46 MA XIMUMPC SEPTEMBER 2006
While many blue screens can be traced
back to a new hardware install or bad
memory, this particular error screams in
capital letters that something is fi shy with
your hard drive. The error that gets dis-
played depends on the fi le system your
OS is using. In most cases, the fi le system
will be NTFS. With really old systems,
the error will read FAT16. If you get this
error, be sure to do one thing immediately,
before you even begin to contemplate its
cause: Back up your important data.CALL THE CABLE GUY
The easiest solutions are often the most
overlooked, but they can also be the most
effective. Checking your hard drive’s cable
connections falls into this category. SATA
cables are notorious for working them-
selves loose—we’ve had this happen to us
on many occasions. Make sure the cable
plugs securely into both the hard drive and
the motherboard, and check the power
cable connection as well. If using a SATA
drive, make sure you have only one power
cable connected, not two (many SATA hard
drives include a SATA power cable and a
legacy four-pin connector). With a PATA
drive, remove the ribbon cable and look for
any bent or broken pins. Carefully line up
the cable and push it securely into place.
You might also have a bad cable, so if you
have a spare cable lying around—one youknow to be good—
swap it with the one
in your PC.CHECK
PLEASE!^
Now it’s time to
check your drive
for errors. To do
this, we’ll fi rst run
a diagnostic scan.
Click Start, then
Run, and type cmd.
This brings up a
command prompt.
At the fl ashing
command prompt,
type chkdsk /f
/r and reboot the
system if prompt-
ed. The /f and /r
switches attempt
to fi x fi le-system errors, then look for and
mark any bad sectors before automatically
rebooting when the scan completes.CHANGE DRIVERS
Even though we don’t really think about
hard drives as needing drivers, the con-
troller’s they’re attached to most certainly
do. A buggy SATA controller driver can
wreak havoc on your data. Your mother-board’s chipset drivers include specifi c
drivers for the IDE/ATA controller that the
hard drives are connected to, so you’ll
need to install the latest version for your
motherboard. To fi nd your chipset driv-
ers, you’ll need to go to your motherboard
manufacturer’s website and search the
support section, or head directly to your
chipset manufacturer’s website.Using a defective stick of RAM is one of the quickest ways
to generate a BSoD. No memory vendor is immune from the
occasional bad chip, but purchasing name-brand RAM is
a surefi re way to reduce this risk, and to guaranty an easy
exchange if you encounter problems.
To run Memtest86, download the software from http://www.
memtest86.com. Once installed, use it to make a bootable
CD-ROM using Nero or another CD mastering program.
Insert the newly burned CD-ROM into the PC and reboot
your PC (you might need to go into the BIOS and change
the boot order so that it boots off of the optical drive).Memtest will run on its own when the system restarts. We
recommend letting it run for at least two passes, and ideally
overnight. The program will test whatever RAM is installed,
so install one stick of RAM at a time for testing. If no errors
are found, install the other stick into a different slot and run
the test again. You can also move a “good” stick of RAM to
different slots to ensure that the slots themselves are func-
tional. Though uncommon, it’s entirely possible for a DIMM
slot on a motherboard to go bad and the symptoms are virtu-
ally identical to bad RAM.MY RAM’S BEEN RANSACKED!
crash
courseDiagnose a faulty stick of RAM with Memtest86
A file-system error usually indicates a hard drive issue.
Use Windows’ chkdsk to find and fix any problems.NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM or FAT_FILE_SYSTEM
(0x00000024 or 0x00000023)
File system errors are relatively easy to pinpoint, but time-consuming to repair