Windows 7 Catch 22: System Restore and CHKDSK

Exp HP

New Member
Really fun things happen if your laptop falls off the bed while you're asleep.

In Windows, I can no longer log off/reboot/shut down normally (Linux, however, is fine). Also, if I put my laptop to sleep in Windows, it will inexplicably refuse to wake up (again, Linux can wake up just fine somehow).

A couple days after it fell, there were some Windows Updates to install, after which I was required to reboot. I do. It's installing the updates. 10 minutes pass. 20 minutes pass. It still hasn't rebooted, and still says it's installing updates. This is what I mean when I say it can't reboot normally; it never finishes. I had to force the power off even though it was mid-update.

The reason I'm telling you about this failed Windows Update is because it was immediately after this that Windows started asking me to check for disk errors on boot. If I let it, it gives me an error message saying something about "a recently installed program", and that I need to use System Restore before I can use CHKDSK.

Fair enough. I try to use System Restore. But I can't. And do you know why it can't? Because Windows has detected file system corruption on my drive, and I must check the disk for errors before it can be restored. From there, it gives me the option to use CHKDSK. You know, the same thing that told me to do a System Restore first.
Rinse, repeat, facepalm.

Get all that?

Windows and all my installed programs on it run fine. Except for the fact that you cannot shut it off, wake it up, use a restore point, listen to anything with a right audio signal, browse the SD card, or open a folder without having to wait 15 seconds, it's almost like nothing ever happened to it.


This is not good. What do I do?
 
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Hi.

Unfortunately, you'd be best off with replacing the hard drive.

Anytime a drive that is in operation receives that kind of vibrational shock, it's not good. If the laptop was in the off state when this happened, it wouldn't have been a problem. Since it was powered on, there has been physical damage as picked up by the Windows software.
 
Exactly what I was hoping not to hear. Except for cost, replacing the hard drive is about equivalent to starting all over with a new computer.

Although I guess investing in something like one of those USB hard drive shells for transferring files could make it suck less, assuming that it will be possible to access my Windows drives and mount my Ubuntu partition without me first having to invent cold fusion.
 
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You could probably get away with using Spinrite on the drive. I mean, if the drive doesn't store anything critical that you'd hate to lose, it would be fine still. Spinrite would set all the bad sectors so that they never could be used again, by the drive's firmware. In essence, it would be repairing the drive so-to-speak. But like I said, don't keep any data that you can't accept to lose, on it.
 
As someone who spends 90% of his time on the computer, there's a lot of stuff on it that I can't bear to lose. I ended up replacing my hard drive. It kinda worked out nicely; my new hard drive is bigger and quieter, and I was able to give Linux a much bigger partition this time.

But I think from now on, I'm going to keep track of all the changes I make to the Windows Registry. It would save me from spending a couple of hours looking through the control panel trying to find options that aren't there. >_>
 
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