Crystal Disk Confusing - Vista Won't Load - Blue Screen After chdsk

[Appletax]

Problem: Windows Vista reloads a little after the initial loading screen runs.


- Can't boot into safe mode

- Got into System Recovery section
> Startup repair can't fix the problem
> Tried sfc /scannow, but it won't work in the Sys Recov
> Ran chkdsk c: /f /r
- some files were unreadable - found some orphaned files - and a number of other errors.

After chkdsk I rebooted and got a blue screen with this stop message:
0x00000024

I've read this can be caused by a missing or corrupted NTFS.sys file, which is a critical file needed to allow Windows to read/write to an NTFS file system.

I found a fix for it that involves renaming it and copying over the file from a Vista disc, but it won't work. It won't let me copy over the disc's NTFS.sys file
Error given: The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.
This is the command I used: copy cd:\i386\ntfs.sys drive:\windows\system32\drivers




CRYSTAL DISK INFO -> I loaded UBCD4Win and ran the program and it showd the HDD as being in good health WHICH IS WEIRD BECAUSE -> it says there are 104 bad sectors (converted to dec from hex). I showed my client and told him that that's unusual to have bad sectors and have a good diagnosis by the program.

We went to Staples and he purchased Win 7 upgrade because he doesn't wanna deal with the problems that he had with Vista.

So now all I need to know is weather or not the hard drive should be replaced and for future reference what else I could do to fix the OS and why is Crystal Disk acting strange ?






Here's the fix I found:

To resolve this problem, replace the missing or corrupted Ntfs.sys file:

1. Use the Windows XP/Vista startup disks or the Windows XP/Vista CD/DVD to restart your computer.
2. When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to select the To repair a Windows XP/Vista installation using Recovery Console, press R option.
3. Type the number of the Windows installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console, and then press ENTER.
4. Type the administrator password when you are prompted, and then press ENTER. If no administrator password exists, just press ENTER.
5. At the command prompt, type the following commands (press ENTER after each command):
cd \windows\system32\drivers

ren ntfs.sys ntfs.old

Note This step renames the corrupted Ntfs.sys file to Ntfs.old. If the Ntfs.sys file is not found, the file is missing.
6. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
copy cd:\i386\ntfs.sys drive:\windows\system32\drivers
Where cd is the drive letter for the CD-ROM drive that contains the Windows XP CD/Vista DVD, and drive is the drive where you installed Windows XP.
7. Remove the Windows XP CD/Vista DVD from your CD-ROM drive, type quit at a command prompt, and then press ENTER to quit the Recovery Console.
8. Restart the computer.

 

[mraikes]

Every drive has some number of bad sectors. They leave the factory with them. It doesn't automatically mean it's a bad drive.

It only becomes a problem when the number of bad sectors exceeds a particular threshold, or they're popping up faster than the drive is able to mark and remap them. The SMART status won't change from "Good" to "Caution" until one of the related thresholds is exceeded.

That being said, if the drive is old or has a lot of hours on it, this might be a good opportunity to replace it with a newer, larger, faster drive.

 

[Appletax]

Every drive has some number of bad sectors. They leave the factory with them. It doesn't automatically mean it's a bad drive.

It only becomes a problem when the number of bad sectors exceeds a particular threshold, or they're popping up faster than the drive is able to mark and remap them. The SMART status won't change from "Good" to "Caution" until one of the related thresholds is exceeded.

That being said, if the drive is old or has a lot of hours on it, this might be a good opportunity to replace it with a newer, larger, faster drive.

Threshold is 50 and the HDD has nearly 18,000 hours

 

[Xander]

Threshold is 50 and the HDD has nearly 18,000 hours

18000 hrs is two years solid running. Certainly wouldn't be a bad idea to replace it given that 'they say' a drive's lifespan is 2-3 years. If you replace it cheaply, go for it.

 

[Appletax]

Any thoughts on what's going on with the OS ?

 

[tackify]

This is the command I used: copy cd:\i386\ntfs.sys drive:\windows\system32\drivers

Umm...
Is this the actual command you used?

Or did you just use generic terms for your source and destination drives for your post?

 

[Appletax]

Umm...
Is this the actual command you used?

Or did you just use generic terms for your source and destination drives for your post?

I used what it told me to use, which I forgot to change the drive letters...

Problem is that I don't know what command to use to tell me which drive letter is assigned to which device.

 

[Appletax]

UPDATE -> I used this command:

DISKPART > select disk 0

info it gave me:


read-only: no
boot disk: no
pagefile disk: no
hibernation file disk: no
crashdump risk: no

volume 1 - c drive - RAW filesystem <<<< WTF - partition - 88 GB - Healthy
volume 2 - d drive DATA - NTFS - partition - 88 GB - Healthy
volume 3 - f drive - PQService - NTFS - partition - 10 GB - Healthy


SO > it looks like the partition holding windows is fried ???

 

[Appletax]

I ran HD Tune and it found a ton of damaged sections.

I just got off the phone with my client... I told him I ran hd tune and it found a bunch of damaged sections that cant be fixed and that the section holding windows vista is fried....Im buying a 500gb WD drive for him from amazon cuz i have the fast 2 day prime shipping. He wants the bigger HD for his DJ business and just wants to have a machine that'll work great and not give him anymore problems. I believe installing Windows 7 on a new HDD will give him just that.