XP Error Checking & Repair, partition magic not working

[Dave]

Hi
When I attempt to run the XP Error-checking program (Or Norton Disk
Doctor) on one of my computers, I get a message saying that the
operating system has exclusive control of some files, and asks if I want
to schedule a check on reboot.

Neither Partition Magic nor Partition manager will move/resize
partitions. Partition Magic comes back with an error message saying
that there is a bad system file. Partition Manager just acts like
everything is fine, but nothing is changed. I have SP1 and NTFS.

A friend said he had a similar problem with a FAT32 drive and had to
completely reformat and reinstall, which sounds terrifyingly drastic.
Any other ideas?

Thanks
Dave

 

[Guest]

First of all, make sure you have downladed and installed the Partition Magic
Update, available on the Symantec website. I am assuming you are using PM
version 8.0.

Second, the primary partition cannot run a error check while Windows XP is
running. When you check the schedule a check on reboot, it will error check
your drive at the next reboot, before it loads Windows.

Also, you need to update your Windows immediately to SP2.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Further to what Cappy says run Disk CleanUp in all User Profiles before
running chkdsk.

Make up your mind whether to use Microsoft or Norton utilities, otherwise
you can become a promoter of a cat v dog fight.

Please check Event Viewer for Warning / Error Reports in the System and
Application logs covering one period when problems have occurred and
post copies.

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Administrative Tools, and
Event Viewer. When researching the meaning of the error, information
regarding Event ID, Source and Description are important.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308427&sd=tech

Part of the Description of the error will include a link, which you should
double click for further information. You can copy using copy and paste.
Often the link will, however, say there is no further information.
http://go.microsoft.com/fw.link/events.asp
(Please note the hyperlink above is for illustration purposes only)

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double click
on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a button
resembling two pages. Double click the button and close Event Viewer. Now
start your message (email) and do a paste into the body of the message. This
will paste the info from the Event Viewer Error Report complete with links
into the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from Event
Viewer.

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Dave]

Thanks for the comments. I add the following information:

I normally use Norton, and only tried the XP tools when that failed.
Error checking and repair will not work on any hard drive but will work
on a floppy. I have 4 NTFS partitions on one physical drive and a FAT32
partition on a second. The fact that the problem occurs on both drives
suggests that it lies within Windows.

I have run Disk Cleanup, and defragmented all my drives.

I was using Partition Magic 7, but have removed it in favor of the
latest Partition Manager.

No error messaged appeared in the event log. The only series of
messages which may have been relevant relate to the database engine in
the following sequence:

Event Type: Information
Event Source: ESENT
Event Category: General
Event ID: 100
Date: 9/01/2006
Time: 9:35:53 AM
User: N/A
Computer: FAMILY
Description:
wuauclt (2112) The database engine 5.01.2600.0000 started.

Event Type: Information
Event Source: ESENT
Event Category: General
Event ID: 102
Date: 9/01/2006
Time: 9:35:53 AM
User: N/A
Computer: H_FAMILY
Description:
wuaueng.dll (2112) SUS20ClientDataStore: The database engine started a
new instance (0).

Event Type: Information
Event Source: ESENT
Event Category: General
Event ID: 103
Date: 9/01/2006
Time: 9:40:56 AM
User: N/A
Computer: FAMILY
Description:
wuaueng.dll (2112) SUS20ClientDataStore: The database engine stopped the
instance (0).

Event Type: Information
Event Source: ESENT
Event Category: General
Event ID: 101
Date: 9/01/2006
Time: 9:40:56 AM
User: N/A
Computer: FAMILY
Description:
wuauclt (2112) The database engine stopped.

The help and Support Center provided the following on the last entry:

Explanation
The extensible storage engine database engine stopped.
Possible causes include:
An online restoration failed. There may be missing log files on the
computer or in an online restoration, or there may be old log files that
are out of sequence with the log that is mentioned in the Restore.env file.
A database could not be loaded. The directory where the database or
logs exist might not have the correct permissions assigned to it in
order to load the store.
An information store was unloaded.
There might be file-level virus-scanning software running against the
log file directory.

That is all I can offer for now. Before I reload Windows (or worse
still starting again from scratch) I would like some idea of what is
going on.

Thanks
Dave