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May 30th, 2011 08:00
NTFS Error--File System Structure Corrupt
A client of mine has been having trouble with his Dell Dimension Desktop for several months. Chkdsk was running at startup. After several weeks the system blue screened on startup and would not boot. I finally ran chkdsk /r from the XP Installation disc. This ended the blue screen error and allowed the system to boot up again.
After several weeks the blue screen error returned and chkdsk /r restored the system to working order. Soon chkdsk was running on startup again.
Next, I copied the entire partition over to a different hard drive using Bootit NG. The system booted right up with the "new" hard drive, but the client reported that chkdsk was running on startup again. I remoted into his computer and selected both check disc options from the Tools tab inside the Hard Drive options.
Client reported that all 5 stages of chkdsk on reboot finished successfully, but the next time he restarted his computer, chkdsk was runnning again on its own.
I remoted in again and checked the event viewer. It showed 4 NTFS errors for yesterday's date with "File System Structure on the Disk Is Corrupt".
I am at a loss now....same problem exists on both hard drives. Will it do any good to do a format and reinstall of Windows XP on one of the hard drives? By copying the original hard drive to the "new" hard drive, did I copy the problem with it? Or is there some other hardware issue that could cause these NTFS error events?
Thanks for any suggestions!
Bill
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fireberd
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May 30th, 2011 08:00
Without the PC Model number we can only generalize. But, it does sound like whatever was wrong on the hard drive on the original hard drive was mirrored to the other drive.
It sounds like its going to take a complete hard drive format then reinstall as the next step. Depending on the PC Model there can be a Dell Recovery Partition on the hard drive that will restore the PC to the original factory condition and no discs are needed. CTRL/F11 will access the partition for systems delivered with XP. This will reformat the hard drive then reinstall everything. As you have it imaged to another drive any user data can be recovered from the second drive. If the recovery partition is gone or corrupted a manual install will be required.
With most Dell's the correct and required manual install sequence is (1) Install Windows (2) Install Dell Desktop System Software (3) Install Motherboard Chipset Drivers (4) Install Device Drivers including Video, Dell sound driver, Ethernet, etc.
There is an outside chance there is a controller problem on the motherboard but most likely it's a physical drive problem. If a motherboard is suspect, only another Dell exact replacement motherboard will work (on most models) due to the Dell proprietary front panel connector on most XP models and other proprietary items.