Occasionally at start up I get a "Boot Disk Failure"

[Catz]

Every now and then when I turn on an XP PC I get A "Boot Disk Failure".
I found that if I hit the restart button, the PC boots up without any problems.
Doesn't happen all the time.
Maybe once in every ten start ups.
I have scanned the WD HD with scan disk, defraged it and found nothing.
Have a feeling the HD might have a bad sector or something.
The only thing that has changed in this PC is the CPU.
Could the XP OS have an occasional problem recognizing the new CPU?
Any idea's as to what might be happening

[Bigaldoc]

...Have a feeling the HD might have a bad sector or something.

If you do a scandisk you should see the result that tells you if there's a bad sector(s). If you don't know where to look after a reboot, go to Event Viewer and Applications and look for Winlogon. It'll tell you if there are any bad sectors.

Also, when you changed the CPU did you go through any procedures to let Windows know that the CPU has changed? If you did, that should not be a problem.

I suspect an impending hard drive problem but it's hard to pin down at this stage if it's sporadic.

[HansV]

I don't think it's the CPU. There might be a problem with your disk.

First, make sure that you have a recent backup of important files.

The following may take a long time.

Close all applications (so you may want to print or write down these instructions first)
Start Windows Explorer or My Computer.
Right-click the C: drive and select Properties from the popup menu.
Activate the Tools tab.
Click Check Now... in the Error-checking section.
Tick the check boxes Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.
Click Start.

[Catz]

Thanks for your reply Hans and Doc.
All my files are backed up on a separate slave HD and the only thing I have on the master is the OS and programs.
I went to My Comp to the C drive>tools> and tried to scan but was told I had to do it on a start up.
Re booted and the CHKDSK ran....for a looooog time.
It found and replaced 5 bad sectors.
When it was done the PC rebooted with no problem.
Hope it stays that way.
How do I tell the OS about the new CPU?
I thought it would recognize it in order for it to boot up the PC.
Could the bad sectors that were replaced be the reason for the boot disk failure?

[viking33]

I don't think it's the CPU. There might be a problem with your disk.

First, make sure that you have a recent backup of important files.

The following may take a long time.

Close all applications (so you may want to print or write down these instructions first)
Start Windows Explorer or My Computer.
Right-click the C: drive and select Properties from the popup menu.
Activate the Tools tab.
Click Check Now... in the Error-checking section.
Tick the check boxes Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.
Click Start.

If it's your boot disk you are checking, it will probably tell you that it will need to restart and the disk check will be made at boot-up.
It should recognize the new CPU automatically so that should be OK.
The bad sectors it found were MOST PROBABLY the cause of the boot failures.

[HansV]

The new CPU should be recognized automatically.

If you're lucky, the problem has been solved by the repair of bad sectors, but they might be the forebode of more problems to come... Keep your fingers crossed.

[Catz]

Hans, what type of problems should I look out for?

[Bigaldoc]

One problem of major proportion is that the hard drive might at some time completely crash and not be bootable OR readable. It's always hard to tell about these things, but I would be sure that you maintain backups on a regular basis.

[HansV]

Hans, what type of problems should I look out for?

What Al says...

[Catz]

Update.
So Far no Boot Disk Failure at start up.
Turned it off and on around 15 times since yesterday.
One more thing.. How often can that CHKDSK be performed?
Thanks Again guys.

[StuartR]

...How often can that CHKDSK be performed?

It's best not to perform it TOO often, as it can lead to increased wear on the disk components.

Daily is far too frequent, weekly may be a bit too frequent, monthly is perfectly reasonable but may not detect errors before they have an impact.

[Catz]

Thanks StuartR.

[Catz]

Have a question about the five bad sectors that CHKDSK found and replaced.
Are those bad sectors still there?
What happens to them and how were they created?
Can they be accidentally used again?
Could they have been there from the day the HD was made?

[HansV]

It depends - if it was just a bit that had fallen over, the damage was not serious, and the sector can be used again. If there is physical damage, the sector will have been marked as such, and it won't be used again.

[Catz]

Thanks Hans.
One of these days if I ever have a dead HD, I going to open it up to see what makes them tick.

[HansV]

Watch out for loose bits falling out of the enclosure!

[StuartR]

Are those bad sectors still there?
What happens to them and how were they created?
Can they be accidentally used again?
Could they have been there from the day the HD was made?

Bad sectors are typically caused by surface damage to the metal oxide that is used to record the bits. This damage would be far too small for you to see with the naked eye. The firmware in the disk drive will have been instructed to use some of the spare sectors set aside for this purpose instead of the bad sectors, so it will never attempt to access the bad sectors again, even if you send a command to read the exact spot that was bad.

Any bad sectors that existed when the disk was manufactured will have been discovered when the drive was first formatted, and already 'replaced' with spare sectors, so the ones you have detected went bad some time later.

If the number of bad sectors increases over time then this suggests that the surface of the disk is deteriorating, and you should replace the disk as soon as possible to prevent catastrophic failure leading to loss of your data.

[viking33]

Thanks Hans.
One of these days if I ever have a dead HD, I going to open it up to see what makes them tick.

Check out this link.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=&q=what ... 2afbebc69a" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A whole bunch of videos showing what's inside a hard drive and some showing a drive in "action" without the cover on.

[PaulB]

Fascinating clips.

[DaveA]

Check out this link.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=&q=what ... 2afbebc69a" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A whole bunch of videos showing what's inside a hard drive and some showing a drive in "action" without the cover on.

But, none of the listed videos showed ANY bits falling out from the case!