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Nasty NTFS issue ? [Solved !]

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MerleOne:
Thanks all for your messages.  Here are, in a rather random order, some answers.  I didn't want to give all the fine details because I feared it would have been to long a message to read...

- Sata Port/Cable : it's a portable PC, Dell E6400, so I don't think there is any choice here. Besides, the system works fine before the chkdsk (see below), I guess it's not H/W related.
- Unstable : yes sorry, it means here I get a wealth of various error messages, that I never get otherwise, plus Office 2007 won't launch (Word, Excel) any longer and Windows shuts itself down after a last "serious" error message.  So totally unusable, and unstable...
- The chkdsk at boot *doesn't* display any error message.  I might have more details in the system log (winlogon entry) but since Windows has gone unstable, I cannot access it...  I think I tried also by booting from a WinPE CD, performed the chkdsk with /f /v options, there was a few minor errors, as usual, except one is serious.

The strange thing is that before the chkdsk in invoked, my system is rock solid, never a BSOD or any crash, hang, freeze.

I will try next week a clone in file mode with Casper, my last option today.

MerleOne:
does the chkdsk at boot seem to do anything .... usually it write some messages to the screen while running.

Perhaps a windows repair from CD might correct whatever chkdsk changed.
-hpearce (January 13, 2012, 04:56 PM)
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Maybe, but it would require a XP Pro install CD, which I don't have (maybe the IT guys at work have one...).  It's my office PC and these IT guys there only propose to reformat it and re-install a fresh system.  This should work but I would lose 2 years of configurations of all the software I have added since I got it.

MerleOne:
Other than 'at boot time, it renders my XP unstable', you don't explain anything about your problem, so how are we supposed to know how to help you? Please supply some extra information. :)

Does 'unstable' mean 'crashes'? Does it mean 'hangs for ages'? What sort of success rate? How about safe mode? Are all your drivers upgraded? Have you tried a tool, like for example HDtune? Etc.
-worstje (January 13, 2012, 10:08 AM)
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I checked surface defects with HDD Regenerator : none found.  Didn't try safe mode, maybe because I considered that after the chkdsk, the system was anyway badly damaged so working in safe mode would not help repairing it (maybe I am wrong here).

4wd:
This should work but I would lose 2 years of configurations of all the software I have added since I got it.-MerleOne (January 13, 2012, 05:25 PM)
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That shouldn't happen, about the only software I've had affected by a Repair install is Windows itself, (all updates are lost), possibly virtual network drivers will no longer work, (eg. OpenVPN), and AV software will no longer work.  Any time I've done it all my other software has kept working fine unless it specifically relied upon an update later than the install disc.

But I always do a full disk image before attempting the Repair install.

I checked surface defects with HDD Regenerator : none found.  Didn't try safe mode, maybe because I considered that after the chkdsk, the system was anyway badly damaged so working in safe mode would not help repairing it (maybe I am wrong here).
--- End quote ---

Safe mode will help rule out any driver/program conflict problems.

Stoic Joker:
Considering the possibility that you could have a sector that is iffy, but not bad enough to send up a flag. Have you tried running chkdsk with the /R  switch?

Sometimes when multiple unrelated applications fail it's because the one thing they do share is a bad spot on the drive.

Just a Thought,

Stoic Joker

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