[newman]

Well I already have a hard drive waiting for this one to fail.

If you have a new hard drive to replace your current problematic one, you can do one of the following;

 - keep it collecting dust while waiting for the current one to fail, during which time your computer will be an unreliable piece of crap that has to be serviced on a daily basis, and since you pay techs to do it rather than doing it yourself, it will also be a money sink. Your data, if not backed up, is also at risk. Added bonus: while your new hard drive is not being used, it's warranty period is slowly expiring. Fun, eh?

 - just replace the damn thing, make a fresh windows install, copy all the relevant data off the old one then put it where it belongs - in the trash. And enjoy smooth seamless operation.

Right now it seems you're going for option #1. I'd kinda reconsider if I were you

[Mongoose]

Seriously, if I can replace my own hard drive, then anyone can.

[Jeff Vader]

Seriously, if I can replace my own hard drive, then anyone can.

If I can unbend pins from my CPU, anyone can.

[Nuke]

some people are not cut out for this kind of geekery. no shame in that. but when you pay for an expert, you should get an expert, not some inept ****tard who managed to pass a cert test, but lacks the mental discipline necessary to work a problem. my brother is a good example of this. he has his a+ cert, but he cant do basic stuff like backup files and install operating systems. certs are too easy to get. and it doesnt account for that spidee sense that comes with a highly skilled technician.

Seriously, if I can replace my own hard drive, then anyone can.

If I can unbend pins from my CPU, anyone can.

you put it in backwards! HEADDESKS

but seriously i saw a lot of this kinda derpage happen when i was a system builder. id always have to fix their rejects. an empty mechanical pencil was always the way to go.

[KyadCK]

some people are not cut out for this kind of geekery. no shame in that. but when you pay for an expert, you should get an expert, not some inept ****tard who managed to pass a cert test, but lacks the mental discipline necessary to work a problem. my brother is a good example of this. he has his a+ cert, but he cant do basic stuff like backup files and install operating systems. certs are too easy to get. and it doesnt account for that spidee sense that comes with a highly skilled technician.

That spidee sense is worth more then any piece of paper in the world (at least to the tech anyway ).  Such a shame it comes with actual practice and knowledge.

[Jeff Vader]

Seriously, if I can replace my own hard drive, then anyone can.

If I can unbend pins from my CPU, anyone can.

you put it in backwards! HEADDESKS

No! A few pins got bent when I accidentally tore the CPU from the socket while trying to remove the cooler because AMD's stock thermal paste crap had petrified. Nothing that couldn't be fixed with a tiny screwdriver, a magnifying glass and a decent amount of time.

[KyadCK]

Seriously, if I can replace my own hard drive, then anyone can.

If I can unbend pins from my CPU, anyone can.

you put it in backwards! HEADDESKS

No! A few pins got bent when I accidentally tore the CPU from the socket while trying to remove the cooler because AMD's stock thermal paste crap had petrified. Nothing that couldn't be fixed with a tiny screwdriver, a magnifying glass and a decent amount of time.

Pft, be a real geek, do it with your finger nails.

[MP-Ryan]

Shame on you all for running with the hard disk theory and not doing a little digging.  est1895 said he's gotten BSODs and lockups, and CCCleaner is displaying the errors.  None of those things necessarily indicate hard disk failure.  Two things that DO indicate hard disk failure are SMART failure warnings on boot, or clicking when the disk spins up.  Registry errors (which is what CCleaner would be detecting) can be a sign of many other problems that do not indicate a hardware fault.  And yes, I've also had a half-dozen disks fail over the years - the symptoms are quite predictable.

The first step, as Nuke said, is to run diagnostics.  Yes, WD has an excellent set of tools on their website for non-destructive diagnostics.  Start with the SMART testing, and run through the others.  Memtest is also a good idea to make sure the RAM is fine.

What a BSOD says is also important - it will at minimum give you a memory address, and often some indication of what threw the error in the first place.  More information is also available in the Event Viewer (Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Event Viewer).  More often than note, BSODs are first and foremost a result of software errors or driver incompatibility (and no disrespect to est1895, but judging from his level of knowledge it is quite plausible that he has installed something he shouldn't have and the hardware itself is just fine).  XP is notorious for strange BSODs due to software/driver issues if it isn't set up properly.  While it's pretty difficult to "improperly install Windows," it's not at all difficult to do something silly and install an incorrect driver.  It's also not at all difficult to **** up your Windows installation by mucking about in the registry, which if you've been running CCleaner, you may have done without meaning to.  There's also the issue of "file cleanup," which if you've ever been enterprising and done manually you may have well deleted something important.

Drive letter assignment isn't that relevant to these types of problems, but a good question is how many drives are in your computer?  I'm assuming C and D are different disks in your PC, but they may actually be partitions - in which case Windows is still on the same physical hard disk, just a different partition.  Yes, an installation of Windows can be corrupted over time (which is possible in your case, given the registry errors CCleaner is throwing at you), and that's your next step after checking the integrity of the hard disks - if the disk(s) and memory check out fine, it's time to wipe your hard disk entirely and start from scratch - which isn't difficult and you definitely should not be paying anyone to do for you (unless the payment is a case of beer to a friend).

So:
*****BACK UP YOUR DATA*****
1.  Go to Western Digital's site, download their hard disk tools, and run the diagnostics.
2.  Run memtest (from a USB key)
3.  If no errors come back from either of those, pop your Windows CD in, reboot the computer to the CD (you may have to enter the BIOS to set boot priority), and follow the prompts to reinstall Windows.  Wipe the drive completely in the process, you'll thank yourself later.

[KyadCK]

Shame on you all for running with the hard disk theory and not doing a little digging.  est1895 said he's gotten BSODs and lockups, and CCCleaner is displaying the errors.  None of those things necessarily indicate hard disk failure.  Two things that DO indicate hard disk failure are SMART failure warnings on boot, or clicking when the disk spins up.  Registry errors (which is what CCleaner would be detecting) can be a sign of many other problems that do not indicate a hardware fault.  And yes, I've also had a half-dozen disks fail over the years - the symptoms are quite predictable.

The first step, as Nuke said, is to run diagnostics.  Yes, WD has an excellent set of tools on their website for non-destructive diagnostics.  Start with the SMART testing, and run through the others.  Memtest is also a good idea to make sure the RAM is fine.

What a BSOD says is also important - it will at minimum give you a memory address, and often some indication of what threw the error in the first place.  More information is also available in the Event Viewer (Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Event Viewer).  More often than note, BSODs are first and foremost a result of software errors or driver incompatibility (and no disrespect to est1895, but judging from his level of knowledge it is quite plausible that he has installed something he shouldn't have and the hardware itself is just fine).  XP is notorious for strange BSODs due to software/driver issues if it isn't set up properly.  While it's pretty difficult to "improperly install Windows," it's not at all difficult to do something silly and install an incorrect driver.  It's also not at all difficult to **** up your Windows installation by mucking about in the registry, which if you've been running CCleaner, you may have done without meaning to.  There's also the issue of "file cleanup," which if you've ever been enterprising and done manually you may have well deleted something important.

Drive letter assignment isn't that relevant to these types of problems, but a good question is how many drives are in your computer?  I'm assuming C and D are different disks in your PC, but they may actually be partitions - in which case Windows is still on the same physical hard disk, just a different partition.  Yes, an installation of Windows can be corrupted over time (which is possible in your case, given the registry errors CCleaner is throwing at you), and that's your next step after checking the integrity of the hard disks - if the disk(s) and memory check out fine, it's time to wipe your hard disk entirely and start from scratch - which isn't difficult and you definitely should not be paying anyone to do for you (unless the payment is a case of beer to a friend).

So:
*****BACK UP YOUR DATA*****
1.  Go to Western Digital's site, download their hard disk tools, and run the diagnostics.
2.  Run memtest (from a USB key)
3.  If no errors come back from either of those, pop your Windows CD in, reboot the computer to the CD (you may have to enter the BIOS to set boot priority), and follow the prompts to reinstall Windows.  Wipe the drive completely in the process, you'll thank yourself later.

For the record, CCleaner -only- deals with the HDD. The only 'errors' CCleaner can provide are registry issues, which someone who doesn't know computers shouldn't really be touching anyway.

[Jeff Vader]

No! A few pins got bent when I accidentally tore the CPU from the socket while trying to remove the cooler because AMD's stock thermal paste crap had petrified. Nothing that couldn't be fixed with a tiny screwdriver, a magnifying glass and a decent amount of time.

Pft, be a real geek, do it with your finger nails.

I tried that, ended up bending more pins. I'm just a semi-geek or something.

[MP-Ryan]

For the record, CCleaner -only- deals with the HDD. The only 'errors' CCleaner can provide are registry issues, which someone who doesn't know computers shouldn't really be touching anyway.

Agreed, it's just that errors displayed by CCleaner don't necessarily indicate a failing hard disk - registry errors can be caused by all kinds of other things too.

[Nuke]

i stopped using registry tools a log time ago. i just set a restore point every time i change something, and i like to format my system partition every 6-12 months anyway. even then it usually doesnt need it.

[est1895]

Shame on you all for running with the hard disk theory and not doing a little digging.  est1895 said he's gotten BSODs and lockups, and CCCleaner is displaying the errors.  None of those things necessarily indicate hard disk failure.  Two things that DO indicate hard disk failure are SMART failure warnings on boot, or clicking when the disk spins up.  Registry errors (which is what CCleaner would be detecting) can be a sign of many other problems that do not indicate a hardware fault.  And yes, I've also had a half-dozen disks fail over the years - the symptoms are quite predictable.

The first step, as Nuke said, is to run diagnostics.  Yes, WD has an excellent set of tools on their website for non-destructive diagnostics.  Start with the SMART testing, and run through the others.  Memtest is also a good idea to make sure the RAM is fine.

What a BSOD says is also important - it will at minimum give you a memory address, and often some indication of what threw the error in the first place.  More information is also available in the Event Viewer (Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Event Viewer).  More often than note, BSODs are first and foremost a result of software errors or driver incompatibility (and no disrespect to est1895, but judging from his level of knowledge it is quite plausible that he has installed something he shouldn't have and the hardware itself is just fine).  XP is notorious for strange BSODs due to software/driver issues if it isn't set up properly.  While it's pretty difficult to "improperly install Windows," it's not at all difficult to do something silly and install an incorrect driver.  It's also not at all difficult to **** up your Windows installation by mucking about in the registry, which if you've been running CCleaner, you may have done without meaning to.  There's also the issue of "file cleanup," which if you've ever been enterprising and done manually you may have well deleted something important.

Drive letter assignment isn't that relevant to these types of problems, but a good question is how many drives are in your computer?  I'm assuming C and D are different disks in your PC, but they may actually be partitions - in which case Windows is still on the same physical hard disk, just a different partition.  Yes, an installation of Windows can be corrupted over time (which is possible in your case, given the registry errors CCleaner is throwing at you), and that's your next step after checking the integrity of the hard disks - if the disk(s) and memory check out fine, it's time to wipe your hard disk entirely and start from scratch - which isn't difficult and you definitely should not be paying anyone to do for you (unless the payment is a case of beer to a friend).

So:
*****BACK UP YOUR DATA*****
1.  Go to Western Digital's site, download their hard disk tools, and run the diagnostics.
2.  Run memtest (from a USB key)
3.  If no errors come back from either of those, pop your Windows CD in, reboot the computer to the CD (you may have to enter the BIOS to set boot priority), and follow the prompts to reinstall Windows.  Wipe the drive completely in the process, you'll thank yourself later.

How do you determine exactly which Scorpio drive I have?

[Klaustrophobia]

No! A few pins got bent when I accidentally tore the CPU from the socket while trying to remove the cooler because AMD's stock thermal paste crap had petrified. Nothing that couldn't be fixed with a tiny screwdriver, a magnifying glass and a decent amount of time.

Pft, be a real geek, do it with your finger nails.

I tried that, ended up bending more pins. I'm just a semi-geek or something.

credit card

[Flaser]

XP is notorious for strange BSODs due to software/driver issues if it isn't set up properly.  While it's pretty difficult to "improperly install Windows," it's not at all difficult to do something silly and install an incorrect driver.

Unfortunately, even if you *do* install the correct drivers, sometimes said drivers may *still* have bugs in them... which is why I have a handful of lockups (6-8) on my system every year. (Either that, or the gremlins of not using ECC-memory).

It's a sad truth, but modern software can't be tested for all possible cases of interaction and developers don't always take this to heart. It's time programmers started to take this issue as seriously as the academics make it. It's actually a question of insecurity, for in a way, the failure of drivers is a failure to anticipate input that can put the system in an unstable state:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kEfedtQVOY

[rev_posix]

I have one example.  Years ago when Fujitsu made desktop hard drives, I had a place put one in for me.  He put it in and fried it, I had to wait for a replacement.  When the replacement arrived, he fried that one too.  And this guy was a trained tech too.   

You're an *****. Fujitsu just made bad drives.

Come on people, no need for name calling. 

[MP-Ryan]

How do you determine exactly which Scorpio drive I have?

Your invoice, or pop open the hard disk bay and have a look at the drive sticker - being the simplest ways.  My home system is Win7 and is setup in RAID, and I can't recall if the Windows XP disk management software displays hardware IDs or not.  The POST information as your PC boots should display the HDD models, provided the manuacturer doesn't obscure that information with some obnoxious boot loading screen (if so, F11 or another key usually gets rid of it).

That said, it appears that WD's data Lifeguard for Windows has identical downloads for all the Scorpio drives - just grab it here:  http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=702&sid=3&lang=en

[Actium]

First: Be happy that you dont have any of those 10000RPM Raptors, saw way to many of these dying (thats why they got such a fast support)
Second: MP-Ryan is right. XP can be easily messed up by doing a few things. Backup all stuff, run diagnostics and then reinstall the windows. If you still get errors after this, you might need to check if your drivers are correct or compatible with SP3 (no joke, there can be a Problem with that).

Oh and one last word: Windows tune up stuff and CCCleaner tend to mess up windows as often as icq does.