chkdsk errors?

[Stephen Larivee]

I am using XP Pro on a home computer. From time to time (about every two
weeks or so) the monitor freezes and then the computer reboots. As it
restarts, it comes to the part where it is detecting IDE devices and finds
nothing. I shut the computer off and then restart. It then finds all of
the IDE devices and restarts fine. The computer is two years old and this
has been happening since I bought it.

Right now I am suspecting a bad hard drive. The CPU, motherboard, and power
supply have all be replaced. I have removed the reinserted the cables and
connectors to the hard drive and from the hard drive to the motherboard with
no effect.

Someone suggested doing a chkdsk. I did. It took about two hours but even
though I was monitoring the chkdsk, it finished and then went to the desktop
before I could read the results of the chkdsk.

My question is this: would the computer have proceeded to the desktop if it
had found any errors? Seems to me, it should come to the end and display
the results until you hit Enter, esp if it has found errors. May I assume
in my case it found none since it went to the desktop?

I hate to run it again and hover over the computer so I can catch the
results of doing another chkdsk if I don't have to.

TIA

 

[Unknown]

In control panel--system--advanced--change error options to NOT reboot on
error. This will allow you to investigate the error. Gut feel is that it is
a memory problem.

 

[Galen]

In Stephen Larivee <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

I am using XP Pro on a home computer. From time to time (about every
two weeks or so) the monitor freezes and then the computer reboots. As it
restarts, it comes to the part where it is detecting IDE
devices and finds nothing. I shut the computer off and then restart.
It then finds all of the IDE devices and restarts fine. The computer
is two years old and this has been happening since I bought it.

Right now I am suspecting a bad hard drive. The CPU, motherboard,
and power supply have all be replaced. I have removed the reinserted
the cables and connectors to the hard drive and from the hard drive
to the motherboard with no effect.

Someone suggested doing a chkdsk. I did. It took about two hours
but even though I was monitoring the chkdsk, it finished and then
went to the desktop before I could read the results of the chkdsk.

My question is this: would the computer have proceeded to the desktop
if it had found any errors? Seems to me, it should come to the end
and display the results until you hit Enter, esp if it has found
errors. May I assume in my case it found none since it went to the
desktop?
I hate to run it again and hover over the computer so I can catch the
results of doing another chkdsk if I don't have to.

TIA

You really can't assume anything of the sort. Would it have? Yes. It might
have not even fixed them if you didn't tell it to. (Don't ask me why, I
don't know.) Run it again if you'd like though your symptoms tell me that
you have one of the VERY rare instances where I'd recommend a BIOS update as
opposed to my normal answer which is saying don't flash it unless you need
to. That's where I'd start but if you're bent on running CHKDSK again start

run > type "cmd" without the quotes > hit enter > type "chkdsk c: /f /r"

again without the quotes > hit enter > at the prompt press "Y" and again
without the quotes (you knew that by now though) and then hit enter and
reboot. (Just so you know it's not C: in the middle, of course, if the C:
drive isn't the one you want to check... Change it to D: or any other drive
letter that it is if you need to or just leave it out entirely if it is the
C: drive if you'd like. I only added the C: so you'd know the format in case
it was a different drive letter...) No need to watch it, just go ahead and
do it before you go to bed. It will do a nice deep scan and fix any problems
that it finds. The /r implies the /f switch but for some odd reason just
because it implies it, it doesn't always do it and thus using both switches
has been what I've been recommending for a while now. It doesn't hurt
anything nor take any longer really. It's just a sure way of ensuring that
it does in fact fix the errors when it finds them as opposed to just happily
telling you that you do indeed have some and booting into the OS as if
nothing could be better in the world. (NTFS is a good thing but it sure can
be funny at times. I'd swear by NTFS vs any other format I'm truly familiar
with - even though it's proprietary - as it's really stable.)

Again, I really doubt that it's a disk error that would be fixed by
CHKDSK... It could be, and likely is-be, something deeper in the drive or
the BIOS from your description. This wouldn't, perchance, be a Dell
Dimension? Perhaps a PIII at 1 GHz? (Just a guess but I've just recently
encountered a PC with the same problem for the most part - it was on a slave
drive that it wouldn't seem to pickup and hold on to and not the master
primary drive - and a BIOS flash fixed it.)

Galen
--

"But there are always some lunatics about. It would be a dull world
without them."

Sherlock Holmes

 

[Stephen Larivee]

In Stephen Larivee <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:


You really can't assume anything of the sort. Would it have? Yes. It might
have not even fixed them if you didn't tell it to. (Don't ask me why, I
don't know.) Run it again if you'd like though your symptoms tell me that
you have one of the VERY rare instances where I'd recommend a BIOS update
as opposed to my normal answer which is saying don't flash it unless you
need to. That's where I'd start but if you're bent on running CHKDSK again
start
again without the quotes > hit enter > at the prompt press "Y" and again
without the quotes (you knew that by now though) and then hit enter and
reboot. (Just so you know it's not C: in the middle, of course, if the C:
drive isn't the one you want to check... Change it to D: or any other
drive letter that it is if you need to or just leave it out entirely if it
is the C: drive if you'd like. I only added the C: so you'd know the
format in case it was a different drive letter...) No need to watch it,
just go ahead and do it before you go to bed. It will do a nice deep scan
and fix any problems that it finds. The /r implies the /f switch but for
some odd reason just because it implies it, it doesn't always do it and
thus using both switches has been what I've been recommending for a while
now. It doesn't hurt anything nor take any longer really. It's just a sure
way of ensuring that it does in fact fix the errors when it finds them as
opposed to just happily telling you that you do indeed have some and
booting into the OS as if nothing could be better in the world. (NTFS is a
good thing but it sure can be funny at times. I'd swear by NTFS vs any
other format I'm truly familiar with - even though it's proprietary - as
it's really stable.)

Again, I really doubt that it's a disk error that would be fixed by
CHKDSK... It could be, and likely is-be, something deeper in the drive or
the BIOS from your description. This wouldn't, perchance, be a Dell
Dimension? Perhaps a PIII at 1 GHz? (Just a guess but I've just recently
encountered a PC with the same problem for the most part - it was on a
slave drive that it wouldn't seem to pickup and hold on to and not the
master primary drive - and a BIOS flash fixed it.)

Galen

The computer is an AMD 3000+ Athlon that I bought online from CyberPower
(www.cyberpower.com)

I will follow your detailed instructions about the chkdsk.

The computer is still under warantee for parts. So far CyberPower has
replaced the cpu and the motherboard (for another problem). The trouble I
am having now is trying to determine why the computer gives out every couple
of weeks. I hate to keep replacing parts and hoping I get lucky someday and
finally replace the right part!

Thanks again for your help and input!!

Steve L.

 

[Stephen Larivee]

Why do you lean toward memory?

The trouble it has in detecting the ide devices had me leaning toward the
hard drive. (But I am not too knowledgeable in this hardware area.)

 

[Unknown]

Memory is the most prone to errors and the least understood. Did you
increase your memory size? If so did you get the correct CL?

 

[Stephen Larivee]

The memory is original. Two chips at 512 each.

What is a CL????