A problem for Mr G

[zero5uk]

Ok on a more serious note, my housemates (not the emule hogger) has a large problem. Here he is

HI there Mr.Mullet, i'm zero's housemate. unfortunately i have windows xp....the first version that came out and it is full of bugs. i have had a catalogue of errors so far most of which i have been able to solve, but this time it has pushed me too far :-(
its quite hard to explain, but basically i have a split hardrive. it is split into c: and d: which are jus 15gig each, then there is an e: which is my backup drive. e: is where the problem is. when i turn on my computer it can't go through to the windows log in screen cos it goes into a file system configuration. it tells me that e: is now no longer 'an XP drive' and that there is a serious error on my FAT32 file. i can log into windows eventually after 15 minutes of configuration bollocks (pardon my french). but even when i do my pc is running slow and if i even click on e: it crashes the whole computer puting me through my torment again.

do you have any suggestions? i hear you are the man in the know, on all things computers. at the moment i am currently burning all my files (slowly) with the idea that a complete re-installation will solve my probs, but this may be a long shot. also i fear i will have to buy the newer version of xp giving more money to the scum that is microsoft :-( so if you got any comments i will be very grateful. if you need more information on my problem i can try, but am not fully clued in on pc's so my knowledge is limited.

many thanks, The Villan :-)

[Ben]

nothin to do with me, but I'd format the computer with the NTFS filesystem (XP *WILL* be terrible if you run it on the ancient FAT32!!) and then upgrade to XP SP1 online.

If it's just your e: thats FAT32 you might just be able to format that :-S

[SonicSiss]

OOerr Ben GMTA!!! i was just about to post that the NTFS filesystem works much better than the FAT32 i have mine set up like that and my drive E is FAT32 and there is no problems :S

[zero5uk]

Thanks for the replies

The problem lies that when the e drive is clicked on the computer crashes, i think E drive is corrupt.

So the answer is maybe to format E with NTFS filesystem

[The Mullet of G]

right before you format the drive and loose all your stuff you could try "obtaining a copy of Partition Magic 8" using this you can try to convert the partition to NTFS without loosing the stuff on it, but its a long shot as it sounds like theres serious problems with the partition (E:) also try booting your PC from the XP cd rom you installed from it will boot into the setup menu but will also give you the option to try and repair an instalation of XP click this option in here at the Dos type promt, type chkdsk all, if I remember correctly if not try chkdsk E: if you get stuck type help it will bring up a list of commands, if this doesn't help its likely that the partition is badly corupted and possibly unrecoverable, it could be a problem with the master boot record on your drive, it contains all the info about your drives partitions etc, but you don't really want to go fiddling with it unless you really need to, if all else fails formating the partition with NTFS is probably the best route to take, keep me posted on how you get on. :)