system restore help

lfc 1304

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Hi, either due to a power surge my PC now will not load windows and instead after the windows logo (bar flashing left to right beneath it) the computer goes to a black page. What makes it worse though is the fact that when i try a system restore a messages comes up with a big red X reading:

The disk HP (C: ) has errors windows has detected file system corruption on HP (C: ). You must check the disk for errors before it can be restored.


However when I do check the disk and go back to the sytem restore screen the message comes up again, Is there any way around this or do i need to do a completet system resore and lose everything? Thanks for any help.
 
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You could try booting with a windows xp installation cd.
When setup starts - press R for the "Recovery console"

It should then show a command prompt.
type chkdsk /r

That should force chkdsk to attempt to repair any bad sectors.

(This info all applies to windows XP - I don't know if it works with vista or windows 7)
 
you could try and download some third party software like GWSCAN, stick it onto a bootable CD and try to repair the bad sectors, sounds like the HP diagnostics software isn't working
 
Grab a copy of linux with a bootable DVD (or USB stick) such as Ubuntu and try running that, if it works then you know that it's probably not a hardware fault and can get your data off before reinstalling windows.
 
Thanks for the replies, however i cannot do a system restore as when the restore gets to 100% it just goes back to the system recovery screen. When i ran the windowns memory diagnostic tool everything on the hard-drive passed except for short self test which failed,does this mean i need a new hard-drive? Thanks again for the help.
 
the trouble is the recovery software is stored on a potentially damaged partition on your hard drive, you need to get hold of some software that will run from a disk, as suggested perhaps ask a friend to download Ubuntu for you or use a small low-level HDD tester like Vivard or GW Scan, these can be burn onto a CD or even USB stick and booted from start-up, the programs will run directly from the media they are saved on
 
Thanks for the replies, regarding ubuntu how do i boot it from the start? Do i just plug in my usb and when the computer comes on will it go to whatever drive the usb is on? Thanks for any replies.
 
Thanks for the replies, regarding ubuntu how do i boot it from the start? Do i just plug in my usb and when the computer comes on will it go to whatever drive the usb is on? Thanks for any replies.

Give it a try and see, if nothing unusual happens you might have to hit a key to bring up a list of devices to boot from or hit a key to go into the bios settings and set the USB drive as one of the devices to boot from.
 
I think i have now mounted it to a CD-R (its shows up on another computer when i put the CD in). My question is how do i go about fixing the corrupted hard- drive of my other computer do i just put the CD in and it will boot or do i need to press f10 and select the a: drive? Thanks for any help.
 
with the disc in the PC, it should prompt you to boot from disc when initially starting the PC up.

If not go into bios (by hitting delete when the PC is first turned on), then under boot you should see Boot Device Priority Option. Select your Optical drive for 1st Boot device.

Then reboot and you should see the prompt i originally referred to.
 
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Thanks i have done what you said and it has booted, i am now at a page that says try ubuntu or install ubuntu with icons for both. Which one should I press to enable me to fix my hard-drive? Thanks.
 
click Try Ubuntu, this will run it directly from the CD without saving any data onto your hard drive, it takes longer to load but it saves you having to un-install it later.

Just to clarify though Ubuntu isn't a hard drive tool, what you have is essentially an operating system on a CD enabling you to have some functionality from your PC while the hard drive isn't working.

to be honest I'm not sure why the other posters recommended using it instead of some sort of diagnostic tool, in my opinion a much better option would be to get hold of the ultimate boot cd which holds all sorts of data checking and recovery software (including Vivard) you can get it from

Ultimate Boot CD - Overview

just follow the instructions on the website, you should be able to do this from within your Ubuntu OS
 
okay thanks for the link, i have run unbuntu and it comes up with two options erase and use entire disk or specify partions manually (advanced) , i have no idea what this means.How using ubuntu do i just see the data on my hard-drive so i can just copy it to a USB?
 
did you click 'Try Ubuntu?' sounds like the sort of options i'd expect if I clicked install, you don't want to format your disk and install ubuntu over it- you'll never get yer data back!

can i suggest sacking the linux thing off and giving the boot cd a go?
 
You mean the boot cd you have to pay for? No thank you i cannot see any link on there apart from one where you have to pay.
 
no thats just an advert, you can download it via the link on the left in red or you can go strait to:
Ultimate Boot CD | Mirror Download Site

and download it from there, select the 'ubcd503.iso' link.

once downloaded burn it as an iso. image file onto a CD or DVD, if your using Windows 7 it has a utility built in to do this otherwise you'll need to download another program call Image Burn, you can get it for free from here:

Download ImgBurn for free - Fileforum

(it's quite small)

once you have the image on the disk, you can boot from it and use all the utilities, such as Vivard - select scan with remap.

Let me know how you get on :)
 
Thanks very much for your help, i have it loaded onto my computer and it comes up with a list, BIOS, CPU, HDD, etc
which one do i click to execute what you said to do? Thanks for the help.
 
ok select HDD, then Diagnostics, then Vivard at the bottom,

select the first or second option that appears and then select your HDD, select surface scan with remap and select the start and end point (just hit return twice) once finished try rebooting your system to see if it's fixed - if not don't worry - their are other tools on the disk that can help you.
 

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