Chkdsk - "An unspecified error occurred....."

Jasbird

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Apr 17, 2003, 7:18:42 AM4/17/03

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Hi folks,

A fault developed with my second hard disk. It may have developed when
I resorted to switching the computer off when a system crash happened.

I gave up trying to fix the fault and eventually decided to delete all
the partitions on the drive using PM8.

I was not able to use FDISK to recreate them because FDISK was not
able to create the secondary partition. After verifying 31% of the
space FDISK just crashed. So I used PM8 to create the secondary
partition and 3 logical drives within it. I set Win XP to check the 4
new partitions for errors but after performing Stage 5 (verifying free
space) CHKDSK eventually gives the message: "An unspecified error
occurred....." This was exactly the same error I kept getting before
I re-partitioned the drive - every time Win XP booted it would run
CHKDSK on the first partition of the disk (first 12000 Mbyte) then
give the error - when Win XP loaded explorer would not be able to see
any on the partitions on the drive - unless I ran the control panel to
add new hardware - after which explorer would take a ridiculously long
time to do anything at all.

Is it possible for me to sort this drive out? What would the problem
be, and is there any software that will run a surface scan of the
drive to tell me what's wrong?

Kadaitcha Man

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Apr 17, 2003, 7:32:41 AM4/17/03

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Jasbird wrote:

> So I used PM8

> What would the problem
> be

See above.

Delete all partitions on the drive and create one big partition in their
place. Run chkdsk against that and see if chkdsk behaves itself. When you
format the drive, use XP to do the format and DO NOT use the quick format
option. If that fails to work, run chkdsk /p /r from the recovery console.
If that fails, check the disk mfr's website. Sometimes tools are available
to format the drive independently of the OS.

John Garrison

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Apr 17, 2003, 8:18:05 AM4/17/03

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Norton Speed Disk can do a surface scan. I have not used Chkdsk enough to
detemine whether it does or doesn't however.

"Jasbird" <#nospam#Jas...@myrealbox.com> wrote in message
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Jasbird

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Apr 17, 2003, 11:31:17 AM4/17/03

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Norton Disk Doctor did the surface scan and found no errors.

CHKDSK still finds errors.

Gazwad

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Apr 17, 2003, 12:39:48 PM4/17/03

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John Garrison asked wistfully...

|| Norton Speed Disk can do a surface scan.

BWAHAHAHAHA.

That's more than likely going to root the system.

--

Gazwad

Freelance scientist and people tester.
Guardian: alt.os.windows-xp
Moderator: alt.warez.uk

http://angry.at/gazwad
http://gazwad.servebeer.com

Gazwad

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Apr 17, 2003, 12:40:38 PM4/17/03

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Jasbird asked wistfully...

|| Norton Disk Doctor did the surface scan and found no errors.
||
|| CHKDSK still finds errors.
||
||
|| On Thu, 17 Apr 2003 12:18:05 GMT, "John Garrison"
|| <jonny...@removethis.adelphia.net> wrote:
||
||| Norton Speed Disk can do a surface scan. I have not used Chkdsk
||| enough to detemine whether it does or doesn't however.
|||

See

John Garrison

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Apr 17, 2003, 1:19:56 PM4/17/03

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Ummm.......I don't know how to do a low level format on an Atapi disc or
SCSI either, but seems like you need one.

"Jasbird" <#nospam#Jas...@myrealbox.com> wrote in message

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Kadaitcha Man

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Apr 17, 2003, 5:01:36 PM4/17/03

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John Garrison wrote:
> Ummm.......I don't know how to do a low level format on an Atapi disc
> or SCSI either, but seems like you need one.