Defrag & chkdsk problems - Tried most everything!

[Chris/Power Salad]

I have spent a number of hours this evening Googling and researching
this problem of not being able to Defrag under XP (Home) because it is
asking to run chkdsk /f at the next boot.....I recall successfully
running it not too long ago.

I have tried everything I could find regarding this problem,
including:

chkdsk /f can't lock volume, "Yes" for next boot: No effect.
chkdsk /f /r: Same thing.
Install SP2...No effect, defrag still thinks chkdsk /f is scheduled
for next boot.
Tried booting in Safe mode (Whistler was only option), got black DOS
screen with a bunch of line commands, stuck there. Will try it via
msconfig/Safeboot.
Tried disabling Norton AV, Cryptkey license (whatever it's called)
and other services, no effect.

I am not running Zone Alarm 5. System is an HP Pavilion with (I think)
a P4. I did find out via chkntfs that the "dirty bit" is set but still
no effect at the next boot, defrag will not start.

Am seeing an awful lot of posts with this same exact problem.
Microsoft-site solutions have had no effect as well.

I just searched thru 100,000 posts here looking for any answers - what
has worked for other people unfortunately hasn't worked for me, I am
still unable to get defrag to start on the boot drive (it *WILL*
defrag my 2nd HD however), and chkdsk will not work with "fix" box
checked (never did if I recall right) due to NTFS or something locking
the volume.

Does anyone have anything new they might add to this?

Many thanks in advance!

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Does chkdsk ever run?

 

[Chris/Power Salad]

Does chkdsk ever run?

It would previously run with the "attempt recovery of bad sectors"
option checked but never with the "fix file system errors" checked,
due to the disk being NTFS. It would sometimes run at bootup, except
that I would get the message about not being able to open the disk for
direct access...So I don't know if it is really running properly or
not.

Defrag would always run however, just recently this problem has
surfaced, exactly what I see others having trouble with, except that
for others, running chkdsk at next boot fixed it, or uninstalling
ZoneAlarm5 fixed it, none of this applies to me or has worked. It
still says that chkdsk /f is scheduled to run - please run chkdsk /f,
and it is not indicated anywhere, except that it does say that "C: is
dirty"; even doing the chkntfs has not helped.

Any info appreciated.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Chris,

You stated that the dirty bit is set.

Find out for sure...
Start | Run | Type: cmd | OK
When the command window opens, type or paste:

fsutil dirty query C:

Hit ENTER

This will report whether the dirty bit is set.
You will get one of these...
Volume C: is not dirty
Volume C: is dirty

NTFS has nothing to do with chkdsk running the /f switch. The /f switch
fixes errors on the disk.

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.

[[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.]]

See this >>>
How to Cancel CHKDSK After It Has Been Scheduled
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;158675

If that doesn't straighten things out, then there's a problem with the
drive.

Anything in the Event Viewer related to disk or file system
errors, timeouts, crc errors or parity errors, or anything else that has a
white cross on a red circular background which looks like it relates to disk
errors?

 

[Chris/Power Salad]

You stated that the dirty bit is set.
fsutil dirty query C:

It is indeed.

See this >>>
How to Cancel CHKDSK After It Has Been Scheduled
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;158675

I have done this and chkdsk is now not running at startup - I was able
to run it manually with the "search for bad sectors" option checked.
Trying to run it with "automatically fix errors" brings up the error
that Windows cannot do the check (I guess this is the same as running
chkdsk /f from the command prompt)

If that doesn't straighten things out, then there's a problem with the
drive.
Anything in the Event Viewer related to disk or file system
errors, timeouts, crc errors or parity errors, or anything else that has a
white cross on a red circular background which looks like it relates to disk
errors?

Trying to find something slong those lines - there have been frequent
errors but I have no idea what it means...

The COM+ Event System could not remove the Event System.Event
Subscription object (3 looong hex codes). The HRESULT is 80070005.

This appears to be happening every minute and a half or so.

Still can't run Defrag on my boot drive, which is the crux of my
original post...It will run on my other PCsand on my 2nd HD in the
same PC but not on C:.

Any other insight appreciated, thanks.

 

[Chris/Power Salad]

Still can't run Defrag on my boot drive, which is the crux of my
original post...It will run on my other PCsand on my 2nd HD in the
same PC but not on C:.

Any other insight appreciated, thanks.

Anyone - Still in need of assistance with this, thanks in advance.....

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

Try turning off the Virtual Memory, run the defrag, then turn the VM back
on.

start/run, type sysdm.cpl, advanced tab, performance area, settings button