# disk write error unable to write to disk in drive c



## Darlene Fall (Sep 9, 2002)

Been working on computer most of day..think I now have a major problem and so far have been unable to solve it. Think it started with norton system works programs "fixing" problems...(I ran the diaganositc programs with the idea that computer might run faster if Norton found and fixed problems. It found them in the registry and the other thing on list (three from bottom..I think here it found illegal shortcuts) anyway..now I keep getting an error message that says "Disk Write Error" "Unable to write to disk in drive C: data or files may be lost. press any key to continue.
So now my screen keeps going black, then blue and the message appears. I hit a key and work a bit more and get the message again. Just going now to techguy to post and see if anyone knows what is going on.


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## gmh (Mar 29, 2003)

Norton again...
if you made a backup before 'fixing', reinstall backup.

Or, use System Restore feature to go back to time period prior to 'fixing'


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## Darlene Fall (Sep 9, 2002)

Tried to post a message but not sure it got properly posted. This error message comes up so often it is very hard to finish anything. 
First.. you commented "Norton again....." Does this mean that this is not a good program?

When I did the scans and Norton found problems it prompted me to make a backup disk..which I did every time I asked Norton to correct the errors. It was done on a floppy disk. But I have no idea how to use it.
Don't know where to find or how to use "System Restore" I did find the system file checker and got the message
"system file checker identified that the following file may be corrupted 
file user.exe
location C:\windows\system
you should restore this file from your installation disks"

Tried to do that but when it asked where to restore from and whether or not I wanted to backup first I got too nervous to do anything and cancelled

When I went back into Outlook Express to open the email and access the link to your reply outlook express displayed this message
"Outlook Express encountered and unexpected problem while displaying this message. Check your computer for low memory or low disk space and try again."

Now I am wondering what will stop working next. Sure hope you can help... and hope that I will be able to access your posts.


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## dai (Mar 7, 2003)

start button/programs/accessories/systemtools/restore


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## Rache (Sep 30, 2002)

I had this self same problem. It may not be as bad for you but I had to format the 'c' drive. NSW is good and I still use it, but when it ****'s up it does it big time. I spent days troubleshooting and in the end the 'c' drive was saying it wasn't a dos-based hd. (?) See if you can find my thread 'Unable to write to 'c' drive'. There's a few pointers there. In dos type scanreg / restore (note the space g - /) and sometimes you can go back to a point before problem. good luck.


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## Rache (Sep 30, 2002)

...my typing... and no space after/...


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## Darlene Fall (Sep 9, 2002)

I found some of my notes I made as I worked on computer on Saturday... I am so confused now that I am not sure what I have already told you and what I haven't. I am working off line on this because of all the problems with the error message continually popping up.

before I do a restore I thought I should send these..just in case there is something less drastic that can be done. 
The very first (I think) message was

"wsj contains illegal entries on drive c. an error has been..................... which can be fixed by running NDD"

So I ran it..It found some and "fixed" them..but I followed the prompts and did backups first.

It found "lost clusters? chains?" and I chose the option to save to files because it suggested there may be retreiveable info on them.

One error I got was "error updating the file allocation table on the directory sturture on drice c. unable to continue testing.

another "error writing cluster on drive c:958864"
and "error writing cluster on drive c: 950587" these appeared one right after the other.Don't think I was running tests at the time. It suggested "run ndd"


Somewhere in here I had to do a restart because the computer froze up. that's when I first fot the "Disk write error Unable to write to disk in drive c: data or files may be lost"

I have been able to save files in lotus. One i was unable to retrieve when the computer told me it was not a lotus file (even though I saved it from within the lotus program and it had a lotus extention on it) this only happened once.

I got a System File Checker notice (not sure what i was doing at the time)
System file checker identified that the following file may be corrupted
user.exe
location C:\windows\system 
You should restore this file from your installation disks.

Another message while in outlook while trying to open mail..happened only while outlook was open that time and not since
"outlook express encountered and unexpected problem while dispaying this message. Check your computer for low memory or low disk space and try again."

And another
"Scandisk detected an invalid long filename entry on this drive but was unable to fis it. To fix this problem sacdisk for windows"
Then
"scandisk encountered a data error while writing to root directory This error prevents scandisk from fixing this drive."

So ....any ideas on where to go from here before doing a restore? If I restore to a time before I installed Norton will that program get uninstalled by this process and need to be reinstalled?

Sorry if there is repetitive info in here. Just not sure which messages were critical ones for you to know.


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## dai (Mar 7, 2003)

norton seems to cause more problems than it fixes what version of windows are you using


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## Darlene Fall (Sep 9, 2002)

I am using Windows 98. I installled Norton System works 2003 on Saturday after uninstalling the Norton that came installed in the computer when I first got it in 1999.
was there anything in the last post error messages that gives a clue about what is happening?


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## Darlene Fall (Sep 9, 2002)

I am using Windows 98. I installled Norton System works 2003 on Saturday after uninstalling the Norton that came installed in the computer when I first got it in 1999.
was there anything in the last post error messages that gives a clue about what is happening?


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## dai (Mar 7, 2003)

if you do a restore anything that you have installed since that restore point will need to be reinstalled.you would be better off backing up anything that is important to you reformatting and do a fresh install


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## Darlene Fall (Sep 9, 2002)

A computer friend has finally gotten back to me late tonight and asked some questions. From all the mixed messages I seem to be getting he thinks that my computer has lost it's brain... and that I should use the recovery disk to reformat...after backing up all my important stuff. I won't have time to start this till tomorrow evening so I will be waiting till then and checking to see if anyone comes up with any easier solutions.
thanks for the help.


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## dai (Mar 7, 2003)

if you are going to do a reformat and fresh install i would use a 98 boot disk from what i have seen posted on the board recovery disks don't make to many friends


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## Rache (Sep 30, 2002)

You can make a boot disc from here: http://www.bootdisk.com/ but make sure it's write protected (close tab) when using just in case there's a virus lurking.


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## Darlene Fall (Sep 9, 2002)

dont understand the need to make a boot disk.. I am having no trouble booting the computer. All of this communication has been done from my computer...


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## dai (Mar 7, 2003)

you posted that you wanted to reformat it is better to do it with a boot disk rather than a recovery disk


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Am I correct in assuming Windows will still load?

If so, I'm thinking maybe you can delete .tmp files, etc., perhaps run adaware and get rid of spyware stuff, just in case that is causing problems, and what about a virus scan?

Also, I'm going to move this to Windows forums for right now as I'm away from my main computer and will be unable to follow up. Others who read that forum may be able to assist you further as well.


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## Darlene Fall (Sep 9, 2002)

I can shut down computer, restart and windows loads fine...except tht it keeps stopping to give me the error message. A few times outlook wouldn't open my mail..claimed a "low memory" prob, once outlook wouldn't open at all "improperly installed". Incredumail has been working fine (cept for the many disk error messages) until just now..now it comes up on screen to the opening page and then an error message says that it has performed an illegal whatever and will be shut down immediately.
Trying to do a partial recovery because one message I got was the user.exe file was corrupt but then the recovery program stopped working and told me there was a problem with my partition table...it was unrecognizable.
A defrag tells me I have minimal whatever when it is done...but the picture on the screen shows more red areas (fragmented files) than anything else. Another scan showed I had over 50,000 lost clusters...it just seems that every time I work on computer or run a different program I get a new error message.
I updated norton virus protection on Saturday and have run that again... no virus found.
Very unfamiliar with computer language but I think I will just start backing up stuff I don't want to lose and then run the recovery program that came with the computer... and hope it works better than people are suggesting. 
I will check board again before I start the recovery stuff in case anyone has a better idea


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

I'd give it a try....my best guess is you'll be replacing the hard drive from the sound of things.


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## NiteHawk (Mar 9, 2003)

I agree with AcaCandy, before we start taking drastic steps, lets see if there are a number of small things we can cure.
Before I post suggestions I have a few questions. What version of windows are you running? Tell us a little more about the pc itself. And how familiar/comfortable are you with the command prompt (aka DOS)?


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## NiteHawk (Mar 9, 2003)

Also there are 3 utilities/tools (actually 2 tools and a scanner) you should download as they will be helpful in providing you assistance.
StartupList and HiJackThis can both be downloaded Here 
and Spybot Search & Destroy can be downloaded Here


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## putasolution (Mar 20, 2003)

Have you recently installed any motherboard drivers?


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## Darlene Fall (Sep 9, 2002)

All I installed was Norton System Works.. I ran it ..found errors I told it to fix. It was after that that i started getting all the errors. Tried to do the selective recovery of files messages said were corrupt but it stopped working, put me into A drive and told me my partition table was unrecognizable.
Managed to back up some of my stuff and do a full recovery from my recovery disk..warned it would reformat but I was ready for that. This too stopped working and I got the unrecognizable partition table message again..with the instruction to delete it. Managed to get in touch with a friend who has walked me through probls. Deleted it, created new one and did the recovery thing. Had to phone my service provider this morning cause i had lost the connection phone number.
Anyway..everything seems to be working well now except that all my 98 programs are needing updating. will probably take a few days to reset everything.
Two new questions... And I have no idea how to posts them to the right area so that they will get answered.
I set up a multilingual Canadian keyboard this time..just wanted to have some of the French accents.. But now my aposstipy (è) shows up over the e and i donèt know where to find it by itself. Any idea where I find the map of my keyboardÉ
The other question. A lot of programs altomaticly open on booting and show in the system tray. My understanding is that the more programs that run in the background the slower the computer runs. Is this correct. If so, which programs MUST be running and which can be shut offÉ And when I am prompted to close all programs before installing which ones stay on to run computerÉ
Thanks for all your help and suggestions.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

With the multi language keyboard, I use Spanish and English and sometimes you just have to switch back and forth between the two to find the correct key. There are also some Alt plus number codes that work too. For example, ñ (alt 164) using the keypad numbers not the numbers along the top.

http://www.starr.net/is/type/altnum.htm

The only items you need running at start up should be scanregistry, systray, keep the two load power profiles, if there, and your virus program should be there too if you aren't careful with your email downloads.


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## NiteHawk (Mar 9, 2003)

I have often wondered why there are two load power profiles. One from _Run_ and the other from _RunServices_ could anyone shed some light on this?


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## Darlene Fall (Sep 9, 2002)

donèt even have a clue what load power profiles are.


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## dai (Mar 7, 2003)

something to do with conserving battery power on laptops


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## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

One entry originates from Run Services in the registry, the other from a Run key. The first loads a set of "default" settings for power management. The second loads the user-specified ones. Disabling one or the other often causes any system setting changes to be "lost" when the user reboots. This is why neither of them should be disabled. This is true even for a single user system with no Windows logon, the logon in these cases is automatic and unseen, but it still exists.


Hope this helps.

Kilowatt


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## NiteHawk (Mar 9, 2003)

Thanks Kilowatt. That explains it. I always wonder about "double entries" in start up. Windows is a big enough resource hog without having some things running twice. I have SystemWorks running which is another magor hog.


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