Unable to run CHKDSK

 Could anyone help in understanding why chkdsk has suddenly stopped working on my laptop running xp home sp2., NTFS. It has run alongside page defrag for ages okay but when last set :on boot up gave message "cannot open volume for direct access. Have disabled virus protection and diskeeper and any other programme that could be interferring with chkdsk but still get same message. Page defrag starts and runs as normal after chkdsk closes.

  command line: "fsutil dirty query c" says that volume is not dirty.

In registry; BootExecute reads 

autocheck autochk/r\??\C:autocheck autochk *pgdfgsvc C1

chkdsk attempts to run at every boot and then windows loads normally.

Any suggestions on stopping it running at every boot and if possible a repair without new install of xp.

ps I am not running Zone Alarm but Norton 2005 anti virus/ firewall ,PC Doctor, Ad aware SE ,  O&O Diskeeper defrag none of which are new installs all report system clean of any infections

Thanks

Thanks for your response Karl,

Followed everything you said pagedfrag and chkdsk were successfully removed with the machine booting up without the "cannot open volume" message.

Then entered "fsutil dirty set C:" command and message recieved that it was now marked dirty. Re-booted and machine loaded perhaps a little slower but with no sign of chkdsk kicking in. Tried re booting a couple of times but nothing is happening with chkdsk

 Am I right in thinking that a command "fsutil clean set C:" will remove the dirty flag if needed.

Karl if I cannot get chkdsk to operate in your opinion would I have any luck installing a 3rd party repair tool like that in Norton System Works or do you consider the problem would transfer to that programme.

Ps Norton Ghost on machine could this have corrupted anything although not a new install and have tried disabling.

Looking forward to your response

Neil   

 

 

Hello, Neil.

Oops, never experienced the problem that chkdsk would not do its job during the next boot procedure whenever I had executed "fsutil dirty set c:".

You are quite sure there is no screen during the boot phase telling you that one of the drives needs checking, that this check will start in 10 seconds unless you press any key to skip the test?
(So, no, don't press any key, just let the countdown pass by and chkdsk will start.)
No, you are quite sure?! This thing cannot be overlooked by accident.

When chkdsk executes it resets the dirty bit automatically.
But as it does not start on your system, I wonder what the problem is and how to fix it.

I can confirm that there is no "fsutil clean set c:". (Just checked it using "fsutil /?".)

Are you quite sure that your HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\ BootExecute exists, has got the type REG_MULTI_SZ and has got the value "autocheck autochk *"?

You may use regedit to check or autoruns.

Could you export the key and post it here, please?

Hm, I guess maybe some Autocheck option may need investigation / modification.
Will consult WinXP internal help and see if I can find anything useful.

[Added]
Help queried, my suggested procedure is this:

• Make sure the required files are all located in %windir%\system32, please, just to be sure that this is not the cause (I do not think it is.):
  

  C:\WINDOWS\system32 C>dir autochk.exe;fsutil.exe;chkntfs.exe;chkdsk.exe Volume in drive C is laufw_c Serial number is DC52:B8F1 Directory of C:\WINDOWS\system32\autochk.exe;fsutil.exe;chkntfs.exe;chkds k.exe 29.08.2002 13:00.........603.136 autochk.exe 29.08.2002 13:00..........11.776 chkdsk.exe 29.08.2002 13:00..........11.264 chkntfs.exe 29.08.2002 13:00..........59.904 fsutil.exe         686.080 bytes in 4 files and 0 dirs    692.224 bytes allocated



• Make sure that your HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\ BootExecute exists, has got the type REG_MULTI_SZ and has got the value "autocheck autochk *"


• Inside a command prompt launch these commands please:
  chkntfs /d ....... (reset autocheck options to default)
  chkntfs /c C: .... (allow checking drive c:)


• Reboot your machine


• If chkdsk/autochk is not performed, please,
  export HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\BootExecute and post it here.

I do hope that we will manage to get this issue solved.
[/Added]

Karl
(I hate this forum software for inserting random blanks. )

Edited by Karlchen

Hello, mansfield, hello, tjboyd00.

No-one else jumped in who knows what may cause chkdsk not to work during the boot phase and who knows how to fix it.

As stated before I have not experienced this problem myself. The best thing which comes up to my mind is this:
If you have got a bootable Windows system in a CD (BartPE, emergency boot CD's often distributed by computer magazines ...) you could boot your machine from the CD and maybe chkdsk your harddisk manually. This might reveal an unnoticed problem on your harddisk and/or make chkdsk work properly again.

Cannot give warranty of any kind if this is going to do the trick.

Karl

Karlchen,

    I had a problem with with the message Cannot open volume for direct access on startup and did a web search to find out how to get rid of that message.  I came across this forum and read your instructions in this topic. Just wanted to thank you, now the message is gone