Unexplained system failures.

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I have tried booting into dos, but in dos it won't even recognize the internal HD, much less the USB one.
 
well, thats no good. how did the removal of GoBack go? May want to also reseat the ribbon cables on the HDD
 
It turns out DOS couldn't recognise the HD because it uses NTSF, (XP madness) I just had someone come over and look at it. he managed to get it to boot by messing with the registry and repairing select system files. there is a problem with the directory structure though, so I cannot access many of the files, but I am succeeding in getting a good number of them off the HD and onto the external USB HD. assuming it doesn't crash when I try to copy over the program files and documents I think I will manage to save most of it.
 
well, that would explain it! Also, let me know how the removal of goback goes. Also, if you use goback, do yourself a favor and disable some of the auto protect on Nortons. It especially doesn't like GoBack due to it residing in the MBR. There IS an updated version of GoBack specifically made for XP. Try to download the patch/update for it if you want it ;)
 
Oh, since you use NTFS (but some do not for some reason)... heh should of asked... duh for me! ;) Anyhow, download and use this. Its a NTFS reader boot disk. So if you ever need to you can boot to DOS and read a NTFS disk. Sometimes its SO MUCH easier to be there! Thats why I used to hate helpdesk. Much better to be in Networking and programming now :) Anyhow, here it is!

http://www.ntfs.com/boot-disk.htm
 
heh, thanks, I'll try that next time. for now though... I need to know how to write zeros to the drive.... from what I hear, it could take awhile...
QUOTE:
And depending on the size of the drive, you could start a LOTR marathon :)
/QUOTE
 
heh, yes that is true. it takes a looonnngggg time. download the utility. Western Digital has one, I think, called first aid... copy it to a boot disk, look for its executable file once in dos and run it. then it should give you all the test options, repair options, etc.
 
Well, after about 2 hours on hold I managed to get ahold of gateway tech support. Now the problem is that when I write zeros to the drive and reformat, the drives get messed up. (The internal HD becomes the F drive, one of the camra flash drives becomes the C drive, the other flash drive becomes the D drive, and the CDRW/DVDROM drive becomes the E drive. then it runs into problems with creating directories such as C:/Program files because there is no flash drive in the slot.) so now I am writing zeros to the drive (For the third time) so that I can try to reinstall Windows (For the third time). Any suggestions? Or should I just claim the warrenty and get myself a new computer?
 
oh, disconnect all the external crap. and, dont write zeroes to often. thats a bad idea ;) Anyhow, remove all other zip, flash/thumb drives. You want NOTHING to cause problems. Then when starting the installation, I would use NTFS for the partition when the installation FDISKS. Once you have the installation done, THEN go ahead and hook up the external drive. Oh, and sometimes gateway restore disks and boot disks change the drive letters. For example, some of the restoration disks (say 6.9) will create the cdrom as drive R: oddly enough. Hope that helps ya! Oh and if you CAN get a new system, hell ya do a rpl! Maybe they wont have the processor in stoke and have to update you. It does happen (though not often) from time to time :)
 
P.S. when writing zeroes it SHOULD be taking you a few hours. If its not, then something is VERY wrong and the HDD maybe bad. Choose the TEST DRIVE option... its incredibly indepth.
 
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