First it was File Allocation Table Bad Drive C

Hiya Guys,
Computer froze and on restart it says file allocation table bad drive C.
I was able to boot to scandisk, which at first said it did not detect a problem then.
Then after the 4 or 5th time it decided to notice the problems. It said it fixed the table allocation now it continues to try to repair file the file system. It first went through and fixed a bunch offiles that were damages it said. But in file system it goes really slow and says it is checking for cross linking.IT gets to like 40% and seems to not go any further.I have reran scandisk about 4 times. Ihave it again at about 15% in file system now.
Is this not going to work, is it that the hardrive is just shot?
I tried to install win XP or Win 98 hopig ot fix it, but it will not accept setup prompt even thought I choose with CD support.
Any ideas?
I am gonig to go out and let it try to run through scandisk completely.
BUt if that doesn't work any clue what I should try next?


I have let scandisk go through its entire stage.
At the end it says it made changes and scandisk needs to be run again.
When it gets to file structure it keeps trying to fix a certain file and it won't get past it.
All the directories are there I just can't get into windows.
I have tried to go into safe mode, no go.
I am not sure how to reformat the drive.
I' won't access my windows cd, I was going to try to just reinstall windows.
I even tried Dell restore disc and can't get it to recoginze either of the C drives.
At this point I don't care what I wipe out just to try to get it running again.
Any instructions would be great.



It said scandisk made the changes.
Typo there I meant ot write I can't access either of my CD drives.My hardrive is formatted only for C drive. It didn't state bad sectors on the scandisk results. It did rename alot of files though.
If I replace the hardrive is there a chance if Islave this drive off of it that I can access the files on it to copy, He didn't backup his whole drive he chose fiels to copy so if can ge at a few programs that would be great.
or if there is a way to try reformatting and a reinstall I wuold try it if you think the hard drive isn't cooked.

Thanks A Bunch
Take Care
Dee

 

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;281965

try the cleanboot opt, or just disable win.ini and startup group and see if scan flies

 

I suggest going to the manufacturers site of the HD and downloading thier diagnostic tools for the hard drive and test it that way. If it comes back error free I would start looking at hardware like the PSU. A weak PSU can cause many problems one being errors written to HD over and over. Also the tools you get will have a program called zero fill, you might want to do that to the hard drive then try fdisking and formatting the hard drive again and reinstalling windows. This is just a starting point.