When the computer starts, it calls autochk.exe to see if a drive is 'dirty'
(has the 'dirty bit' set) or if a scan has been scheduled. There is a
problem sometimes with autochk.exe. Try running autochk.exe in windows from
the command line (as an administrator). You will get an error, but look at
what the error says. If it says something about not running in Win32 mode,
it's probably normal. However, if the error message says "Program too big to
fit in memory," the autochk file might be corrupt, and no matter how many
times you schedule chkdsk to run, it won't if autochk is corrupt. When I
replaced the file, chkdsk worked again.
Here is the post I wrote about this:
"
Ahah!
Okay, I got the no-scan-on-startup problem fixed on my computer. Credit
definately goes to the blogger who posted on this topic. I'll add the link,
but know that the first 3/4 of the article includes some frustrated
profanity. In a nutshell the stupid autochk.exe file is corrupted somehow,
so all you do is replace it. This takes some work in Vista, but it worked
for me. My computer scanned! I believe this was the real problem because my
computer used to scan itself, but wouldn't after a while. There is a very
significant chance the problem came from a microsoft hotfix. I'll leave it
to them to figure out if that's what happened or which hotfix, etc... All I
care about is my computer scans itself without recovery console
So here
are the steps to fix this problem in Vista... the only problem is you will
need a windows XP Install disk (I'll explain why...)
Go to C:\Windows\System32
Right click on Autochk.exe -> Properties
Click the Security tab, then click Advanced (button)
On the new window 'Advanced Security Settings for Autochk.exe' click the
'Owner' tab
Below the box labeled 'Change owner to:' click 'Edit...'
In the new window, under 'Change owner to:' select yourself (or the
Administrators group), then click OK
Close all property windows for autochk.exe, then go back to (right click)
Properties->Security
Click 'Edit...'
On the window 'Permissions for Autochk.exe' select the Administrators group,
then under 'Allow' click the 'Full Control' checkbox
Click OK and close the property windows
Ok...NOW you can rename autochk.exe to autochk_old.exe (that took a lot of
work!)
Now, I looked at Vista's installation DVD. All of the system files are
tucked nicely into 1 .wim file. This is a windows image file, and I'm not
sure how to pull the files out of it, so I just grabbed a handy XP
installation CD. The autochk.exe file is located at
(DriveLetter):\I386\AUTOCHK.EXE
Copy the AUTOCHK.EXE file from the XP installation disk to
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\AUTOCHK.EXE and you should be good to go!
I'll recontact Dell with this information, apparently other (non-Dell) users
are having this problem too.
Oh, yeah, the site where I found the solution:
"
http://www.suehappycowboy.org/blog/?p=112" Thanks very very much!
dutchscout
PS As a followup, I searched online for 'how to open a wim file' in order to
get the vista 'version' AUTOCHK.EXE from the install.wim file on the install
disk. The process seems a little complicated, but there is a toolkit from
Microsoft for it. I'm probably just going to stick with the XP version until
there is a hotfix for this problem. The Microsoft toolkit for .wim files is
called the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) and is mostly for system
administrators. If you want to, though give it a try and let me know how it
goes! You might want to read this first:
http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/94616/94616.html
"
There are other possibilities as well. Make sure the registry entries for
autochk are correct. There is a MS Knowledge Base article on this (160963)
at
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/160963/EN-US/
it's about using the program chkntfs which schedules disk scans and can
exclude a drive from being checked at startup.
Basically, the program modifies an entry in the registry which runs autochk.
The entry is in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\CONTROL\Session Manager
and the default value is
BootExecute:REG_MULTI_SZ:autocheck autochk *
the autocheck autochk * part is the actual value, BootExecute is the name of
the value, and REG_MULTI_SZ is the type of value it is.
Overall, I hope this helps!
dutchscout
