Error Checking...

[Rael (Premo)]

I did a little PC maintenance today after noticing certain pop up windows when I shut down (DSAgent.exe, Sprtcmd.exe, Shell(Something)hiddenwindows.exe, etc.) Never seen them before, so I figure, what the heck...I'll try to clean it up.

I cleared the temporary internet files and cookies, ran a disc clean up, defragmentation, then came across this "check file system" option. So I clicked on it, never having done this before. It wouldn't run, but gave me the option to run it at the next start up, so I agreed and restarted my PC.

When it ran, it went through five different parts, verification of:
- files (quick)
- indexes (quick)
- security descriptions (a bit longer)
- file data (much longer)
- free space (forever)

Growing a little impatient in not really knowing what this file system check was actually doing for me, I decided to give up. But it wouldn't give me an option to quit. Using what little PC savvy I have, I pressed "esc". Nothing. I pressed "control/alt/delete", and still nothing. I was already into this file system check for over an hour before I decided to pull the ultimate out. I shut down the computer.

Bad move. As soon as it started up, the same blue screen came up to re-start the file system check all over again. It took a good two more hours, and I still don't know what I accomplished (other than wasting a lot of time).

If someone can tell me if there was anything positive that came out of this, please let me know. Otherwise I can advise everyone never to do this if you're in a hurry.

[GWguy]

Originally Posted by Rael

I did a little PC maintenance today after noticing certain pop up windows when I shut down (DSAgent.exe, Sprtcmd.exe, Shell(Something)hiddenwindows.exe, etc.) Never seen them before, so I figure, what the heck...I'll try to clean it up.

I cleared the temporary internet files and cookies, ran a disc clean up, defragmentation, then came across this "check file system" option. So I clicked on it, never having done this before. It wouldn't run, but gave me the option to run it at the next start up, so I agreed and restarted my PC.

When it ran, it went through five different parts, verification of:
- files (quick)
- indexes (quick)
- security descriptions (a bit longer)
- file data (much longer)
- free space (forever)

Growing a little impatient in not really knowing what this file system check was actually doing for me, I decided to give up. But it wouldn't give me an option to quit. Using what little PC savvy I have, I pressed "esc". Nothing. I pressed "control/alt/delete", and still nothing. I was already into this file system check for over an hour before I decided to pull the ultimate out. I shut down the computer.

Bad move. As soon as it started up, the same blue screen came up to re-start the file system check all over again. It took a good two more hours, and I still don't know what I accomplished (other than wasting a lot of time).

If someone can tell me if there was anything positive that came out of this, please let me know. Otherwise I can advise everyone never to do this if you're in a hurry.

You just learned the first rule of "don't do it". If anything is accessing the disk, shutting down the power can destroy data on the disk. What it was doing was an integrity check of the hard drive. It can take a long time. It's the kind of thing that you set up to run before you go to bed, and hope all went well by the time you wake up. It starts by checking the system files and data structures to make sure that everything is readable. Then it finally moves on to the "free" space and examines the disk for bad sectors/information, attempting to recover any bad or unreadable sectors if it can.

[Baja28]

What causes explorer (not the browser) to stop running? Mine did twice today and has in the past. It gives me the option to restart and all is fine. I don't even know it stopped except that the clock gets stuck at the time it stops.

[GWguy]

Originally Posted by Baja28

What causes explorer (not the browser) to stop running? Mine did twice today and has in the past. It gives me the option to restart and all is fine. I don't even know it stopped except that the clock gets stuck at the time it stops.

I've seen Explorer restart when there was an error in another program, but I don't think I've ever seen it just stop like you describe. When programs like Explorer and IE start to have issues, it's usually time to wipe and reload the OS. It's also remotely possible that you have a bad spot on the hard drive or bad RAM. Try reseating the memory chips.

You can try to boot in Safe Mode and run CHKDSK C: /F. You might have to boot into Command Line mode (also available from the F8 menu) to run it.

If that doesn't help, get your data backed up.... soon....

[Rael (Premo)]

Originally Posted by GWguy

You just learned the first rule of "don't do it". If anything is accessing the disk, shutting down the power can destroy data on the disk. What it was doing was an integrity check of the hard drive. It can take a long time. It's the kind of thing that you set up to run before you go to bed, and hope all went well by the time you wake up. It starts by checking the system files and data structures to make sure that everything is readable. Then it finally moves on to the "free" space and examines the disk for bad sectors/information, attempting to recover any bad or unreadable sectors if it can.

Thanks, GWguy. I normally follow the rule of not shutting down without logging out properly, but didn't really know what running this program was doing. I wanted to be here watching it after it was done to see if there was going to be anything noteworthy, but a window came up after it was over and just disappeared, so I was never informed of anything after it was all over.

If I do it again, I'll let it run when I'm finished using it for the day. Thanks again.

it is the NT Version of the old Scandisk App everyone remembers so well from win 98

[G1G4]

Originally Posted by Baja28

What causes explorer (not the browser) to stop running? Mine did twice today and has in the past. It gives me the option to restart and all is fine. I don't even know it stopped except that the clock gets stuck at the time it stops.

Start a virus scan .. asap.