harddrive problem

[CheesySnax]

I'll try to lay this out the best I can, because I have no idea what's going on.

I was using the program fraps (www.fraps.com) to capture video for some games, and one time when I was capturing some videdo of halflife I ran into a problem.. I cant delete one of the videos I created. I cant move it , I cant rename it, I cant delete it, because it's "in use by another program or process etc blah blah blah." Restarting doesnt fix this.

Since the file is rather large (around 4 gigs I would say) I decided I would try running chkdsk /f to see if I could fix a problem with the disk and then try deleting it. Nope. No go.

Chkdsk /f can't be run because the volume is in use by another process.

I can't format.



I tried installing windows... I got so far and then it gave me an error, something like s_____.sys is missing, set up failed, blah blah blah.

One of the more recent times I've booted I recieved a missing hal.dll error... I think it was hal.dll, but I'm not 100% sure.

What is wrong with my drive? Is there a way to wipe it clean? Can this be fixed?



PS:

I'm running a pentium 4 3.0 ghz processor, 1 gig of DDR, 80 gig seagate harddrive, geforce fx 5200, Windows Xp... I can't think of anything else I'd need to include for this.

I've run Norton AV too and it found nothing, I also tried disk clean up.

[SoSl0w]

So you tried formatting from inside windows? I know for a fact that you can not format the c: drive b/c the OS is on that drive and is using the C: drive so formatting is impossible. The easiest way to check the HDD would be to take it out and put slave it into another computer. If there is nothing wrong you should be able to read all of the files. If the HDD is bad then you wont. If you slave the HDD you can also rest assured that the HDD will no longer be used as a primary so you should no longer get the "in use by another program" message. From there you should be able to delete that one file and/or format the drive.

[paul9]

try a winme or win98 emergergency boot disk. if it can't delete the file, then fdisk /mbr the drive. restart, run fdisk again to check the partition, you may have to delete it and make a new primary dos partition. restart again and format.

edit: didn't realise you were trying to format from inside windows. in that case, boot from your xp cd to the recovery console and you should be able to delete the file.

[whitebeard21]

These other posts should resolve your hdd prob. In the future if you can't delete a program go to task manager > processes and see if it is running, if it is hilight it and click end process, you should be able to delete it at that point

[CheesySnax]

The easiest way to check the HDD would be to take it out and put slave it into another computer.

Well, the only other computer I can do that in does not use the same connecting cables... my computer is about a month old and so it is more high tech than my old one.

I ran chkdsk /f from the emergency console, and that still didn't fix my problem, still can't delete the file.

I got windows set up to run, but it doesn't have the option to format the drive and perform a fresh installation...

These other posts should resolve your hdd prob. In the future if you can't delete a program go to task manager > processes and see if it is running, if it is hilight it and click end process, you should be able to delete it at that point

I went through and stopped just about every process I could, and still no go.

try a winme or win98 emergergency boot disk. if it can't delete the file, then fdisk /mbr the drive. restart, run fdisk again to check the partition, you may have to delete it and make a new primary dos partition. restart again and format.

I still have yet to try this, I'll try it right now

[butch81385]

try restarting in safe mode and deleting the file...

[CheesySnax]

I've also tried formating from the recovery console.... It warns me that all data will be lost, and asks if I want to proceed. After I say yes, it doesn't seem to do anything.

[CheesySnax]

I'll try restarting in safe

[butch81385]

someone can correct me, but i think it is hitting f8 during start up, then click safe mode. a simple google can explain it all if needed.

[nunyadam]

push f8 during start up