all files get renamed

[sgrey]

All files and folders on my HDD get renamed. For example, "WINDOWS" is renamed "W§ND»Wò" or something to that effect.
This happens if the system locks up, then i reset. I'll be prompted to run Scanreg from a dos prompt, then am informed that Scanreg has found problems with my system files that cannot be repaired. Then Scandisk starts and finds corrupted data that cannot be restored. Upon reboot, I get "Invalid System Disk". That is when I boot from floppy to see all my files and dirs have been renamed to gibberish.
At first I thought it might be a virus of some sort. So I re-partitioned and Installed everything from disks. This did not work. I then replaced the Hard Drive itself, and reinstalled windows, and before I could install anything else, It happened again. Which rules out the possibility that a virus has infected my system, since the only thing installed was Win98se. Unless ofcourse the boot floppy was infected. But I had to make the floppy from a friends fully functional machine.

Please help if you can.
thanks in advance.
Josh

[BADFlSH]

Are you sure there is no way it could be a virus. That sounds exactly like what happened to me after I got the "Stoned monkey empire virus" (nice name huh?") Anyway I reformated and reinstalled several times and had the same problems. I ended up haveing to have someone low level format my drive.

[Jeffbx]

If you're positive that it's not a virus, it could be caused by a variety of things. Try formatting a hard drive in a friend's computer, move it to yours & load Windows. If you don't have trouble with the drive on a different computer, it could be the controller, the drive cable, or even a bad power supply.

[StonedWheat]

It could be a memory problem. Soft memory errors happened to me all the time before with cheap RAM. My system would lock up, and I would find files renamed and scattered all over the place.

[ChIcKeN_HaWk]

Did you have your boot disk write protected? If you partion and format with a clean, write protected disk then turn to hardware. It very well could be a virus that sits in the boot sector, but unlikely. I've seen bad memory slots cause similar symptoms. If the option is there try getting your hands on a copy of Troubleshooter or some other bootable diagnostic software. Replace the motherboard if all else fails.