Second System Registry Hive

I had Win XP SP3 on a HDD with 4 paritions: C: D: E: F:

It was installed on F: NTFS partition. After sfc /scannow computer could not boot to Windows anymore with following error:

"Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem.
Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware. "

After few weeks of struggle the problem has been somehow resolved but now there is another issue:

Windows now starts, loads itself but then, while on welcome screen I can literally hear HDD shutting itself down with strange noise(similar to the one which can be heared when PC is shut down), and system restarts. The thing I see is system trying to perform AutoChk, when it happens. Also I've noticed, that the sound is somehow similar to what I hear when there is a minidump file saved after blue screen.

Another poblem is, that system was actually configured to save minidumps - but at some point I have moved Paging File to E: partition. Effectively it meant that Paging File is not saved and blue screen is not displayed. Ouch.

In meantime I have reinstalled Win XP SP3 to D: partition, while leaving F: intact in hope to fix the problem.

Now, from D: installation I was trying to access F: system files, and the screenshot above comes from that attempt. Also, I was trying to change pagefile location/dump settings by registry to actually get blue screen or mini/full dump but as for now, I am stuck on what is there above. I want to know if it's normal that ControlSetXXX keys are almost empty. Only Enum key looks similar to the one i have on D:

Also, there are few restore points saved for F:, including one made just before sfc /scannow(which messed computer), but strangely nothing detects them, except for the very first restore point with fresh OS installation. I have tried to move and rename files manually, but I can't get it to work that way.

 

I'm curious about the registry, not HDD. SECONDSYSTEM is imported SYSTEM hive, viewed from different installation. All those ControlSet00X keys look exactly same, as the one displayed - almost empty.

 

Loaded hive comes from F:\Windows\system32\config\SYSTEM

Its 7,25MB with the last access dated around the system corruption time. Is it possible that "SFC /scannow" command somehow wiped out that part of my registry? The command ended in a success, some files were copied after which I was asked to restart computer. The error from first post came up right after.

 

I'd start by running the appropiate hard drive diagnostics. If it fails, as TonyT mentioned, it's time for a new drive. (They do wear out).

To run the diags, download and burn the Ultimate Boot CD to CD. It has all the hard drive manufacturer's diagnostic utilities, (plus much more). Simply boot your computer from this CD and select the utility you want to run.

If you aren't sure who made the hard drive in your computer, use Seagate's Seatools as it will work with most any make of drive.

You may find the following instructions helpful for burning the UBCD .iso file to disc:
How can I write (burn) ISO files to CD or DVD?

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BTW - There is no software that can 'fix' a worn out hard drive.

 

Diagnostics did not detect anything. My HDD is 160GB WD1600JB and it's running fine. All I get is a simple spin down sound after failed AutoChk(PC reboots afterwards).

 

It may be "running fine" ... while it's running. But, with those unpredictable "simple spin downs" continually destroying your Operating System (and data) I would be more tempted to label it a waste of time.

The reason AutoCHK is running is because the hard drive is shutting down while the Operating System was in the middle of writing to the drive. On bootup the Operating System discovers the damage to its file system and attempts to correct it.

Like I stated above, I do not know of any software that can fix worn out, unreliable hardware. And since the cost of repairing a worn out hard drive would far and away exceed the cost of a new one, the solution is to simply buy a new hard drive.

 

I duel boot and tested, the ControlSet keys should not be empty.