Corrupted MBR -Regular occurrence
in [Storage]
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From: Mike Tomlinson on 31 Mar 2008 12:47 In article <6130c03e-48eb-4058-b172-2f73c1fa45ba(a)d21g2000prf.googlegroup s.com>, Bernard <bernard.herrok(a)gmail.com> writes >As for the only the MBR being affected, I forgot to mention on the >original post that the while doing CHKDSK, there were a lot of index, >USN journal fixes, orphan files and also it did a step I've never seen >before "Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap". >The CHKDSK errors happen every time this problem pops up. > >Does this sound more like an onboard controller fault? It could be faulty memory. Download Memtest86+ from www.memtest.org and run it overnight for a minimum of two full passes. -- (\__/) Bunny says NO to Windows Vista! (='.'=) http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html (")_(") http://www.cypherpunks.to/~peter/vista.pdf
From: Stretch on 31 Mar 2008 12:39 Franc Zabkar wrote in news:rd31v3h32t8s9g585ov37m8n6sf0r80aah(a)4ax.com > On Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:39:39 -0700 (PDT), Bernard > <bernard.herrok(a)gmail.com> put finger to keyboard and composed: > > > Are there any utilities I can use to test the motherboard/chipset and > > the controllers? > > > > I thought something that would send large amounts of data to the hard > > drive (therefore via the SATA/IDE controller) and checks whether the > > data was received as expected. > Check your drive for bad sectors Bad sectors don't 'corrupt' the MBR. > with your HD manufacturer's diagnostic software. > For example, Seagate supplies SeaTools. > > If you suspect that something is wrong at the motherboard end, then > stick your drive in an external USB enclosure and test it from a USB > port. > > Otherwise you could copy 1GB .VOB files from one location on your hard > drive to another and then compare the source and destination files. > > The following Windows commands copy 10GB of data and compare each of > the copies with the original. > > for %i in (0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9) do copy test.vob test%i.vob > for %i in (0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9) do fc /b test.vob test%i.vob > > - Franc Zabkar
From: Stretch on 31 Mar 2008 12:43 Franc Zabkar wrote in news:2m11v3tc95drcsu5c1de0gsvtr6r9holpq(a)4ax.com > On Sun, 30 Mar 2008 17:27:38 -0700 (PDT), Bernard > <bernard.herrok(a)gmail.com> put finger to keyboard and composed: > > > I've had to format my hard drive around 6 times in the past 6 months > > because of a corrupted MBR. > > > > Initially, a few runs of CHKDSK in the recovery console and a running > > FIXMBR has fixed the problem for a couple of months only to have the > > same problem happen again. > I can't understand why your OS or your software would want to write > to the MBR, unless you were repartitioning the disc or intentionally > refreshing the MBR code. If I'm not mistaken NT keeps a signature there. > Instead I suspect that your drive is developing bad sectors. A corrupt MBR is not a bad sector. It's a readable one that lost it's expected contents to a certain extend. > > If you believe that the MBR code is corrupt because FIXMBR is telling > you so, then be aware of the following bug (it is also present in Win > XP Home's recovery console). > > ==================================================================== > Error Message When You Run fixmbr Command: > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/266745/ > > SYMPTOMS > > When you attempt to run the fixmbr command in the Microsoft Windows > 2000 recovery console, your computer system may display the following > error message: > > This computer appears to have a non-standard or invalid master boot > record. FIXMBR may damage your partition tables if you proceed. This > could cause all the partitions on the current hard disk to become > inaccessible. If you are not having problems accessing your drive, do > not continue. Are you sure you want to write a new MBR? > > RESOLUTION > > Ignore the error message described in the "Symptoms" section of this > article. The fixmbr command can safely rewrite the MBR. > > STATUS > > Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft > products that are listed at the beginning of this article. > > MORE INFORMATION > > The fixmbr command causes this error message to be displayed on your > computer system whenever you run the command, regardless of the state > of the Master Boot Record (MBR). > ==================================================================== > > - Franc Zabkar
From: Stretch on 31 Mar 2008 12:45 Bernard wrote in news:d8b032ea-910d-478e-888c-03ba18d3f86c(a)d4g2000prg.googlegroups.com > Hi group, > > I've had to format my hard drive around 6 times in the past 6 months > because of a corrupted MBR. > > Initially, a few runs of CHKDSK in the recovery console and a running > FIXMBR has fixed the problem for a couple of months only to have the > same problem happen again. > > Thinking it was the hard drive, I took it back to the manufacturer for > a warranty replacement. Now the problem seems to be happening again on > the new drive and only 1 month of having it. > > Just wondering what could be the problem source of the problem. > > There are a few things that I think could be the problem, you might be > able to shed some light on this. > > 1. Windows XP x64 -I might have a bodgy copy of the O/S, although I > highly doubt it as it's a volume license version. > 2. The SATA/IDE bus is somehow not working and therefore corrupting > the hard drive. > > The problem seems to pop it's head up straight > *after a reboot*. Either because the machine has frozen or I get "BSoD". That is likely the source of the problem. One likely source could be memory corruption. > > Is there anyway of testing the SATA/IDE bus or are there other areas > that could be the problem? > > Thanks in advance, > Bernard
From: Stretch on 31 Mar 2008 12:47
Bob Willard wrote in news:yLudnV_bLfFKcm3anZ2dnUVZ_siknZ2d(a)comcast.com > Bernard wrote: > > The hard drive is stuffed, > > I've already had 3 different 1's with the same problems. So it's not the harddrive(s). > So I'd like to know what the source of the problem is. > > > > I might just buy a SATA PCI controller and see how I go. > > > > I just don't want to invest more time in rebuilding the system, > > installing all the programs and updates for it to then go down again. > > > > I'll let you know how I go with the Everest test. I'm also going to > > use Hot CPU Tester to test the chipset and motherboard. I'll let you > > know soon. > > > > Cheers, > > Bernard > > Given that history, I'd take a serious look at: > 1. Cooling -- open the case, and clean the filters and heatsinks > 2. Cooling -- make sure your case fans are cooling the HDs > 3. Cooling -- get an app that reports HD temps in realtime > 4. Cooling -- make sure that cabling/etc. does not block air flow > 5. Cabling -- check signal & power cables to HDs for nicks and seating > 6. Power -- make sure your PS has enough juice and low ripple It's not the harddrives if the MBR is corrupted and FixMBR can still repair it. That means it's readable but the code has been corrupted. |