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| Thread ID: 65577 | 2006-01-23 04:11:00 | Trying to format a system partition! | Wishbone (7245) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 423452 | 2006-01-23 04:11:00 | Hi, would appreciate some help...i have two hard drives in my PC, my master drive is currently empty except for four suspicious files that im sure are malware of some description as im always having problems these days, but cant remove either manually, in safe mode, or with any program recommended on any pc help forum in the known universe. My OS is on the slave drive. So anyway, when i decide finally to format the master drive, it says thats it cant format a "System partition"...ive tried doing it with FDISK, and form DOS during boot up, but no joy. Does anyone have any suggestions? :help: |
Wishbone (7245) | ||
| 423453 | 2006-01-23 04:19:00 | what OS are you running, and what are the file names of the 4 files?? | Agent_24 (57) | ||
| 423454 | 2006-01-23 04:25:00 | Thanks for the quick reply, im using XP spk2, and the four files - 2 gif and 2 htm files - have corrupted file names, all raised casing, with accents, seemingly unreadable...when trying to manually remove them, ive received a number of different failure notices, either "cant read file or from disk source" or "cant read currupt syntax" or even "file does not exist", but they do exist, most definitely. Ive tried numorous programs, recommended on another pc help forum. Virus scanners cant remove them, although one did recognise the files and post a warning note, saying that it couldnt open them. Safe mode doesnt work, or turning off system restore...ive just kinda given up trying to remove them, opting instead for the format, but i cant even do that. lol. | Wishbone (7245) | ||
| 423455 | 2006-01-23 04:33:00 | What format is the drive? If it's FAT, DOS should do it with del *.*, due care being taken to ensure it's doing it to the correct drive. FDISK should be able to delete the partition (the only one on that drive) regardless of what it is, and what it contains. Perhaps booting from a DOS floppy would be the way. Again, be very careful about which disk you are doing things to. It might be advisable to unplug the "good" drive. "Files" with strange names often don't exist as files; they are usually "just" corrupted directory entries. Scandisk/Chkdsk should dispose of them. |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 423456 | 2006-01-23 04:35:00 | Post a hijackthis (www.merijn.org) log. Unzip this file first, then run it, then copy and paste the log here. We'll see if theres something on the main bootdisk. Thats stuffing things up. It shouldnt affect the other hdd with nothing on it, BUT it might. |
Speedy Gonzales (78) | ||
| 423457 | 2006-01-23 04:48:00 | Thanks again, well, i havent tried the check disk, so thats next, though i have tried ccleaner . Its an NTFS file system, and FDISK didnt work unfortunately during bootup from a floppy . Ive tried del command in CMD prompt but not in DOS proper . "Files" with strange names often don't exist as files; they are usually "just" corrupted directory entries . Scandisk/Chkdsk should dispose of them . " I hope thats the case, but ive had a few unauthorised attempts at accessing the internet recently, though no malware scanner that ive used can pick anything up . Im in work at the moment Speedy, so will have to do the hijackthis later on today, but thanks for the offer to help, ill get back to you . "It shouldnt affect the other hdd with nothing on it, BUT it might . " Sorry, the files were on the other empty disk until yesterday when i reinstalled xp, in an attempt at wiping them off with disk cleaner . But it didnt work, so now, state of play is that i have an OS on either drive, the master one being the one with the four dodgy files/corrupted data entries . . . perhaps its relevent to add that the HDD is pretty new, less than four months . |
Wishbone (7245) | ||
| 423458 | 2006-01-23 04:56:00 | If the slave one is the bootable hdd, and u can actually get into XP, try and format the other hdd in control panel / admin tools / computer management / disk management. If u havent tried this yet. | Speedy Gonzales (78) | ||
| 423459 | 2006-01-23 04:59:00 | FDISK from a DOS floppy boot should be able to remove any partition. It doesn't care what the format is; FDISK is a partitioner, not a formatter. It works on the partition table, which isn't owned by any operating system. :D It might not be able to make a new one the full size of the drive, but that's no problem ... once you have zeroed the partition table, the Windows XP disk management software will handle it. Other DOS commands won't be able to see the dodgy "files". Real DOS can't see any files on a NTFS partition. I'm surprised you didn't use Chkdsk first. :thumbs: |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 423460 | 2006-01-23 05:08:00 | Yeah i tried the disk manager from the other OS on the slave drive, but it didnt work. I know, everything you've said makes complete sense, i dont understand it either, but honestly, i cant format, or remove the system partition. Ive booted the PC on a floppy book disk, and ran FDISK, when i try to remove the only partition on the master drive it says that it cant remove it dur to it being a system partition...this is a long shot, but i recently upgraded my BIOS from v7 to v14...i used a program called @bios through windows, perhaps that's changed something or effected something it shouldnt. | Wishbone (7245) | ||
| 423461 | 2006-01-23 05:10:00 | "I'm surprised you didn't use Chkdsk first . " I know . . . :blush: But in my shaky defense I naively thought CCleaner did the same thing . |
Wishbone (7245) | ||
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