CHKDSK at boot exits prematurely

See system details in my profile system spec.
The title does not explain it all. Hopefully I posted on the correct board.

Background Info:
HDD has been slowly failing since I first bought the laptop 2.5 years ago.
RECENTLY, I tried "chkdsk /B" to see if any of the many bad sectors were actually ok. When I let chkdsk run or when I run manually via cmd/GUI, the boot scan always skips stage 3, 4, and 5.

At the end of Stage 2 of 5, it prints "..." and then screen clears and OS continues booting. When I look in Event Viewer -> Windows Logs -> Application for "Wininit" chkdsk log, the last one shown is the "chkdsk /B" that finished properly.​

I know there are still problems in the filesystem and bad sectors, but I can't get chkdsk to finish properly.

Any solutions other than replacing HDD or reinstall Windows?

P.S. The HDD has 2 partitions: system and recovery. The system is marked dirty and the recovery is not. chkdsk on the recovery partition runs completely with no problem.

Check out the following tutorial: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/130824-chkdsk-will-not-run-startup-vista.html (which is for the opposite problem, but step 3 (and maybe step 4 depending on what you find) should fix this problem).

If that doesn't work (but it should), boot into the Recovery Environment on the genuine Vista Installation disk. If you don't have a genuine Vista Installation disk, you can make a bootable Recovery Disk using http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/ along with burning software like: http://www.snapfiles.com/get/active-isoburner.html and, of course, a blank CD. To boot to the CD you may need to change the BIOS to make the CD-drive first in the boot sequence. To do that, wait for the screen that tells you the F key to push to access the boot menu or boot setup. Push it quickly. Make the changes, save your work, and exit. Put the CD in the drive and reboot. When prompted, push any key to boot from the CD.

Navigate to Command Prompt. Type chkdsk /f /r C: and enter and let it run. If it finishes and fixes the problems, the drive should be marked clean and should no longer run chkdsk at every startup. If the command doesn't work, type cd C:\Windows\System32 and enter. Then type chkdsk /f /r and enter. It will want to schedule itself to run at the next restart. Answer yes and then reboot to run the program. It will scan and try to fix any corruption or bad sectors on your hard drive. If it fixes the problems, it should remove the indication the drive is dirty and end the constant chkdsk running at startup. If it fails to run or to complete, your hard disk may be more damaged or corrupt than it can handle or repair.

Considering the chkdsk problems, let's test your hard drive for hardware problems:

To test your hard drive, check the manufacturer and then get the diagnostic utility from: http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/hard-drive-support/302602-hard-drive-diagnostic-utilities.html (and/or get one from your hard drive or computer manufacturer if they have one available – it wouldn’t hurt to try both). If it fails the test, replace it. If it passes the test, then there's probably nothing wrong with it.

I hope this helps. If not, post back with results and we'll see where to go from there.

Good luck!

Lorien said:

Check out the following tutorial: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/130824-chkdsk-will-not-run-startup-vista.html (which is for the opposite problem, but step 3 (and maybe step 4 depending on what you find) should fix this problem).

Click to expand...

Yes, I looked at that tutorial before, but didn't see how it applied to my problem.
Regardless, I tried step 3: I checked in registry and it was "autocheck autochk *" which will only perform a check if a disk is marked dirty (which it is, as noted in my initial post), so of course I still have autochk on boot.
I then tried step 4: I replaced the existing autochk.exe, but that only made things worse (caused an infinite hang on the boot autochk instead of simply exit prematurely).

Lorien said:

If that doesn't work (but it should), boot into the Recovery Environment on the genuine Vista Installation disk. If you don't have a genuine Vista Installation disk, you can make a bootable Recovery Disk using Windows Vista Recovery Disc Download — The NeoSmart Files along with burning software like: Active ISO Burner Freeware - free software download and software review - burn ISO images to CD or DVD from SnapFiles and, of course, a blank CD. To boot to the CD you may need to change the BIOS to make the CD-drive first in the boot sequence. To do that, wait for the screen that tells you the F key to push to access the boot menu or boot setup. Push it quickly. Make the changes, save your work, and exit. Put the CD in the drive and reboot. When prompted, push any key to boot from the CD.
Navigate to Command Prompt. Type chkdsk /f /r C: and enter and let it run. If it finishes and fixes the problems, the drive should be marked clean and should no longer run chkdsk at every startup. If the command doesn't work, type cd C:\Windows\System32 and enter. Then type chkdsk /f /r and enter. It will want to schedule itself to run at the next restart. Answer yes and then reboot to run the program. It will scan and try to fix any corruption or bad sectors on your hard drive. If it fixes the problems, it should remove the indication the drive is dirty and end the constant chkdsk running at startup. If it fails to run or to complete, your hard disk may be more damaged or corrupt than it can handle or repair.

Click to expand...

This actually helped, sorta.
Using the recovery cd terminal allowed me to see exactly where chkdsk was running into trouble without having the screen cleared instantly.
The problem occurs at shortly after (808576 of 937396 index entries processed) during stage 2.
I don't know of anyway to use this new information, but maybe you or someone else will.

Lorien said:

Considering the chkdsk problems, let's test your hard drive for hardware problems:

To test your hard drive, check the manufacturer and then get the diagnostic utility from: Tech Support Forum (and/or get one from your hard drive or computer manufacturer if they have one available – it wouldn’t hurt to try both). If it fails the test, replace it. If it passes the test, then there's probably nothing wrong with it.

Click to expand...

[del]Seagate's tool is MaxBlast.[/del] I must be going brain dead, I guess my memory is as good as my HDD right now; Seagate's tool is SeaTools. I ran it when I first started understanding the problem 1 year ago, and it told me what I already knew: the HDD had "something" wrong with it, but the only detail it provided was an error code that was only useful if the HDD was under warranty by Seagate (which it wasn't, being prepackaged and all). I run SeaTools after most HDD freezes and have found many bad sectors over the lifetime of this HDD; all of them were "repaired".

Hi,

Try this Software tool, it maybe able to correct the errors.

Dmitriy Primochenko Online

Lottiemansion said:

Hi,

Try this CD tool (Burn image to a CD & boot from it), it maybe able to correct the erorrs.

Click to expand...

What is the full name and version of this program (and the website if you have it) and where did you get it? Forum guidelines (not sure if it is an actual rule - actually it is rule #14) is to only provide links to locations where one can download programs and not provide the programs themselves (that way it is safer for everyone as one gets to see information about the program and the company and such before deciding to use what is otherwise an unknown program). It also verifies that the program is legitimate and from legitimate sources. This is all the more important here where you can't just open the program to view information before running it but need to boot to a disk and I don't know if it gives you any details first, or gives you any choices or options or ways to cancel or if it just runs doing whatever it does.

Thanks!

================================================

@ HeapUnlinkify,

Check out the following articles and see if any provide any help or hints in how to stop the process. We'll worry about the fact that it can't complete later - but it's most likely becaue the drive which has been shown to have problems seems to be having even more now and it may be time to consider a replacement (but let's tackle one step at a time):

Disable or Stop Auto CHKDSK During Windows Startup - scroll down to it.
http://rahuldpatel.wordpress.com/2008/11/22/

How Do I Prevent CHKDSK From Running Every Time My PC Starts?
http://www.ocmodshop.com/ocmodshop.aspx?a=874

Video: Stop Check Disk from constantly running when Windows Vista starts
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/itdojo/?p=193

ChkDsk Runs On Every StartUp in Windows.
http://www.winvistaclub.com/t20.html

I hope this helps.

Good luck!

Hi Lorien & all,

Sorry if I've made a mistake by uploading the ISO image I created from downloading the older version of this software: -

Dmitriy Primochenko Online

Obviously, I will remove the software & let others decide if they need or want it.

Lorien said:

Check out the following articles and see if any provide any help or hints in how to stop the process. We'll worry about the fact that it can't complete later - but it's most likely becaue the drive which has been shown to have problems seems to be having even more now and it may be time to consider a replacement (but let's tackle one step at a time):

Click to expand...

Okay. All of those articles/guides repeat essentially the same thing: "chkntfs /x c:" will tell autochk to ignore the drive even if its dirty bit is set.
This follows with what I said in my initial post...

HeapUnlinkify said:

This means chkdsk runs at every boot unless I use "chkntfs /x c:".

Click to expand...

So yes, this does stop autochk/chkdsk on boot.
Additionally, those guides suggest running chkdsk afterwards to unset the dirty bit, but of course, that doesn't apply to my case.

As a side note: SeaTools found and "fixed" 1 bad sector, but that did not help autochk or chkdsk complete at all.

Seatools has a new version since you tried a year ago (I think it's 9/17/10 and version 1.2.0.4)
available at: SeaTools for Windows | Seagate. Please download and see if this new version tells us anything we don't already know (and give me the code if that's all it provides again in case I can find a way to identify the meaning).

There is no way I can find to turn off the dirty bit permanently (you know the temporary method to avoid it running at the next startup) but there's no way to stop it from happening every time except by completely and successfully running chkdsk /f /r somehow - and even using the disk didn't work (though it did show us the problem which is not something we can fix as it merely identifies a section of the hard drive where the program cannot continue). The fact that it will not complete strongly suggests it is a problem with the hard drive that even chkdsk cannot fix (and can't even get past) or possibly there's a problem with the chkdsk program (and we'll check for that shortly).

If Seatools doesn't help (or continues to report a problem but not enough to figure out what it is exactly), then I suggest we try to check your system files to see if there's a problem with chkdsk and that maybe it can be repaired and allow chkdsk to run.

Go to Start / All Programs / Accessories / Command prompt and right click on command prompt and click run as Administrator.

Type sfc /scannow and enter and let it run. It will scan and try to fix some of your system files. Hopefully it will complete with no corruption it could not repair (if there is such corruption post back here or try to analyze it to find the problem file(s) using http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928228. Try to attach the sftreport.txt file (you may need to copy it to your desktop before it will permit you to attach it) here so we can see if they can be repaired with good copies from the installation disk (unless there are too many).

I hope this helps.

Good luck!

Lorien said:

Seatools has a new version since you tried a year ago (I think it's 9/17/10 and version 1.2.0.4)
available at: SeaTools for Windows | Seagate. Please download and see if this new version tells us anything we don't already know (and give me the code if that's all it provides again in case I can find a way to identify the meaning).

Click to expand...

I used Ultimate Boot CD's SeaTools for DOS v2.2.0 in the past and recently.
I tried SeaTools for DOS v2.2.2, but no errors were found. (took 2 hours)
I tried SeaTools for Windows v1.2.0.4, but no errors were found. (took 5 hours)

Lorien said:

There is no way I can find to turn off the dirty bit permanently (you know the temporary method to avoid it running at the next startup) but there's no way to stop it from happening every time except by completely and successfully running chkdsk /f /r somehow - and even using the disk didn't work (though it did show us the problem which is not something we can fix as it merely identifies a section of the hard drive where the program cannot continue). The fact that it will not complete strongly suggests it is a problem with the hard drive that even chkdsk cannot fix (and can't even get past) or possibly there's a problem with the chkdsk program (and we'll check for that shortly).

Click to expand...

Yea, I have also been searching online for a method of resetting the dirty bit. All references that I can find go unsolved with no real answer.

Lorien said:

If Seatools doesn't help (or continues to report a problem but not enough to figure out what it is exactly), then I suggest we try to check your system files to see if there's a problem with chkdsk and that maybe it can be repaired and allow chkdsk to run.

Go to Start / All Programs / Accessories / Command prompt and right click on command prompt and click run as Administrator.

Type sfc /scannow and enter and let it run. It will scan and try to fix some of your system files. Hopefully it will complete with no corruption it could not repair (if there is such corruption post back here or try to analyze it to find the problem file(s) using http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928228. Try to attach the sftreport.txt file (you may need to copy it to your desktop before it will permit you to attach it) here so we can see if they can be repaired with good copies from the installation disk (unless there are too many).

Click to expand...

I am on a different computer currently, so I will paraphrase...

"C:\Windows\System32\cscdll.dll" v6.0.6001.18000 of Microsoft-Windows-OfflineFiles-Win32-APIs, ..., hash mismatch

repaired by copying from backup/from store​

"C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\settings.ini" v6.0.6001.18000 of Microsoft-Windows-Sidebar, ..., hash mismatch

component referenced by "Package_20_for_KB936330~31bf3856ad364e35-amd64~~6.0.1.18000.936330-33_neutral_GDR"
could not reproject corrupted file; source file in store is also corrupted​

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Photo Gallery\en-US\PhotoViewer.dll.mui" v6.0.6000.16386 of Microsoft-Windows-PhotoViewer.Resources

component referenced by "Microsoft-Windows-PhotoPremiumPackage~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~en-US~6.0.6000.16386.PhotoPremiumUpdate
could not reproject corrupted file; source file in store is also corrupted​

All files and registry keys listed in this transaction have been successfully repaired.

The last line raises confusion for me because it appears that 2 files, which I have no use for (I do not use Windows Sidebar or Windows PhotoViewer), could not be repaired.

Lottiemansion said:

Hi,
Try this Software tool, it maybe able to correct the errors.
Dmitriy Primochenko Online

Click to expand...

Just to clarify, I have not ignored this post.
Reviews of this software are very mixed and very limited. Some praising it as a magic utility, some indicating irreversible damage from the utility's repair process, and some claiming it is garbage that has no benefit.
With such a utility where the creators seem questionable, I can only use reviews as a guide. With the reviews and comments that I have found, the software does not seem to fit my situation.

My failing HDD has been cloned to an external USB HDD as of 2 weeks ago and I have ensured that the bad sector listings were reset. Ideally, I would boot from this external USB HDD, but every discussion I have read on the subject resulted in everyone giving up.
On top of this, I still have access to all critically important files currently on the HDD. I have not simply replaced my failing HDD because my laptop is partially covered by wear & defect insurance (not by the manufacturer), and hardware modification will void this insurance. However, to make a claim on the insurance requires a minimum of 2 weeks, which I do not have currently. So, I am attempting to get by for at least another month with what I have.

HeapUnlinkify said:

Lottiemansion said:

Hi,
Try this Software tool, it maybe able to correct the errors.
Dmitriy Primochenko Online

Click to expand...

Just to clarify, I have not ignored this post.

Click to expand...

Hi,

Look here for inforamtion on reseting the "Bad marker" on a repaired drive: -

http://majorgeeks.com/HDD_Regenerator_d5235.html

Please note the final statement of the link regarding re-partioning the drive: -

Reviews of this software Important notes

Since the program does not change the logical structure of a hard drive, the file system may still show some sectors marked earlier as "bad", and other disk utilities such as Scandisk will detect logical bad sectors even though the disk has been successfully regenerated and is no longer damaged by physical bad sectors. If you want to remove these marks, repartition the hard disk drive

I cloned the failing HDD one last time.
Now the clone crashes chkdsk.:sa:
Thoughts?
There were no physical errors on the clone before cloning, and all previous clones have not had this problem.

This leads me to believe that chkdsk itself has some fatal flaw that rears its ugly head when looking at certain sector data.

Hi,

I would beg to differ I think.

I think it means you original drive is getting worse & the cloned data is defective, hence the data is corrupted & you now crash with this disk.

What are your thoughts on a user data only backup & fresh install. Provided it can be done & it is good!

Then reinstate your user data files (from a good backup) & install your software etc. etc.

Lottiemansion said:

I think it means you original drive is getting worse & the cloned data is defective, hence the data is corrupted & you now crash with this disk.

Click to expand...

Well yes. The flaw of chkdsk is the inability to handle corrupted NTFS gracefully. I have no problem accessing the data on the disk, so it is frustrating that chkdsk is so weak when it comes to repairing the seemingly unbeatable corruptions.


My horribly failing Seagate was replaced with a refurbished Toshiba by the insurance warranty obligor.
The cloned partitions that were saved on an external backup HDD were restored to the "new" HDD.
I attempted to boot from the "new" HDD and got a blank black screen.
Vista Install disc auto-repair was attempted but failed.
Running chkdsk was attempted but failed.
I will skip to the good part; here is my final solution (some steps might have been unnecessary):

• Rebuilt BCD using bootrec in Vista Install Recovery disc
• Repaired MFT & Boot Sector Backups, Rebuilt Boot Sector using TestDisk in PartedMagic
• Repaired NTFS using chkdsk scan w/o fix, then w/ fix, then w/ bad sector reevaluation in Vista Install Recovery disc
• Repaired MFT & Boot Sector using Auto-Repair in Vista Install Recovery disc

So, I can finally boot back into my precious.
Now I just need to repair the Vista install and misc programs using Recovery disks, etc.
Most might think I am crazy to repair a Vista install that now has more holes in it than swiss cheese, but I have grown attached to this sick and bloated monster of an OS.


P.S. What is the standard procedure (if any) for restoring corrupted or missing system files? A fresh Vista install is out of the question due to time constraints.


Edit: Hahahahahahahahaha. Trying to repair a corrupted Vista install was a stupid idea on my part. OS Services quickly started going awry. Finally, RPC ("Remote Procedure Call" the glue that holds everything together in Vista) failed to start properly; this resulted in the OS acting almost like the Pre-installation Environment minus the network connectivity.
Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. I gave up and did a fresh install of Vista.