Author Topic: CHKDISK Halting at 28% During Startup (Read 19653 times)

Steel430 · « **on:** March 22, 2017, 01:05:49 pm »

Hi Folks,

Decided to give Tweaking.com's Windows Repair after seeing it recommended by MajorGeeks.com. Ran through the initial power down steps, etc., did a CHKDISK scan & it said there were errors. Before I went into the CHKDISK repair proper, I selected "yes" when it asked if I wanted to go into Safe Mode before continuing.

Rebooted my laptop and CHKDISK started its runthrough. The program says its "Scanning and Repairing Drive "C:": 28% Complete". However it's stayed at 28% for an hour and fifteen minutes.

Is it actually supposed to take this long for checking one section? I've got an ASUS Q500 laptop running Windows 8. Thanks!

Boggin · « **Reply #1 on:** March 22, 2017, 02:28:07 pm »

Was this a proper chkdsk with either a /f or /r parameter which could only be run on the next reboot before Windows was loaded ?

Running a chkdsk from within the program only runs it in read-only mode.

Open a Command Prompt (Admin) in normal mode then enter chkdsk /f

You'll be prompted to enter y for it to run on the next restart.

Enter shutdown /r /t 00 and wait for it to do its thing after the reboot.

You can read its log in Event Viewer by going Start - type eventvwr and press enter.

When it has read the data, expand Windows Logs - click on Action/Find then type chkdsk or wininit into the Find box and press enter.

Cancel the Find box then read the log in the scrollable window.

Let us know how that proceeds, but why did you feel the need to run the Windows Repair program ?

Steel430 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 22, 2017, 02:48:20 pm »

Your patience with the newbie is much appreciated.

I'm guessing to do what you mentioned, I'll have to turn off the laptop and turn it back on? It's still at 28%.

To answer your comments: "Was this a proper chkdsk with either a /f or /r parameter which could only be run on the next reboot before Windows was loaded?" "Let us know how that proceeds, but why did you feel the need to run the Windows Repair program?"

I ran the repair program because I started with a scan and it said the disk had errors, recommendingI run the repair program after giving me the option to go into Safe mode. I don't remember an /f or /r parameter being given.

Boggin · « **Reply #3 on:** March 22, 2017, 02:57:26 pm »

CTRL+c may stop the chkdsk - otherwise just use the red cross to close the window and restart to get back into normal mode.

This is a known problem with chkdsk in read-only mode.

When it checks the drive and it happens to be checking a file that is currently being written to then it will repair an error when there isnt one.

This could be why it has stuck on 28%.

If you later did a chkdsk /f or /r and got no errors then you are good to go.

Steel430 · « **Reply #4 on:** March 22, 2017, 03:24:35 pm »

Sorry, should've been more clear on which screen I was on (I was about to ask what "red cross" you were talking about).

This disk check isn't happening when I'm still logged in, it's happening after the system rebooted but before the login screen appears.

I've attached a photo for a better example.

Boggin · « **Reply #5 on:** March 22, 2017, 03:36:26 pm »

Sorry - I just meant the cross in the top right corner to close the command window - it usually turns to red when you place your cursor on it.

That looks like it is doing a proper chkdsk at least with a /f parameter if you were prompted to enter y for it to run on the next reboot.

Steel430 · « **Reply #6 on:** March 22, 2017, 04:00:02 pm »

Ok, should I just be sitting tight then till this is done or is there anything else I can do if it's still at 28% tomorrow?

Boggin · « **Reply #7 on:** March 22, 2017, 05:08:55 pm »

Leave it running for now, but what did you enter for the chkdsk to run on the next boot ?

Steel430 · « **Reply #8 on:** March 22, 2017, 06:08:50 pm »

I don't remember other than the program prompting to restart and going into Safe Mode while doing a repair for the issues it found.

EDIT: Apparently patience is indeed a virtue. Just checked my laptop and the log on screen was on. After I logged in, it started in Safe Mode with no issues and and I was able to restart and got it out of Safe Mode.

Again, thanks for your patience!

Boggin · « **Reply #9 on:** March 23, 2017, 02:00:34 am »

Just to ensure everything is okay, open a Command Prompt (Admin) and enter chkdsk /r

You will be prompted to enter y for it to run on the next restart.

Enter shutdown /r /t 00 then let it do its thing after the reboot then follow the steps in my earlier post for how to read the log in Event Viewer.

Hopefully it will report no further action and 0 KB in bad sectors.

Now - did you have a problem that required running Windows Repair or was it just out of curiosity ?

Steel430 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 23, 2017, 05:10:56 am »

Well, I downloaded the program out of curiousity and started going through the steps (power reset, pre-scan) just to see how it'd do and what it'd tweak. When I got to the Check Disk section, I went through Step 1 to see if a Check Disk was needed, and it told me there were errors on the disk and "Check Disk" was needed. I just ran it again (precheck only and did a screenshot.

I checked the log and it starts off with:

"The type of the file system is NTFS. The volume is in use by another process. Chkdsk might report errors when no corruption is present.

WARNING! F parameter not specified. Running CHKDSK in read-only mode."

You'll see the rest of the message in the second screenshot. After reading through some of the info on the Tweaking.com site, I figure it was a false positive.

Boggin · « **Reply #11 on:** March 23, 2017, 05:32:15 am »

When you have other programs open and run a chkdsk in read-only mode, this has a greater chance of reporting an error.

I think it's best to read through the steps and then run a proper chdsk /f or /r, although you can still run a chkdsk in read-only mode on its own as I have done previously where it won't falsely report an error.

Have you run a chkdsk /f or /r as I've suggested ?

Steel430 · « **Reply #12 on:** March 23, 2017, 05:46:01 am »

Yup, just finished with a chkdsk /f, did the shutdown command and it rebooted.

I've got the event viewer open but when I expand Windows Logs, I don't see anything which says "Action/Find". I did type wininit into the Find box and hit enter. Though I do see a file name wininit which comes up, nothing appears when I click on the file directly or hit enter.

Boggin · « **Reply #13 on:** March 23, 2017, 08:42:30 am »

My error for posting in a hurry.

When you expand Windows Logs, click on Application then on Action/Find and type chkdsk or wininit into the Find box and press enter.

Cancel the Find box then read the report in the scrollable pane below - you don't have to click on Wininit in the upper pane.

Steel430 · « **Reply #14 on:** March 23, 2017, 08:53:31 am »

Gotcha.

The Wininit screen says I'm fine (though a couple bad sectors). The ChkDisk screen says there's errors and can't continue. Screenshots below.

I'll go with the false positive for Check Disk.

Boggin · « **Reply #15 on:** March 23, 2017, 02:34:16 pm »

The reason it cannot continue in read-only mode is because it has found corruption due to the 360 KBs in bad sectors - that isn't a false positive.

Open another Command Prompt (Admin) and enter chkdsk /r but you need to create a system image onto external media for when the HDD finally fails.

The chkdsk /r will repair what files it can while preventing any more data being written to those bad sectors.

Read its log after to see what it reports.

I once had a chkdsk /f report 8 KB of bad sectors but after restoring with a system image for another reason, a subsequent chkdsk /f came back clean.

I never understood that because hardware always trumps software,

A scan with the 30 day trial of HD Sentinel confirmed that the HDD was healthy.

You can download the trial version of it from http://www.hdsentinel.com/ by hitting the green download button then uninstall it after to stop the clock on it.

Steel430 · « **Reply #16 on:** March 23, 2017, 07:28:49 pm »

Thanks, I'll check out the HDSentinel when I can.

Ran a Chkdisk /r and I'm right back to it holding at 28% so I'll leave it running overnight.

Steel430 · « **Reply #17 on:** March 24, 2017, 08:57:31 am »

Ok, ran a report and there were a few instances of "Read failure..." followed by "Windows replaced bad clusters in file..." and ended with "adding 4 bad clusters to the Bad Clusters file", Windows had made corrections to the file system and no further action was required.

I also downloaded HD Sentinel and found out I've got 410 days for my hard drive's estimated remaining lifetime, and while it had a 100% performance, it's health was at 52%, so that's good to know.

Boggin · « **Reply #18 on:** March 24, 2017, 10:35:56 am »

Once a HDD starts to fail, it can accelerate so I wouldn't take those ~13 months as gospel.

I'd pre-empt by creating a system image onto external media then get a new HDD.

You will need to change your boot order to be able to boot up with install media to get to the restore with an image option to put the image back onto the new HDD.

There's one good thing came out of running the pre-steps of WR and that is that you have been forewarned of a HDD failure rather than it coming out of the blue and losing all of your data.

Steel430 · « **Reply #19 on:** March 24, 2017, 11:36:52 am »

I'd agree, and I do appreciate your time in this post and tips, especially with HD Sentinel.

Boggin · « **Reply #20 on:** March 24, 2017, 11:43:28 am »

Will you be changing the HDD yourself ?

Steel430 · « **Reply #21 on:** March 25, 2017, 08:47:35 am »

If I've got a year or less, then that's certainly long enough to learn how to image the drive and it's just a matter of switching out the HHD's. Or I might check and see what the latest laptops are like and upgrade. Not sure yet.

Boggin · « **Reply #22 on:** March 25, 2017, 03:08:27 pm »

Scroll down to Method 2 in this article for how to create a system image onto external media -

https://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/8956-system-image-create-windows-8-a.html

This is how I create my system images onto an external HDD.

You will also need to create system repair disk to boot up with to get to the recovery environment to select restore with an image I created earlier, or however Win 8 words it -

https://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2855-system-repair-disc-create-windows-8-a.html

Before your HDD fails, you will need to change the boot order in the BIOS so that it checks the DVD drive before the HDD in order to boot up with the repair disk.

If you get to the stage where the laptop won't boot up, there's a pin hole in the DVD drawer that you can waggle a needle or straightened paper clip which will pop open the drawer.

Insert the repair disk then switch on where you'll be momentarily prompted to press any key to boot from CD/DVD.

Steel430 · « **Reply #23 on:** March 25, 2017, 06:42:13 pm »

Thanks for the info. I think it's coming to the point where I need to take my laptop out to the back and shoot it.

I'd left my computer on when I stepped out and it'd shut down automatically at some point. Turned it back on and the login screen came on but I couldn't type the password for whatever reason and when I tried to restart by clicking on the option in the lower right corner, nothing happened. So I turned the power off & back on and the ASUS screen shows up, then the screen went black. After 5 minutes and nothing happening, I restart the laptop. The ASUS screen comes back with some type on the bottom stating it's going into "Diagnosing the PC", then switches to "Automatic Repair" to fix the disk.

Then I get a screen of options since Automatic Repair didn't fix the issue. Since one was the Command Prompt option, I clicked on that to try Chkdisk /r, which didn't work since it had a system32 prompt, not the admin,. Tried a system restore but there's supposedly no restore points even though I'd created one. I'm trying Automatic Repair one last time before doing a system refresh. I hate to reload all my programs but might have to.

So basically this laptop seems to be farked.

Boggin · « **Reply #24 on:** March 26, 2017, 02:37:44 am »

When you are in the cmd prompt in that mode you have to direct the chkdsk to the volume.

While it is normally C: - Windows may see it as being in D: so you would first need to enter this cmd -

bcdedit |find "osdevice"

That is a Pipe symbol before find which is the uppercase of \

Assuming that it is C: you would enter chkdsk c: /r

From whatever you get when you have the machine switched on, does CTRL+ALT+DEL get you the option to choose Task Manager ?

If it does, then click on File/Run new task and enter eventvwr - check the box to run the task as an admin - OK

When the Event Viewer opens, ensure Event Viewer (Local) is highlighted in the left pane and when the sections come up, check to see if Critical gives you anything other than an Event ID 41 - that just tells you what you already know and is useless.

If that's all it gives then see what events Errors gives you.

Using Task Manager you can also use it to open a cmd prompt admin by typing cmd.exe in the Run new task box and also checking the box to run new task as an admin.

I don't know if you would be able to enter this cmd from the recovery cmd prompt, but see if you can boot it up into Safe Mode with Networking with these cmds.

At the cmd prompt enter bcdedit

You are looking for the Identifier which can either be {default} or {current}

Then enter bcdedit /set {your identifier} safeboot network

Enter exit to close the cmd window then restart.

Hopefully that will boot you to Safe Mode with Networking but you will need to wire up to get Internet connectivity.

If you can get that far then I want you to download BlueScreenView which will analyze your Memory Dump files to see if it can ID what caused the shutdown.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

If you can get into that mode and a simple Restart doesn't get you back to normal mode, then from a cmd prompt admin enter -

bcdedit /deletevalue {your identifier} safeboot

exit

Then restart, but if the machine will only work in Safe Mode for the moment then, you will need to work in that mode.

If the HDD has further deteriorated then it could have damaged drivers, which BlueScreenView should highlight.

BTW - What are you using to post on ?