check disk boot up message

I'm starting to get this message when I start the computer. It happens about every 3rd or 4th time.

It's an M1330 with vista premimum OS, about 4 months old.

"one of your disks needs to be checked for consistency"

"chkdsk is verifying files"

After it goes throught this process and starts up it seems to run okay.

Any ideas what may be causing this.

Thanks

 

do you have a usb drive or memory card in the computer at boot?

 

Does it identify the drive letter?

If it says "C:" assuming you are using the default install then its possible windows is not shutting down properly. Otherwise as Nizzy1115 said a memory stick or some external drivers inserted at boot time can cause that message as well but it shouldnt say "C:"

 

No, no USB or memory card at start up. I believe it does refer to the 'C' drive. It does seem to shut down okay, at least I haven't noticed anything unusual during shut down.

I thought installing the SP1 for vista migth correct it, but with all the problems I'm reading about from people who have upgraded I'm afraid to try it.

Thanks for the replies.

 

Hello Waltz, How is your M1330 going since your problem?

I have the same model (1 week old, Vista Ultimate) and had identical problem. I'm worried that it is an indication of future serious problems. So I'm keen to know of your experience.

Further, I had a different problem too, with a blue-screen shutdown shortly after login.

Hhmmm. Hope to hear from yo and THANKS.

 

It's definitely a sign of a serious problem. I have a Dell XPS M1330, Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit, SP1, and have had nothing but problems. I would think it was fixed, and I even learned to remove all external things until the computer booted up (USB drives, shutting off the wireless, removing my LCD projector). I was getting really smug, thinking I'd fixed it, then it started happening again.

When I called Microsoft, who is giving free support for Vista SP1 until February 2009, I even offered to pay for support because I was no longer sure it was a Vista problem. The Microsoft guy told me my hard drive was failing and told me to run cmd.exe then chkdisk f/ . . . sometimes this got my computer going again and I thought things were fine.

A few days ago, I updated the BIOS to version 14 and then I got the white screen of death (a new color, since I've had blue and black screens of death). Call Dell now and get them to send you your boot disks (they no longer ship them with the computers - you have to request them) and get ready to do massive repair. I had an extended warranty with Best Buy so I took it there and they confirmed massive hard drive failure. I'm waiting for the boot disks now so they can complete the repair.

One of the signs of death is a corrupted pst file (I thought this was a Vista problem, but I'm now thinking it was a symptom of a failing hard drive, or vice versa). In any case, I had twice re-installed and run repair on Office 2007.

I love both Vista and Dell but I spent way too long on this one.

Speaker
Detroit, MI