Chkdsk at every startup

[Guest]

I've had this computer up and running for a couple of weeks, at first it was
fine, problem started about a week ago. At every startup chkdsk runs and
scans drive e:. Mostly it finds no errors. I've looked through the event logs
and found this in about every third of them (the rest have no errors):

Cleaning up 1 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 1 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 1 unused security descriptors.

The first time check disk run at startup it reported:

Cleaning up minor inconsistencies on the drive.
CHKDSK is recovering lost files.
Recovering orphaned file DBC19C~1.TXT (29385) into directory file 30826.
Recovering orphaned file
DbgSVC_Date__02_14_2007__Time_06_02_57PM__656__Log.txt (29385) into directory
file 30826.
Cleaning up 10 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 10 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 10 unused security descriptors.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.

Seems to be the same unused index entries at $SII and $SDH of file 0x9 that
keep appearing over and over again, even though chkdsk cleans them up."fsutil
dirty query e:" always says volume e: is dirty, even immediately after chkdsk
at startup. What's the cause of this? How can I fix the problem? I
specifically want to fix the problem, not the symptoms. I know how to turn
off chkdsk at startup, but I don't want to do that.

 

[Guest]

Seems that the errors I mentioned in my first post aren't the cause of this.
I run chkdsk at drive C and it fixed over 300 of those with the same
description, still it had never been marked dirty. There must be something
else that makes drive E look dirty. I also run chkdsk with the /r option, no
errors reported in the file data or free space.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

In your first post you refer to drive E and in your second to drive C!
Which drive has the problem? Running Disk CleanUp in all user profiles
can help solve chkdsk and Disk Defragmenter problems.

How large is each drive and how much free space does each have? What
do you use each drive for? Has or is the computer dual booting? Are
the drives formatted as FAT32 or NTFS?


--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Most of what you have listed are not errors, they are housekeeping duties
that chkdsk performs.

Cleaning up 10 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 10 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.

[[Chkdsk.exe reports only unused index and security descriptor entries that
were removed. ]]
[[Chkdsk.exe just reclaims the unused security descriptors as a housekeeping
activity, and it does not actually fix any kind of problem. ]]
from...
Windows 2000 Chkdsk Reports Cleaning Unused Security Descriptors
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/255008

Cleaning up 10 unused security descriptors.

[[When you delete a file or folder with permissions that you've set by hand
rather than allowed to be automatically inherited from its parent, the ACL
(Access Control List, the security descriptor) isn't deleted, but cached.
Running CHKDSK against these "dead" items cleans up the ACLs that are no
longer in use and frees up space. ]]
from...
Tip: Don't Panic At CHKDSK "Security Descriptor" Cleanup
http://www.winmag.com/columns/powerw2k/2000/46.htm#tip

[[This problem occurs because if Chkdsk is run against an NTFS volume,
Chkdsk.exe may report that security descriptors are in the database that are
no longer referenced by any file or folder and that it is removing them.
However, Chkdsk.exe just reclaims the unused security descriptors as a
housekeeping activity, and it does not actually fix any kind of problem. ]]
from...
Windows 2000 Chkdsk Reports Cleaning Unused Security Descriptors
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/255008

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 disks 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

fsutil dirty query E:

Hit the Enter key.

Volume E: is not dirty
Volume E: is dirty

<quote>
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
<quote>
-----

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.

chkntfs e:

Hit the Enter key.

E: 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

 

[Guest]

Drive E has the problem. I've installed most applications on that drive, only
have Windows and all drivers installed on C. Drive E is NTFS, 98GB, 90GB free
space. I've run Disk CleanUp on all profiles, didn't help.

Wesley: I've tried all of those command, but none of them really helps.
"fsutil dirty query E:" always reports that the drive is dirty, the dirty bit
doesn't seem to be changed at all by chkdsk. Even if I restart from the logon
screen, before logging in, right after chkdsk has checked the disk, chkdsk
runs again.

I don't know if this is related, but sometimes my computer freezes at the
"windows is shutting down" screen and doesn't shut down until I press the
power switch.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

The Dirty Bit is set by the file system itself only if it detects a problem.

Something is causing your disk to corrupt.

Open the Event Viewer....
Start | Run | Type: eventvwr | Click OK |
Select system in left hand pane.

Look down the right hand pane, and see if there are any disk or file system
errors, timeouts, crc errors or parity errors or anything else that has a
white cross on a red circlular background which looks like it relates to
disk
errors.

See also.
Manually resetting AUTOCHK.EXE for a drive
http://searchwinit.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid1_gci990696,00.html

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Guest]

Thank you for the advice, getting closer to a solution, but not quite there
yet.

In the Event Viewer I found several errors saying:

"The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run
the chkdsk utility on the volume E:."

It gives a link to a page that advices me to run chkdsk /r, which I have
already done. Here's the output from that:

Windows will now check the disk.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
Free space verification is complete.
Windows has checked the file system and found no problems.

103490698 KB total disk space.
8178104 KB in 30472 files.
12140 KB in 2539 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
102194 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
95198260 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
25872674 total allocation units on disk.
23799565 allocation units available on disk.

I have now manually resetted autochk.exe for drive E (chkdsk /F didn't work,
had to use regedit) and chkdsk didn't run at startup. However, "chkntfs E:"
still reports that drive E is dirty and I still get the ntfs system error in
the Event Viewer at startup.

 

[Guest]

Just thinking of radical solutions... If I make a full backup of all files on
drive E, format the drive and then restore the files, could this fix the
problem or is it more likely to make things worse?

 

[Gerry Cornell]

What is the make and model of the drive?

I would try HD Tune (freeware).
Download and run it and see what it turns up.
http://www.hdtune.com/

Select the Info tabs and place the cursor on the drive under Drive
letter and then double click the two page icon ( copy to Clipboard )
and copy into a further message.

Select the Health tab and then double click the two page icon ( copy
to Clipboard ) and copy into a further message. Also do a full surface
scan with HD Tune.



--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

Problem solved. I shut down all programs and processes running from drive E
and run chkdsk /X from the command prompt while logged on. chkntfs now
reports that drive E is not dirty! I believe I have tried the /X option
earlier without result, but now it worked!

Now I'll just switch autochk back on and everything should be fine!

Thank you!
Wogya

 

[Guest]

My hard drive is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB Serial-ATA-II. I run HD
Tune 2.53, here are the results:

Info:

HD Tune: ST3320620AS Information

Firmware version : 3.AAE
Serial number : 3QF10VL0
Capacity : 298.1 GB (~320.1 GB)
Buffer size : 16384 KB
Standard : ATA/ATAPI-7 - SATA I
Supported mode : UDMA Mode 6 (Ultra ATA/133)
Current mode : UDMA Mode 6 (Ultra ATA/133)

S.M.A.R.T : yes
48-bit Address : yes
Read Look-Ahead : yes
Write Cache : yes
Host Protected Area : yes
Device Configuration Overlay : yes
Automatic Acoustic Management: no
Power Management : yes
Advanced Power Management : no
Power-up in Standby : no
Security Mode : yes
Firmware Upgradable : yes

Partition : 1
Drive letter : C:\
Label :
Capacity : 29996 MB
Usage : 32.37%
Type : NTFS
Bootable : Yes

Partition : 2
Drive letter : F:\
Label : New Volume
Capacity : 139996 MB
Usage : 22.21%
Type : NTFS
Bootable : No

Partition : 3
Drive letter : G:\
Label : New Volume
Capacity : 34185 MB
Usage : 46.26%
Type : NTFS
Bootable : No

Partition : 4
Drive letter : E:\
Label :
Capacity : 101065 MB
Usage : 8.01%
Type : NTFS
Bootable : No


---------------------------

Health:
HD Tune: ST3320620AS Health

ID Current Worst ThresholdData
Status
(01) Raw Read Error Rate 114 100 6 81393225 Ok

(03) Spin Up Time 95 95 0 0 Ok

(04) Start/Stop Count 100 100 20 11 Ok

(05) Reallocated Sector Count 100 100 36 0 Ok

(07) Seek Error Rate 100 253 30 583219 Ok

(09) Power On Hours Count 100 100 0 16 Ok

(0A) Spin Retry Count 100 100 97 0 Ok

(0C) Power Cycle Count 100 100 20 55 Ok

(BB) (unknown attribute) 100 100 0 0 Ok

(BD) (unknown attribute) 100 100 0 0 Ok

(BE) Airflow Temperature 68 63 45 538968096 Ok

(C2) Temperature 32 40 0 32 Ok

(C3) Hardware ECC Recovered 76 67 0 42135632 Ok

(C5) Current Pending Sector 100 100 0 0 Ok

(C6) Offline Uncorrectable 100 100 0 0 Ok

(C7) Ultra DMA CRC Error Count 200 200 0 0 Ok

(C8) Write Error Rate 100 253 0 0 Ok

(CA) TA Counter Increased 100 253 0 0 Ok


Power On Time : 16
Health Status : Ok

---------------------------

ErrorScan:
HD Tune: ST3320620AS Error Scan

Scanned data : 305123 MB
Damaged Blocks : 0.0 %
Elapsed Time : 85:24

Every test I have run so far indicate that there's nothing wrong with the
drive. Still the Dirty Bit is set. Earlier I had several BSODs due to a bad
VGA driver, one of those must have set the Dirty Bit to false alarm. Is there
no way to manually change the value of the dirty bit? Of course, I could
continue with autochk disabled and ignore the problem, but then chkdsk
wouldn't run even when it really is necessary to run it.

I really appreciate all help I've received so far, thank you for taking the
time to help me out!

Wogya

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Well done.

Thanks for recording the solution.


--

Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Glad to hear it. Keep having fun.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In