[RESOLVED] corrupt file system

[RunnersDad]

My daughters Acer laptop went belly up last Monday. At boot up it comes to a screen that says startup repair or boot normally. On boot normally it goes around for a while then comes back to the Acer logo screen. on startup repair it just goes back to the startup repair or boot normally screen. I downloaded and used a Vista Recovery Disk and it comes up with system volume on disk is corrupt. using chkdsk results in failed and error code = 0x1f. Do I need to nuke and pave or try to get a set of disks and just reinstall vista?

Thanks,

Runnersdad

[SuperSparks]

Run the disk diagnostic for your brand of disk drive (if you don't know what make it is run Seatools). Download UBCD and burn it to CD, it has all the disk testing utilities on it plus many more useful tools besides, then just boot with the disc in the drive and select the utility that you want.

Ultimate Boot CD

[RunnersDad]

Well, the first thing that showed up said the drive had been overtemp.

This is not looking good. Still runnin the long test. Short test failed.

[RunnersDad]

read scan failed at 7 minutes with 99 errors showing. looks like I may have a small problem. The computer is 3 years old and my daughter never ran off the rescue or recovery disks.

[SuperSparks]

Ooops

Hard drive failure on a laptop is not uncommon, as they are liable to have a head crash when they get knocked. Replacing the drive is easy enough, but restoring the OS may not be. Probably the best thing to try in the first instance is to contact Acer, and see if there is any way of wangling a restore disc out of them.

[RunnersDad]

Sparks,

Do you think I can reuse this drive or is it going to keep getting worse? Or is it toast now?

[jdc2000]

Its toast. Once you start getting that many errors, it will only get worse. I wouldn't trust it to store anything reliably.

[SuperSparks]

I completely agree. Toast for sure

[RunnersDad]

replaced hdd now all I have to do is come up with a copy of the OS.

Thank you for all the help

RD

[SpywareDr]

My daughters Acer laptop went belly up last Monday. ... the drive had been overtemp.

Some people, (especially girls it seems), frequently use their laptops on a bed or pillow. Bad idea. It tends to block the air vents on the bottom and/or sides of the laptop.

[SuperSparks]

A wooden chopping board makes a good and inexpensive platform for those who like to use their lappers on soft furnishings or carpets

[dneilson]

They also make Laptop "holders" with or with out fan(s) that don't cost too much. The ones with fans are a great idea as they keep the Laptop cooler.