1.) Hangs during restart & 2.) MFS and or MFT errors

[jay]

Dear Sir or Madam:
I'm using Windows 2000 professional.

1.) COMPUTER HANGS DURING RESTART or SHUTDOWN
After clicking on "Start" then "Restart" OR: "Shut Down"
and then "OK"...The computer starts to Restart Or: shut
down and when it reaches a blank screen...It hangs there
ans won't respond to keyboard and or mouse commands. The
cursor "arrow" is usually not visible, However, on the
relativelely rare occassion that the mouse pointer/arrow
is visible it usually wont move. Pressing the following
keys at the same time usually doesn't help:
"Cntl" "Alt" "Delete".
I usually end up having to press and hold the main power
button located on the front of my computers tower in order
to completely shut down the computer.
SUSPECTED CAUSE OF SHUTDOWN PROBLEMS:
I believe that certain programs maybe failing to shutdown
properly during the restart process. Occassionally I'll
see a message displayed which essentially indicates
that "This" or "That" program is trying to shutdown-Please
Wait. If you choose to close this program immediately..You
may loose stored inforamtion. I've tried waiting and it
typically doesn't work out well. Eventually, I'll open up
the "Task Manager" and will notice that the program
is "Not Responding" at this point I'll highlight the
program and then Click "Shut Down" within the "Task
Manager.
Please note that I've also tried to manually close (one at
a time) each of the programs that are shown on the "Task
Bar" near the clock, PRIOR TO trying to restart the
computer.
Please note that I have installed a parallel Operating
System. The secondary O.S. is also: Windows 2000
Professional. However, when you choose to start the
computer via this secondary O.S. there are virtually no
icons displyed on the desktop as opposed to starting the
computer via the Main O.S. in which the desktop displays
numerous icons for the various programs/shortcuts that I
utilize.
The reason that I'm mentioning this secondary O.S. is as
follows: When I try to restart the computer whilest using
this secondary O.S. it typically restarts without any
problems.


2.) MFS and or MFT errors:
Occassionally I'll notice that the computer is not
responding properly. At these times I'll typically try to
defragment the C: (Primary Hard Drive) drive. However,
this isn't always possible. When attempting to run
the "Deframent"...A message is displayed which instructs
me to utilize: "dskchk f". At this point I'll click
on "Start" "Run" and type in: dskchk /f and the press
Enter. This opens a box which looks similar to D.O.S. and
it indicates that the current drive is "NTFS"; as well as
the fact that: It "cannot lock the current drive". It then
displays a paragraph which culminates by asking me if I
wish dskcsk /f to run automatically the next time that the
computer resarts. I answer: "Y" Yes; and then
press "Enter". Then, I'll restart the computer and allow
dskchk /f to run. Lately, I've occassionally noticed that
after disk check completes its three sections a message is
sometimes displayed that essentially states the following:
MFS = Master File System
MFT = Master File Table
MFS or MFT has detected that certain files that were
allocated as being Full were in fact actually Empty.
Windows has corrected this error. Please note that the
aforementioned message doesn't always appear. It may at
times also mention "Bitmap".
Please provide me with highly detailed "Step by Step"
instructions and explanation on How-To address the
aforementioned problems that are best suited for a Novice
computer user.
Best Regards,
J

 

[j]

-----Original Message-----
Dear Sir or Madam:
I'm using Windows 2000 professional.

1.) COMPUTER HANGS DURING RESTART or SHUTDOWN
After clicking on "Start" then "Restart" OR: "Shut Down"
and then "OK"...The computer starts to Restart Or: shut
down and when it reaches a blank screen...It hangs there
ans won't respond to keyboard and or mouse commands. The
cursor "arrow" is usually not visible, However, on the
relativelely rare occassion that the mouse pointer/arrow
is visible it usually wont move. Pressing the following
keys at the same time usually doesn't help:
"Cntl" "Alt" "Delete".
I usually end up having to press and hold the main power
button located on the front of my computers tower in order
to completely shut down the computer.
SUSPECTED CAUSE OF SHUTDOWN PROBLEMS:
I believe that certain programs maybe failing to shutdown
properly during the restart process. Occassionally I'll
see a message displayed which essentially indicates
that "This" or "That" program is trying to shutdown- Please
Wait. If you choose to close this program immediately..You
may loose stored inforamtion. I've tried waiting and it
typically doesn't work out well. Eventually, I'll open up
the "Task Manager" and will notice that the program
is "Not Responding" at this point I'll highlight the
program and then Click "Shut Down" within the "Task
Manager.
Please note that I've also tried to manually close (one at
a time) each of the programs that are shown on the "Task
Bar" near the clock, PRIOR TO trying to restart the
computer.
Please note that I have installed a parallel Operating
System. The secondary O.S. is also: Windows 2000
Professional. However, when you choose to start the
computer via this secondary O.S. there are virtually no
icons displyed on the desktop as opposed to starting the
computer via the Main O.S. in which the desktop displays
numerous icons for the various programs/shortcuts that I
utilize.
The reason that I'm mentioning this secondary O.S. is as
follows: When I try to restart the computer whilest using
this secondary O.S. it typically restarts without any
problems.


2.) MFS and or MFT errors:
Occassionally I'll notice that the computer is not
responding properly. At these times I'll typically try to
defragment the C: (Primary Hard Drive) drive. However,
this isn't always possible. When attempting to run
the "Deframent"...A message is displayed which instructs
me to utilize: "dskchk f". At this point I'll click
on "Start" "Run" and type in: dskchk /f and the press
Enter. This opens a box which looks similar to D.O.S. and
it indicates that the current drive is "NTFS"; as well as
the fact that: It "cannot lock the current drive". It then
displays a paragraph which culminates by asking me if I
wish dskcsk /f to run automatically the next time that the
computer resarts. I answer: "Y" Yes; and then
press "Enter". Then, I'll restart the computer and allow
dskchk /f to run. Lately, I've occassionally noticed that
after disk check completes its three sections a message is
sometimes displayed that essentially states the following:
MFS = Master File System
MFT = Master File Table
MFS or MFT has detected that certain files that were
allocated as being Full were in fact actually Empty.
Windows has corrected this error. Please note that the
aforementioned message doesn't always appear. It may at
times also mention "Bitmap".
Please provide me with highly detailed "Step by Step"
instructions and explanation on How-To address the
aforementioned problems that are best suited for a Novice
computer user.
Best Regards,
J
.

 

[Pat [MSFT]]

When you install a 'parallel' OS, the 2nd OS shares no information with the
1st OS. Meaning that the programs installed, the registry entries, etc. are
not migrated. There are a number of reasons for this, but one of the big
ones is that if you have a misbehaving application or driver, you would not
want it moved into your 'lifeboat.' Typically hangs on startup/shutdown are
related to either hardware problems (hard drives, controllers, video cards,
etc.) or the drivers that talk to those devices (i.e. bugs). I suspect,
based on the hard drive errors reported (MFT/MFS issues) that you are having
some hard drive problems and that some of the system files were likely
corrupted. Windows will attempt to protect you from physical media
problems, but can only do so much (it relies on the hard drive to tell it if
access was successful).

The chkdsk errors are basically telling you that the data on the hard drive
is not what was expected. This is the equivalent of balancing a checkbook.
When the numbers don't match, there's a problem. The 'bitmap' reference
deals with how NTFS (the file system) keeps track of the free/busy spaces on
the HDD. Each space is assigned a bit. A busy space gets its bit marked 1,
a free space has a 0. If you were to take all the bits and display them, it
would give you a 'map' of the drive usage. Hence the name 'bitmap.'

As to what you can do, there are several things:
1) Backup your data. Do this before anything else b/c the most likely
scenarios indicate that you have a hard drive problem.
2) Run Windows Update. If there are drivers that have been updated (not
just from Windows, but some hardware vendors publish their drivers there as
well), that is a good place to start.
3) Check the eventlogs. Occasionally drivers will log events when they
detect that there is a problem with the hardware. If there is a message
like that, then you should probably get the hardware (most likely the hard
drive) replaced.
4) Run chkdsk /f again. If it doesn't run without giving you errors, then
you likely have bad media and the hard drive will need to be replaced.

Pat