Hard drive looses files and can't list the directory?!?

[sjaguar13]

I have a new computer with XP on it. It's a week old and I already got the error "Windows Can't Load Because Is Missing Or Corrupt" 6 times. This time, it's C:\windows\system32\drivers\ntfs.sys. I used the XP cd and went to dos. I tried coping the file, but it wouldn't work. I get an error while copying. I go to that folder and do a DIR. It goes to the Ns, but before it can make it to NTFS.sys, it says an error occured while listing the directory. My hard drive had problems when trying to make it a primary mater, the jumpers didn't do anything. It's now a secondary master. I ran the utility that comes with WD hard drive, and it said there was a bad drive cable. I ran it again and said no drive found. Should I get a new hard drive?

[mike breck]

Try swapping out your Ram first, in case faulty Ram is throwing up errors.

Can you put the HD in another PC and run the WD diagnostics from there.

Have you tried another cable?

How is the HD jumpered? If using an 80 wire cable with black, gray, and blue connectors, the HD should be set to Cable Select. If the cable is a 40 wire cable with three black connectors, then you remove all the jumpers from the HD if it is on the cable alone - or - set it to Master or Slave if it is sharing the cable with another device.

HTH

[sjaguar13]

I set the jumpers to every possible position, either it was a slave on the Primary or not found on the Primary. I try to put it in my other computer to see what it does. I will also try the RAM from my computer to see if that fixes anything.