Defrag problems!

[Guest davy]

Hi people,

looking for some help.

I am unable to defrag my PC. :shock:

When I try it shows the message:-

"Chkdsk is scheduled to run on the volume ( C: )

please run Chkdsk/f.". :? :?

When I go to start menu/run and type in "Chkdsk/f." it does not run.

If I type in "Chkdsk" it runs but states "warning F parameter is not specified, running CHKDSK in read only mode".

I am running Windows XP Home and have not scheduled anything different to run on startup.

I am also having problems restoring to earlier restore points.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

davy.

[Guest squall]

taken from http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win20...000/t1035158747

Open a command prompt and type "chkdsk /f c:" (or whatever the drive letter is). Then reboot. This should fix it. It has a "dirty bit" set, and chkdsk needs to clear it

[Guest davy]

ian.s,

sorry for being thick :oops: :oops:

how do I open a command prompt?

thanks for the help,

davy

[Guest squall]

oh now your asking,

start /all programs/accessories/comand prompt.

i havent tried this procedure though, just found the wen site :roll:

if you cant get it to work let me know.

[Guest jhew]

Microshaft Windoze, aint it great. All those years of collective programming experience behind them, you'd think they'd of got it right by now. Keeping my fingers x'd for Longhorn, but got the hard drive bubblewrapped (metaphorically) just incase, lol :lol:

[Guest squall]

i was running linux dule boot for a while, but i kept switching to windows as linux couldnt run what i was needing.

ended up giving up.

i will try again when i get back from holidays i thinks.

[Guest Martin@Home]

hehe Microshaft ! LOL

All those millions spent on developing an operating system thats supposed to be in tune with the way the operator thinks, and to shut it down you have to click on the button marked "START" !!! I ask ya :lol:

[Guest jhew]

Must be some form of twisted Seattle logic. But hey, it was designed by *cough* Americans *cough* *cough*, so it stands to reason. Maybe that's why they keep shooting at our boys in the Gulf....keep confusing their start buttons with their stop buttons. :lol:

[Guest squall]

What's the difference between a British and an Iraqi soldier?

Don't know?

Welcome to the United States Airforce

[Guest Martin@Home]

Yeouch ! Expect a response to that one M8 !

<--- Off to hide

[Guest jhew]

LMFAO!!!! Sweet!

[Guest squall]

em anyway defrag................

[Guest davy]

No joy. :shock:

Ran the command prompt as suggested but it came up with "Windows found errors with the file system. Run CHKDSK with the /f (fix) option to correct these".

Tried that and:

"Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to enable this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? y/n".

Hit yes and restarted.

Still don't bl**dy work!! :evil: :evil:

Any ideas people?,

davy.

[Guest jhew]

Davy, does your 'puter try to run chkdsk when you start up your pc?

One thing you could try..... Click on my computer, then right click on your HD and then click on properties. Click the tools tab, then error checking. make sure the 'automatically fix file system errors' box is checked then click start. Should have a message flash up about not being able to check at this time, and would you like to scedule a check for the next time your pc starts, click ok. restart, and chkdsk should start up on it's own. Once it's worked it's 'magic' your pc will reboot you back into XP. Might cure your probs, might not. Let us know.

[Guest Martin@Home]

Try booting in safe mode and running from there ....

[Guest davy]

tools/error checking/automatically fix file system errors did not work. :cry: After restart nothing happened and I opened task manager but could not find chkdsk running. :lol:

I will try booting in safe mode (if I can figure out how to do it!) tonight as I'm off to bed now. Start work at 7am.

Thanks for the help guys.

night night,

davy.

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

Heh. You won't be able to recover the file system if it's in use, and if you're booted into Windows (safe mode or normal) the file system will still be in use ;p

Get your Windows XP CD (yes these exist, and yes you'll need one) and boot off it. Wait for it to finish loading the default drivers nad hit "R" for the Recovery Console. Perform a chkdsk /f from here (this DOS-esque OS is a RAM Drive, so the HDD file system is not in use).

Depending on the amount of data you have and the size of the hard drive this can take anything from 30-60 mnutes to complete, with no guarantee all data will be recovered, eg there is a risk of corruption of files that are recovered. However, I've not had any problems in the past.

Oh and one last point, when you tried putting the chkdsk command into a run dialogue were you entering "chkdsk/f" or "chkdsk /f"?

The former is incorrect, the latter is however, as the space is required for windows to recognise the command.

[Guest davy]

yes i had the space inserted.

i'll try using the recovery

discs (i've got two of them as my pc is an emachine model from pc world)

as you suggest tonight after work.

thanks,

davy.

ps

first post from spv so fingers crossed

[Guest siu99spj]

Be careful with them thar recovery CDs. They're apt to wipe your hard disk and start again (By copying everything off themselves and back onto your HDD, AFTER wiping it).

Mono was meaning an XP CD, thinking you'd done a complete install of XP on your machine yourself, not bought one with XP preinstalled.

Basically, if you get any questions about deleting, removing or formatting things, DON'T SAY YES!!!!

[Guest davy]

In view of the above I think I'll leave it alone for the timebeing.

I still have 31GB of free space (from 37) and the machine runs fast enough.

The only probs I've noticed so far are the inability to defrag and to return to some restore points so it isn't worth the risk of restarting from scratch.

Once again thanks for the help folks.

davy.