Hi everyone , I have a bit of a problem...
(I am sorry, this is a bit of a read but I thought it would be best to explain everything)
I have expect to reinstall my computer every now and then as things get too clogged up or Windows fubars on me.
When this needs to be done I have always just used DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke), and no matter how messed up the computer is, it will always work.
But things seem to be different this time
I at first tried using Knoppix to retrieve a few files that could be useful, but, and heres the first problem, after Knoppix "scans for USB/Firewire devices" it states that it "Can't find Knoppix filesystem". Believing it might be a write error I went and checked it on my laptop, but it was 100% fine.
So I thought, fair enough. I was willing to give up the files to restore order to my computer.
So first I used the Windows XP disk as normally you can format and reinstall it quite easily this way. All went well, all the components of the disk loaded, but whereas after this it would normally give you the option to repair or install Win XP, it just said "Windows is starting up" and with no option to stop this it runs onto a bluescreen error ("windows had to shutdown... if problem persists etc.").
Quite concerned by now I put in the DBAN Floppy Disk I had used twice before... all went fine, I got to the DBAN prompt and pressed enter for the interactive wipe menu... then it says "failed to load".
So... restarting my computer and getting to the prompt again I typed "autonuke". Thinking cutting out any unessesary processes might help a bit... but the same "failed to load" problem came up.

So, I stand now totally baffled as to what is going on, has my hard drive physicaly failed? Has a computer worm done something really wierd to my computer? Or am I just missing something really obvious?

When finding solutions I am afraid hooking the hard drive up to another computer is not an option as none of our computer, bar mine, have SATA hard drives, they're all to old.

Ultimately I just want to blank my hard drive entirely and start again, but this was easy before, something seems wrong now...

I will try anything you suggest as I am truly stumped and out of options.
Cheers

Freols

Hello Freols, and welcome to PHF.

I have not heard of some of this software your using, DBAN and knoppix, so I don't think I would be any help to you. I'm sure if any of the other technical staff have used it, they will reply to you shortly.

You may find that you do actually have a hard drive problem, but it shouldnt keep Dban, or knoppix from booting. Knoppix doesnt need a hard drive at all to work. But just for grins, try disconnecting the hard drive, and see if it will boot. I use knoppix myself, and its usually foolproof. It sounds more like a cd/dvd drive problem , or something else. You might try running this diagnostic program from Seagate, to check your hard drive:
SeaTools - Seagate Technology
You can do an online check, download it for floppies, or for cd. I use it to check used drives with, and it works great. If you have a floppy, try that since youre having trouble booting anything from cd. You might try rolling back the drivers, or reinstalling the cd drive. Or install another known good drive if you have one. If the hard drive checks good , and none of this works, you might try resetting the bios, by taking out the battery for a few minutes, and putting it back. Write down any special settings you may have other than default, so you can change em back.
also, if you want to check a knoppix disk for burn errors, from the splash screen, at the boot prompt, type: knoppix testcd
This will test for errors, and if it finds none, it will tell you everythings ok, and continue trying to boot.

Just a couple of things, first off, I used the floppy version of DBAN, so I am pretty sure my cd and floppy drives are ok, unless both failed at the same time. The other thing is, when I type "knoppix testcd" it still fails to find the right filesystem and doesn't continue with the test
I am increasingly suspecting that my floppies and CDs have errors on them, but unfortunately I don't seem to have much hope of working out what the errors are. I've already wasted a few CDs and used a few floppies using different formatting modes and slowing down the write speeds to ensure correct writing...
I reckon I will try a USB device now, hopefully it will work. I'll post here if it fails... or suceeds
Its just such an odd problem this one, I just hope it isnt a hardware problem.
I will have a bash at checking the hard drive with the seagate program if the USB DBAN fails.

Cheers

Freols

I think I sorted it all out.
First I remade a version of DBAN, fourth floppy lucky it would seem, parhaps I should buy some new ones
Anyways, I got it to work and did a quick erase, but to no avail, despite totally wiping every part of windows (apparantly).
So I did the DOD Short (department of defense short wipe) which totally erased everything.
Bingo, windows now worked.

My conclusion is that I got some kind of uber worm, or possibly managed to corrupt a really wierd file. The fact that the quick erase didn't work quite frankly astounded me.

The good news though, is that it would appear DBAN is as bullet proof as I once thought and even the DOD short seems to fix any problems with hard drive corruption or worms. Which is a good thing. It would appear even knoppix fell down in this case though, as I copied it several times at different speeds and nothing worked.

So case solved, although what the problem was is still a little unclear.

Thanks for all your help

Freols

Good news Freols! If the problem creeps back up again...come back and we'll see if we can't sort it out once and for all.

Thanks madmonkey and uncleed.

Marked as Resolved
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