when i go to start a game it loads.. and gets to done... but it doesnt go any further. and then it closes and an error comes up.. saying The file or Directory C:\$Mft is corrupt and Unreadable. Please run the Chkdsk Utility. and ive run the Chkdsk utility and it still comes up with the error... can anyone help me?
C:\$Mft problems
- Thread starter Gorian
- Start date
Sadan01
Conical Flask
Gorian,
$Mft is the Master File Table on your NTFS partition which is essentially a large index of the files on your HDD. This is a critical system file. If this is corrupt, chances are you may lose your data in due course.
Ok, question time:
When you ran CHKDSK, did you run it with the /F switch to Fix problems? I.e. the command is (without the quotes): "chkdsk c: /F" ... If you didnt include the /F, do into a DOS prompt and type in that command, substituting the drive letter for the drive WinXP is installed on if necessary. You should be advised that the volume is in use by another process (namely Windows). Press "Y" to advise to run on the next reboot. Reboot the machine.
NOTE: Please BACKUP ALL CRITICAL DATA before doing this. Chances are, if Chkdsk has to make big changes to the MFT, you may lose files and folders from your HDD.
I also should note that if chkdsk cannot fix it, possibly your only other option will be to completely backup your data and format the drive and reinstall Windows again.
Checking the HDD for surface errors (/R switch for chkdsk) would be a good idea too.
$Mft is the Master File Table on your NTFS partition which is essentially a large index of the files on your HDD. This is a critical system file. If this is corrupt, chances are you may lose your data in due course.
Ok, question time:
When you ran CHKDSK, did you run it with the /F switch to Fix problems? I.e. the command is (without the quotes): "chkdsk c: /F" ... If you didnt include the /F, do into a DOS prompt and type in that command, substituting the drive letter for the drive WinXP is installed on if necessary. You should be advised that the volume is in use by another process (namely Windows). Press "Y" to advise to run on the next reboot. Reboot the machine.
NOTE: Please BACKUP ALL CRITICAL DATA before doing this. Chances are, if Chkdsk has to make big changes to the MFT, you may lose files and folders from your HDD.
I also should note that if chkdsk cannot fix it, possibly your only other option will be to completely backup your data and format the drive and reinstall Windows again.
Checking the HDD for surface errors (/R switch for chkdsk) would be a good idea too.
alright well i did the "chkdsk c: /F" and pressed Y and rebooted... only to find out that my computer does that every time i boot it up... and i always get the same unspecified error whilst checking the indexes... and it goes to windows... but when i do is in the DOS thingo.. it finds lots of errors... says it deletes them... but then next time i do it... it finds the same errors.... should i just format the system? or is there another way around this... because ive lost my XP cd... and dont feel like getting another at this stage... unless its... a lost cause otherwise... cheers
ok... well... ive been getting the chkdsk thing come up when i boot for about 3 months now or possible more... i forget really. uhmmm it used to go through the whole check... but since i installed civ 4 really is when i noticed it ****ed up... maybe i got a bad installation or something? :S
Sadan01
Conical Flask
Gorian, depending on the make of hard drive in that machine, the manufacturer will have a free HDD health scanning utility available to check the health of the drive. It may be a good idea to run one of these to determine whether it is the HDD or Windows is at fault. It could just possibly be a bad sector on the HDD where the $MFT resides, but that is a good a case as any to get a replacement HDD.
Check the health of the HDD before you do anything like buy another one.
You might also want to get another IDE cable (or SATA cable if you are using a SATA drive) and test with that too. A bad cable can cause this problem too.
Civ4 wouldn't cause this problem however it may become more apparent as when you installed Civ4 (or any other program or created any other file), files would be created and thus added to the $MFT "index". Maybe it is just a bad sector when the $MFT is placed. Have you also run "chkdsk /R" ?
Try running these commands also and see if it says that the drive is "dirty" (again, without the quotes): "chkntfs c:" and also "fsutil dirty query c:" ... Both hopefully will say that the drive is not dirty. Make sure with the file-system-util command you add the spaces in and you have to specify the drive you want to check.
Check the health of the HDD before you do anything like buy another one.
You might also want to get another IDE cable (or SATA cable if you are using a SATA drive) and test with that too. A bad cable can cause this problem too.
Civ4 wouldn't cause this problem however it may become more apparent as when you installed Civ4 (or any other program or created any other file), files would be created and thus added to the $MFT "index". Maybe it is just a bad sector when the $MFT is placed. Have you also run "chkdsk /R" ?
Try running these commands also and see if it says that the drive is "dirty" (again, without the quotes): "chkntfs c:" and also "fsutil dirty query c:" ... Both hopefully will say that the drive is not dirty. Make sure with the file-system-util command you add the spaces in and you have to specify the drive you want to check.
auldian
King
You should backup (to a CD, DVD, or other disk) anything on that drive you care about Gorian, if you haven't already. Any Quicken, family photos, important emails in Outlook, just as examples, are all at risk of being gone.Sadan01 said:
maartena
Warlord
Gorian said:
A few tips:
1) It sounds like you may have an FAT32 drive if it checks every time you boot up. You would most likely see a performance increase if you convert to NTFS. If you indeed HAVE a NTFS drive and it finds corruption each time you boot up, it is time for a new harddrive before it finnally crashes and burns. $MFT also exists on FAT drives, and FAT type drives are much more sensitive to faulty operation. It is HIGHLY recommended to use NTFS on all drives bigger then 32 Gb.
2) If you own Windows XP legally, you can re-install using a COPY of a CD. The most important thing is that you legally have a product key. If you have a legal product key, you can freely download Windows using a P2P program like eMule or Bittorrent. Its the product key that matters.
If you don't know your product key anymore, the first place to look is on your PC. Chances are that when you bought your PC it came with Windows XP (if bought in the last 3 years) pre-installed, and then there is always a sticker on the computer with the product key. If you built your own machine and installed from a store bought copy but you happen to have lost all information and the media, download a program called RockXP which will reveal the product key you used to install windows with.
As far as I am concerned, if you have legally purchased Windows in the past, you can download a copy, and then use the key retrieved with RockXP to re-install. As soon as you Activate Windows, it should not be any problem as it is YOUR legal key.
dragontail
Chieftain
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2001
- Messages
- 67
Do this FIRST:
If you still can boot into Windows and see the files, BACKUP everything important, at the earliest time! Some files may disappear and lost forever next time your boot. At least backup everything under C:\Documents and Settings.
If you can't boot, take out the disk and install it on another PC. You may be able to read the files there. If not, you can try one of the many commercial file recovery utilities (Easy Recovery Pro, SpinRite).
After you've done the backup, it's time to run the CHKDSK command. open a DOS command window, type
CHKDSK /f /r C:
or if you've taken the disk to another PC and installed it as D:
CHKDSK /f /r D:
You may need to reboot the PC.
After that, you can do an in-place reinstallation of XP. Just run the \setup.exe or \I386\Winnt32.exe from the CD, then select the "upgrade" option. In-place reinstallation will keep all your programs and data intact.
If you still can boot into Windows and see the files, BACKUP everything important, at the earliest time! Some files may disappear and lost forever next time your boot. At least backup everything under C:\Documents and Settings.
If you can't boot, take out the disk and install it on another PC. You may be able to read the files there. If not, you can try one of the many commercial file recovery utilities (Easy Recovery Pro, SpinRite).
After you've done the backup, it's time to run the CHKDSK command. open a DOS command window, type
CHKDSK /f /r C:
or if you've taken the disk to another PC and installed it as D:
CHKDSK /f /r D:
You may need to reboot the PC.
After that, you can do an in-place reinstallation of XP. Just run the \setup.exe or \I386\Winnt32.exe from the CD, then select the "upgrade" option. In-place reinstallation will keep all your programs and data intact.
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