Help salvage a dying computer

March 10, 2007 10:58 AM

My girlfriend's PC is kicking the bucket - it's not pretty. The Active Desktop turns itself off, we can't reload any restore points, and, apparently, "the volume is dirty." What to do?

She is open to taking the thing to a specialist, but at a certain price point (around $150) would prefer to wipe the whole thing and reinstall software. Here's what happens when she reboots the computer:

Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS
The volume is dirty

CHKDSK then checks things, and windows loads sporting a "RUNDLL: error loading fldrclnr.dll" message. The desktop offers options for Active Desktop Recovery and gives troubleshooting tips, all of which she has tried. Everything is fucked: no internet, no iTunes, no Word, some folders open and some don't.

How'd this happen? First, she installed a bad copy of ProTools from the internet. It didn't run and won't uninstall. Then she decided to install a legit copy of ProTools and went to change the settings (before installing) per the ProTools install manual, and everything went to hell. She undid those changes but problems persisted. How hopeless is this situation, and do we have any options?

Part 2: If it comes to it, will we be able to salvage her iTunes music files beforehand if she does have to wipe the system? The file icons are still there but when we try to transfer them to an external drive they appear to be empty/missing.

posted by taliaferro to computers & internet (7 comments total)

Sounds like hard drive failure. Try to make an Ultimate Boot CD and recover her files to an external hard drive. Then, buy a new hard drive and reinstall windows.
posted by fvox13 at 11:13 AM on March 10, 2007

Actually, this is the link I meant to give you.
posted by fvox13 at 11:14 AM on March 10, 2007

Oh, and don't buy a new hard drive retail. NewEgg is much cheaper.
posted by fvox13 at 11:15 AM on March 10, 2007

It could be a drive failure, or it could be corruption. If everything was going good until the ProTools fiasco, I'd lean toward corruption. You can read more about the
"dirty bit", and how to reset it.

Is this XP? You might try a full chkdsk /f , or chkdsk /r (with the caveat of backing up anything off the drive she wants beforehand).

It appears the missing dll has to do with the desktop cleanup wizard (nothing too terribly important), although it is likely symptomatic of a larger problem. If running a chkdsk /f or chkdsk /r doesn't help, you could do a repair install (rather than a full wipe).

You might also try BartPE, and try to fix a corrupted disk using the utilities there.
posted by stovenator at 1:03 PM on March 10, 2007

1. Boot to safe mode - press F8 when your computer startup screen closes but before the windows splash screen
2. Insert Windows XP CD.
3. Open a command prompt - start/run - CMD in the run box, then click OK
4. Run this command: SFC /SCANNOW

This will run a system file consistency check and replace any DLL's that are hosed. You'll want to rerun Windows XP Service Pack 2 install and then Windows Update.
posted by disclaimer at 1:18 PM on March 10, 2007

Well, here's a rough list of what I'd guess could be wrong, in order of annoyance/escalation level:

1. DLLs are borked. Do what disclaimer suggests above.

2. You have some bizarre virus/trojan/malware/whatever the kids are calling them nowadays. You could try using an anti-virus/whatever program. (or go straight to 3..)

3. HDD contents are borked. May be better to try to put it in an external enclosure and attach it to a functioning machine to try to recover files. Might be worth trying a linux machine, since it may be more/differently robust W.R.T. filesystem corruption. Then, of course, reinstall Windows.

4. Memory (as in RAM) is screwy. Having a bad stick o' RAM can cause your hard drive contents to look corrupt, and to also actually go corrupt over time (since data is in RAM before it gets sent to the HDD.) This can be really annoying. You should run memtest86 for a few hours to help discount this possibility.

5. HDD hardware is borked. I don't know of any way, like memtest86, to test the actual HDD (not just the filesytem on it,) but S.M.A.R.T. will sometimes detect hardware failures. I guess you just reinstall and wait. Or look at it as an opportunity to buy a bigger drive.

Obviously, if the memory or HDD is bad, you should buy new. I would recommend newegg.

And ALWAYS BACK UP FILES YOU CAN'T REPLACE. HDDs are pretty much a ticking timebomb.
posted by blenderfish at 1:33 PM on March 10, 2007

What are the results of the chkdsk? If it reports more than zero bad sectors than you have a bad drive. Look in the event log, under Winlogin, when it is finished.
posted by damn dirty ape at 11:19 PM on March 10, 2007