Partition Magic Error 1516: Partition Improperly Dismounted

R

Ray

When I performed a check using PM8, it gave me error #1516 - Partition
improperly dismounted. Of course, the solution is to run chkdsk /f,
which is
a near impossibility under XP (unless I'm missing something here...) I
did
find what sounds like a nice utility for performing DOS-like operations
on
NTFS filesystems and I'm going to give that a try tonight. Now if I
could
only figure out how this happened in the first place...

Haplo is not alone. During the past two days, I have been struggling
with this error message. It seems that a number of posters, to this
group and elsewhere, have been unable to get past this error and have
had to wipe their partitions (and have even tried low-level
reformatting!) and start over.

For future reference, I have some additional insight into one source of
this error message, and one possible workaround, for those who are
still using PartitionMagic and who are as baffled by error #1516 as I
have been.

For me, the problem began when I scheduled a disk check in Windows XP,
using either Computer Management or a right-click on the drive name in
Windows Explorer followed by Properties > Tools > Check Now >
Automatically fix file system errors. This yielded a dialog containing
this message:

"The disk check could not be performed because the disk check utility
needs exclusive access to some Windows files on the disk. These files
can be accessed only by restarting Windows. Do you want to schedule
this disk check to occur the next time you restart the computer?"

I indicated yes, and rebooted. After the initial BIOS check, I got the
Windows XP logo, followed by a largely blue screen with roughly these
words: "Checking file system on C:
A disk check has been scheduled." I let it go through its disk check.
It froze after saying, "Windows has finished checking the disk." To
get out of that, I hit the reset button on the computer.

Once I reach that point, I am in a cycle where the system behaves the
same after each reboot. It checks the BIOS and then gives me a screen
containing several boot options: Safe Mode (including "with
Networking" and "with Command Prompt" options), Last Known Good
Configuration, and Start Windows Normally.

I get to that same place each time, regardless of whether I allow the
disk check to proceed (followed by the aforementioned freeze after
completion of disk checking) or hit a key to skip the disk check. In
the latter case, it immediately reboots instead of proceeding on to
allow Windows to boot normally.

(On my machine, Safe Mode is not currently an option. My system hangs
after loading AGP440.SYS. I am researching this issue.)

If I choose nothing, it defaults to the Start Windows Normally option.
Regardless of whether I choose that option or accept it by default, I
find myself back at the blue screen with the "Checking file system on
C:" message, which tells me that hitting a key to skip the check, on
the previous go-round, did not really skip the check.

When booting, you can press F8 (or some other key -- see your
computer's documentation) shortly after the system has detected your
hard drive(s). This brings up those same options (e.g., Safe Mode,
Start Windows Normally) plus a few others (e.g., Enable Boot Logging,
Debugging Mode).

When booting, you can hit a key (DEL, on my machine) and go into your
BIOS. There, you can set your machine to boot from the CD before it
tries booting from the hard drive. With that setting in place, you can
boot from the Partition Magic 8.0 CD, if you have one. PartitionMagic
("PM") gives you the option of selecting the drive and then going into
Operations > Check for Errors. This is where I see Error 1516,
"Partition improperly dismounted."

You can reboot with the Windows XP CD and go into the Recovery Console,
as many people wrestling with this problem have recommended. To go
into Recovery Console, the XP CD boot process will take you through the
Windows Setup screen to the Windows XP Home Edition Setup screen.
There, you will see the option, "To repair a Windows XP installation
using Recovery Console, press R." This gives you a prompt where you
have to enter the number of your Windows installation, which in my case
is 1, and hit Enter. This puts you at a prompt like, "C:\WINDOWS>"
where you can enter other commands. To see what commands are
available, type HELP and hit Enter. To see how one of those commands
works, type the command followed by /? like this: CHKDSK /?

What I spent a lot of time doing, this weekend, was running CHKDSK /R
as advised by a number of newsgroup posts. People said I might have to
do it twice, maybe even three or four times. Each time, on my 25GB
partition, takes about a half-hour, so this little part of the process
can eat into your weekend. You may notice some funky behavior, like
where it counts up to 75% and then goes back to 50%. I thought the
thing was sorting out confusion on my disk, and that this funky
behavior would eventually cease; but even after a half-dozen runs of
CHKDSK /R, it was still behaving the same.

(When finished, type EXIT at the prompt to get out of Recovery
Console.)

After running CHKDSK /R and then rebooting into the PartitionMagic CD,
you may see, as I did, that the 1516 error was still there. In other
words, CHKDSK did not solve the problem. It may be handy to know how
to use the Recovery Console, but it is not the solution here.

Running CHKDSK /R from the Recovery Console did not even satisfy my
system that I had now completed the disk check that I had scheduled way
back when, when my system was still functioning normally and I was
happily telling "Properties > Tools > Check Now > Automatically fix
file system errors" to go ahead and schedule a disk check to run after
reboot. Instead, it reboots, runs you through the option of choosing
Safe Mode etc., and takes you right back to the announcement that the
system is "Checking file system on C:"

The way out of this mess is to choose the Last Known Good Configuration
option after rebooting. As noted, it should come up automatically once
you have entered into this little cycle; but if it doesn't, you can get
it by hitting F8 shortly after reboot, after the BIOS has identified
your hard drive(s). In my experience, this allows a normal boot into
Windows XP; and after you have achieved that boot, you will find that
reboots no longer attempt to conduct a disk check. Basically, the Last
Known Good Configuration option seems to cancel out the earlier request
to run a disk check.

This brings us back to the original mission, which was to run a disk
check. Conveniently, we did achieve that, in the course of spending
all that time running CHKDSK /R in the Recovery Console. The Recovery
Console does not seem to allow batching of these disk checks, so if you
have multiple partitions, or large ones, at present it seems you can
kiss goodbye the approach of running them overnight and waking to find
your system all set to go.
 
C

cobalt

Hello.

First of all i would have to guess your utilizing NTFS.

Recently i ran into the same problem but with a twist that stump man
techies and gives me a migrane.

The same error occurs , and we changed the pws and the hard drive to
nice new reliable seagate.

The chkdsk /f or /r trick works> However it 's temporary.

Like you the error never completely disapears, unless fat32 partitio
is used.

Here is an observation. On many of these cases pressing reset a fe
times (booting each time) tended to get things going again.

It's almost as if it was waiting to warm up... Creepy.

Now the Motherboard this partion dismounting was happening on is a
ASROCK k7s41 (cheapy).

Here is a clincher. One can restart over and over again with n
problems. However if the system is off for more than perhaps 2 minute
the dismounting
error occurs when you restart. This also affects fat32 but block
access to files on the HD but does not dismount. Reset a few times an
it works perfectly once again.

Bios & drivers are up to date.

Now as for my theory, and don't laugh. I think that for windows cause
1516 partition errors are caused by not bing able to close all th
files on the HD before the system pws shuts down.

However it does not solve my powered off partition dismounting /h
sector mis-reading problem.

I know that the follwoing hints are unconventional. However this ntf
partion unmounting problem has been around for so long and no permanen
solution as yet.

Hint1:
This might help but it has to be tried by others as well.

Set your XP virtual memory (control panel /system/advanced) to
smaller size, perhaps half of what it is. You can put it back after.

reboot xp , run the CMD and chkdsk /f /r through windows and then shu
down.

Re-boot again and then shut down.

Boot in PM8 and run a check to see if the error is back.

Hint2:

Try software that slows down windows shut down/restart and clear
page files, e.t.c.


Hint3: Check your Ram memory, even swap it out if necessary.


Hint4: disable; suspend or hibernate function (reboot) the rebeet i
pm8

Now point of fact.

I've never had this partition problem with IWILL or EPOX motherboards.

Which leads me to beleive that there is some functions that are goin
too fast (windows shutting down too fast) and not completeing it'
writing the the HD.

I know that the Asus sk8v (s940) also has simular problmes , softwar
didn't have time to shut down before windows power off functio
completed
 

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