My laptop has been running fairly slowly for several weeks. Therefore, I ran
a defrag last week and scheduled Disk Scan for today. When I start my
laptop, the disk scan begins. It runs really slowly and then part way into
stage 4, the laptop abruptly shuts down with no warning. I turn the computer
back on and it once again starts the scan and gets part way through and shuts
down. Is there any way to correct this so that I can actually log on to the
computer and work again?

At the start of the chkdsk before it starts scanning it should tell you to
hit a certain key to skip the chkdsk scan. Look for it when you boot. This
will allow you to log on to the computer. However if you are getting abrupt
shutdowns it makes me believe that you may have a bad hard drive or even a
corrupt windows installation. Further steps should be taken. Figure out the
manufacturer of your Hard Drive and download their free tools from their
website to test the drive. Most all manufacturers supply free testing tools.
If this does not find any errors then it would probably be a windows issue.
Get back to us and let us know so that we can begin troubleshooting windows
if needed. Good Luck,

Joe

Kemco ITP

"PlanoMom" wrote:

> My laptop has been running fairly slowly for several weeks. Therefore, I ran
> a defrag last week and scheduled Disk Scan for today. When I start my
> laptop, the disk scan begins. It runs really slowly and then part way into
> stage 4, the laptop abruptly shuts down with no warning. I turn the computer
> back on and it once again starts the scan and gets part way through and shuts
> down. Is there any way to correct this so that I can actually log on to the
> computer and work again?

"PlanoMom" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
> My laptop has been running fairly slowly for several weeks. Therefore, I
> ran
> a defrag last week and scheduled Disk Scan for today. When I start my
> laptop, the disk scan begins. It runs really slowly and then part way
> into
> stage 4, the laptop abruptly shuts down with no warning. I turn the
> computer
> back on and it once again starts the scan and gets part way through and
> shuts
> down. Is there any way to correct this so that I can actually log on to
> the
> computer and work again?

Is there a full backup of important information? If not do that first.
Never run chkdsk without first having a full backup. Here are some options
for backing up the data.

1. Take the drive out of the computer and attach it either through an
appropriate adaptor, or put in in a 2 1/2" external drive enclosure and
connect that to another Windows XP or 2000 computer. If it reads drive ok,
copy the data.

2. Create a bootable Bart's PE disk, boot from that, then copy the data to
external USB drive or flash drive.

3. Download a bootable Linux distro called Knoppix. Create a bootable CD
from that, boot from it, and copy the data to USB drive or flash drive, or
if the computer has two CD drives, one of which is a burner, then use the
k3b burning program on the Knoppix CD to burn the data to CD.

4. Take it to a competent computer tech to backup the data.

After that boot into the recovery console and run a chkdsk. Do a
chkdsk /r at the command line. Here is info on how to use the recovery
console:

How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654/en-us

Download a drive diagnostic utility from the drive manufacturer's web site.
That will create a bootable floppy or CD. Boot from that and run the
diagnostics.

Additional info:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_abc.htm
Click on "C"
Scroll to "Check Disk - Disk Checking Runs Upon Boot"


--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]

disk scan is likely to cause the computer to heat up. you maybe getting a thermal shutdown.
do you have any program installed to monitor fans(s) and temperatures.
if not then when this happens check in the bios to see if the temps show there and if they are above normal.



(E-Mail Removed)



"PlanoMom" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:7521E75D-1D12-44EF-89AB-(E-Mail Removed)...
My laptop has been running fairly slowly for several weeks. Therefore, I ran
a defrag last week and scheduled Disk Scan for today. When I start my
laptop, the disk scan begins. It runs really slowly and then part way into
stage 4, the laptop abruptly shuts down with no warning. I turn the computer
back on and it once again starts the scan and gets part way through and shuts
down. Is there any way to correct this so that I can actually log on to the
computer and work again?

PlanoMom wrote:
> My laptop has been running fairly slowly for several weeks. Therefore, I ran
> a defrag last week and scheduled Disk Scan for today. When I start my
> laptop, the disk scan begins. It runs really slowly and then part way into
> stage 4, the laptop abruptly shuts down with no warning. I turn the computer
> back on and it once again starts the scan and gets part way through and shuts
> down. Is there any way to correct this so that I can actually log on to the
> computer and work again?


Download a hard drive diagnostic utility from the manufacturer of the
laptop's hard drive and give that hard drive a thorough test. It sounds
very much as if it needs immediate replacement.


--

Bruce Chambers

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