I used Enditall and started a quick scandisk yesterday. Then I started defrag, but after numerous restarts, it stalled at 28%. It restarted numerous times and I got the “10” message. I hit control-alt-delete to see what was running, and all there was was Explorer and Systray, other than Scandisk.
So I tried the SafeMode and the puter said that it could not defrag because there was a defect on my hard drive. So I started ScanDisk thorough mode. After numerous restarts, etc., I walked away from it. When I returned it said Complete. So I started defrag and it hung up at 28% again.
I went to the scandisc.log and found that it was canceled, not complete. So this a.m., I used enditall, started scandisk thorough mode and stayed by the puter. I noticed before that the monitor would go blank and the monitor light would blink, but by pressing any key, it would restart. Strange. I don’t what causes that. It’s not the screensaver, as the monitor light blinks and I have the saver set for 60 minutes. This didn’t seem to affect defrag, but this is what caused the scandisk to stop and say Complete when it wasn’t.
So, I can’t defrag until I fix the hd with scandisk, and I can’t get scandisk to do its job. Any ideas? :confused
I did that: control+alt+delete to see if anything was running other than Explorer, Systray, and Scandisk after I used enditall, and nothing else was running.
I could not defrag in Safemode or Enditall since there is an error on my disk, apparently at 28% completion, and I can’t get Scandisk to complete. It cancels everytime the screen goes blank. And the monitor light blinks. I don’t know what causes that. As soon as I press the space bar, the screen comes on and the light comes on. That did not interrupt defrag, but it causes Scandisk to stop.
Open up yor display properties and click on the screen saver tab. Down at the bottom there is an Energy Star settings button. Click it. Change the lower three boxes to NEVER and click ok.
Yep, mblackwell hit the nail on the head. It may be helpful to know what version of Windows you’re using, since all scandisk/defrags aren’t exactly the same from 95-2000. Anyway, the problem you were experiencing was most likely caused by the aforementioned settings. You probably had your hard drive/monitor set to power down too early. It has been my experience that when there’s any problem with scandisk “restarting 10 times”, this particular setting is the culprit. Remember: Just because you press the control-alt-delete combination, doesn’t mean you’re going to see every running application on your computer. On my Windows ME machine, when I’m having “major” problems, I’ll go to the system configuration utility, uncheck ALL of the startup tab options, turn off the screen saver completely, disable the Energy Star power options… You can even, as suggested previously, do a safe-mode boot, although I rarely have to go that far. It’s also a good idea to delete files you KNOW can be deleted, like temporary internet files. Empty the recycle bin, go to “Add/Remove” programs and chunk the ones that are useless, like “Bonzi Buddy” (Don’t we all like THAT one? Not that ANYTHING can remove Bonzi from a computer system, aside from a blow-torch). I always run it in this order: “Disk Clean Up” (check-mark by all the delete options), “Scandisk” (display summary if errors found, no log, delete bad whatever, yadda yadda), then “Defragment” with the options set to “make my programs start/run faster(?)” and “compact/close up holes” (you know what I mean). Well, that’s my .02 cents worth.
Darn! Almost forgot, I just wanted to mention that when your defragmentation process seems to “hang”, don’t fret. Just because nothing is happening, doesn’t mean nothing is happening, heh heh. I’ve started defrag before and had it “stuck” at the 10% mark, for example for minutes at a time, and then something “kicks” and it gets going again. Just be a little more patient–if your scandisk was successful and you’ve followed my previous tips, then your defragmentation will most-likely work if given enough time on its own.
Second best idea is to run scandisk & defrag from DOS only then youll never get any of those messages.
First best idea is get a real computer maintenace program like SystemSuite 2000, which is immune to anything the system is doing when its running more or less.
The system restore utility in ME can frequently cause problems with scandisk and defrag. You may need to disable it to get those programs to work. Here’s how to do so (I’m on a 2000 system right now, and I don’t remember the exact steps, but I’ll get you close)
right click on my computer
properties
performance (heres where my memory is foggy)…
aww hell, I’ll reboot in ME and check for ya. Be back in a few.
Defrag does not run in DOS with 95/98/ME. The DOS version of Scandisk has some limitations having to do with problems in long file names. These can only be corrected in the Win32 version.
The use of systemsuite or any other computer maintance program has become more of an “iffy” endevor with the introduction of windows ME, and will be more so with windows XP. With the extent that the OS attempts to fix it self, police it self for errors, and protect the system files, I would not use one of those utilities on a WinME or XP system.
Thanks to everyone for their thoughtful replies. I did not disable System Restore and still had some problems, but I didn’t see any physical errors in the details on defrag and got it to 34%. (I canceled the scandisk. It was still restarting, but not as frequently.) Next time when I have more time I’ll try all the ideas.
“The use of systemsuite or any other computer maintance program has become more of an “iffy”
endevor with the introduction of windows ME”
Works okay on ME for me. Wish I never put ME on the computer though.