I started getting “disk error-restart to repair” messages on my Windows 10 laptop a couple of years ago. This is a travel laptop that only gets used 3 or 4 months a year and is set up exactly the same as my home laptop. I visit all the same websites with it and I have Malwarebytes and use a VPN when I’m away from home.
I tried all the generic solutions without success and ended up taking it to a shop and replacing my hard drive with an SSD and doing a clean install of Windows.
Worked fine for a year, then the drive error message came back. Took it back to the shop, they said my Windows was “corrupted” --but couldn’t say how it happened–and put a new SSD in and re-installed Windows.
Now, a year after the second new drive and clean install, the disk error message is back. It seems very odd to have the same error message after replacing the drive and reinstalling Windows twice.The guy at the computer shop said it might be malware but I kind of doubt that theory since I’ve never had a problem with my home laptop that I use in exactly the same way.
I’m not tech savvy enough to dig into the problem beyond the basics…that’s why I took it to the (long established and well-reviewed) shop
They replaced the original hard drive with a SSD and re-installed windows the first time at my request. No problems for a year, then the disk error returned. Took it back to the shop, they ran whatever diagnostics they use and told me that Windows was “corrupted”, but couldn’t explain just how that happened. They replaced the SSD under warranty and re-installed windows.
Now, to my mind, I basically had a brand new disk and OS two separate times and managed to acquire the same problem.
(By the way, since I didn’t want to deal with the problem on the road somewhere I got a new W11 laptop – so I’m mostly just curious as to what the cause was versus needing to get it fixed so I can use it)
A nasty bug in Windows (there are such bugs known: example) could conceivably corrupt the NTFS, but that would not trash the SSD or hard disc. If you install all the available patches/updates that should solve the problem, unless the bug you ran into has not yet been identified.
I’m pretty religious about keeping current with updates, but who knows, maybe I missed out on something. I did a refresh/restart yesterday, which I thought included installing all the current updates, but checking now I see there are a few available. We’ll see if installing those has any effect on the disk error issue.
I wonder if it might be something wonky with the firmware or the motherboard. A remote possibility I’m sure, but for curiosity’s sake I’m not ruling anything out.
For sure, a bug is not the only possibility. For example, it happened to me once that I had bad RAM, which would flip bits and corrupt files on disc after they were written out. Try running Memtest86+ to rule this out…
Good idea. Memory errors can have insidious effects. In the Olde Dayes, mainframe computers at least had parity bits on each word or byte, and in more modern times such large computers as well as servers and some workstations have ECC (error-correcting) memory. But consumer PCs typically have none of that and you just have to trust that your memory is reliable. If in doubt, running many cycles of a good memory test is an excellent idea.
Another point to note is that any particular memory test, despite its many different patterns and repetitions, is not 100% reliable – though a good test will likely find the vast majority of memory problems. This ornery trait of computers was known way back in the early days of minicomputers, when it was routine for the installation personnel to run hours of diagnostic tests, including memory tests, as part of the customer acceptance procedure. It was nevertheless not unknown for a problem to show up that turned out to be pre-existing, but would affect only a certain application program and not the diagnostics. It became a standing joke that a customer’s own programs were better diagnostics than the ones from the manufacturer.
Well…I downloaded memtest86+ and followed the instructions. I extracted it, wrote it to a USB stick, went into BIOS and changed the boot order to use the USB HDD first. BUT…when I reboot the laptop I get a quick “missing operating system” message and it boots normally. I went back and read the directions again, deleted everything off the USB and tried again. Same results.
Obviously I’m doing something wrong in trying to make a bootable USB that the laptop will recognize but I can’t figure out what. (it doesn’t have a CD/DVD drive so that isn’t an option)
Just in case you missed it, you can’t just copy an image to a USB stick and expect it to boot. The image must be written with an appropriate utility that creates the necessary boot block. This is supplied with Memtest – per the instructions:
Run the included imageUSB tool, it should already have the image file selected and you just need to choose which connected USB drive to turn into a bootable drive. Note that this will erase all data on the drive.
If you do that, and if you have UEFI boot and it’s enabled in the BIOS, it should boot. If you don’t have UEFI, you can download the older V4 version of Memtest (scroll down a bit on the main download page). The image still has to be written with a utility (presumably supplied with this version, too) that will create a bootable USB stick.
To the best of my knowledge CSM is an optional backwards-compatibility feature of UEFI which may have no relevance here as Memtest is explicit about only supporting UEFI boot for versions later than V4:
IMPORTANT: MemTest86 V10.4 images support only UEFI boot. On machines that don’t support UEFI, MemTest86 will not boot. Please download the older V4 BIOS release of MemTest86 instead.
I suggest you download V4 from further down in that same download page. I have definitely booted Memtest from a USB drive on older machines with legacy BIOS.
You may want to try another USB drive. Or look into Rufus.
That said, you can also enable Windows built-in memory check. Just type “Windows Memory Diagnostic” into the start menu. You can then choose to restart the computer to run the diagnostic.
Running the memtest is fine and worth doing but I am not convinced the problem is a RAM issue.
OP had the hard drive replaced and a new OS installed and things ran fine for a year. I’d be surprised if it took bad memory that long to wreck the OS and not show any problems until then.
Honestly, I think the easiest quick fix is to re-install Windows (blow away the old install 100% and all your programs with it). It will take a long afternoon to re-install and is a drag. Be sure to backup all of your data/files you need to keep. Also, backup your browser bookmarks and passwords. Be sure to have all passwords for all the things at hand.
If you are not comfortable with this take it to a shop to do it for you. Again…be sure you backed-up your data.
Also, is your BIOS current? That is a whole other thing.
Thanks for the clarification. I’ve used Memtest86 before but was somehow unaware that there existed two different programs with almost identical names that did the same thing yet were completely unrelated! Memtest86+ was what I used – the open source one.
My bet is you have a hardware problem in there somewhere. A slightly defective disk controller chip or whatever.
With the result that testing isn’t going to reveal anything. And there’s nothing wrong with your hard drive alone. Nor with your Windows alone. But either of those installed into a flaky computer will become flaky soon enough.
My bottom line:
Your PC is “haunted” by a latent defect. Give it to a landfill and get another one. That’s the only real cure.
He or she did completely replace the drive, so the problem was not the disk controller. Could have been anything else… I am a strong believer in filesystems that provide hierarchical checksumming of all data and metadata, especially if dealing with terabytes or more.
