Startup now ALWAYS wants to check a disk

[Al]

In the last week my SP2 system has insisted that I check D: (NTFS
volume) every time I boot up. It never finds an error. What is likely
to be causing this constant requirement for needlessly having to check
this disk volume?

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Check Disk runs on every boot.

Open a command prompt...
Start | Run | Type: cmd | Click OK |
Type or paste the following line:

chkntfs /d

Hit the Enter key.

Chkntfs displays or modifies the checking of disk at boot time.

The /d switch restores the machine to the default behavior; all drives are
checked at boot time and chkdsk is run on those that are dirty.

Autochk.exe is a version of Chkdsk that runs only before Windows XP
starts. Autochk runs in the following situations:

Autochk runs if you try to run Chkdsk on the boot volume.
Autochk runs if Chkdsk cannot gain exclusive use of the volume.
Autochk runs if the volume is flagged as dirty.

This can happen if the drive's dirty bit is set.
When a drive's dirty bit is set, autochk automatically
checks the volume for errors the next time the computer is restarted.

This will report whether the dirty bit is set.

Start | Run | Type: cmd | Click OK |
Type or paste the following line:

fsutil dirty query C:

Hit the Enter key.

Volume C: is not dirty
Volume C: is dirty

[[If a volume's dirty bit is set, this indicates that the file system may be
in an inconsistent state. The dirty bit can be set because the volume is
online and has outstanding changes, because changes were made to the volume
and the computer shutdown before the changes were committed to disk, or
because corruption was detected on the volume. If the dirty bit is set when
the computer restarts, chkdsk runs to verify the consistency of the volume.

Every time Windows XP starts, Autochk.exe is called by the Kernel to scan
all volumes to check if the volume dirty bit is set. If the dirty bit is
set, autochk performs an immediate chkdsk /f on that volume. Chkdsk /f
verifies file system integrity and attempts to fix any problems with the
volume.]]
-----

This will also report whether the dirty bit is set.

Start | Run | Type: cmd | Click OK |
Type or paste the following line:

chkntfs c:

Hit the Enter key.

C: is not dirty.
-----

If this is not the problem.....

Go here:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Read the instructions at the top of the page.
Scroll down to:
82. Disable or Enable Check Disk Upon Boot
Click on Disable.
-----

Additional information...
Chkdsk.exe or Autochk.exe starts when you try to shut down or restart your
computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/831426

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Al]

Check Disk runs on every boot.

Open a command prompt...
Start | Run | Type: cmd | Click OK |
Type or paste the following line:

chkntfs /d

Hit the Enter key.

It gives error message:

'chkntfs' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

Similar error message on trying:
fsutil dirty query C:

 

[Wesley Vogel]

You have another problem. You PATH is messed up.

See this.

Why don't my commands work?
http://internet.cybermesa.com/~bstewart/cmdprompt.html#6

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Al]

You have another problem. You PATH is messed up.

You're quite right, it's all to do with environment variable
%SystemRoot% and path wasn't correctly set.

As a workaround I entered the commands from:
C:\WINDOWS\system32
and, of course they worked from there.

Things got interesting when I gave command
fsutil dirty query D:
(note that the problem was on drive D and not C)
Indeed it told me that D was "dirty".
However after each and every boot, and despite the chkdsk at boot up,
the volume D was still dirty.

I then explicitly asked it to check volume D for errors using the
"Automatically fix file system errors". It said it could only do this
at boot time so I rebooted. This time on boot it ran chkdsk TWICE!
Nonetheless immediately after boot D: was still shown as "dirty".
Despite repeating this several times it proved impossible to clean up
D: this way.

Eventually I solved the problem by opening a DOS command box and
explicitly using:
chkdsk D: /F
It forced a dismount of D: and then completed the check.
A reboot this time it dispensed with the gratuitous chkdsk D: and
everything has been fine since.

Although problem now solved, my question is: Why did the chkdsk on
boot fail to cure it and why was a manual DOS box chkdsk needed to fix
it?