Another frustrated chkdsk victim

I have seen a number of people reporting problems defragging due to chkdsk not running at boot-up. I have tried every suggestion I could find:
1. At the Windows XP command prompt chkdsk /r (or /x) tells me the drive is locked and ask if you'd like to run chkdsk at boot up. I hit "Y" to accept that, and then reboot but chkdsk does not start.
2. I tried running chkdsk from Safe Mode and got the same result as #1.
3. I can't from my Windows CD because I did not get one with the laptop:
a. I tried to create a Windows CD/DVD set from Lenovcare but I got through 1 CD and a couple of DVD's before it died. I tried to re-boot from the CD, but it boots from the HDD.
b. I have Norton Ghost, which says it can be used as a boot CD, but the laptop still insists boots from the HDD.
In both cases I tried F12 and BIOS setting change, and the laptop insists on booting from the HDD, and I end up with the same result as in #1.
My questions are:
A. Why did Windows ask if wanted to run chkdsk on boot-up, but then refuse to do this?
B. How do I boot from a CD/DVD so I can run chkdsk without it complaining that my HDD is locked?
I have spent hours trying to resolve this (some of them cursing Lenovo for not providing a boot disk), and it's getting pretty frustrating. I saw another thread suggesting I try to uninstall ThinkVantage. Since I don't have full set of restore disks can anyone tell me if the one CD I was able(see 3.a) to create would have a copy of ThinkVantage I could reinstall once I got my chkdsk/defrag problem resolved.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give.
BYW, I am running Windows XP Home on a Lenovo 3000 N200 0769

 

Chkdsk, when run on a system disk with the /f modifier will ask you if you want it run at boot time.
Renee

 

Yes, but then it does not run.
Paul

 

Then I would try to replace chkdsk from a friend (with slight probability of sucess) or I would reinstall the os. What else can you do?

Renee

 

Hi, Renee,

I am skeptical it's a problem with the dskchk program itself since it does run from the command prompt even thoough it can't fix things since the HDD is locked. The otehr (closed) threads on this toopic suggest that other things are going on.

Thanks/Paul

 

Such as?

Renee

 

I would boot off the Windows CD, go into the Recovery Console, and run CHKDSK /F /P from there. Once that's set, I'd see if CHKDSK from the hard drive would run again.

 

Do you have admin rights in the account running chkdsk?

 

Renee -see

http://forum.notebookreview.com/windows-os-software/172250-scheduled-chkdsk-wont-run-reboot.html
Can't run chkdsk c:/f and won't run chkdsk at startup either - CNET Windows XP Forums

LoneWolf15 - I don't have a Windows CD (see original post #3)

Infinus - yes, I since I own the laptop.

All - Note that Diskeeper & CHKDSK used to run on this machine just fine

Thanks

 

if you have issues with chkdsk, I'd go find a utility boot disc (I use Hirens) and use it to scan your hard drive for bad sectors before doing anything else.

 

How old is the drive throwing the chkdsk? What model laptop is this?

 

Hi, teeth 03...is the Hirens boot CD really freeware as my quick scan of this webpage seems to indicate?

Download Hiren's BootCD 12.0

 

I don't know....but you are off-topic.

Renee

 

Referring to my original post, it's a Lenovo 3000 N200 0769 running Windows XP Home. The HDD was replaced within the past years using a non-OEM model. Not sure whether the Hirens boot CD freeware is "off topic" as it's a possible solution to my lack of a Lenovo boot CD.

Paul

 

sorry, didn't see that in the last line.

Sounds like the disk is either toast, or will be soon.

I would pull it out and put it in a USB external drive enclosure. See if you can get at your data from another machine. If you are successful at copying the data off, I would reformat the disk or toss it.

Or, FDISK and format the disk and run a restore from your backup. You do have a backup, right?

Sounds like a new disk and install is in your future. Consider Windows 7. Much more stable and it has better diag and recovery in these scenarios.

 

It's not that the disk seems to have lots of problems that dskchk cannot fix, it's just that I can't get dskchk to run because when windows is running the disk is locked. dskchk thinks it is supposed to run on boot-up, but doesn't actually do so. This is preventing me from defragging.

Thanks

 

I have tried several things, and concluded I need a boot disk for windows XP. I made 1 using the Rescue & Recovery tool that came with the laptop, but it only lets me run R&R, and I can't open the command prompt window to run chkdsk. I am stuck in an infinte loop with this thing. Surely I can't be the only person every to have ths problem.

 

You concluded this 8 weeks later? Really?

 

I concluded this quite some time ago (see my 12/1 post above), and have been monitoring this thread to see if there were any new suggestions (there weren't). I recently saw a link on the Norton site that said it could create a boot disk for me, and indeed it did, but it only boots into a mode that let's me do virus scan, or try to fix virus related problems.