Power related crashes?-please advise!

[crusader4192]

@ Colossus: Nope, no problems in memtest.

@ GSte: I will try that spinright program. If i had an extra PSU or PCI-e video card i would have tried it a long time ago. Unfortuately the only way for me to obtain either would be to buy one, which is why I am posting here; in the hopes of someone either had this problem before or is somehow an expert in this area. I don't exactly have hundreds of dollars sitting around for computers, though i wish so very much that I did; I'd have a FX-62 and 8800s in SLi.

[crusader4192]

well, i think i know what's wrong now. my computer just crashed and then rebooted really quickly--like five times. then it started up normally. a warning icon appeared on the taskbar and let me to the System Log. i got this message:

The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run the chkdsk utility on the volume C:.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

I did some googling and apparently this means my harddrive is corrupted or something. does anyone know about this chkdsk utility and/or what to do?

[Andy3536]

My mate installed alcohol 120 and his hole system crashed and wouldn't re-boot, any way you can remove that before you try somthing major?

[GSte]

As Andy says, would be worth removing alcohol first.

To run chkdsk go to:

My computer, right click HDD icon, properties, tools, error checking, check now, scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors, start.

Personally I'd use Spinrite 6.0 if you can get it. It comes as an ISO file to make a bootable cd. If you run a level 2 scan it will tell you precisely what type of errors you have. If they are seek errors it will either mean you have a damaged actuator, or more likely disk surface degradation. The former means buying a new HDD, the latter means that it's on it's way out, so to buy a new HDD. Other errors it should be able to fix. Good luck

[crusader4192]

ironically, the only way i'm gonna be able to run spinrite is with Alchohol 120%. i don't have any blank CDs on me.

lemme try it out.

edit: whoa...80 readies? sorry guys but i can't blow that on one program.

on tuesday i'm probably going to reformat the HD. will that help this?

[GSte]

on tuesday i'm probably going to reformat the HD. will that help this?

Not if the HDD is damaged, but chkdsk might. See PM I just sent.

[crusader4192]

i will probably have to wait until tuesday when i go to my friend's house to use this...i used my last writable cd for some music a few days ago.

[crusader4192]

Okay, here's what's going on.

I used spinrite 6.0 to scan my harddrive. There were some red (unrecoverable?) sectors on he harddrive, so I reformatted it and started from scratch. Everything is back and up to date. Just when I thought everything was fixed...i again played Freelancer (the game that started all the crashing in the first place) and my computer is crashing AGAIN. the odd thing is that i had been playing Armed Assault ALL DAY with no problems! The computer is not crashing as frequently as before but it still is. I have not tried other games yet. I am almost positive it is not a video card problem...I've been monitoring the temperature and its been hovering around 63 degrees.

HELP!!!! I'm about to tear my hair out of my head.

[GSte]

Run Spinrite again and see what it says. I can't quite recall what red sectors mean, there's a key at the bottom of one of the screens..... pressing the arrow keys will move between the different screens. Think red in 'unrecoverable' isn't it? Hang on I'll have a look.....

[GSte]

Right, red means 'unrecovered'..... this probably means unrecoverable. Run Spinrite again on a level 2 scan, and when it's found some red sectors, move through the screens with the arrow keys and note down any other error info then post back here please. If there is no additional info, then try a level 4 scan. Let us know what it comes up with.

[crusader4192]

alright i will try that. anyone else have anything?

[Mithrandir]

I'd back up all important files immediately.
Random crashes might be the work of back sections on your hard drive. Run a full defrag.

[crusader4192]

I'd back up all important files immediately.
Random crashes might be the work of back sections on your hard drive. Run a full defrag.

As i said earlier, my files are backed up and i just performed a full system restore 2 days ago.

I think i might have a hypothesis--it's an immature and sort of stupid one, but right now i've tried everything logical with nothing working.

Okay, if I remember correctly, the computer started crashing a few weeks ago only when i installed Microsoft's Freelancer (a 2003 PC game). Well, yesterday (after my system restore) i was playing Armed Assault for hours upon hours; NO CRASHING. then I installed Freelancer and started playing it. Bam, the crashes start again. Now every game crashes. Coincidence?

[crusader4192]

Freelancer is uninstalled--will run Spinrite tommarow and see what happens.

[Mithrandir]

well, i think i know what's wrong now. my computer just crashed and then rebooted really quickly--like five times. then it started up normally. a warning icon appeared on the taskbar and let me to the System Log. i got this message:

The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run the chkdsk utility on the volume C:.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

I did some googling and apparently this means my harddrive is corrupted or something. does anyone know about this chkdsk utility and/or what to do?

Your answer is here:

Your Hard drive has bad sectors hence data that were on those corrupted sections are causing problems. A typical problem with 3.5" floppies, etc. I've seen many in my days (work, etc)

You should look at getting a new hard drive, you could continue using this drive but if core files are on the damaged section then you'll encounter access problems (which seems to be what you're experiencing)

[crusader4192]

I will be running a level-4 scan with Spinrite later tonight, but perhaps you could elaborate?