Scandisk won't work!
Iceman
If the old man doesn't have the Dos diskettes, he should try to make
startup diskette once he gets into Dos prompt and copy scandisk.exe
to that diskette. Then he could be able to run scandisk from floppy.
I assume he already has run msav.exe (Microsoft Anti-Virus)
With regards, Iceman
TheKevster <kev...@chicagonet.net> writes: > This is a problem on my Dad's system. He's running DOS 6.2 and Windows
> 3.11. Recently he crashed while in Windows. When he tried to reboot he
> would freeze. Trying ot help him on the phone, I had him step through
> his config.sys and we found that it would freeze with the line
> device=c:\dos\himem.sys verbose (or something similar, I was on the
> phone.) so we redid the step through and said no to dos=high and
> device=himem.sys. He gets into the DOS prompt (and I'm feeling really
> good about myself) but we can't run scandisk. It keeps saying "sector
> not found" Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail. We get chkdsk to work and he's
> trying to tell me as it goes that it's saying things were adjusted and
> things were terminated (like smartdrive, and himem, etc) and it says to
> try scandisk (for all the obvious reasons, I'm sure), but we get the
> same message. Now I'm stymied. Does he have a virus? (he was in AOL
> when he crashed), his system is several years old and I have no idea
> where hi DOS setup disks are or if he even has them (DOS was
> preinstalled on his Packard Bell. I hate to have him spend $35/hour for
> support with his current finances, so I'm appealing to anyone here to
> shed some insight for me. Please respond here or to my EMail if you
> think you have anything that might help me. Thanks!
TheKevster
James Hunt MCP
Kevin, several things to try:
(Before doing these things, make a boot floppy, on ANOTHER MACHINE, of at
least 6.2 and copy SCANDISK, EDIT, FDISK, CHKDSK, MEM, DEFRAG, & SYS to it.
Then WRITE PROTECT that sucker. He will use at least some of these during
this t-shooting session and it's a great tool to have around for future
problems.)
THE "HIMEM.SYS ISSUE"
1. You said that when you said "no" to himem.sys the system would boot
through.
Boot from the boot floppy and then type EDIT c:\config.sys When you have
the config.sys up, change the HIMEM.SYS line to read: DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SY
S /TESTMEM:OFF
When you have done this, save the file & exit. Reboot without the floppy in
the drive and see if it hangs on HIMEM.SYS again. If not, there is a good
possibilty that at least one of his ram chips is failing.
If it still locks at the HIMEM.SYS line, refer to the virus possiblities
further down.
THE "SCANDISK ISSUE"
2. When you type SCANDISK, and recieve the error SECTOR NOT FOUND, the most
likely explanation is that the area of the hard drive where the file
SCANDISK.EXE is located has sustained file corruption or even possibly
physical damage. This is the DOS equivalent to your keys being locked in
your car; you're gonna need another key to get in. This is why you need the
SCANDISK.EXE file on your boot floppy. From the a:
type SCANDISK C: This will allow the good copy of SCANDISK on your floppy
to work it's magic. I must warn you though, SCANDISK will do it's best to
repair or isolate problems with the FAT (File Allocation Table), directory
structure, and physical surface of the hard drive. Frequently, however, the
files affected by these problems will not be functional after the repairs
are made. A Reinstallation of the affected files (in this case DOS 6.2) may
be neccessary. I understand that your father is restricted financially, but
a purchase of the 6.22 upgrade would be a sound investment at this point.
THE "VIRUS ISSUE"
1. Viruses are nasty creatures that have to be watched for, but being on an
online service when your system goes down does not neccessarily mean you've
gotten a virus, it just may mean you spend most of your time online.
Nothing beats scanning with a retail package (MSAV, Norton, McAfee). (Keep
in mind though, the copy of MSAV on your system or install disks is only as
recent as when the floppies were made, and may not have the signature files
for newer viruses. An update for your MSAV can be obtained by calling
Microsoft Product Support Services) Here are some steps that may quickly
point to a possible virus on the system.
a)Boot from your boot floppy, and type MEM /C /P The 2nd page of info
should include your TOTAL CONVENTIONAL MEMORY. On most computers this
number should be 655,360 although some machines may report 654,336 which is
normal as well. Once you have confirmed this, reboot the system without the
boot floppy & hit the F5 key when you see the message "STARTING MS-DOS"
This will bypass your startup files (config.sys & autoexec.bat) & bring you
to a C:\> At this prompt, type CD DOS This will bring you into the DOS
directory. From here, type MEM /C /P and look for the TOTAL CONVENTIONAL
MEMORY again. If this number is lower that the number from the floppy boot,
there is a very good chance that you have a virus on the system, as most
viruses reside in your conventional memory, and will subtract from the
amount of free memory reported to your system. If this is the case, either
aquire an update for your MSAV, or obtain a copy of a retail virus
protection software. (McAfee & Norton both offer trial copies of thier
software at www.mcafee.com and www.symantec.com , respectively) If the
number matches that of the floppy boot, there is less of a chance that you
have a virus on the system, although there is a group of viruses (known as
stealth viruses) that can beat this test.
THE ABOVE STEPS ARE SUGGESTED UNDER THE ASSUPTION THAT NO NEW HARDWARE OR
SOFTWARE HAS BEEN RECENTLY BEEN ADDED TO THIS MACHINE. IF THERE HAS BEEN
ADDITIONS, LET ME KNOW SO THAT THEY CAN BE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION.
Let me know if this has helped, I can be reached here or at
jim-...@ici.net Good Luck & Happy Hunting
James Hunt Microsoft Certified Professional
TheKevster wrote in article <3390AC...@chicagonet.net>...
Batz
Hi,
Is your dad running a disk cache program with write delay caching? It
sounds like his FAT and/or directory tree could be munged. Try running
CHKDSK without any switches. Don't fix any errors (yet) but get a list
of errors (if any). CHKDSK isn't as good as SCANDISK, but these are
desperate times. Post any errors that CHKDSK reports on the newsgroup
and we may be able to recommend further course of action.
B&R
In <3390AC...@chicagonet.net>
TheKevster
Thanks everyone for your advice. One thing has become apparent in going
through this with him over the phone. When he was stepping through his
config.sys it was stepping through out of order!!! (i.e.
device=himem.sys is first in the config.sys file, but third in the step
through!)
You guys sound more knowledgeable than me, but that sounds like a
virus. He also has a number of temp files in his root directory.
Couple from March couple throughout April and a big flurry of them about
a week before cataclysm. I will do what you have suggested from a boot
floppy (from a clean machine) and I will post the results. All of you
have been a tremendous help. Thanks. I'll let you know.
kevster
Asbjoern Aamot
On Sat, 31 May 1997 17:54:26 -0500, TheKevster
<kev...@chicagonet.net> wrote:
>This is a problem on my Dad's system. He's running DOS 6.2 and Windows
>3.11. Recently he crashed while in Windows. When he tried to reboot he
<snip>
>preinstalled on his Packard Bell. I hate to have him spend $35/hour for
>support with his current finances, so I'm appealing to anyone here to
>shed some insight for me. Please respond here or to my EMail if you
>think you have anything that might help me. Thanks!
Hi. There are several possibilitys for errors like :
- A virus has destroyed some or more files , /
file-allocation-tables(FAT)
Also SCANDISK could be affected, and not
work properly.
- An HardDisk ERROR has occured, such as a Drive-head
won't read as i t should, or there is a physical damage
to the HD-plates
- Some programs (AOL ?) or others could have done things to the
HD, that made several files corrupt,
(Also possible the whole thing chrashed caused by any
of the other possible errors.)
- HARDWARE-FAILURE, such as bad connection between the HD
and the hardware , ( e.g. cable has bad connections)
or other errors on the hardware,
- BIOS-failure : Fail in bios info, such as HD-size, Head-numbers or
similar causing the hardware to belive there is another type
of HD in the system, and thereby do not read all sectors,
Any of the above could casues the problems here.
First: Get a bootable dos6.22 diskette with scandisk, chkdsk,
MSD.EXE , on it, and check the HD from diskette.
In case of a VIRUS, WRITE-PROTECT the diskette.!
Then get a diskette with a VIRUS-detection tool,
F-PROT, McAffe, or similar, and do a virus-check.
If none of these diskettes seems to find the problem,
there are most possibly an HARDWARE-failure.
If the disketts mentioned above find's the cause of the error,
You must reinstall both DOS and WINDOWS, and the programware
because errors of this kind might have done some damage of the
contents of the HD. (EVEN MINOR fail's in an .COM or .EXE - file
could give unpredictable consequenses.
EVEN IF SCANDISK FROM A DISKETTE SOLVES THE PROBLEM!
Hope this could help you on the way to solve the problems.
Regards, Asbjoern.
-
______________________________________________________
Asbjoern Aamot ( or in norwegian: Asbjørn Aamot)
Snailmail: P.b. 562 N-6901 Floroe NORWAY.(N-6901 Florø )
Telephone: +47 90 07 05 40
as...@vestdata.no http://www.vestdata.no/~asea/asbj.htm