What's a disk consistency check?

[Virgil Smith]

When I start up my Win 2k Pro system lately the normal boot process will
often stop and display a message that the hard disk needs to be "checked for
consistency". It then goes on to "verify files and folders". So far, no
errors have been found and after this it continues to boot up normally.

I have acouple of questions about this:

1) The disk being checked for consistency with what?

2) Is this a sign that the disk drive is developing problems, and should I
think of replacing it, and re-installing everything before it goes belly up?

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Virgil Smith" <[email protected]>

| When I start up my Win 2k Pro system lately the normal boot process will
| often stop and display a message that the hard disk needs to be "checked for
| consistency". It then goes on to "verify files and folders". So far, no
| errors have been found and after this it continues to boot up normally.
|
| I have acouple of questions about this:
|
| 1) The disk being checked for consistency with what?
|
| 2) Is this a sign that the disk drive is developing problems, and should I
| think of replacing it, and re-installing everything before it goes belly up?
|
| Thanks for any suggestions.
|


Go to the hard disk manufacturer's web site and download their diagnostic software
respective to your hard disk. After the test, you will know if the hard disk is bad or
not..

Quantum/Maxtor - PowerMax
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm

Western Digital - Data LifeGuard Tools (DLGDiag)
http://support.wdc.com/download/

Hitachi/IBM - Drive Fitness Test (DFT)
http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

Seagate - SeaTools
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/

Fujitsu - Diagnostic Tool
http://www.fcpa.com/download/hard-drives/

Samsung - Disk manager
http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/shdiag.htm

 

[Dan Seur]

Mr. Lipman's reply is very helpful; it's a neat list of where to get
drive diagnostics, and lots of folks will probably copy/paste it into
their personal bibles.

The disk consistency check is what chkdsk does; it's a test for
integrity of the file structures and files themselves on a partition.

What the message you're seeing means is that during the OS boot process
the OS examination of resources found an anomaly of some kind on one or
more partitions. Run chkdsk on all of them; then run chkdsk /f on the
one(s) reported as problematic. You may not have to replace your hard
drive after all.

 

[Virgil Smith]

Thanks for the good idea and for the list. I'll give it a try.

-vs-

 

[Guest]

Mr. Lipman's reply is very helpful; it's a neat list of where to get
drive diagnostics, and lots of folks will probably copy/paste it into
their personal bibles.

The disk consistency check is what chkdsk does; it's a test for
integrity of the file structures and files themselves on a partition.

What the message you're seeing means is that during the OS boot process
the OS examination of resources found an anomaly of some kind on one or
more partitions. Run chkdsk on all of them; then run chkdsk /f on the
one(s) reported as problematic. You may not have to replace your hard
drive after all.

This is similar to a problem I am having, but mine is apparently more
developed. I was trying to set up some networking stuff, and got a particular
error. I looked up that error, and found that I might need an update to SQL
Server. I tried to download that update, but had to get the 2000 Server SP4
before it would work. After installing the service pack, I restarted to
finish installation.

At this point, I got the consistency check problem. The biggest problem was
that after the consistency check was done, it was in a loop of trying to
startup Windows, but having to check the consistency. If I stopped the
consistency check, I got a blue screen of death, telling me to uninstall any
new software, run chkdsk /f, and to start in safe mode.

I tried to start in all three different safe modes, in the last known good
configuration, and another of the startup options. None of them worked. Next
I went into the BIOS, and tried to load the original Fail-Safe config., but
that did not work either. I also did a scandisk from the BIOS setup screen. I
changed the BIOS to allow Boot from CD, and did so from my Norton AV. The
virus check was negative.

At one point in this process, the blue screen also said something about a
bad driver.

The next thing I tried, was to boot from an old NT CD. It was version 4 if
that matters. It would not let me install because it could not locate a Hard
Disk. The guy who works on our MAC's thought it might be that the old NT
could not communicate with an IDE Hard Disk. I was under the impression, that
the OS does not need to have any inherrent ability to communicate to a
certain type of hard drive, but that the motherboard determines what type of
drive may be used.

So, it comes down to the final question. Is our hard drive corrupt? Is there
some driver stored in Cache that is bad? Is there something wrong with our
motherboard, or a cable in-between it and the hard disk? I am really in over
my head on this one. Thanks for any help.

James

 

[Dan Seur]

You've named the likely causes:

- check whether BIOS sees that hard drive. If it does, the mainboard is
likely OK. If not, either the board or the drive might have a problem.

- open the case and check ALL cable and other connections. If you have
spare cables try substitutions.

- the mainboard needs a good driver to use any type of hard drive.
Drivers are all stored on the hard drive. If the hard drive develops a
bad spot where the driver is kept, the driver (a long string of bits) is
kerblooie.

- get the drive manufacturer's diagnostic & run it. It will be a
bootable DOS-based 3.5" diskette, created with a downloadable image.

- pull the drive out, mount it in another machine as a data drive, and
see if that PC can see/use the drive. If it can, and the diagnostic
above reports no problem, you likely have a mainboard or cabling problem.

IF ANYONE OPENED THE CASE RECENTLY, ESPECIALLY TO INSTALL/REMOVE
HARDWARE, CHECK THOSE CABLES AND CONNECTORS AND DIP SWITCHES.

 

[Guest]

Thank You very much. I will be checking out which way works.
James

 

[Guest]

I tried to boot from the Seagate Diagnostic Disk, but it did not work. I
checjed the disk on another PC, and it does boot. I think there might be
something wrong with my BIOS. It shows that the floppy drive is not
installed, but the light on the drive comes on at startup. I also tried to
set the BIOS to not boot from the hard disk, but it still did. Is my BIOS
corrupt, or do you think it is something else.
Thank You.

 

[Dan Seur]

Floppy drives are very cheap. I'd replace that drive first, before
concluding the BIOS or mobo is bad. It never hurts to have a spare
floppy drive anyway. Around $15 is my guess.

All the drive light means is that the drive is getting power and BIOS is
checking it; apparently it flunks the check.

BIOS will then try the next named boot device on the list.

Don't neglect to check both ends of the floppy drive cable for a tight
and properly aligned connection.