anyone know about debugging pc crashes ?

[Dr Lobster*]

By the way, my dad has a spare unused pc which is in 'reserve' in case mine breaks down in some way, so is this probably an excellent time to start using that one ?!
It does however make 'creaking' noises when it processes, so I don't know if that means that it too has some kind of hard disc problem.

some hard disk drives do make louder noises than others, especially if they're more than 3 years old. i had an old quantum 12 gb disk years ago which i stuck in my first ever pc and everytime it was accessed it made a loud clicking noise which you could hear down the other end of the house - it always did it (from new) and was completely normal and i think it still have it somewhere.

the best way i can recommend you test to see if the hard disk in your dad's pc is working ok is to use the pc for a few days to see if you have any problems and perhaps run a thorough scandisk or checkdisk just to make sure your disk doesn't have any bad sectors. scandisk will also report if an area of the disk is taking too long to respond which another sign of mechanical failure.

the way you run chkdsk or scandisk depends on what version of windows you've got.

in windows 95/98 it's probably best to exit to a ms-dos prompt and type scandisk. select the option to do a full surface scan (i can't remember the exact wording).

in windows 2000/xp go to my computer, find the c: drive, right click it, select propeties, select the tools tab at the top of the window and then click error checking check now box. select both options (automatically fix errors and attempt recovery) and click check now. you'll probably be asked to reboot the computer so the check can be performed without windows running. select yes to this and restart.

[fernando]

thanks Dr Lobster,

I'll ask my dad for his old pc and give it a go.
Would it be a good idea to first reformat and reinstall XP from disc, check /update drivers etc?

As for my pc, when I recently did the above process, I used Recovery Console and whilst I was there I ran a 'chkdsk' which reported 'one or more errors were found'.
The errors were not detailed any further, but presumably there should have been no errors at all if my hard disc was ok ? (which we now think is indeed faulty)

[Dr Lobster*]

thanks Dr Lobster,

I'll ask my dad for his old pc and give it a go.
Would it be a good idea to first reformat and reinstall XP from disc, check /update drivers etc?

As for my pc, when I recently did the above process, I used Recovery Console and whilst I was there I ran a 'chkdsk' which reported 'one or more errors were found'.
The errors were not detailed any further, but presumably there should have been no errors at all if my hard disc was ok ? (which we now think is indeed faulty)

if windows xp is working and the computer seems stable, you might as well leave it as it is, but if you've got all the drivers and setup cd's handy it won't do any harm, just remember to take a backup of anything off it you might need.

if you run chkdsk under the command shell or recovery console, you'll need to use the /f switch to make chkdsk acutally fix the changes.

the syntas for chkdsk is:

Checks a disk and displays a status report.


CHKDSK [volume[[path]filename]]] [/F] [/V] [/R] [/X] [/I] [/C] [/L[:size]]


volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),
mount point, or volume name.
filename FAT/FAT32 only: Specifies the files to check for fragmentation.

/F Fixes errors on the disk.
/V On FAT/FAT32: Displays the full path and name of every file
on the disk.
On NTFS: Displays cleanup messages if any.
/R Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information
(implies /F).
/L:size NTFS only: Changes the log file size to the specified number
of kilobytes. If size is not specified, displays current
size.
/X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary.
All opened handles to the volume would then be invalid
(implies /F).
/I NTFS only: Performs a less vigorous check of index entries.
/C NTFS only: Skips checking of cycles within the folder
structure.

The /I or /C switch reduces the amount of time required to run Chkdsk by
skipping certain checks of the volume.



you might want to execute chkdsk c: /f /r to fix and recover any information

[fernando]

ok, thanks.

Regarding my pc's hard disc, presumably doing any of that won't fix my mechanical problems? ie I still need to get it replaced if I want to reliably use my pc (not my dad's) ?

Also, just clarifying if I need a new 'hard drive' or 'hard disc', or are they the same thing ?

thanks again.

[Chris]

ok, thanks.

Regarding my pc's hard disc, presumably doing any of that won't fix my mechanical problems? ie I still need to get it replaced if I want to reliably use my pc (not my dad's) ?

Also, just clarifying if I need a new 'hard drive' or 'hard disc', or are they the same thing ?

thanks again.

No it won't fix the mechanical problems. It might cause more problems too and cause the disk to fail quicker if it's already on its way to the big computer room in the sky.

Also it could completely trash the stuff on the hard drive - I have had many an instance where the power has failed and the computer has started to chkdsk automatically upon boot up. The last time that happened, I ended up with half the system not working and a folder full of useless .chk files.

I would just back up all the data you want to keep, and leave it as it is until it naturally dies. It's not a case of if, but when it will completely fail if there is a mechanical fault. You might want to do the chkdsk thing after you have backed up your data and have secured another computer to use for the time being.

The terminology is the same so you're sorted there, unless you meet some pedant in the computer shop.

[fernando]

great, thanks.

[fernando]

by the way, assuming I read up and get the confidence, I suppose an option here is to put my dad's hard drive into my pc?
Or are there various compatibility issues I would need to understand and check there?

Would it just be better to use my dad's pc 'as is' (plus configuring my peripherals to work with it) until I can afford to get _my_ hard disc replaced?
I suppose I would then revert to my 'dad's' pc as a backup, which I think is actually older than mine.

[DJGM]

I'll ask my dad for his old pc and give it a go.
Would it be a good idea to first reformat and reinstall XP from disc, check /update drivers etc?

There are two issues that come to light here.

First of all, how old is your dad's old PC? If it's quite old, it might not be up to par for running Windows XP.

If the CPU speed on your dad's old PC is less than 500MHz, then a minimum of 512MB RAM is recommended
for running Windows XP. If it's more than 500MHz, XP should get by with around 256-512MB RAM installed.
Or, if it runs at 1GHz or more, then having a minimum of 256MB RAM should be fine. Cutting back on the
fancy-schmancy colourful GUI of XP, and switching to Classic mode is also advisable on older machines.

Secondly, even if the PC can run XP adequately, there's also the thorny issue of Activation to contend with.
If you've already activated your copy of XP on the PC that currently contains the dying hard disk, it won't
allow you to activate it on any other PC, such as your dad's old one, unless it's internally identical.

That's assuming of course, your copy of Windows XP isn't one of those Volume Licensed versions made for
commercial and/or corporate use, in places such as call centres and large offices. These do not require
activation, and are designed to be installed on several computers, unlike the bog standard single user
licensed versions normally sold through retail outlets in shrink wrapped cardboard cartons.

[fernando]

thanks;
my dad's pc already has windows xp on it.
Good point about the activation ... he doesn't have any discs so it would have to be my xp disc if I chose to reformat and install, which already has been done and activated on here.
So, I'll just use his pc 'as is' and possibly update it.

How about my last question above, regarding using his hard disc ?

thanks,
lee