Can't nuke and pave

[larry38]

My daughter's computer is acting strange. Once you boot to the Windows desktop you see get the message C:\windows\system32\MSWSock.DLL is not a valid windows image. Please check this against your installation diskette. I have looked over this entry using Google and had decided the best thing to do is to nuke and pave. (by the way, the computer is a clone of the one listed in my computer description at the bottom of this post and the OS is XP home.) I went to the Western Digital website and downloaded the program Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for windows for a WD740GD raptor drive. When I attempt to use either the quick test or extended test I keep getting the error message "Cable test: Read diagnostic sector error." I have attempted to run the same utilities on my computer and get the same message and as far as I know, my machine is running normally. I thought I would run the extended test utility before I attempted to nuke the drive but can't. I decided to just go ahead and try to run the zero fill utility but it wouldn't let me. Can anyone help me with this? Can I get another zero fill utility to use? Thanks for the help.

[shadowpr]

Use this to zero fill: http://www.dban.org/

And if trying to run diagnostics, don't do it through windows. Use the dos version and boot into it. Works better.

[larry38]

Thanks for the reply, Shadowpr. I had downloaded the dos version to diskette but when I tried to boot into it, it wouldn't work - i.e. the computer wouldn't boot. Perhaps I should have formatted the diskette as a system diskette first and downloaded to a system disk. I'll try that.

[Negeva]

I'm guessing the errors are down to the drive being a SATA one. Check the BIOS settings as you might be able to set it for IDE mode.

Why didn't you try and just fix the Winsock error using a free tool like WinSock Fix XP? And then check/scan for malware?

[larry38]

Originally Posted by Negeva I'm guessing the errors are down to the drive being a SATA one. Check the BIOS settings as you might be able to set it for IDE mode. Why didn't you try and just fix the Winsock error using a free tool like WinSock Fix XP? And then check/scan for malware?

The reason I didn't try to fix the Winsock error using the tool you suggested is because I didn't know about it.

I nuked it this morning and re-installed XP Home, but apparently screwed something up because I can't partition the drive using the instructions in Disk Management. Unless someone can offer me some direction this evening, I am going to nuke it again in the morning and re-install XP.

Thanks for your help here, Negeva. I'm a little sorry that I didn't get back to the forum to see your post so I could have tried it.