Hi folks,
My wireless mouse wouldn't talk to pc, but keyboard would.
Re-initialised to restart, received ,message:
One of your files needs to be checked for consistency (E Drive)
CHKDSK is verifying... went through onscreen checks 1 to 100%.
Re started ok and did some dvd copying via Nero
Brief message on pressing re-start button - 'DLL failed to connect' then message/screen..
One of your files needs to be checked for consistency (E Drive)
CHKDSK is verifying... went through onscreen checks 1 to 100%.
retsarted ok.
Press restart button again without any applications being opened in interim.
Again I get :
One of your files needs to be checked for consuistanncy (E Drive)
CHKDSK is verifying... went through onscreen checks 1 to 100%.
This time I turned off, then turned on - ditto - same problem.
The E-drive is an internal drive.
Not had startup problems on this WIN XP Home(SP2) pc before.
Any suggestions as to cause / fix?
possible causes
1. a temp file has wrong size in properties compared to space it is taking up
2. drive may need defragged to get round the anomoly
3. might be caused by spyware
worst case scenario , drive e: is dying ...........................
Thanks Gary,
PC is off when not in use - and I don't browse web from this pc, so virus is less likely.
'temp' file sounds most probable.
I have 10 gig free on this drive.
I had a premiere project open when I re-ininitialised - so may well be a temp file associated with this.
I can't see any files starting with a '~' - is there another way to ID suspect temp files?
As it's the E drive, there isn't the equivalent of program_files/TEMP.
138 Gig used on this drive - alot to defrag.
What is your experience of defrag - what are chances of losing the video projects on this drive? It's too much to backup elsewhere at present.
I'm kicking of a full scan of Norton to see if anything on virus front.
i prefer to blast a suspect drive with a full format and rebuild from there.
not a good idea if you have 138gb on the drive.
defrag won't work very efficiently when less than 10% of disk is free .......
if ntfs format , defrag may also be a waste of time ........
i look for *.tmp or large files without a sensible extension.
temp files belonging to anything other than windows o/s could be called anything , as only they need to know what to delete at end of run , and thats where problems occur.
Hi Gary,
No files *.tmp on this drive.
Yes it's NTFS.
Checked all new/mod files generated since yesterday.
It is all premiere stuff (including preview and conformed audio files and bmp's psd's) in the same sub-directory (1.64gig) I created for a new client - apart from a 14 gig avi file elsewhere on the E drive.
Nothing looks odd.
I'm hoping to delete / migrate 400 gig of old stuff in the next 2 weeks - so this may facilitate a 'full format or rebuild' - although I've never done this - so tad nervous.
I could move the 1.64 gig sub-directory to see if problem follows it to another drive, but it's a new commercial client, so need to avoid risky problems more than usual.
Run chkdsk /f e: manually.
XP often seems to 'forget' to actually fix the disk when it checks it on boot-up: making the whole thing pointless. With any luck forcing it to fix the problem will stop you getting that message every time you reboot.
Although NTFS shouldn't need defragging I still do it occasionally and still see efficiency improvements. On 138Gb it'll take ages though.
You should not have a problem with your data unless you get a powercut mid-defrag and the PC goes off. Then you can expect to loose the lot without some help from a dedicated recovery program (I've something in mind but I forget it's name at the moment).
Thank-you Gary, Unicorn and Vimeous.
Unicorn also gets a bonus star - problem now solved.
Ran virus check - checking E drive done as well as 'C' etc.
Adware found (and deleted) - but not e-drive and restart still had CHKDSK.
My help had syntax slightly different (drive before parameter) so I ran:
Run chkdsk e: /f
Completed quick, but restart still had chkdsk.
The 'f' parameter does not show on help screen so I don't know if it has a meaning - only 'p' and 'r' are detailed.
'r' locates bad sectors and recovers readable info.
So I ran
Run chkdsk e: /r
At stage 4 it showed 0% and stuck here for 30 mins before going to 1%.
After 5 mins more it jumped to 9% then flicked back and to between 50 and 31%.
After 90 mins I wasn't watching but window vanished implying completion - but may have missed 'repair summary'.
Restarted pc. Eureka.
Opened premiere, did minor tweak, file save and close application.
Another restart - still OK.
So THANK-YOU all for your timely and constructive replies.:) :) :)
Weird: chkdsk /? certainly lists the /f parameter here.
If you had to run chkdsk /r to get rid of the problem then there are probably some bad blocks on the disk... likely time to get a new one. Check the event viewer to see if there are any disk error listed: when my system drive started failing a few weeks ago there were dozens of disk errors per day in the event log.
Thanks Unicorn.
I've checked the event viewer - but can't see any errors of the type described.
Did yours use the phrase 'Disk error' or other - and was this caption in the 'source' column?
I think the source column is just 'disk'.
Filtering for warnings/errors under system, there are items for Dhcp and DCOM which don't appear to be related - nothing for 'Disc' - presumably a good sign it's not in death throes.
I agree with Unicorn.
If you are getting bad sectors buy a new disk for data you are relying on and use the current one as a temporary spare or general duplication in the case of other failures.
In the absence of indication of bad sectors in the event viewer - bad sectors is currently an implied possibility. Or is it your experience that this is definitely the case - even though implied?
If you're not getting warnings then it's presumably OK. You could get hold of a SMART status display program and see if that shows anything bad.
Actually, doesn't chkdsk display the number of bad blocks at the end? If it's zero then you can probably assume the disk is working right.
Actually, doesn't chkdsk display the number of bad blocks at the end? If it's zero then you can probably assume the disk is working right.
It may have done, but the window closed automatically after completion.
I last checked it at 50% and was moving slow. So that's why I was looking at the event viewer - i wasn't sure if I'd missed anything meaningful.
Open a command window (cmd.exe), run chkdsk e: and see what it says at the end. I just checked here and it does list 'bad sectors'.
Actually I'd forgotten that the d: drive on this machine has had 4k of bad sectors for six months... it's still running OK. If the number starts going up, that's when it's definitely time to replace the disk.
Unicorn,
I tried what you said from 'Run' option - but again it auto closes too quick to read summary.
Did it via cmd.exe as you specify..
0 KB bad sectors.:)
The patient can be discharged.
Thank-you for talking me through it and leaving me in a confident state of mind on Pc's health.
Download a copy of DFT (Drive Fitness Test) from IBM or Hitatchi, create the boot floppy or cd depending on the version you download. This is a DOS based utility that is one of the most reliable hdd diags used within the IT support industry. (it will work on any make of hdd)
Do the 'Advanced' test, it will take ages on a big drive but will give an error code if it finds any fault.
Paul.
Thank-you Paul.
Not sure if you spotted 'The patient can be discharged.' - all is now well.
However your advice may well be helpfull if problem re-occurs or other readers have similar problem.