Messages

1

General Computer Support / Re: Corrupt Vista files, System Restore does not work, Tweaking hangs at Start

« on: August 23, 2014, 11:08:53 am »

I went ahead and abandoned the Check disk by pressing the power button. Luckily the computer booted back up to Windows fine. I am backing up my important files as suggested.

As mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I did run the very brief Toshiba Diagnostic tool that came on my laptop &  it gave the Harddrive a "Pass".

My harddrive is a Toshiba MK3252GSX. The Toshiba website only has diagnostic hard drive tests for Fujitsu- branded harddrives.
Does anyone have any suggestions for a diagnostic hard drive test on a Toshiba (not Fujitsu) branded harddrive?

I tried to google a solution but am not coming up with anything. A couple of sites suggested trying the Hitachi drive fitness tool  WinDST ( from the download section of HGST, a Western Digital subsidiary) but I downloaded it & when I hit its search button (which is supposed to find compatible harddrives that it can test), it just shows a blank. I did note that the instructions that came with it said "Please note, WinDFT is not designed to run on your primary operating drive"."

2

General Computer Support / Re: Corrupt Vista files, System Restore does not work, Tweaking hangs at Start

« on: August 22, 2014, 08:13:06 am »

Thanks but The computer 12 hours Since my last post is still stuck In check disk at the same spot. Should I Abandon heck disk at this point?
I will not do so until I hear back from you.

 Again I am writing this from a different computer.

3

General Computer Support / Update on progress; Chkdsk has been running 20 hours

« on: August 21, 2014, 04:10:44 pm »

Hello All,
I am writing from my spouse’s laptop - might is currently stuck on CheckDisk (more on that below).
I have been having a jolly ole time with the laptop, but have learned alot in the process. I am a newbie to much of this and I really appreciate your help so far. Here’s what I have done since you responded:

Frankly, I did not understand that the Scandisk that I already ran & attached above was not the same thing as Checkdisk, until Jradju a & Shane asked if I ran that also. After you brought it to my attention I googled the differences. I now understand that checkdsk can fix file system errors.

1. First I did an elevated command prompt and tried to run chkdsk /f/r to fix file system errors, but upon reboot, my system did not do it & rebooted to normal, so I had to research how to fix. After much ado and time bumbling around the internet I got that fixed by doing what I think is called a manual entry in the registry.
2) Then I ran Checkdsk on my 320 GB harddrive (which Defraggler had said was less than half full, and 25% defragmented) and left it running overnight. Next morning it was stuck at Stage 5 at about 17% with no signs of harddrive lights, sounds or movement. So I shut the power down & rebooted. Then I got the blue screen of death, and I had to do a Startup repair. Finally got thru that.
3) Then I downloaded the update of Tweaking.com and went thru the steps ...it did not hang at Startup this time, but there are still errors.
4) At Boggin’s suggestion I tried to find something to check the integrity of my harddrive - I found some utility that came pre-loaded on my Toshiba laptop - it gave it a pass. Just took a second to do and I have no idea of how it worked or how accurate it is. That is as far as I have got on this so I think I may need to run more tests but I am not sure.
5) I ran Malwarebytes again. I ran CCleaner again including using it to pare down some of the stuff in Start menu.
6) At this point I checked Defraggler again. Somehow I was now down to 6% instead of 25% defragmentation that I had before - am clueless how this might be---???.
7) Thinking things were looking up, I decided to run Chkdsk again.
That is where I am stuck now. It went a couple of hours, showing good progress. The first stages showed deleting some of the same files that sounded like the same or similar named files that Stage 3 later showed as “Recovering orphaned files (mostly with .mof extensions) into directory files”. Stage 4 showed file verificaion complete.

Currently, Chkdsk is verifying free space (Stage 5 of 5) .... 20 percent complete (3410049 od 42724796 free clusters) and it has been there for 18 hours with no outward signs of harddrive movement.- no harddrive light or sounds (just the fan sound).

--- What do I do now with Chkdsk? Should I wait it out longer or can Checkdisk actually get stuck, without finishing on its own?
Any other suggestions of what else I should do? Thanks!

4

General Computer Support / Corrupt Vista files, System Restore does not work, Tweaking hangs at Start

« on: August 17, 2014, 12:49:44 pm »

Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit with Windows Vista SP2 - Toshiba P305-S8838 laptop

Shane, can you help?

My laptop was taking too long to boot up when turned off, so first I ran CCleaner, then I defragmented the hard drive with Defraggler because I had 25 % defragmentation to start on a 320 GB hard drive. I might have run defrag too much, because I think it may have deleted some of my System Restore points. 

Then I went to Tweaking.com, updated to new version & tried to use. I have used your old version successfully in the past. Following Tweaking.com instructions, I first did a proper power reset. Then I ran Malwarebytes (no viruses found), & CCleaner again. Note - I use CCleaner frequently – at least once a week, but I had not run Malwarebytes for a month or so. I also use Avast antivirus.

Then, I did your Step 3 & determined a Check Disk was needed. I attempted to use Check Disk thru your site, nothing happened upon reboot,  so I did an elevated command prompt for System File Checker, which found numerous Windows errors.  I printed the SFC scan results on the Windows CBS.Log file and I have it attached.

Another website recommended a download of the Windows System Update Readiness Tool http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947821 so I then downloaded & installed the one for my Vista 64 bit SP2 operating system.  They also said sometimes Check Disk needs to be run more than once to fix errors.  I re-ran Check Disk 3 more times, but it still could not fix the errors.

Then I tried to do System Restore, found it only had maybe 5 days of points (I know I set more in the past, but that was all there now), and I tried to set. However, I got an error message that Windows has detected file system corruption on the hard drive and I must check the disk for errors before it can be restored. So, I could not do System Restore.

Then I did a Clean Boot following your web instructions, and tried to run Repairs anyway – tried to run all options at first, then Defaults later, but could not do. The log noted Memory after cleaning, then “Starting Repairs”, but nothing happened- sat for hours with no progress status bar movement at all with nothing showing under the Repair Info tab either.

I also tried your Beta for Repair System Restore – nothing happened here either.

Suggestions? I have an OEM laptop so I do not have a Windows Vista start disk if it comes to that. Thanks for any help you can offer!