Mysterious Problem with my Hard Drive

[midwe...@yahoo.com]

Hi.

I have a Gateway computer with the following: 1) a 1400-MHz Pentium 4
processor, 2) 256 MB of RAM, and 3) 40 GB of hard-drive space.

The computer is running Windows Millennium Edition (ME).

Also, I have a Brother MFC-240C printer.

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The computer was purchased in 2001, and the printer was purchased in
2008. This printer is the only printer that has ever been used by this
computer.

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A couple of days ago, I turned on the computer. At the very beginning
of the booting process, I got the following message:

<<<<
A problem with the hard drive has been detected. Consult the
Troubleshooting section of your user's manual.

Press the enter key on the keyboard to continue.
>>>>

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I pressed the enter key, and the booting process continued normally.
Thinking that the hard drive was in danger of crashing, I quickly went
out and bought a flash drive and copied all of my important data to
the flash drive.

Next, I ran a scan disk on the hard drive. I ran a "standard" scan
disk, as opposed to a "thorough" scan disk. The standard scan disk
found a few errors on the hard drive, and the errors were fixed.
However, upon rebooting the computer, I saw the same "problem" message
as before.

So, I ran a "thorough" scan disk, which took 2.5 hours. This scan disk
found no errors at all. However, upon rebooting the computer, the
"problem" message persisted. Furthermore, there was another problem.
The "thorough" scan disk took place from 3 PM to 5:30 PM. I went to
the GoBack feature, and there was only one entry:

3:13 PM GoBack logging suspended due to massive file inactivity

All of the previous GoBack entries were GONE. The GoBack logging
resumed at 9:05 PM on the same day, but all entries prior to 3:13 PM
remain gone.

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So, here is the current situation:

1) the important data are on the flash drive;

2) every time the computer is booted, the computer shows the "problem"
message, I hit the enter key, and the booting process is completed
normally;

3) the GoBack entries that predate the 3:13PM entry are missing.

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Meanwhile, the printed user's manual and the user's manual inside the
computer do not seem to have any information on what the hard drive's
problem is.

----------

So, how do I find this problem and fix it? Or am I supposed to get a
new computer?

Thanks for any help.

[JAD]

Turn off S.M.A.R.T. in the bios...it maybe more of a electrical PCB problem rather than a
surface mishap. Maybe do a MBR repair.

<midwe...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:7cc9ab1a-7fc2-4a26...@s9g2000prg.googlegroups.com...

[midwe...@yahoo.com]

Hi, JAD.

1) How do I turn off S.M.A.R.T. in the bios?

2) Why is that a good idea?

3) What is PCB?

4) What is MBR?

Thanks.

[JAD]

Hi, JAD.

1) How do I turn off S.M.A.R.T. in the bios?

S M A R T
is built into some motherboard to warn you of hard drive malfunction.
Tapping DEL or F1 to enter setup should be seen on POST srceen..(black and white text at
start up)
This is different for many brands of computers

2) Why is that a good idea?

It is not a -smart- idea to ignore the warning however it has done its job so if you dont
want to see it..turn it off.
Your hard drive has maybe a 50/50 chance of failing.......time to backup

3) What is PCB?

Printed circuit board..the controller for the hd.

4) What is MBR?

Master Boot Record..it can trigger the' smart' to throw an error if there are errors
within the boot partition..

Thanks.

Your welcome