[princessmimi]

Hello,

I've had this problem for weeks now where every other time I turn on my computer, Chkdsk (NTFS system; C: is dirty) appeared on startup. I've looked through this forum already and followed mainly this post: http://www.geekstogo...t-t151990.html; however, after going through all the steps, running the full Chkdsk, my computer was clean for a few hours before getting dirty again.

Seeing as this only happened after my brother used the computer, I asked him to switch to using Firefox -- my default browser -- and continued the dirty query... it came back clean every time until he forgot and went back to using Internet Explorer. After this time (he only started it up and quit it) the volume came out dirty, so assuming it has something to do with a corrupted bit with IE, I first scanned it both for viruses or malware, uninstalled and then reinstalled the application. Unfortunately, this didn't help, since I just clicked on IE, did the query, and it's back to being dirty. Is there any way to get rid of this annoying problem (that is, without ditching IE altogether and forcing my brother onto Firefox??). Thank you!

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What IE version is it?

[Broni]

What IE version is it?

[princessmimi]

It's IE8 (the most recent one, with updates).

[Broni]

Go Tools>Internet Options>Advanced tab, click on "Reset" button.
Restart computer.

[princessmimi]

Thank you so far, but unfortunately, it didn't work. I reset IE, restarted the computer, and it came out dirty without my even opening any applications. Is there any way to tell what exactly is wrong?

[rshaffer61]

Check and see if the hard drive is dirty. Please click on START-->RUN and type cmd. In the new window that appears, type fsutil dirty query c: and hit ENTER. If what appears on the screen says Volume - c: IS Dirty, then please do the following:

Please check the following before proceeding:

• If you have Spyware Doctor installed, uninstall it.
• If you have ZoneAlarm installed, open it, click the "Overview" tab, then select "Preferences", and UNcheck the "Protect ZA Client" check box.

Click Start, then Run, type cmd in the Open box and click "Ok". At the prompt in the Command window, type the following commands, pressing "Enter" after each one:

Substitute the drive letter for the drive your want to check for the ? in the following commands. Please note the spaces.

• chkntfs /d ..... (This will reset autocheck options to default...will come back invalid on some installations)
• chkntfs /c ?: ..... (This will allow checking the specified drive )
• chkntfs /x ?: ..... (The x switch tells Windows to NOT check the specified drive on the next boot)

At this point, restart your computer, it will not do a chkdsk and will boot directly to Windows.

This next step is important as this is where the Dirty Bit will be unset.

Substitute the drive letter for the drive your want to check for the ? in the following commands.

Click Start, then Run, type cmd in the Open box and click "Ok". At the command prompt, type the following, pressing "Enter" after each one: (Again, note the spaces.)

• chkdsk /f /r ?: ..... (To manually run a full chkdsk operation on the specified drive)
• Y ..... (To accept having it run on the next boot)

This should take you through 5 stages of the scan and will unset the Dirty Bit. Be patient...this is a very thorough check and will take quite a while.

Finally, when the chkdsk operation has completed, type fsutil dirty query ?:, press "Enter", and Windows will confirm that the Dirty Bit is not set on that drive.

Reboot again and see if chkdsk still runs on startup. If the machine boots back up to the command prompt, type exit and press "Enter"...it should boot to Windows.

[princessmimi]

Unfortunately, I did everything already and although it says it's clean when I do the "fsutil dirty query", it comes back dirty once Internet Explorer is used. I did the full 5-step, 1 hour+ Chkdsk once and it came back dirty within three hours. -__-

I'm not sure if it's anything of importance, but I HAVE to initiate Chkdsk through Drive C:/Properties/Tools and then clicking on the error check button. When I try to do the chkdsk command (the "chkntfs" ones work just fine) through the cmd prompt, I receive the following message: 'chkdsk' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file

Should this be happening or is there a problem? Can this be possibly connected with my problem? Thanks for your help so far!!

[rshaffer61]

Have you tried installing Firefox and see if the problem happens then?
How about uninstalling IE8 update and going back to IE7?

[princessmimi]

I have had Firefox installed for awhile now, and whenever I use it, the drive doesn't come back dirty; however, right now, I'm not even sure if it's linked only to IE. I went back to the version 7, and although I didn't use it today, it's dirty again. *sighs* I'm trying to see if anything matches with it getting dirty and having any applications up on event viewer, but I can't make any sense of it. Is there any way at all to tell what exactly is causing all of this and how to get rid of it for good? Thanks again.

[rshaffer61]

If you have more than one RAM module installed, try starting computer with one RAM stick at a time.

NOTE Keep in mind, the manual check listed above is always superior to the software check, listed below. DO NOT proceed with memtest, if you can go with option A

B. If you have only one RAM stick installed...
...run memtest...

1. Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)
2. Unzip downloaded memtest86+-2.11.iso.zip file.
3. Inside, you'll find memtest86+-2.11.iso file.
4. Download, and install ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/
5. Insert blank CD into your CD drive.
6. Open ImgBurn, and click on Write image file to disc
7. Click on Browse for a file... icon:



8. Locate memtest86+-2.11.iso file, and click Open button.
9. Click on ImgBurn green arrow to start burning bootable memtest86 CD:



10. Once the CD is created, boot from it, and memtest will automatically start to run.

The running program will look something like this depending on the size and number of ram modules installed:




It's recommended to run 5-6 passes. Each pass contains very same 8 tests.

This will show the progress of the test. It can take a while. Be patient, or leave it running overnight.



The following image is the test results area:



The most important item here is the “errors” line. If you see ANY errors, even one, most likely, you have bad RAM.

[princessmimi]

Thanks so much for that. I'm going to definitely do a few full Chkdsks before resorting to the last step, especially since I'm not sure when I'll have the time to leave on the computer for that long. However, may I ask right off the top what it means if there's an error with the RAM? Does that mean there's no hope for the drive? It's an older computer, overheats easily, and has had so many errors over the years that I'm just wondering if it's possible it might finally be the end of the line for it...

[rshaffer61]

Error in Ram has nothing to do with the hard drive.
What you are doing is checking your ram memory for a faulty module.

[The Skeptic]

"chkntfs /x c: This disables chkdsk from running on drive C:" This is a quote from a Microsoft article. This can be helpful if you don't find the source of the problem.

I suspect that the origin of the probem is with the hard disk and not with any specific program. Find out the make of the hard disk, download the manufacturer's diagnostic tool and run a complete test.

[rshaffer61]

Great suggestion Skeptic


Run hard drive diagnostics: http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287
Make sure, you select tool, which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create bootable floppy, or bootable CD.
If downloaded file is of .iso type, use ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ to burn .iso file to a CD (select "Write image file to disc" option), and make the CD bootable.

NOTE. If your hard drive is made by Toshiba, unfortunately, you're out of luck, because Toshiba doesn't provide any diagnostic tool.

Thanks to Broni for the instructions

[princessmimi]

Ah, super! But, I'm so sorry, I'm extremely clueless with these sorts of things, how do I find out the brand of my hard drive? I can locate the brands of the CD drives, but I can't figure out this one. -____- I clicked on properties under C: and got what looks like a serial number with no manufacturer listed....?