Computer startup question/problem

[Adagio]

Does there exist a way to avoid the startup of scandisc whenever I start the computer?

Lately my computer has always started up doing a scandisc on my D drive, even though windows was closed correctly. I always let scandisc finish thes scan, but it never finds errors anyway...

This is getting quite annoying, and makes my windows startup time take a VERY long time

[Koyaanisqatsi]

There's a fix for this at regedit.com...I don't remember it right now, though.

[Adagio]

Nobody else who remember how to do this?

[Tiberius]

Windows 98SE ?

start - run - msconfig

Select the General tab and click the Advanced button

- check "Disable Scandisk after a Bad Shutdown"

[Adagio]

Nope, Windows XP

[alva]

Works on XP too

But it's called startup

[Adagio]

Can't find it in Startup

[Caligastia]

Originally posted by Tiberius
Windows 98SE ?

start - run - msconfig

Select the General tab and click the Advanced button

- check "Disable Scandisk after a Bad Shutdown"

Sounds like a good workaround, but whatever is wrong will still be there.

ADG - Do you have all the latest critical updates/service packs installed?

[Adagio]

Yes I have...

[SpencerH]

Two things occur to me

1. it could be the first signs of a HD meltdown

->make back-ups now

2. What about a program (illicit perhaps) continuing to run in the background so that even though XP says shut down it still runs and the drive doesnt shut down properly.

[Adagio]

1) Well... it's a brand new HD (Maxtor), so I doubt that's the problem... I guess it has something to do with the fact it's a External HD

2) Never heard about it, but will take a look at it tomorow...

[SpencerH]

I'm thinking of trojan horses or spyware. I've never had any so I cant say whether there are any weird shutdown effects.

Is it a USB drive? If not, maybe you need to turn it off in the correct sequence relative to the desktop?

[Promethus]

Until you find te fix for this problem do this. When Scandisk starts just hit the Escape key and the system will boot normaly. I have and externial HD on USB w/XP Home Edition and don't have this problem. The person to my right has a externial HD in Firewire w/XP Pro and does not have this problem.

[Tiberius]

If it was Win98, I wouldn't worry to use the workaround, only because "whatever is wrong will still be there". Of course there is, the OS

However, since you're using XP, I have to agree with the others. There must be some problem with your system. I have never had or heard of shutdown or startup problems with XP.

Btw, the program is called chkdsk in XP, not scandisk. So when you search for it (in the startup tab, for ex) look for chkdsk.exe

You could try to start your computer in Safe Mode, then Shut Down, start again and see if the problem does occur again. If not, it must be a program/process running in the background and not allowing the OS to shutdown the hdd. If the problem persists, uhh, I don't know. I will try to search for a possible solution.

[Tiberius]

OK, here's what you can do to:

1. Backup your registry!
2. run - regedit
3. In the registry, go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ Control\Session Manager
4. Check the value of the BootExecute key. It should be " autocheck autochk * " . Change it to this value if there is something else there.

For example, it could be: "chkdsk autochk * /r", which schedules chkdsk to be run on the next system reboot.

Alternatively, you could simply delete this key's value. (not the key, just the value of it; right click -> modify ), but then chkdsk will never run at startup.

5. If the BootExecute value was OK, then edit (or create) the following key:
name: AutoChkTimeOut
data type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: 0 (to disable; this is the time in seconds; default=10)
Do this only if 4) didn't solve your problem.

If the BootExecute registry did contain the "/r \device" switch, then you probably don't have problems; chkdsk was just scheduled to run every time. Otherwise, this is not a solution to your problem, just a way to stop chkdsk from running every time.