System Locks and won't reboot

[Oilybohunk]

I'm posting this to both the hard drive group and the Windows 2000 group; because I am unsure where the problem lies. My system configuration is as follows:

Asus A7V266-e (w/Raid, but not running it)
AMD 1800 XP
768 MB of PC2100 DDR
Seagate 80 GB Barracuda 7200 RPM hard drive
NoiseControl Silverado fan
Plextor PlexWriter 24x10x40
Toshiba 8x DVD
Enermax 450 watt PSU
Matrox Marvel G450 eTV Graphics Card
Lian-Li PC-68
HP5L Laser Printer
HP 722c InkJet
Alps 5000 Thermal-Dye Printer
HP 6350 CXI Scanner

I built my system about six months ago and have been running it successfully since then. However two weeks ago, I was scanning a document, the cursor and the desktop icons broke into lines, and everything froze. I had no choice but to turn off the system. When I attempted to reboot, the system was unable to boot up. I attempted to reinstall Windows, but the installation program indicated that the partition was either damaged or unformatted. I booted into Windows 98 on another partition (I'm running SystemCommander with bootable 98 and 2000 partitions), ran ScanDisk on the damaged partition, and found many cross-linked files. Upon browsing the damaged section, I discovered that many of the filenames had been truncated and many other files were missing.

I wiped out the hard drive, ran fdisk and fdisk /MBR (two wiped out any traces of SystemCommander). I reinstall Windows 2000, left SystemCommander and Windows 98 off, and began to use the system. It operated fine for three days. Today, again while scanning a document, the cursor and several screen components broke into fragmented lines, the system continued to operate for another minute, and then everything froze. Upon attempting to run Windows 2000 repair, I encountered the exact same problem. When I browse the damaged hard drive from DOS prompt, all of the root directory files are missing. The main directories are there, but the files are missing.

I am at a loss for what to do next. My guess is a bad hard drive, but I know that of virus is a real possibility. I just bought a second Seagate 80 GB drive in order to set up Raid, but I'm afraid that the first drive is shot. Is this a hardware issue, or am I'm looking at of virus attack on the operating system.

I'm sorry for being so long winded, but I hope you can help.

Thank you,

JCC


<font color=purple> I doubt, therefore I might be </font color=purple>

 

[lhgpoobaa]

well firstly i suggest u get out there in net land and find yourself a virus scanner.

but just using gut instinct ive got the feeling your drive is screwed, or something between the drive and the system (drive, cable, idecontroler etc)

heres a trick you can do. do u know of the archiver ARJ?
what i do is construct a large ARJ archive, then test it using the arj t arvice.arj command

this is useful for detecting errors between the drive and the system.

one final thing... does the seagate website have a utility that allows you to check the integrity of the drive? it should do.... suggest u use that.


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