CHKDSK won't finish, XP won't start

[MichaelG]

I scheduled a check disk from within XP, it freezes on the 4th part at 66%. I
have tried a repair which runs but then on the reboot, it runs check disk
again... and freezes at 66%. How can i cancel check disk before windows
loads. From the command prompt chkntfs is not a valid program. I can not open
in safe mode.

Thanks in advance.

 

[David B.]

Before doing any more software work on the drive, determine the mfg of your
drive and download and run their diagnostic utility to make sure your drive
isn't going/hasn't gone bad.

 

[MichaelG]

It passes all hardware diagnostics.

Before doing any more software work on the drive, determine the mfg of your
drive and download and run their diagnostic utility to make sure your drive
isn't going/hasn't gone bad.

 

[John John (MVP)]

How long did you leave the chkdsk run? To disable the chkdsk you will
have to remotely edit the registry and remove the pertinent entry in the
BootExecute value.

How to Cancel CHKDSK After It Has Been Scheduled
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/158675

Easy to follow instructions for remotely editing the registry:
http://www.rwin.ch/xp-live/regedit.htm

John

 

[David B.]

Which hardware diagnostic did you use?

 

[MichaelG]

I can't run the registry editor because I can't load windows xp.

 

[MichaelG]

The diagonostics that come with the machine. It is a Dell Precision 390
workstation with pentium 4 processor. F12 on boot brings you to the machine
diags.

 

[David B.]

As I said, use the drive mfg's diagnostics, Dell's are lacking, on more than
one occasion Dell diags told me a drive was fine when it wasn't.

 

[MichaelG]

Ok, so even if it isn't, how do i bypass check disk so i can get the data
off? That's really all i need to do at this point. I can get a new hard drive
and i was hoping to avoid putting this one in another PC

 

[John John (MVP)]

I know that, that is why I gave you a link to instructions on how to do
it when you can't boot Windows. If you don't want to do it that way
then you will have to boot the computer with a Bart PE disk or a
UBCD4Win disk and have a registry plugin onboard to edit the registry.
Or you will have to perform a parallel Windows XP installation. There
is no other way to remove the BootExecute instructions from the registry
and to cancel Chkdsk on boot... unless you let chkdsk run to a
successful conclusion.

John

 

[Gerry]

Michael

Run Disk CleanUp in all User Profiles before running chkdsk or Disk
Defragmenter. Alternatively run cCleaner.

Stage 4 is checking for bad sectors. If one or more are found the system
will try to map off the sectors as out of bounds. This can take a very
long time. I would set it up to run over night and go to bed early and
get up late. It is not unusual for users to report chkdsk taking more
than 24 hours.

An explanation of CHKDSK and the new /C and /I switches
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/187941

--



Hope this helps.

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

 

[David B.]

At this point I think slaving it on another PC is your best option if that
data is that important. Or you can install a second hard drive and use a
bootable OS like BartPE to do the data copy on the original PC.

 

[MichaelG]

Thanks Gerry,
I actually ran it all weekend and when i came in Monday it was still stuck
on the 66%. I have since taken the hard drive out and put it in another PC. I
defraged it and am no running Check Disk. It is on phase 5 so i am hopeful
that it will finish and i can put it back in the original PC.
I will try the disk Cleanup on the profiles if i get this going.

 

[John John (MVP)]

Before you put it back in the machine you will still have to change the
registry's BootExecute value, if you don't when it boots it will want to
run chkdsk again.

John

 

[db.·.. >]

you can run ckdsk
from the recovery
console via the windows
xp setup cd (any)

while logged into the
disk system you might
also want to run:

fixboot
bootcfg /rebuild
fixmbr

 

[Gerry]

Michael

You can get a report concerning bad sectors from chkdsk. Also you will
likely find file fragments.

The logging of chkdsk operations is through Event Viewer but the
information provided is not very detailed. You can get more information
using chkdsk but in a different way to that which I think you have
tried. Check the hard drive for bad sectors by running chkdsk c: /r. The
omission of /f is deliberate. It will not take so long and just reports.
Post a complete copy of what it says.

Another less intrusive way to investigate your hard drive is to use HD
Tune.

Try HD Tune It only gives information and does not fix any
problems.

Download and run it and see what it turns up. You want HD Tune
(freeware) version 2.55 not HD Tune Pro (not Freeware) version 3.00.
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. Make sure you do a full
surface scan with HD Tune.


--



Hope this helps.

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

 

[Gerry]

"while logged into the disk system you might also want to run:

fixboot
bootcfg /rebuild
fixmbr"

Why?



~~~~


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

 

[Alan]

Hi John,

This is an offshoot question regarding CHKDSK.

Once CHKDSK does start, is there any SAFE way of stopping it?

Alan

 

[John John (MVP)]

No, a chkdsk in progress cannot be safely stopped, you must let it run
its course.

John

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

Please don't hijack this thread. It is quite rude. Start a new one. If you
insist on only John answering, then say so in the Subject. "For John John
MVP -- CHKDSK Question" I'm sure he'll find it, since he'll have read this
and your previous.