'Disk write error'

Question

Anyone have any experience with the following?: three times in the past two weeks my Dimension 4100 running Windows ME has spontaneously crashed to a blue screen and/or the following message: 'Disk write error. Unable to write to disk in drive C: Data or file may be lost. Press any key to continue.' At this point I have had to reboot, which I have usually been able to do successfully. In the most recent incident when I rebooted the drive made a regular clicking sound ('a click-a click-a click-a click (pause) a click...') and would not boot up (I got a black screen and a message about an invalid boot disk in drive A (which was in fact empty). I then turned everything off and checked all of my cables, and found one plug in the power strip that might have been slightly loose. I then was able to boot up successfully. But I don't know if the plug issue was just a coincidence.

SnowBoardKid108 · Answer

If it was a lack of power, your computer wouldnt have booted up at all, or would have booted up a little then crashed. What your describing actually sounds like a physical problem with your hard drive. Ive never heard a HD click before...

Navin kurian · Answer

Run a 90-90

How do I run 90-90 Hard Drive Diagnostics (Dell Hard Drive Confidence

Test Utility) on Dell™ OptiPlex™ and Dimension™ computers?
http://support.dell.com/us/en/kb/document.asp?dn=1030780
At the Dell splash screen, press the + + keys at the same time.The computer beeps once to acknowledge that the hard drive diagnostics have been initiated and the following message appears:

IDE Diagnostics running, please wait

if you get an error code AND still have warranty call Dell Tech support

IF your computer isint under warranty you would need to buy a new hard drive from the local store.

F_Kawashima · Answer

Hi Haku,

In common case, symptoms that an OS crashes to a blue screen and is followed with an error message such "Disk write error. Unable to write to disk in drive C: Data or file may be lost. Press any key to continue." indicate that the device encounters logical (e.g. FAT directory damage) or physical (e.g. bad block) problem. In some case, a message such "an invalid boot disk in drive X" can also be generated despite the volume is empty.

I have some suggestions for troubleshooting.

1. Since Windows ME does not implements 'chkdsk' command solution, you may want to run "Scan Disk" program that is located in System Tool folder.

3. If you have a good known third-party disk diagnosis/repair utility, this will be an option.

Make sure to back up data in advance if necessary.

Hope this helps.

Message Edited by F_Kawashima on 05-07-2004 06:37 PM

Haku · Answer

Follow-up: Thanks to everyone who responded. After further difficulties and further testing it was determined that my hard drive had bad sectors. Luckily it's still under warranty; Dell is sending out a technician and a new drive. I already have important documents backed up, but I'm unclear about what (if anything) I should try to do about my programs (e.g. Norton Utilities) before the technician comes. The current drive is still semi-functional. Am I correct in assuming that I will have to reinstall my original OS etc. from scratch onto the new drive, or should I be planning on trying to salvage programs from the old drive?

SnowBoardKid108 · Answer

you will have to reinstall the OS, but if its possible you might be able to pull off some of your old files. You will have to reinstall all programs that were on your old hard drive though.

Storage, Drives & Media

"Disk write error"

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