OT-Does anybody know why Scandisk wouldn't opperate correctly?

[Maximus]

I'm having a problem running Scandisk on one of my HDD partitions, namely the C:\ Partition. It works on the D:\ partition.

It hangs when it starts to check the File Allocation table.

Therefore, Disk Defrag hangs also in its Error Check phase.

I called my Tech Support and am waiting for a callback.

[coralsaw]

Maximus,

Obviously, I'm talking from previous experience and don't know what is really wrong.

It could be a defective surface (physical failure) or a low level format failure.

I strongly suggest you back up your important docs and datafiles to other disks, diskettes etc, just in case (not on the D: drive, if it is a partition rather than a different physical drive).

Regards

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I feel like I'm standing in front of the monkey cage at the zoo. - HiramS

[therontmoore]

you might have better luck by restarting your computer in "safe mode" and then running scandisk followed by defrag.

[Strat]

Probably a bad sector in your FAT. Hate to say it but you will need to reformat your C: drive. A back up won't work because the fat is messed up. Save your importatnt data on your D: drive before reformatting.

Strat

[Col Deadmarsh]

While we're off-topic here:

I have had a small problem that continues to annoy me...

When I log on to the net, before my home page loads up, I get that window that says I'm currently offline...no connection to the internet is found...blah blah. And it waits by prompting me with the selection, cancel or try again. By hitting "try again", I can then proceed to load up the home page but I'd like to get this problem solved so I dont' have to keep seeing this thing.

When I hit "File", it doesn't say I'm offline so why am I getting this message and how do I make it go away?

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Youth is wasted on the young.

[Jeff Heidman]

On the subject of annoying Windows things, two questions:

How do you turn of autoplay for a CDROM drive, and

How do you get Winblows to quit asking for a password when you reboot?

Jeff

[Walter]

OHMYGOD, a Windows question I can answer

How to make it stop asking for a login?

Control Panel > Network > Primary Network Logon (change this to Windows Logon, instead of Client for Microsoft Networks (or vice versa).

Well, actually, I could only sort of answer the question, but that should take care of it for ya.

[Marco Bergman]

To kill autoplay:

Right click on MY COMPUTER

choose PROPERTIES

Click DEVICE MANAGER tab

Click on CDROM in the tree

Click on your CD drive entry

Click on PROPERTIES

Click SETTINGS tab

Untick AUTO INSERT NOTIFICATION

OK several times...

Allow it to reboot.

[Schrullenhaft]

Maximus - It sounds like the physical error in the FAT may be the most likely cause of your problem. If you know what brand (Western Digital, Maxtor, etc.) of hard drive you have you could possibly check out the manufacturer's website for any disk utilities. Some of these utilities can sometimes fix problems that elude Scandisk and other utilities (depending on the low-level hardware features of the hard drive). As others have said - you may want to back up any important data files to another drive (not another partition on the same hard drive however as your D: may be).

Jeff Heidman - to disable the AutoPlay of CDROMs in Win9x go to Control Panels > System control panel > Device Manager tab > open the CDROM section and double-click/select the CDROM that your want to disable AutoPlay on > Settings tab > uncheck Auto insert notification in the Options section. This will require a reboot in order to implement this change (which the system should prompt you for).

As for your "annoying logon" - Walter's answer should help, but you may want to be careful with it. Some ISPs set up their connection with the Client for Microsoft Networks as the logon. If you change the logon type your desktop may change and you will most likely need to put in a password everytime you connect to your ISP. There may be other problems if you're using DSL or Cable modems.

Colonel_Deadmarsh - I can't recall the exact solution to your problem, but I've seen it several times. You may want to try a "Windows Update" if you're running Win98 or newer (especially if you're running Internet Explorer). I can't recall if clearing out the browser cache has helped or not in the past with this problem (and maybe killing some cookies). You may also want to play with your Preferences/Internet Settings for your browser and reduce the security settings (less protection) to see if this helps. Have you tried a different home page ?

Here's a related article, but I believe that it is geared for people who don't connect at all (Microsoft Knowledgebase):

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q175/7/22.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=not%20connecting&rnk=51&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=IE

[Iron Duke]

Maximus...before you do anything to your HD...

Do you have McAffee Virus checker? If you do, you should see a small shield (or a file with a magnifying glass) in your task bar next to the system clock. RIGHT click on that icon and turn it off/exit it out...whatever you need to do. Now try running scandisk again.

Doesn't really matter what virus checker you have...just try turning them off while you do your scandisk.

May work...cross your fingers.

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One shot...One Kill

[This message has been edited by Iron Duke (edited 12-06-2000).]

[Maximus]

Well here's a little more information:

My 13GB HDD is partitioned into ~8MB and ~4MB partitions. All on the same drive, the 8MB part is C: drive, the 4MB part is D: drive.

Scandisk and Defrag work fine on the D: partition. They just don't work on C:

I'm probably going to do some upgrading in the next couple of months (probably go to a 900MHz Thunderbird), may have to get a new HDD and transfer over a bunch of information. Might get one of those new 10,000 RPM HDD.

The issue really isn't pressing, but I can't run Defrag and I really need to. I first noticed this problem when I went to install BGII a couple months ago and I tried defraging both partitions and then this problem arose.

[Pvt. Ryan]

Just another bit of helpful advice:

Before defragging or scanning my hard drive I always exit out of every program except Windows by shutting them down with Alt, Crtl, Del. If I don't do that the process keeps restarting and I get a message that the contents of the drive have changed. With a 75GB HD in one partition I have to let it run overnight, so I don't want to wake up to find that defrag or scandisk stopped shortly after I went to bed.

[Maximus]

(Bump)

Does anybody else have any suggestions. I'd really hate to have to reformat the drive. But I would only do that when I get a new drive.

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"We're not gonna just shoot the bastards`, we're gonna cut out their living guts, and use them to grease the treads of our tanks."

"We're going to murder those lousey hun bastards by the buschel."

"The Nazis are the enemy, wade into them,

spill their blood, shoot them in the belly."

"We are not holding our position, let the hun do that."

"We are advancing constantly, we are not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy."

"We're gonna hold onto him by the nose, and we're gonna kick him in the ass."

"We're gonna kick the hell out of him all the time, and we're going to go through him like crap through a goose."--George S. Patton

[Guest NigelO]

Did this ever work? If not, did you copy one partition to the other? If so, then the DOS cluster sizes are probably biting you, and you need to re-format.

The good news would be that there is nothing wrong with your drive.

If this has only just started happening, then ignore the above, and go with the other advice...

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Just nod if you can hear me.

[SuperSlug]

Try running scan disk from DOS. Exit out of

windows and run it from the DOS prompt. A long shot but I have seen this work.

[Guest MantaRay]

And if all the above doesnt work.....

A bottle of JD and a hammer..............

Problem fixed

Glad to help

Ray

[patboivin]

Maximus,

If you don't have an up-to-date virus checking software on your computer I strongly recommend you go get a (free) copy of F-Prot off the 'net, install it on your drive D:, and run it from the DOS prompt. Check for a virus before you do anything else. If you have a commercial virus checker all the more power to you, make sure your virus checker data files are up to date (.dat files for McAffee).

Whenever you get bizarre behaviour like this, odds are very good that it is due to a virus and not hardware failure, unless you play basketball, soccer or water polo with your computer. Or if you use it as a door stop.

Once you are absolutely certain that you DO NOT have a virus, you can explore other options. Do your research though and don't rush into things. You don't want to lose your data. You have time, if there's anything you have it's time. So don't rush, you probably won't be able to "undo" changes that you make.

IF the situation is really bad consider purchasing something like Norton Utilities that will diagnose your system and help you fix problems. I think that some utilities try to repair systems.

My 2 cents' worth. I am an Oracle Database Administrator on UNIX and NT, and am backup system administrator for a handful of NT servers at work. If you have any questions you can post them or e-mail me directly.