M1530 Hangs during CheckDisk - Error Checking

I recently received an XPS M1530 system with a 320g HD. I am very new to Vista but not to PCs.

I started noticing in Vista that the HD runs a lot ... even with 4g of RAM. After closing virtual memory and several other tweaks, the HD has calmed down, BUT I thought I would run an Error Check / CheckDisk on it.

After checking both options, I restart the system and it goes in to the very LONG process of the 5 part CheckDisk proceedure. Works it's way thru 4 of the 5 parts no problem.

BUT for the 2 attempts that I have made of this proceedure, on the 5th step at about 77% the computer HD light stops blinking and there is no sound of checking or writing. I waited about 3 hours and it stayed at 85% the first time and 77% the second time. It was like it was locked up. I gave up and held the power button, restarted and bypassed the CkeckDisk.

What is up with this? Any ideas? Common? Bad HD? Should I be concerned?

 

Try a defrag and see if it makes it through that. If that works, try chkdsk again. If it doesn't pass, or it locks up, give dell a ring.

 

There are some new "features" in Vista like shadow volume etc possibly causing high disc usage.

 

Yea that sounds like a plan. I am defraging now. I am using Auslogics Disk Defrag which seems to be doing it pretty quick.

"give dell a ring" .... afraid someone might say that.

 

How is this accessed and checked? Can it be turned off? From where?

 

Whenever I use Vista degrag, it keeps on going and never stops. Is that normal?

 

Hi GF,
I downloaded and used Auslogics Disk Defrag which was pretty straight forward and simple, and gave me a visual progress bar to know how much longer it would be. Do not know how well it defrags (reviews a really good though), but I set it to high processor use and it was pretty quick on a 320g HD that is 45% full.

Maybe try that.

 

I also downloaded and ran JKDefrag. This blog rated it as the "best" consumer defragger. It took much longer than Aulsogics Disk Defrag and seemed to be much more thurough.

Still would not complete set 5 of 5 of the ChkDsk Process. Even after I deleted all the shadow and restore points.

 

Finally got a tip that worked here on the boards. Thanks to Chelet for this tip on booting from the Vista DVD and using the command prompt to run ChkDsk with the switched.

 

my recommendation is to format and reinstall vista using the disc dell provided you.. dell included a ton of bloatware on the default install (78 running processes after first boot IIRC)

when i got mine, i immediately formatted, and installed a stripped version of windows xp (made with nlite) and i was down to 19 processes with 64mb ram used

but to answer your question, volume shadowing is most likely the cause of your constant drive grinding. you can disable it from start->run->services.msc

the way it works is that upon installing vista, it will start backing up key files until the allotted space (i think 10-15%) is used up. then it will start deleting the old files and updating it with new files as needed. thats why after a few days, it seems like the harddrive grind has subsided quite a bit

 

Thanks R34...

I did indeed do the format / bloatware remove guide. Actually have reinstalled vista 2 times from a formated drive. Got rid of the partition and then was VERY selective as to what I reinstalled.

I will indeel check on turning off volume shadowing if it is not needed. Thanks for the Tip

 

Could you explain how you do this exactly? I am sort of confused. I am also having the same problem as you are. When I run the Check Disc tool, I get hung up at 48% and nothing moves. After reseting, I decided to try Jkdefrag and found that it was telling me to try the check disc as some files were corrupted. How do I boot it off the DVD? Are you using one of the supplied Dell DVD's that came with your m1530?

 

Use the Dell Vista DVD that came with you m1530 (Black DVD Labled Operating System).

1. insert DVD
2. select restart
3. as the bios screen appears, press F12 until you see "Prep One Time Boot Menu" notice in the upper right corner.
4. When prompted, select bood from CD / DVD
5. When the notice to boot from CD / DVD appears *MAKE CERTAIN* you press any key pretty quickly or it will hang and you will have to do a hard restart.
6. let the DVD load up.
7. Select your "Zone" info and press next
8. chose Repair Your PC - but do not chose install.
9. Once it discovers your HD and the location of your operating system, press next
10. You will get a pop up window with several choices, command prompt will be at the bottom.
11. select command prompt.
12. Do not change to C:/
13. Enter this command line

ChkDsk /r /v C:

press Enter

That should do it.

 

Hmm, this stinks and is strange. I just stopped the Jkdefrag to reset my computer and try to use the disc method to check disc and now keep getting the bsod and can't even start up windows. ARgggggg. Am I going to have to reformat everything?

Should i try the repair thing you mentioned?


Edit: Hm, I just tried your steps just now but see no option for repair. Only for installing. What am I missing?

Argg, sec i think i missed something..let me try again

 

Would not hurt. You may want to try The Repair Your PC options from with in the install menu of the Bootalbe Vista DVD (see numbers 8-10) above.

Have you done a format/reinstall before?

If Yes and you did not install the AHCI driver at the beginning (before Vista Installs) this may be why you got the BSOD.

See this Guide to doing a reinstall

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=157838

 

Yeah, I have done a reinstall of vista following that guide after the same exact thing happened with the BSOD a while ago. But I don't remember reading about an AHCI driver. Darn. I am speaking to dell to see if they have any info/tips. After that I'll try the repair again.

Edit: Woot!! thank you for your help. I did a startup repair and everything seems to have been fixed. Thank you for the guide!!

 

Your welcome

I would say if you do not have a pile of stuff saved on your HD,, or you have a good back up method I would run the format / reinstall again MAKEING SURE you use the AHCI driver.

Before I do a reinstall (execpt when this notebook was new and not collect stuff) I have a simple check list so I do not forget to back something up and/or lose something in the process:

1. All items on the desktop (I store a lot of recent stuff on the desk top temporarily for easly access)
2. Windows Mail / Outlook files and address book
3. MS Access stand alone databases (something I wrote in developer)
4. Wallpapers in C:windows\web\wallpaper folder
5. Explorer Favorites
6. Google Earth - make a copy\save of "My places"
7. Copy of all Documents/Music/Pics/Videos/etc
9. Most recent Dell drivers
10. Latest verion of Grisoft Antivirus (I use AVG Free)
11. All files in Downloads - I download much of my software and system tools
12. A notepad file full of all software product keys, and install codes for those dowloaded software packages

A back up program might catch some of this, but not all of it, AND if the back up program compresses its data, AND you downloaded the back up program you will have to download it again as your copy will be compresses (assuming you do not use Vista Backup).

 

Well went to bed last night around 1 while level the PC on doiing another standard routine chkdsk (run from boot after schedule from within windows) and it hangs up at set 5 and 16%. Stayed that way for run for over 6 hours with no progress.

Got to try it from a cmd wiithin vista and see what happens.

But it looks like the only way I can run a ChkDsk EVER is to boot from the DVD and run it from the command prompt. ODD!

So I guess this is not totally resolved.