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chkdsk not working, faulty hard drive?


niket

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I recently upgraded to a 1TB hard drive in my Lenovo laptop and I've been having some issues. Most of the time when I go into hibernate it takes a while for my system to come back to full use. For example, my Synaptics driver wouldn't start working until probably half a minute after I've logged into Windows. I thought this might be an issue with my disk, so I tried running a chkdsk. However, when it started up again, chkdsk wouldn't run. It would start up and then say that the chkdsk was cancelled and then boot back into windows.

I reinstalled Windows again and tried chkdsk and everything was fine, but hibernation would still take forever. Today I tried chkdsk again and it wouldn't work. There was the same issue as before. I tried reinstalling chkdsk, but I still have the same issues. How can I be sure this is or isn't a hardware problem?

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You need to get through a successful Chkdsk, that's for sure. By the way, what does "I tried reinstalling chkdsk" mean? Is that supposed to be that you ran Chkdsk and set it to run on next boot?

One sure way to check the disk ( pardon the pun ) is to have a 2nd computer around, with a 2.5" adapter for laptop drives, and run the HDD in there as a slaved drive. It can now be scanned with the other computer's Chkdsk and also malware tools.

Most likely you have a ton of services and process loading at bootup which explains the late and slow loading of the touchpad software and also messing with restart/sleep/hib. I would bet you have a antivirus app loading before that Synaptics and it is messing with it as well as dragging down overall performance as well. In fact it might even be blocking you from setting Chkdsk ( some of them have been known to watch the AutoChk registry key and other well known startup areas for changes and revert them ).

Other ideas ... You didn't mention what OS, and AV software, is it an administrator account, and did you try running with AV completely disabled? Can you disable Wi-Fi ( and/or Celluar ) to rule it out from startup/shutdown delays? You can try Safe Mode *without* networking also. Is this on battery or AC outlet? Heat can be a problem too. I like to rule that out by setting the laptop on a fan pad ( cooler ) on full blast during testing.

Either way, you definitely have to get a successful full Chkdsk accomplished, for the simple reason that its a new HDD and could certainly be defective, and you will want to exchange it ( if bad ) during the warranty timeframe. After that is done I would audit everything that autostarts and remove everything that is not necessary.

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You need to get through a successful Chkdsk, that's for sure. By the way, what does "I tried reinstalling chkdsk" mean? Is that supposed to be that you ran Chkdsk and set it to run on next boot?

I went through a successful Chkdsk when I first installed the OS, but I guess I should try it again using what you say below. I "reinstalled chkdsk" using this info: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/56685-check-disk-reset.html. I was using Option 2 with the .reg file. I probably just don't understand what is going on.

One sure way to check the disk ( pardon the pun ) is to have a 2nd computer around, with a 2.5" adapter for laptop drives, and run the HDD in there as a slaved drive. It can now be scanned with the other computer's Chkdsk and also malware tools.

I'll try this out and get back to you.

Most likely you have a ton of services and process loading at bootup which explains the late and slow loading of the touchpad software and also messing with restart/sleep/hib. I would bet you have a antivirus app loading before that Synaptics and it is messing with it as well as dragging down overall performance as well. In fact it might even be blocking you from setting Chkdsk ( some of them have been known to watch the AutoChk registry key and other well known startup areas for changes and revert them ).

Restart and sleep are fine. Touchpad software comes up right when I log into Windows from a cold boot, but when I use hibernate, it takes forever. Would it be the case that the antivirus is only loading before when I hibernate? I'm using the newest Bitdefender Internet Security.

Other ideas ... You didn't mention what OS, and AV software, is it an administrator account, and did you try running with AV completely disabled? Can you disable Wi-Fi ( and/or Celluar ) to rule it out from startup/shutdown delays? You can try Safe Mode *without* networking also. Is this on battery or AC outlet? Heat can be a problem too. I like to rule that out by setting the laptop on a fan pad ( cooler ) on full blast during testing.

I'm using Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. I don't know what you mean by AV software. I'm on an administrator account.

Either way, you definitely have to get a successful full Chkdsk accomplished, for the simple reason that its a new HDD and could certainly be defective, and you will want to exchange it ( if bad ) during the warranty timeframe. After that is done I would audit everything that autostarts and remove everything that is not necessary.

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Yes, AV == Antivirus

Try to find in the Bit Defender program interface the disable setting, it will complain and warn you about turning it off but you need to do that and any associated anti-phishing, anti-malware, system protection, also. We are trying to disable all "realtime" components of the AV. Usually this setting gives an option of turning it off for an hour, or until next reboot, or forever. Select forever and just remember to re-enable it when you are all done.

With those disabled, you should reboot a couple of times and see if you notice any better performance in startup ( time it ). Also check out hibernate. And repeat the process of Chkdsk to see if it now works correctly.

I would then move to Safe Mode without Networking ( and turn off the Wi-Fi ) and check all those things again. We're shaking the tree here to see what falls out. These are the low hanging fruit ( AV software and hangs from Wi-Fi ). All it sometimes takes is buggy NIC drivers ( Broadcomm or other Ethernet driver ) or almost any kind of AV software to interfere with normal Windows processes to cause lags and hangs.

I don't use hibernate but it seems logical that it is related to a possible disk problem as it writes out the RAM contents to the disk, yet sleep would still function normally. But there are other things short of a bad disk that might interfere. For example there might be power saving settings that spin down the disk after a period of time, and maybe that was the case coincidentally just when you decided to hibernate? I always kill that setting and tell the power option to never do anything to the disk(s). You can check that setting and disable it. Another possibility is that a hot system might cause a laptop to idle the HDD or CPU and this could cause a long hibernate process. Rule this out by putting the laptop on a strong cooler.

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The problem is not slow hibernating it's slow restart from hibernation. There is no "loading this and that", the system should react exactly like a "locked" system. Unless devices (like USB) have been plugged in or removed in between.

An easy way to check your disk "offline" is to use your Windows 7 install DVD and get to the Command Prompt from the "Repair" menu.

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If your notebook has an Intel controller, install the IRST and see if resuming from hibernation is any better.

From https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=3409&DwnldID=22036&keyword=irst&DownloadType=Drivers〈=eng

The third option (iata_enu.exe) will install the software. It will only work if your SATA type in the BIOS is set to AHCI or RAID.

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Thanks for the help guys! I booted into the installation disk and ran the chkdsk from the command line. It says the filesystem is clean. I used chkdsk /f. So is this telling me that the hard drive isn't to blame? Here's a picture of the command line: http://s1331.photobucket.com/user/niket92/media/20140121_181427_zps597ac261.jpg.html. Sorry it's a little blurry.

So I guess I'll be trying to hibernate without the AV software now. When you say Intel controller do you mean that I have an Intel processor? Sorry I'm not familiar with the controller term.

EDIT: Okay I tried running chkdsk with my AV software uninstalled and I'm still getting the same problem. It doesn't run when I restart my computer. I've used the Glary Utilities registry cleaner and hard disk repair and I got this back from the hard disk repair:

Glary Utilities 4 is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)...
376064 file records processed.
File verification completed.
221 large file records processed.
0 bad file records processed.
2 EA records processed.
44 reparse records processed.
Glary Utilities 4 is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)...
Index entry CHECKDISKPROGRESS.EXE-C5414642.pf in index $I30 of file 275750 is incorrect.
Index entry CHECKD~1.PF in index $I30 of file 275750 is incorrect.
Index entry 33b60e647ed498b484af17542a2cd765f676b59at in index $I30 of file 374428 is incorrect.
Index entry 33B60E~1 in index $I30 of file 374428 is incorrect.
Index entry dc919f4c91557ff8808d2a6ceed732ab597a8e8bt in index $I30 of file 374428 is incorrect.
Index entry DC919F~1 in index $I30 of file 374428 is incorrect.
426136 index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
Errors found. Glary Utilities 4 cannot continue in read-only mode.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CheckDisk found 1 disk errors as follows:
C:\
I'm not sure exactly what all this means
Edited by niket
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It looks a lot like Glary utilities (whatever they are) are spawning a CHKDSK process and "re-wording" it's output :w00t:.

If you have only one partition/volume (the C:\ drive) CHKDSK cannot be run on it in R/W mode (and R/W is needed to correct issues - if any), but since you get that new CHKDSK error (via Glary Utilities) right after the "install disk CHKDSK" showed no issues, there might be a real hard disk problem of some kind.

In any case what you should try doing is the following.

Disable hibernation.

Boot to the install disk.

Delete hyberfil.sys from C:

Run CHKDSK (with no parameters) <- take note of errors if any

Run CHKDSK again, this time with the /F parameter <- take note of errors if any

Run CHKDSK again, this time with the /R parameter <- take note of errors if any

Reboot to "normal" OS

Run Defrag

Re-enable hibernation

Run CHKDSK (no parameter) from the booted OS <- take note of errors if any

Try hibernating and resuming.

jaclaz

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Though it does seem gratuitious and unneededly fear spreading :ph34r:, the note by Ponch has some merits :yes:.

I posted the sequence of operations assuming :w00t::blushing: :

  • that you already have a backup of the files (and/or an image of the disk)
  • that since you already have noticed some issues with the hard disk, you expressly made a new backup of the files (and/or an image of the disk) before you started fiddling with the hard disk

Defragmenting an hard disk is not in any way a "dangerous" operation, it will NOT "screw up" a working hard disk, it will NOT damage the filesystem, specifically on WIndows 7 it is run anyway automatically (normally once a week):

http://windows.microsoft.com/is-is/windows/schedule-regular-disk-defragmenter#1TC=windows-7

so it is very likely that it was already run at least once since "recently" the new disk was fitted to that PC, and it will be probably run once a week for all the life of that PC.

But yes, there is a very remote possibility that on an already "screwed up" hard disk (that won't anyway allow the running of CHKDSK successfully) it can worsen the filesystem status.

So, IF you haven't already done so, do backup files and/or image the disk before attempting to run the given sequence of operation.

jaclaz

Edited by jaclaz
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Alrighty, thanks for the series of steps. I went through all of them. There is nothing wrong according to all the chkdsk commands I ran.

Is it possible that my computer is not running chkdsk on startup because of a registry issue?

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Though it does seem gratuitious and unneededly fear spreading :ph34r:, the note by Ponch has some merits :yes:.

Dear Jaclaz, this was not gratuitious, I am genuinely astonished that you, the 'resident HDD expert', give such advise that whatever the outcome of chkdsk was on that disk (which up to now could be considered as suspect), a defrag was a good idea. You look for back doors (yes I know you :sneaky: ) to avoid blushing and say it's okay because defrag has probably been ran last week anyway... but then why run it now again? Just say "well... no.". Now back to the problem please. :angel:P

Registry issue ? It's said you reinstalled Windows and it first would run chkdsk at boot but then "today" not anymore. What happened in between ? Windows updates and drivers updates ? Some programs installed ? I'd look that way.A

Also this; when you installed the1TB at first, did you "image" it from the former HDD or did you "install" Windows (as well)?

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