Thinkpads Forum

New thinkpad gets stuck while running dskchk at 66% complete. This is my 2nd hard drive 1st drive got stuck at same place & Lenovo sent a new one with recovery discs. This is the disc check program that is run by right click c drive in computer then error check in tools and then runs when restarting the computer. I'm guessing the problem isn't in the hard drive.

Try running it from command prompt by tryping in "chkdsk".

It went through dskchk from the command prompt ok but it sure doesn't seem to be the same disc check program it got hung up on. It ran this dskchk in about 2 minutes the other one was into about an hour when it stopped. Do the programs do the same thing?

artl wrote:snip....Do the programs do the same thing?

Yes. One is graphical and the other command line console version.

How to perform disk error checking in Windows XP

It is true for Windows Vista too.

I just ran check disc from the command prompt using the chkdsk/r command. It's stuck again at 66% complete 24312133 of 39589079 free clusters processed. Seems it's something other than the HD.

Go to the following thread and download the utility corresponding to your HDD manufacturer:

Hard drive utility links

You can also run the HDD diagnostic test program in the BIOS.

The built in error checking program Windows provide is only a basic tool that can be inconsistent at times.

I can confirm to be a problem with my T61p (6459-CTO), Vista 32bit, chkdsk and in my case a Seagate ST9160823AS.

In practice whenever I try to perform a chkdsk that takes more than 1 hour to complete (/ r locate bad sectors and recover readable information) the disk activity simply stops... I think the disk actually spins down. I haven't timed it accurately but it has happened four time so far (at different percentage stages) but always very, very close to the hour mark since the beginning of chkdsk.

I have used both PC-Doctor and SeaTools low level disk checks, I can hammer the disk for hours and nothing bad is found (or happens).

It seems to me more of a power saving/trigger bug especially because my chosen 'plugged in' mode disables both 'Turm hard disk after xxx minutes' and 'Windows Hybrid Hard Disk Power Saving Mode'.

Thank you for the for the info & links. The HD utilities look like more than I need to use at the moment. After both HDs stopped at the same point yet have passed the PC DR. tests I'd guess they are ok. I just wanted to see if, & how much, space was lost to bad sectors since a 200 GB HD showed 179 GB capacity.

Now I have to decide which one to send back (yah I'm afraid they want one back). Any suggestion on how to decide? They both started at the same size 179 GB. The only difference that's apparent to me is that one was loaded with programs at the factory the other was loaded by me with IBM supplied r&r discs.

As long as I'm here does 2 1/2 hrs on the standard battery sound right

artl wrote:snip.....As long as I'm here does 2 1/2 hrs on the standard battery sound right

What type of battery is it?

I saw something similar happen on a coworkers Dell running Windows ME. He was able to do the disc check successfully from Windows SAFE MODE. The only problem with using SAFE MODE is that it is somewhat slow since your hard drive will be operating in PIO mode and will not be using DMA.

I believe it's a 6 cell not the upgrade which I think a 9cell.

Btw I ran into someone running xp on a HP & chkdsk gets stuck on him too.

Getting 2.5 hrs with 6 cells battery is good infact.

Yeh starting dskchk from safe mode worked but the results dissapeared before I could read them. How do I get it to stop so I can read the results? Would chkdsk/p work?

Are you sure your system is not just powering down the hard drive after a certain period of time due to the power manager settings? The fact that it can run the test in safe mode suggests that this could be the cause. If you haven't edited the power manager profiles, I believe the "maximum performance" setting disables all the shut off timers. So I would make sure the power manager setting is set to maximum performance (or another setting with no shutoff timers) before trying to run any tests that take a long time. This should disable any shut off timers that may possibly be causing your hard drive to spin down after a certain period of what it deems to be "inactivity."

Starting chkdsk from safe mode worked all the way but the results went off screen before I could read them. I just tried using /p to get it to pause when finished but it said /p invalid parameter. How can I see the results?

Pae77's suggestion worked but the report was still gone from the screen before I could really read it. How can I get to see the report?

Take a speed reading course.

Sorry, just kidding. I don't know. Experienced the same problem myself.

Hello,

I have reported this issue some time ago in another thread of this forum.

I do believe there is an issue mostly experienced when running chkdsk at boot time on Vista 32bit.

the hard disk simply seems to spin down at about an hour from starting the disk check.

any other low level tests can be performed for hours at a time and always complete successfully.

I do believe it is not an hardware issue but a software one.

Maximum performance on the power manager cured the chkdsk hanging problem but now I'd like the chkdsk report to stay on screen long enough to read it. I have 2 hds & have to return 1 & would like to see which 1 is the best regarding bad sectors.

I will try 'Max Performance' power profile as well...

at the moment my ad-hoc profiles specifies the following behavior when plugged in (i.e. when I experienced the problem):
- Hard disk: turn off hard disk after -> Never
- Sleep: sleep after -> never
- Hybernate: hybernate after -> never

all of the other power profile options should not (in theory at least) have any relevance.

Run the command from cmd.exe window, but append this to the command line:

> dsklog.txt

So it looks like:

chkdsk <parameters> > dsklog.txt

You won't see the output of the command at all, but it will all be recorded in dsklog.txt in whatever directory you run the command from.

Mattkrass I've tried running your suggested command from the command prompt box and from safe mode. I get nowhere I'm probably entering it wrong. Could you write it exactly as it needs to be entered ie. what do I put in the <parameters>?

My latest attempt from the administrator cmd.exe box in safe mode reads chkdsk/r>dsklog.txt I hit enter, the curser drops down a line & that's it (the HD is idle). Any idea what i'm doing wrong?

Resolved I found the report in notepad.