of drive, go to the maker's web site, download their
diagnostic software, load it to a floppy drive and check out the new drive.

The restarts are a pain and could be a simple problem or even a Trojan or
spyware reporting back to its original source.
There are some tips here that might help: See the defrag and scandisk
troubleshooters located he
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/how_to.html

If you are not using spyware software, here is my standard blurb:

Spyware/scumware/adware are causing numerous system problems. I recommend
you download and use the following programs and consider removing everything
these programs identify. Be aware that there are frequent updates to these
programs and you need to check for them before every use including the first
time.

AdAwa http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

CWShredder: http://www.intermute.com/products/cwshredder.html

Spybot: http://www.safer-networking.org/

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Alan" wrote in message
...
Ron,
Thanks for that info. I followed the instructions but unfortunately the PC
froze about 1/3rd of the way through the disk scan. The displayed clock
and
the sector count stopped and the disk activity LED was permanently on. I
have some questions to confirm I am doing this correctly.
- The article does not mention Win 98SE, is there any problem with this?
- I assume I have to run a "Thorough" Scandisk as against the "quick" one
for this to work?
- I have to run in "Safe" mode as "Normal" has to many restarts. Even
"Safe"
mode is still generating restarts but does finish - is this OK?
- In "Thorough" mode should I tick the two options 'Do not perform
write-testing and Do not repair bad sectors in hidden and system files. I
didn't when it froze?
- The registry entry initial value is not as per the article although
accepts the changes OK. Any problem with this?

When I ran the Scandisk in "Thorough" mode before without changing the
Registry it ran to the end OK so I do not think there is too much of a
problem.
Thanks again for your help.
Alan
"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...
How to Cause ScanDisk for Windows to Retest Bad Clusters
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=127055


--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Alan" wrote in message
...
Is it possible to access wherever Scandisk stores its information on
bad
areas of disks to delete that information? I suspect that when I bought
a
new hard disk a little while ago and transferred all my data to it, the
copy
program I was using caused a write error to one area of my new disk.
Scandisk ever since has reported a error in one location which has
never
changed since day one. I thought I would try and restore the bad area
if
it
is possible.
Thanks
Alan

Ron,
Thanks for the information.
I am using spyware software and have gone through the options with no major
problems. I have book marked your web page to try and cure the restarts but
I do believe I have most points covered off. With regard to the disc it is
manufactured by Seagate and have now down loaded their Seatools diagnostics.
Unfortunately, only the basic test will run, the rest just freeze the PC. I
have contacted their help for advice and they suggest trying a new IDE cable
or if that makes no difference try the drive in another PC to see if the
fault follows it- which is not going to be the easiest thing to do. I can't
believe it is the drive so I might just try investing in a new cable. They
also mention it could be the motherboard (ASUS A7V8X-X) or the hard drive
controller. The motherboard is passing its diagnostics so do you know how to
test the hard drive controller?
Thanks again for your help.
Alan
"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...
You seem to have done everything right. You might want to change the
registry setting back to what it was so that scandisk at least performs as
it did originally.

One thing you might want to consider is checking out the hard drive.
Determine the brand of drive, go to the maker's web site, download their
diagnostic software, load it to a floppy drive and check out the new
drive.

The restarts are a pain and could be a simple problem or even a Trojan or
spyware reporting back to its original source.
There are some tips here that might help: See the defrag and scandisk
troubleshooters located he
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/how_to.html

If you are not using spyware software, here is my standard blurb:

Spyware/scumware/adware are causing numerous system problems. I recommend
you download and use the following programs and consider removing
everything
these programs identify. Be aware that there are frequent updates to
these
programs and you need to check for them before every use including the
first
time.

AdAwa http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

CWShredder: http://www.intermute.com/products/cwshredder.html

Spybot: http://www.safer-networking.org/

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Alan" wrote in message
...
Ron,
Thanks for that info. I followed the instructions but unfortunately the
PC
froze about 1/3rd of the way through the disk scan. The displayed clock
and
the sector count stopped and the disk activity LED was permanently on. I
have some questions to confirm I am doing this correctly.
- The article does not mention Win 98SE, is there any problem with this?
- I assume I have to run a "Thorough" Scandisk as against the "quick"
one
for this to work?
- I have to run in "Safe" mode as "Normal" has to many restarts. Even
"Safe"
mode is still generating restarts but does finish - is this OK?
- In "Thorough" mode should I tick the two options 'Do not perform
write-testing and Do not repair bad sectors in hidden and system files.
I
didn't when it froze?
- The registry entry initial value is not as per the article although
accepts the changes OK. Any problem with this?

When I ran the Scandisk in "Thorough" mode before without changing the
Registry it ran to the end OK so I do not think there is too much of a
problem.
Thanks again for your help.
Alan
"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...
How to Cause ScanDisk for Windows to Retest Bad Clusters
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=127055


--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Alan" wrote in message
...
Is it possible to access wherever Scandisk stores its information on
bad
areas of disks to delete that information? I suspect that when I
bought
a
new hard disk a little while ago and transferred all my data to it,
the
copy
program I was using caused a write error to one area of my new disk.
Scandisk ever since has reported a error in one location which has
never
changed since day one. I thought I would try and restore the bad area
if
it
is possible.
Thanks
Alan

Alan,

As far as I know, the hard drive controller is tested by the BIOS and if
there is a problem, a notification is given. Did you use the old ribbon
cable or the one that presumably came with the drive? Does the new drive
require an 80 wire ribbon cable and, if so, are you using one? I don't know
what to make of the hard drive testing OK on basic but freezing the PC on
advanced testing. It seems like Seagate ought to know the answer to that
instead of blaming everything else in your PC.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Alan" wrote in message
...
Ron,
Thanks for the information.
I am using spyware software and have gone through the options with no
major
problems. I have book marked your web page to try and cure the restarts
but
I do believe I have most points covered off. With regard to the disc it is
manufactured by Seagate and have now down loaded their Seatools
diagnostics.
Unfortunately, only the basic test will run, the rest just freeze the PC.
I
have contacted their help for advice and they suggest trying a new IDE
cable
or if that makes no difference try the drive in another PC to see if the
fault follows it- which is not going to be the easiest thing to do. I
can't
believe it is the drive so I might just try investing in a new cable. They
also mention it could be the motherboard (ASUS A7V8X-X) or the hard drive
controller. The motherboard is passing its diagnostics so do you know how
to
test the hard drive controller?
Thanks again for your help.
Alan
"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...
You seem to have done everything right. You might want to change the
registry setting back to what it was so that scandisk at least performs
as
it did originally.

One thing you might want to consider is checking out the hard drive.
Determine the brand of drive, go to the maker's web site, download their
diagnostic software, load it to a floppy drive and check out the new
drive.

The restarts are a pain and could be a simple problem or even a Trojan or
spyware reporting back to its original source.
There are some tips here that might help: See the defrag and scandisk
troubleshooters located he
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/how_to.html

If you are not using spyware software, here is my standard blurb:

Spyware/scumware/adware are causing numerous system problems. I
recommend
you download and use the following programs and consider removing
everything
these programs identify. Be aware that there are frequent updates to
these
programs and you need to check for them before every use including the
first
time.

AdAwa http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

CWShredder: http://www.intermute.com/products/cwshredder.html

Spybot: http://www.safer-networking.org/

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Alan" wrote in message
...
Ron,
Thanks for that info. I followed the instructions but unfortunately the
PC
froze about 1/3rd of the way through the disk scan. The displayed clock
and
the sector count stopped and the disk activity LED was permanently on.
I
have some questions to confirm I am doing this correctly.
- The article does not mention Win 98SE, is there any problem with
this?
- I assume I have to run a "Thorough" Scandisk as against the "quick"
one
for this to work?
- I have to run in "Safe" mode as "Normal" has to many restarts. Even
"Safe"
mode is still generating restarts but does finish - is this OK?
- In "Thorough" mode should I tick the two options 'Do not perform
write-testing and Do not repair bad sectors in hidden and system files.
I
didn't when it froze?
- The registry entry initial value is not as per the article although
accepts the changes OK. Any problem with this?

When I ran the Scandisk in "Thorough" mode before without changing the
Registry it ran to the end OK so I do not think there is too much of a
problem.
Thanks again for your help.
Alan
"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...
How to Cause ScanDisk for Windows to Retest Bad Clusters
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=127055


--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Alan" wrote in message
...
Is it possible to access wherever Scandisk stores its information on
bad
areas of disks to delete that information? I suspect that when I
bought
a
new hard disk a little while ago and transferred all my data to it,
the
copy
program I was using caused a write error to one area of my new disk.
Scandisk ever since has reported a error in one location which has
never
changed since day one. I thought I would try and restore the bad
area
if
it
is possible.
Thanks
Alan

Alan,

I asked MVP Glen Ventura (aka Glee) to take a look at your situation and his
reply to me was:

I've been dropping in and reading that thread already. I'd have some
questions for
him, such as: why does he think the "copy program" he used to transfer the
data from
the old drive to the new one, caused a write error? It is quite possible
that there
is actually a bad sector on the drive there. What copy program did he use
to
transfer the data?

The method he is trying, from the KB article you linked in the thread, is
not one I
have ever tried, and as the article states, it has the potential to cause
problems.
I don't think it is a good way to go about what he wants. I have an actual
bad
sector on my IBM drive. It occurred soon after I installed it, and was not
found or
marked by scandisk, but rather by the internal routines of the hard disk. I
am not
sure if a surface scandisk even picks it up, although the third-party
defragger I
use, PerfectDisk, spots it right away.

The only ways I know to fix it, if it is in fact fixable, is to image the
problem
partition and then format it, using the /C switch with format, to retest bad
sectors; OR to image all my partitions and then wipe the disk, re-partition
and
format all with the /C switch. After that, restore whatever images need
restoring.

I would be concerned that both scandisk and the advanced test of Seatools
are
freezing after making the Registry change described in the KB article. It
doesn't
sound like he had a problem with scandisk freezing prior to that. That
leads me to
believe that either there really is a bad sector, or he only thinks it is
frozen
because it is taking so long to test the sector.

If Seatools is freezing, perhaps have him try Ontrack Data Advisor instead:
http://www.ontrack.com/freesoftware/#dataadvisor

**************
**************

As you can tell, I (like Glen) suspect that the drive has a problem and you
would not be the first person to receive a drive that had problems--I got
one that was DOA out of the box.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Alan" wrote in message
...
Ron,
Thanks for the information.
I am using spyware software and have gone through the options with no
major
problems. I have book marked your web page to try and cure the restarts
but
I do believe I have most points covered off. With regard to the disc it is
manufactured by Seagate and have now down loaded their Seatools
diagnostics.
Unfortunately, only the basic test will run, the rest just freeze the PC.
I
have contacted their help for advice and they suggest trying a new IDE
cable
or if that makes no difference try the drive in another PC to see if the
fault follows it- which is not going to be the easiest thing to do. I
can't
believe it is the drive so I might just try investing in a new cable. They
also mention it could be the motherboard (ASUS A7V8X-X) or the hard drive
controller. The motherboard is passing its diagnostics so do you know how
to
test the hard drive controller?
Thanks again for your help.
Alan
"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...
You seem to have done everything right. You might want to change the
registry setting back to what it was so that scandisk at least performs
as
it did originally.

One thing you might want to consider is checking out the hard drive.
Determine the brand of drive, go to the maker's web site, download their
diagnostic software, load it to a floppy drive and check out the new
drive.

The restarts are a pain and could be a simple problem or even a Trojan or
spyware reporting back to its original source.
There are some tips here that might help: See the defrag and scandisk
troubleshooters located he
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/how_to.html

If you are not using spyware software, here is my standard blurb:

Spyware/scumware/adware are causing numerous system problems. I
recommend
you download and use the following programs and consider removing
everything
these programs identify. Be aware that there are frequent updates to
these
programs and you need to check for them before every use including the
first
time.

AdAwa http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

CWShredder: http://www.intermute.com/products/cwshredder.html

Spybot: http://www.safer-networking.org/

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Alan" wrote in message
...
Ron,
Thanks for that info. I followed the instructions but unfortunately the
PC
froze about 1/3rd of the way through the disk scan. The displayed clock
and
the sector count stopped and the disk activity LED was permanently on.
I
have some questions to confirm I am doing this correctly.
- The article does not mention Win 98SE, is there any problem with
this?
- I assume I have to run a "Thorough" Scandisk as against the "quick"
one
for this to work?
- I have to run in "Safe" mode as "Normal" has to many restarts. Even
"Safe"
mode is still generating restarts but does finish - is this OK?
- In "Thorough" mode should I tick the two options 'Do not perform
write-testing and Do not repair bad sectors in hidden and system files.
I
didn't when it froze?
- The registry entry initial value is not as per the article although
accepts the changes OK. Any problem with this?

When I ran the Scandisk in "Thorough" mode before without changing the
Registry it ran to the end OK so I do not think there is too much of a
problem.
Thanks again for your help.
Alan
"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...
How to Cause ScanDisk for Windows to Retest Bad Clusters
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=127055


--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Alan" wrote in message
...
Is it possible to access wherever Scandisk stores its information on
bad
areas of disks to delete that information? I suspect that when I
bought
a
new hard disk a little while ago and transferred all my data to it,
the
copy
program I was using caused a write error to one area of my new disk.
Scandisk ever since has reported a error in one location which has
never
changed since day one. I thought I would try and restore the bad
area
if
it
is possible.
Thanks
Alan

Just to let you know that I ran the Ontrack DataAdvisor. It looks very much
like the Seagate software, so much so that it must have come from the same
source with all the graphics being near identical. The main difference is
that the Ontrack software ran ok. All the tests ran on both drives and the
surface scan successfully found some problems on the Seagate. It said the
surface scan failed, listed Record 26030976 - 85 I/O failed. Not quite sure
what this means. I presume it is the bad sectors. Thanks again for your
support.
Alan
"Alan" wrote in message
...
Ron,
Browsing the Seagate web site again, I see that there example of the
Device
Manager for the disk drives actually shows the model number of the drive
as
the entry. Mine just says Disc Drive. Is it just a simple matter of
deleting
the entire disc drive entry in Safe Mode and letting Windows rebuild it or
should I be checking other areas first? Incidentally, the drives on the
secondary IDE are shown correctly!
Alan
"Alan" wrote in message
...
Ron,
Thanks again for the ongoing support.
The copy program (Disc Wizard) was the one from Seagate and this drive
is
now my master drive (60g). The original Samsung disc (13g) is now the
Slave
on the Primary. I am not dual booting, I just use the Samsung as
additional
storage. The reason why I thought the problem may have occurred when
the
disc was being copied is that the company I was working in when I
copied/installed the drive had some knowledgeable Windows software guys.
I
mentioned what had happened to the new disc. They suggested at the time
to
wait and see if any additional errors occur, if it did exchange the
drive
and if it didn't then it was probably a corruption or the like during
data
transfer. Re Glen's info on reformatting the bad partition, if I did go
down
that path, how do you identify the partition? Also when the Scandisk
froze
it was for over an hour. I didn't wait as long for the Seagate one but
it
was at least 20 mins. I will gave the data advisor a go once I know I
don't
have any other major problems.

I am still rather curious why the Seagate diagnostics are not working as
they should. Before I respond to them, I would like to confirm my logic.
I accessed the Seagate utilities at
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/index.html and downloaded the
Seatools desktop version, created the disks and this is the one that
locks
the PC up on anything other than the basic memory test. (And this is
running
in Command mode). The Seatools online test doesn't lock up the PC when
it
runs but again is very selective in what it attempts to do. Selecting
the
English version gives test options. The File System Check runs for both
disks and says minor problems with the Seagate drive. The Samsung being
OK.
However, when I attempt to run the Drive Self Test, it doesn't find any
drives at all. Clicking help says that if no drives are shown it could
possibly mean incorrect drivers are installed or Windows has not
configured
the Drive correctly. Looking at the Device Manager, both drives are
there
under Disc Drive and are labelled Disc Drive individually as well.
Properties for both say no drivers are installed or needed. I have
deleted
both drives in the Manager and Windows reinstalled no problem but with
no
difference to the Seagate diagnostics. I have checked the cable for the
disks and I am using the one supplied with the motherboard and it is
80-conductor ribbon cable for UltraDMA/66/100/133 IDE Drives with the
correct colour coded connectors for the Master and Slave drives. I also
download and ran the Seagate utility to check/change the drive access
speed.
It confirmed the Seagate running at 100 and the Samsung at 66.

Obviously something is not as it should be. The motherboard pasts the
POST
OK and identifies both drives with the correct sizing, although in the
case
of the Seagate it does not have the correct numbers for the
heads/sectors.
Seagate literature says that this shouldn't be too much of a problem if
the
reported drive size is correct. There is no problem with Windows
Explorer
reading both drives. Have I missed something and should I be checking
anything else before going back to Seagate support to ensure the drives
and
controller have been set up correctly?
Alan
"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...
Alan,

I asked MVP Glen Ventura (aka Glee) to take a look at your situation
and
his
reply to me was:

I've been dropping in and reading that thread already. I'd have some
questions for
him, such as: why does he think the "copy program" he used to transfer
the
data from
the old drive to the new one, caused a write error? It is quite
possible
that there
is actually a bad sector on the drive there. What copy program did he
use
to
transfer the data?

The method he is trying, from the KB article you linked in the thread,
is
not one I
have ever tried, and as the article states, it has the potential to
cause
problems.
I don't think it is a good way to go about what he wants. I have an
actual
bad
sector on my IBM drive. It occurred soon after I installed it, and
was
not
found or
marked by scandisk, but rather by the internal routines of the hard
disk.
I
am not
sure if a surface scandisk even picks it up, although the third-party
defragger I
use, PerfectDisk, spots it right away.

The only ways I know to fix it, if it is in fact fixable, is to image
the
problem
partition and then format it, using the /C switch with format, to
retest
bad
sectors; OR to image all my partitions and then wipe the disk,
re-partition
and
format all with the /C switch. After that, restore whatever images
need
restoring.

I would be concerned that both scandisk and the advanced test of
Seatools
are
freezing after making the Registry change described in the KB article.
It
doesn't
sound like he had a problem with scandisk freezing prior to that.
That
leads me to
believe that either there really is a bad sector, or he only thinks it
is
frozen
because it is taking so long to test the sector.

If Seatools is freezing, perhaps have him try Ontrack Data Advisor
instead:
http://www.ontrack.com/freesoftware/#dataadvisor

**************
**************

As you can tell, I (like Glen) suspect that the drive has a problem
and
you
would not be the first person to receive a drive that had problems--I
got
one that was DOA out of the box.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Alan" wrote in message
...
Ron,
Thanks for the information.
I am using spyware software and have gone through the options with
no
major
problems. I have book marked your web page to try and cure the
restarts
but
I do believe I have most points covered off. With regard to the disc
it
is
manufactured by Seagate and have now down loaded their Seatools
diagnostics.
Unfortunately, only the basic test will run, the rest just freeze
the
PC.
I
have contacted their help for advice and they suggest trying a new
IDE
cable
or if that makes no difference try the drive in another PC to see if
the
fault follows it- which is not going to be the easiest thing to do.
I
can't
believe it is the drive so I might just try investing in a new
cable.
They
also mention it could be the motherboard (ASUS A7V8X-X) or the hard
drive
controller. The motherboard is passing its diagnostics so do you
know
how
to
test the hard drive controller?
Thanks again for your help.
Alan
"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...
You seem to have done everything right. You might want to change
the
registry setting back to what it was so that scandisk at least
performs
as
it did originally.

One thing you might want to consider is checking out the hard
drive.
Determine the brand of drive, go to the maker's web site, download
their
diagnostic software, load it to a floppy drive and check out the
new
drive.

The restarts are a pain and could be a simple problem or even a
Trojan
or
spyware reporting back to its original source.
There are some tips here that might help: See the defrag and
scandisk
troubleshooters located he
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/how_to.html

If you are not using spyware software, here is my standard blurb:

Spyware/scumware/adware are causing numerous system problems. I
recommend
you download and use the following programs and consider removing
everything
these programs identify. Be aware that there are frequent updates
to
these
programs and you need to check for them before every use including
the
first
time.

AdAwa http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

CWShredder: http://www.intermute.com/products/cwshredder.html

Spybot: http://www.safer-networking.org/

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Alan" wrote in message
...
Ron,
Thanks for that info. I followed the instructions but
unfortunately
the
PC
froze about 1/3rd of the way through the disk scan. The displayed
clock
and
the sector count stopped and the disk activity LED was
permanently
on.
I
have some questions to confirm I am doing this correctly.
- The article does not mention Win 98SE, is there any problem
with
this?
- I assume I have to run a "Thorough" Scandisk as against the
"quick"
one
for this to work?
- I have to run in "Safe" mode as "Normal" has to many restarts.
Even
"Safe"
mode is still generating restarts but does finish - is this OK?
- In "Thorough" mode should I tick the two options 'Do not
perform
write-testing and Do not repair bad sectors in hidden and system
files.
I
didn't when it froze?
- The registry entry initial value is not as per the article
although
accepts the changes OK. Any problem with this?

When I ran the Scandisk in "Thorough" mode before without
changing
the
Registry it ran to the end OK so I do not think there is too much
of
a
problem.
Thanks again for your help.
Alan
"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...
How to Cause ScanDisk for Windows to Retest Bad Clusters
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=127055


--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Alan" wrote in message
...
Is it possible to access wherever Scandisk stores its
information
on
bad
areas of disks to delete that information? I suspect that when
I
bought
a
new hard disk a little while ago and transferred all my data
to
it,
the
copy
program I was using caused a write error to one area of my new
disk.
Scandisk ever since has reported a error in one location which
has
never
changed since day one. I thought I would try and restore the
bad
area
if
it
is possible.
Thanks
Alan

Thanks for the feedback. Assuming that the drive is under warranty, the
next stop is Seagate's customer service.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Alan" wrote in message
...
Just to let you know that I ran the Ontrack DataAdvisor. It looks very
much
like the Seagate software, so much so that it must have come from the same
source with all the graphics being near identical. The main difference is
that the Ontrack software ran ok. All the tests ran on both drives and the
surface scan successfully found some problems on the Seagate. It said the
surface scan failed, listed Record 26030976 - 85 I/O failed. Not quite
sure
what this means. I presume it is the bad sectors. Thanks again for your
support.
Alan
"Alan" wrote in message
...
Ron,
Browsing the Seagate web site again, I see that there example of the
Device
Manager for the disk drives actually shows the model number of the drive
as
the entry. Mine just says Disc Drive. Is it just a simple matter of
deleting
the entire disc drive entry in Safe Mode and letting Windows rebuild it
or
should I be checking other areas first? Incidentally, the drives on the
secondary IDE are shown correctly!
Alan
"Alan" wrote in message
...
Ron,
Thanks again for the ongoing support.
The copy program (Disc Wizard) was the one from Seagate and this drive
is
now my master drive (60g). The original Samsung disc (13g) is now the
Slave
on the Primary. I am not dual booting, I just use the Samsung as
additional
storage. The reason why I thought the problem may have occurred when
the
disc was being copied is that the company I was working in when I
copied/installed the drive had some knowledgeable Windows software
guys.
I
mentioned what had happened to the new disc. They suggested at the time
to
wait and see if any additional errors occur, if it did exchange the
drive
and if it didn't then it was probably a corruption or the like during
data
transfer. Re Glen's info on reformatting the bad partition, if I did go
down
that path, how do you identify the partition? Also when the Scandisk
froze
it was for over an hour. I didn't wait as long for the Seagate one but
it
was at least 20 mins. I will gave the data advisor a go once I know I
don't
have any other major problems.

I am still rather curious why the Seagate diagnostics are not working
as
they should. Before I respond to them, I would like to confirm my
logic.
I accessed the Seagate utilities at
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/index.html and downloaded the
Seatools desktop version, created the disks and this is the one that
locks
the PC up on anything other than the basic memory test. (And this is
running
in Command mode). The Seatools online test doesn't lock up the PC when
it
runs but again is very selective in what it attempts to do. Selecting
the
English version gives test options. The File System Check runs for both
disks and says minor problems with the Seagate drive. The Samsung being
OK.
However, when I attempt to run the Drive Self Test, it doesn't find any
drives at all. Clicking help says that if no drives are shown it could
possibly mean incorrect drivers are installed or Windows has not
configured
the Drive correctly. Looking at the Device Manager, both drives are
there
under Disc Drive and are labelled Disc Drive individually as well.
Properties for both say no drivers are installed or needed. I have
deleted
both drives in the Manager and Windows reinstalled no problem but with
no
difference to the Seagate diagnostics. I have checked the cable for the
disks and I am using the one supplied with the motherboard and it is
80-conductor ribbon cable for UltraDMA/66/100/133 IDE Drives with the
correct colour coded connectors for the Master and Slave drives. I also
download and ran the Seagate utility to check/change the drive access
speed.
It confirmed the Seagate running at 100 and the Samsung at 66.

Obviously something is not as it should be. The motherboard pasts the
POST
OK and identifies both drives with the correct sizing, although in the
case
of the Seagate it does not have the correct numbers for the
heads/sectors.
Seagate literature says that this shouldn't be too much of a problem if
the
reported drive size is correct. There is no problem with Windows
Explorer
reading both drives. Have I missed something and should I be checking
anything else before going back to Seagate support to ensure the drives
and
controller have been set up correctly?
Alan
"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...
Alan,

I asked MVP Glen Ventura (aka Glee) to take a look at your situation
and
his
reply to me was:

I've been dropping in and reading that thread already. I'd have some
questions for
him, such as: why does he think the "copy program" he used to
transfer
the
data from
the old drive to the new one, caused a write error? It is quite
possible
that there
is actually a bad sector on the drive there. What copy program did
he
use
to
transfer the data?

The method he is trying, from the KB article you linked in the
thread,
is
not one I
have ever tried, and as the article states, it has the potential to
cause
problems.
I don't think it is a good way to go about what he wants. I have an
actual
bad
sector on my IBM drive. It occurred soon after I installed it, and
was
not
found or
marked by scandisk, but rather by the internal routines of the hard
disk.
I
am not
sure if a surface scandisk even picks it up, although the third-party
defragger I
use, PerfectDisk, spots it right away.

The only ways I know to fix it, if it is in fact fixable, is to image
the
problem
partition and then format it, using the /C switch with format, to
retest
bad
sectors; OR to image all my partitions and then wipe the disk,
re-partition
and
format all with the /C switch. After that, restore whatever images
need
restoring.

I would be concerned that both scandisk and the advanced test of
Seatools
are
freezing after making the Registry change described in the KB
article.
It
doesn't
sound like he had a problem with scandisk freezing prior to that.
That
leads me to
believe that either there really is a bad sector, or he only thinks
it
is
frozen
because it is taking so long to test the sector.

If Seatools is freezing, perhaps have him try Ontrack Data Advisor
instead:
http://www.ontrack.com/freesoftware/#dataadvisor

**************
**************

As you can tell, I (like Glen) suspect that the drive has a problem
and
you
would not be the first person to receive a drive that had problems--I
got
one that was DOA out of the box.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Alan" wrote in message
...
Ron,
Thanks for the information.
I am using spyware software and have gone through the options with
no
major
problems. I have book marked your web page to try and cure the
restarts
but
I do believe I have most points covered off. With regard to the
disc
it
is
manufactured by Seagate and have now down loaded their Seatools
diagnostics.
Unfortunately, only the basic test will run, the rest just freeze
the
PC.
I
have contacted their help for advice and they suggest trying a new
IDE
cable
or if that makes no difference try the drive in another PC to see
if
the
fault follows it- which is not going to be the easiest thing to do.
I
can't
believe it is the drive so I might just try investing in a new
cable.
They
also mention it could be the motherboard (ASUS A7V8X-X) or the hard
drive
controller. The motherboard is passing its diagnostics so do you
know
how
to
test the hard drive controller?
Thanks again for your help.
Alan
"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...
You seem to have done everything right. You might want to change
the
registry setting back to what it was so that scandisk at least
performs
as
it did originally.

One thing you might want to consider is checking out the hard
drive.
Determine the brand of drive, go to the maker's web site, download
their
diagnostic software, load it to a floppy drive and check out the
new
drive.

The restarts are a pain and could be a simple problem or even a
Trojan
or
spyware reporting back to its original source.
There are some tips here that might help: See the defrag and
scandisk
troubleshooters located he
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/how_to.html

If you are not using spyware software, here is my standard blurb:

Spyware/scumware/adware are causing numerous system problems. I
recommend
you download and use the following programs and consider removing
everything
these programs identify. Be aware that there are frequent updates
to
these
programs and you need to check for them before every use including
the
first
time.

AdAwa http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

CWShredder: http://www.intermute.com/products/cwshredder.html

Spybot: http://www.safer-networking.org/

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Alan" wrote in message
...
Ron,
Thanks for that info. I followed the instructions but
unfortunately
the
PC
froze about 1/3rd of the way through the disk scan. The
displayed
clock
and
the sector count stopped and the disk activity LED was
permanently
on.
I
have some questions to confirm I am doing this correctly.
- The article does not mention Win 98SE, is there any problem
with
this?
- I assume I have to run a "Thorough" Scandisk as against the
"quick"
one
for this to work?
- I have to run in "Safe" mode as "Normal" has to many restarts.
Even
"Safe"
mode is still generating restarts but does finish - is this OK?
- In "Thorough" mode should I tick the two options 'Do not
perform
write-testing and Do not repair bad sectors in hidden and system
files.
I
didn't when it froze?
- The registry entry initial value is not as per the article
although
accepts the changes OK. Any problem with this?

When I ran the Scandisk in "Thorough" mode before without
changing
the
Registry it ran to the end OK so I do not think there is too
much
of
a
problem.
Thanks again for your help.
Alan
"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...
How to Cause ScanDisk for Windows to Retest Bad Clusters
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=127055


--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Alan" wrote in message
...
Is it possible to access wherever Scandisk stores its
information
on
bad
areas of disks to delete that information? I suspect that
when
I
bought
a
new hard disk a little while ago and transferred all my data
to
it,
the
copy
program I was using caused a write error to one area of my
new
disk.
Scandisk ever since has reported a error in one location
which
has
never
changed since day one. I thought I would try and restore the
bad
area
if
it
is possible.
Thanks
Alan