Member Avatar for templersstorms

I am working on a Toshiba Qosmio G55-Q804 for someone I know, and it is giving me some real trouble. It is running Vista 64 Bit.

When you attempt to load up windows, the green loading bar appears, and loads and disappears. The screen then goes black and just stays like that. If you try to load it in safe mode the system freezes with crcdisk.sys as the last thing loaded.

I have already run ChkDsk probably 15 times. Most of the time it either says it can't be fixed, there were no errors found, or it freezes at 13% through part 3 of it. I ran Vistas automated repair initially (when the screen used to load to a black screen with a movable cursor) and it actually fixed it. I then logged into windows and after a few minutes everything started not responding until the system was locked up, aside from the mouse. After that it would no longer boot to the windows login screen.

I have system restored to a point 2 months ago, and have tried deleting drivers, renaming drivers, and deleting high filters as well, all to no avail. I have tried changing th BIOS settings and removing the battery and discharging the system.

I seriously need help with this. I cannot figure it out, and it is driving me crazy. Unfortunately I don't have the Vista install disk, as no one gives you those anymore. Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

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Dani AI

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Short diagnosis and what that hang means: crcdisk.sys is the Windows "disk block verification" filter driver, so a Safe Mode freeze at that driver most often points at the disk I/O layer — corrupted filesystem metadata, a failing drive or failing controller/cable, or a low-level driver/BIOS mode mismatch rather than a normal user‑mode app problem. (learn.microsoft.com)

Immediate priorities (data first). If the data on the drive matters, create a forensic/read‑only image from the live environment before doing more repair attempts. GNU ddrescue is the right tool for an interrupted/fragile copy; use a mapfile so the run can be resumed. After imaging, inspect S.M.A.R.T. and run a vendor bootable diagnostic (or smartctl long self‑test) to confirm physical health. Example commands for a Linux live CD / UBCD environment:

# example ddrescue flow (adjust device names)
ddrescue -n /dev/sda /media/usb/drive.img /media/usb/ddrescue.log
ddrescue -r3 -d /dev/sda /media/usb/drive.img /media/usb/ddrescue.log

# view SMART and start long test
sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda
sudo smartctl -t long /dev/sda

Do not run write/repair surface tests before imaging. (gnu.org)

If diagnostics show the drive is healthy, focus on software/driver/BIOS fixes. From Vista Recovery / WinRE run offline filesystem and system checks (chkdsk /r, Startup Repair, and SFC offline). Also check the BIOS SATA mode—switching between IDE/Compatibility and AHCI (or vice versa) has resolved similar crcdisk.sys hangs on some laptops, but changing mode without enabling the correct storage driver in Windows can prevent booting, so use WinRE or a prepared registry tweak if needed. Example WinRE commands:

chkdsk C: /r
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
sfc /scannow /offbootdir=C:\ /offwindir=C:\Windows

If chkdsk repeatedly stalls or SMART reports growing reallocated/pending sectors, treat the disk as failing. (learn.microsoft.com)

Practical summary: given 's UBCD suggestion and ' ability to boot Ubuntu, the safest next step is an image capture with ddrescue, then SMART/vendor diagnostics; only after a clean diagnostic report proceed with WinRE chkdsk/SFC/bootrec or BIOS SATA-mode troubleshooting. If imaging/diagnostics show hardware failure, replace the drive (or use professional recovery for critical data).

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Member Avatar for Bob_180_Bob

Hi and welcome to Daniweb,
You have tried a lot of things that would normally be suggested and still have a problem. My only suggestion is to download the UBCD program, (link in my signature) make a CD/DVD and boot you machine with that. You can check your drives, viruses, etc. it is free and could help you out.

Member Avatar for templersstorms

Thanks for the advice about the Ubcd. I downloaded it, and it has an amazing amount of tools on there. I am currently trying to get it to run some HDD diagnostics, and every time it says that it can't find a hard drive. Any ideas?

Member Avatar for templersstorms

I just got Vivard ver 4 (which is on ubcd) and it reported no errors and no remapped. Does this mean that the hard drives physical health is not in danger? Is it a software problem then?

Edited by templersstorms because: n/a
Member Avatar for templersstorms

Ok. I just finished burning Ubuntu to a disk and am actually running that on the computer right now. Since it is running from the CD, that doesn't really rule out a faulty hard disk does it?

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to proceed to attempt to fix the current Vista Installation from Ubuntu? I have a removable DVD drive now, so I can run the Vista recovery disk and Ubuntu at the same time.

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