[Sharon Lee]

I am unable to defrag my computer for a chkdsk comes up each time I try. Can anyone help me. I have been working on this for over a week now.

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Hello Sharon Lee.... Welcome to
GeeksToGo,


I'm sorry to hear about your issue. We will try to help you resolve this as soon as possible.

• Please understand we are all volunteers and we are not here all the time.
• Sometimes it may be a extended amount of time to get back to you. If it has been
  more then 3 days please shoot me a PM and I will try to get back to you quickly
  then.
• Please do the following and supply the requested information as needed. If you
  don't understand my instructions please ask and I will try to explain them
  clearer for you.
• Do not attempt any steps unless instructed or ask before to
  make sure they will not cause any further issues.
• If you are receiving assistance in any other forum site please let us know as there may be conflicting advice given.

Before we can help you need to provide the following so I can start you in the right direction.
Laptop or Desktop?

• If a name brand system then what brand, make and model is the system?
• If custom built then what brand, make and model is the motherboard
• Total memory installed
• Total hard drive capacity and free space
• What steps have you taken so far to resolve the issue

[rshaffer61]

Hello Sharon Lee.... Welcome to
GeeksToGo,


I'm sorry to hear about your issue. We will try to help you resolve this as soon as possible.

• Please understand we are all volunteers and we are not here all the time.
• Sometimes it may be a extended amount of time to get back to you. If it has been
  more then 3 days please shoot me a PM and I will try to get back to you quickly
  then.
• Please do the following and supply the requested information as needed. If you
  don't understand my instructions please ask and I will try to explain them
  clearer for you.
• Do not attempt any steps unless instructed or ask before to
  make sure they will not cause any further issues.
• If you are receiving assistance in any other forum site please let us know as there may be conflicting advice given.

Before we can help you need to provide the following so I can start you in the right direction.
Laptop or Desktop?

• If a name brand system then what brand, make and model is the system?
• If custom built then what brand, make and model is the motherboard
• Total memory installed
• Total hard drive capacity and free space
• What steps have you taken so far to resolve the issue

[Sharon Lee]

Hello, My brand make is a Dell. Model Dimension E521. 64 processor Ram 2.00GH 2 448MB
I have been on every site I could find to see if I could find help but most all want me to purchase something to get rid of the problem. I was hoping that would not be necessary. Right now, I am not sure what to do. Not to make excuses but I am a grandmother who loves her computer and enjoys going to different sites. I know I have to defrag this machine but I keep getting the same message each time I try. I have tried to run chkdsk/f but was unable to get to the problem. When I start the machine it tries to run an error check but only does one and goes right into windows. I would appreciate any help you can give me. Thank you.

[rshaffer61]

It sounds like you may have what is called a Dirty Bit in you memory. This happens when the system shuts down before the memory has completely cleared itself which in turn causes chkdsk to try and run when you boot up. Please try to do the following steps and let me know if it helps.


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.

[Sharon Lee]

I do not think I have Spyware but where would I check?

[rshaffer61]

This has nothing to do with spyware. It is a hiccup in the actual memory that causes this.

[Sharon Lee]

I did the type cmd. and it says cannot find the 'cmd' try again with search.

[rshaffer61]

What OS are you using? XP, Vista or Win7
It will make a difference how you do the steps. The instructions are written for XP so there is a extra step if you are running Vista or Win7.

[Sharon Lee]

I am using XP and I did exactly as you said and I restarted my computer and it did not do a chkdsk it went directly to Windows. Now I am ready to do the next step. Question: When I type the Y do I put the periods at the end of it or just type Y?

[Sharon Lee]

I did the last part of your instructions. It did not take me through any scan . I shall do it again tomorrow for it is late. My kids have all went home and I do have much to do. Thank you for your help. It has been much better that I have ever gotten. The first part did just as it was suppose to do. Now, I shall work on the running a full disk scan. Thanks once again.

[rshaffer61]

Did the first step say you had a Dirty bit?
Also only put the y

[Sharon Lee]

The first part did not go through at all. I went to the second part and it worked for the scan did not start and that is good. I have tried and tried the last part but it continues to tell methis is NTFS. So maybe I need to just be happy that my machine is not trying to scan each time I turn it on. Does it have to defrag often? I was told that I needed to do that to keep my machine working properly. Really, I just know that you helped me more than anyone and you took your time to do so. I so thank you for that. As I have said, I am not up on all the technology on computers, very little in fact, I just love using them. Thank you so much.

[rshaffer61]

If the chkdsk is not running anymore then the steps took care of it.
Now what is the next issue you would like me to assist you with?
Is your defrag now working or is that the next step?

[Sharon Lee]

No, my defrag is not running it still says that I have to run chkdsk /f . So is it important to defrag your computer or not? I guess this is the big question. For if it isn't we are in fine shape here.

[rshaffer61]

Xp is not as important to run defrag but just to test the issue please do the following and let me know if it works.
Download Auslogics Defrag from the link in my signature below. Auslogics Defrag in my opinion is better because:

It does a more comprehensive job at Defragging
It will actually show you what it is doing
At the end of working it will show you how much speed you picked up
You can view a online log of the files that Auslogics defragged
Please do not run any other Auslogics programs other then this one as they may cause unwanted results.
http://auslogics.com...defrag/download