[SOLVED] Computer fixing (C:)??

kerneleq

Honorable
Dec 27, 2015
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10,510
Hello!

Before I went to bed I was browsing the internet with no issues at all when I clicked on a post on Twitter and my computer suddenly froze (could click on other apps but could not bring up task manager) so I performed a hard shut down. Turned the computer back on and left it for a few mins to boot up, and found my screen on “Fixing (C:) stage 1: 15% (141790 of 941056); Total 5% ETA 11:03:38. The 141000 number continuously goes up by one every ~5 seconds and the ETA continues to climb higher and higher. I’ve googled this and everyone is giving mixed opinions. Is my hard drive shot? Currently my C: drive is an HDD with my Windows installed on it as well as a large amount of files. I also have 2 SSD with gaming files attached to them. I’m worried my HDD is dust and I’ll lose everything I have on it. Luckily I still have my Windows install disk, but I’m not sure if I’m able to install it again onto my SSD if it boils down to my HDD being toast.

After just checking on it now it has a blue screen that says “something went wrong” “critical process failed” and it is fixing the problem and will restart when it’s done but it’s at 100% completion and still hasn’t restarted on its own. Should I do a hard shut down on it?
Thanks for any and all help!
 
Solution
those are library folders, you can move the folder contents themselves to another folder on another drive

do this
make a new folder on the drive you want to move it to, with the names of the folders you want to move before you start
one for each.
Documents, Pictures, Music, Video, are all library folders, follow steps here to move the files to other drive - https://www.dummies.com/computers/o...e-the-location-of-user-folders-in-windows-10/

Make sure the location field shows the actual folder location and not just the drive name when you click ok as if you accidentally turn entire drive into documents, it gets messy to fix.

then once you reinstall win 10 you just point the library location...
Fixing (C:) stage 1: 15% (141790 of 941056); Total 5% ETA 11:03:38. The 141000 number continuously goes up by one every ~5 seconds and the ETA continues to climb higher and higher.
thats running chkdsk at startup. Does it get to the end? I assume it did if you got a bsod.

it running chkdsk doesn't necessarily mean its a bad hdd. Although associated with a Critical process died BSOD at boot could mean problem is either the boot files or logon files.

It is likely stuck, so restart is just going to lead back to automatic repair running at startup or that BSOD.

how much free space on the ssd? Anything on C you want to save?
boot from installer
on screen after languages, choose repair this pc, not install.

choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose command prompt
type notepad and press enter
in notepad, select file>open
Use file explorer to copy any files you need to save to USB or ssd

what make/models are the drives?
 
If you do replace the hdd (not saying its cause, just a note) I would get an ssd as it doesn't make sense to boot off a hdd in a system that has 2 ssd now. You don't know the speed difference between booting from hdd to booting off an ssd until you try it. You won't want to go back. Its even faster again if you get M.2 nvme.

If anything, ssd should be boot drive and hdd is storage, not other way around.
 
thats running chkdsk at startup. Does it get to the end? I assume it did if you got a bsod.

it running chkdsk doesn't necessarily mean its a bad hdd. Although associated with a Critical process died BSOD at boot could mean problem is either the boot files or logon files.

It is likely stuck, so restart is just going to lead back to automatic repair running at startup or that BSOD.

how much free space on the ssd? Anything on C you want to save?
boot from installer
on screen after languages, choose repair this pc, not install.

choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose command prompt
type notepad and press enter
in notepad, select file>open
Use file explorer to copy any files you need to save to USB or ssd

what make/models are the drives?
I’m not entirely sure if it got to the end since I had let it run overnight and woke up to that blue screen this morning. So I assume it must’ve gotten through to the end. The SSD I was intending to put my Windows on is completely empty 1 TB (Samsung SSD 1TB 860 EVO). There are a ton of files on my HDD, pretty much anything that isn’t a game is on it but in all honesty it’s my game saves I’m mostly worried about anyway lol so if I do end up losing the files on it I’m not gonna lose too much sleep over it. The other 2 SSD that I have are another Samsung and a Kingston.

How would I go about booting from installer?
 
what PC do you have?
Custom made or Brand name?
If custom, do you know what motherboard?
If brand name, what make/model?
It’s a custom build I put together a few years ago. Been so long I completely forget which motherboard I have in it so I can open it up and take a look as soon as I get a chance! I do believe it’s an MSI though.
 
might help figure out how to get it to boot off USB. I can find a manual online and see if you have certain menu choices I hope are there.

Well I threw caution to the wind and wound up just hard restarting the PC. It then booted up without any issues (so far as I'm typing this comment on it lol) and it seems everything is in order. Not entirely sure what the issue was with all of this.. maybe the HDD is on its way out? Or just messed things up doing a hard restart? Regardless, I am wanting to put what is on my HDD onto my other SDD. However, my computer will not read two 1 TB SSDs - but has no issue with reading one 1 TB and my other 120 GB. Is this an issue with my motherboard, is it just not capable of reading two 1 TB? I've tried putting them into different SATA ports but that did not resolve anything.

The motherboard is a MSI H97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150.

Thanks so much!
 
What does it do if you have 2 1tb ssd in pc? it shouldn't have any restriction for that amount.

Can you right click start
choose disk management
expand the next window to show all the rows in top area and all the drives in bottom
Take a screenshot and upload to an image sharing website and show image here.
just curious if the boot partition for the 120gb ssd is actually on the 1tb drive.

your motherboard has the menu choice i hope it would.

if you ever want to boot off USB without changing the boot order
put USB in at start up
go into the bios
go to save & exit screen
choose boot override
pick USB from list - this means PC will boot from USB once and then swap back to normal SSD next boot.

When you install win 10 on the ssd, you should remove all other drives so that windows doesn't share itself around, it likes to put its boot partition on different drives. Once PC can boot from ssd without fail, perhaps take a photo of the boot order. The only drive in it should be the new ssd.
Only then reattach the old drives and make sure the boot order is still as it was before the photo, don't want old drives being added to boot.
 
What does it do if you have 2 1tb ssd in pc? it shouldn't have any restriction for that amount.

Can you right click start
choose disk management
expand the next window to show all the rows in top area and all the drives in bottom
Take a screenshot and upload to an image sharing website and show image here.
just curious if the boot partition for the 120gb ssd is actually on the 1tb drive.

your motherboard has the menu choice i hope it would.

if you ever want to boot off USB without changing the boot order
put USB in at start up
go into the bios
go to save & exit screen
choose boot override
pick USB from list - this means PC will boot from USB once and then swap back to normal SSD next boot.

When you install win 10 on the ssd, you should remove all other drives so that windows doesn't share itself around, it likes to put its boot partition on different drives. Once PC can boot from ssd without fail, perhaps take a photo of the boot order. The only drive in it should be the new ssd.
Only then reattach the old drives and make sure the boot order is still as it was before the photo, don't want old drives being added to boot.

I had tried installing a 500 GB SSD a while ago, followed the steps to have it be read in Disk Management, and for whatever reason it was showing up in the BIOS but not disk management. Threw the 120 GB back in with another already installed 1 TB, no issue. Returned the 500 GB SSD thinking maybe it was faulty, got a 1 TB instead just to try, nope would not read that one either - same issue. So that is what got me thinking maybe it's just my motherboard altogether since it can read one 1 TB and my 120 GB without any problems, but literally will not read anything larger. Here's that screenshot:
gc1nmCI.png



With all of these issues I am honestly thinking of upgrading my motherboard and CPU, as well as then my memory to get the DDR4 since I am still running with the old stuff and all of this is a good 5 years old. I'd like to keep my SSDs though, and might just wind up doing a fresh install of Windows if I end up going that route. Would I be able to use the current Windows 10 install disc that I have or would I need to by a whole new disc since its already attached to my HDD?
 
So C right now is a hdd right?
I got mixed up and thought the 120gb ssd was the boot drive. I don't see any problems there

Can you search for system information in win 10
open the app result
can you tell me what shows in the BIOS/Date field? it should be under processor name.
i just check if there are any updates that might help. It could be the bios doesn't recognise the drives but that seems unlikely.

I have to go soon but i will look later when i return.

what brand are the drives you bought?

show in bios but not disk management...hmmm i look into that.
suggestions - use a different cable
use a different sata port

#16
I've had this problem:
- SSD (samsung 850 evo) showing in BIOS, but NOT in Device Manager and NOT in Disk Management.

Fix:
  • open Device Manager
  • expand IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
  • right click on Standard SATA AHCI Controller, select Uninstall
  • reboot, after reboot drive shows up in Device Manager

If you clean installing win 10 on the ssd, fact it shows in bios is enough. USB doesn't use disk management exactly to install win 10 on ssd. So it should work.
 
Last edited:
So C right now is a hdd right?
I got mixed up and thought the 120gb ssd was the boot drive. I don't see any problems there

Can you search for system information in win 10
open the app result
can you tell me what shows in the BIOS/Date field? it should be under processor name.
i just check if there are any updates that might help. It could be the bios doesn't recognise the drives but that seems unlikely.

I have to go soon but i will look later when i return.

what brand are the drives you bought?

show in bios but not disk management...hmmm i look into that.
suggestions - use a different cable
use a different sata port



If you clean installing win 10 on the ssd, fact it shows in bios is enough. USB doesn't use disk management exactly to install win 10 on ssd. So it should work.

Yep, C is the HDD at this time. Sure, after searching that it says "American Megatrends Inc. V5.8, 8/11/2015"

The 120 GB SSD is Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120 GB 2.5" ; the 1 TB SSD that is in it is Samsung 860 EVO 2.5 inch SATA III (MZ-76E1T0B/AM). The 500 GB SSD that I tried was also a Samsung 860 EVO.

I'll go ahead and try to do what that person suggested with unsintalling then rebooting. Have to shut down and plug the SSD into my motherboard to do it, a bit afraid to shut this thing down again lol but I'll give it a shot.

No problem, thanks for the help!
 
Yep, C is the HDD at this time. Sure, after searching that it says "American Megatrends Inc. V5.8, 8/11/2015"

The 120 GB SSD is Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120 GB 2.5" ; the 1 TB SSD that is in it is Samsung 860 EVO 2.5 inch SATA III (MZ-76E1T0B/AM). The 500 GB SSD that I tried was also a Samsung 860 EVO.

I'll go ahead and try to do what that person suggested with unsintalling then rebooting. Have to shut down and plug the SSD into my motherboard to do it, a bit afraid to shut this thing down again lol but I'll give it a shot.

No problem, thanks for the help!
Well I just turned the PC off, plugged in the apparent 500 GB SSD that I had lying around (could have sworn it was a 1 TB, ah well), booted back up, checked my disk management and by some stroke of luck it is already in there without needing to be formatted! So somehow it's now being recognized properly. I don't know why or what I did, but I'm not going to question it lol.

I did order another 1 TB SSD (same make and model as my current 1 TB) as a means of replacing my HDD as it is also 1 TB. I'd like to move everything except my Windows 10 off of my HDD and onto my 500 GB SSD, and reinstall a fresh Windows into my 1 TB SSD when it gets here. Is there any way I can go about doing that or would I be best to just not mess with trying to do that and fresh install Windows on the SSD when it gets here? I don't want to run into any issues when I go ahead and replace my motherboard/CPU/memory.
 
Depends what "everything" on hdd is. You can't really move most applications but you can move data like any library folders you may use.
I was hoping to be able to transfer things like my documents/pictures and such. Would that be as simple as copy and pasting it into the SSD's folder?
 
those are library folders, you can move the folder contents themselves to another folder on another drive

do this
make a new folder on the drive you want to move it to, with the names of the folders you want to move before you start
one for each.
Documents, Pictures, Music, Video, are all library folders, follow steps here to move the files to other drive - https://www.dummies.com/computers/o...e-the-location-of-user-folders-in-windows-10/

Make sure the location field shows the actual folder location and not just the drive name when you click ok as if you accidentally turn entire drive into documents, it gets messy to fix.

then once you reinstall win 10 you just point the library location field at the folders you create now and you don't lose anything.
 
Solution