Sign of impending failure???

[Mychael]

After a normal day of running the computer without issues I did a normal shutdown last night.
Booting up this morning it went into CHKDSK and came up with one error message saying " correcting errors in uppercase file " it then went on and loaded the operating system as per normal.

I tried googling the message but could not find a lot of information, should I be worried?
This in on an XP Pro machine.

 

[TrainableMan]

MAYBE, MAYBE NOT.

I would run a full scandisk, not the short version, to check for bad sectors. Hard drives can get areas that will not hold the bit properly, in which case the sector is marked bad and the HD no longer uses it. Too many of these is a good indication of imminent HD failure but a few is not a big deal.

It may also have not shut down completely before you turned off the power which can leave unwritten information and the HD has to clean up files that register improper size because they were truncated.

I would also defrag it then.

 

[clifford_cooley]

I agree with TM.

 

[Nibiru2012]

You might also try HD Tune Pro, as a trial version for 15 days. It will give you all the information you may need regarding the hard drive and its condition.

http://www.hdtune.com/download.html

 

[Mychael]

Running HD Tune Pro now.. Only one warning so far. " Ultra DMA CRC error count"
Temps at 29c up to 30 when testing.

 

[TorrentG]

Any CRC error = unfortunately not so good.

I would look into installing a new hard drive as soon as possible so you don't lose data or your current Windows install.

You can clone the drive using Clonezilla while a new drive is also attached. When done, remove the old drive and you'd be good to go.

Just make sure any hard drive you get is bigger or equal to what you have now so the cloning process can take place....if that's what you decide to do.

 

[catilley1092]

My temp is 47 C while testing. What's the CRC error?

 

[catilley1092]

I believe that I see it now. It shows as "Ultra DMA CRC Error Count", my current is 200, worst 200, threshold 0, data 0, status OK.

 

[Mychael]

According to the description within the program itself it could relate to a faulty data cable or connection.

The error testing on the HDD is coming up good, no errors as in physical errors on the drive itself.

 

[TrainableMan]

Cyclic Redundancy Check. Basically it is a checksum transmitted along with the data and basically all the bits are counted based on an error checking algorithm so that the result should match the checksum. If it doesn't match then at least one bit is wrong so none of that piece of data as is can be trusted.

 

[Mychael]

You can clone the drive using Clonezilla while a new drive is also attached. When done, remove the old drive and you'd be good to go.

Just make sure any hard drive you get is bigger or equal to what you have now so the cloning process can take place....if that's what you decide to do.

So does Clonezilla work under the operating system as in with the O/S loaded or is it a stand alone bootable program?

Does it make a carbon copy of the entire drive O/S included that will boot and run just like the original drive/system did?

 

[Mychael]

Error scan came up 100% perfect. No errors detected.

 

[catilley1092]

There was a warning that my drive temp is critical (both with HD Tune Pro & Acronis Drive Monitor). HD Tune Pro reports 57 (C) & Acronis reports 134 (degrees). Is this too hot for safe operation?

 

[Mychael]

Well to put it in context Cat. My velociraptor (known to run hot) only got to 30c when tested.

 

[catilley1092]

I see. Funny though, all other tests are passing. I'll go through the tests again and see if it gets much hotter.

Nibiru mentioned cleaning this notebook up real good and reapplying thermal paste, but it has so many little parts, and should I screw up something, I'm out of my money. Should it overheat to death through no fault of my own, I'm covered.

This is a single core Pentium M 2.13 GHz processor, five years old, covered by insurance for $400. If it dies, it dies. But I like running these tests on it, because it stresses it, pushing it to the limit. The more times I test, the worse the results are, but it doesn't matter. It helps me to learn.

 

[Mychael]

Maybe you could invest in one of those laptop cooling pads. They have fans in them to force air up into the laptop.. you can get ones either powered by the usb (not recommended) or by a power supply from the mains voltage.

 

[catilley1092]

To be quite honest, I'd like a new notebook, one of those quad core models, like the die hard serious gamers uses. I don't play games, but we have a folding team here, and a gaming notebook would make an excellent folding notebook.

So if this one goes up in smoke, it does, no big deal. It's under warranty, if it costs more to fix it than it's worth, my money is simply refunded. I paid $400 for it, I can put another $400 to $600 with it, and have something that will kick a*s.

I've got my sight set on a quad core notebook, and one way or the other, I'm getting it, along with a nice cooling pad to set it on. One with twin fans will probably do the job, after all, all that money spent, I certainly wouldn't want it to overheat.

Cat

 

[TorrentG]

So does Clonezilla work under the operating system as in with the O/S loaded or is it a stand alone bootable program?

Does it make a carbon copy of the entire drive O/S included that will boot and run just like the original drive/system did?

It's generally ran from a live cd you burn and then boot to it. You could also put it on a usb flash stick and boot to it. It's not overly complicated and is a great app that handles most scenarios.

Yes, it makes an exact 1:1 clone of the original drive, bit for bit. It can also be used to clone partitions only, if told to do so in the settings that you're prompted for each time it's ran. So Windows will boot perfectly fine from the new copy.

http://clonezilla.org/

 

[Nibiru2012]

I've got my sight set on a quad core notebook, and one way or the other, I'm getting it, along with a nice cooling pad to set it on. One with twin fans will probably do the job, after all, all that money spent, I certainly wouldn't want it to overheat.

Cat - Why waste all that money on a notebook computer? You can get a much better desktop with all the features you want for about the same if not less money. In addition, it will stay much cooler with far superior ventilation and a much better power supply.

If you build it yourself, you can save even more money and get a really kick butt system.

To be honest with you, you really don't go anywhere, you're basically a home body (pardon the expression). Why do you need a notebook anyway?

Comparison wise - you get more BANG for the BUCK with a desktop system versus a notebook system, more power, better cooling, way easier to add hardware to it, easier to clean and repair.

If you're concerned about size and space, the new micro-ATX boards that are out are very potent little boards and with that small form factor in a kick butt small case you would have a much superior system to any notebook.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Cat - Here is a nice little micro-ATX system I configured at Newegg. I was bored and had too much coffee this morning anyway. So I thought I would do it and you can see what this little puppy has in it.

For about $1000 you can have everything you talk about and a hell of a system with a great widescreen monitor too!

As you can tell I included everything you may need except for keyboard and mouse, which you probably already have. I even included a PCI wireless N adapter card and thermal compound for the CPU.

When shipping is added you should be able to get all of it for less than $1000 probably around $995 or so.

Tell me what you think!

Sorry to everyone else for a slight "hijack" of the thread!