Scandisk "looping"

We had a crash on my kids machine.

These may not be related, but I'll give both just incase.

First:

It reported that C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WBEM\REPOSITORY\CIM.REP had an incorrect
size, and offered to repair it.

I told it to go ahead.

Second:

All attempts to run Scandisk have resulted in Scandisk "looping." It says
"Checking file allocation tables..." then "Checking folders..." When it gets
to two bars on "Checking folders..." it goes back to "Checking file allocation
tables..." and repeats. It's been doing this for a half an hour. Same
behavior in Safe Mode or running normally.

It did give me the ten-tries bit, saying that something else was writing to the
disk. I brought up Process Explorer and killed everything I could find that
didn't seem necessary (and discovered that I was wrong about a couple of them
when the system stopped pretty dead after killing them).

Advice, clues, commiseration?

- Bill

William J. Leary Jr. wrote:
We had a crash on my kids machine.

These may not be related, but I'll give both just incase.

First:

It reported that C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WBEM\REPOSITORY\CIM.REP had an incorrect
size, and offered to repair it.

I told it to go ahead.

Second:

All attempts to run Scandisk have resulted in Scandisk "looping." It says
"Checking file allocation tables..." then "Checking folders..." When it gets
to two bars on "Checking folders..." it goes back to "Checking file allocation
tables..." and repeats. It's been doing this for a half an hour. Same
behavior in Safe Mode or running normally.

It did give me the ten-tries bit, saying that something else was writing to the
disk. I brought up Process Explorer and killed everything I could find that
didn't seem necessary (and discovered that I was wrong about a couple of them
when the system stopped pretty dead after killing them).

Advice, clues, commiseration?

- Bill



Do it in Safe Mode.

Alias

"Alias" wrote in message
...
William J. Leary Jr. wrote:
We had a crash on my kids machine.

These may not be related, but I'll give both just incase.

First:

It reported that C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WBEM\REPOSITORY\CIM.REP had an incorrect
size, and offered to repair it.

I told it to go ahead.

Second:

All attempts to run Scandisk have resulted in Scandisk "looping." It says
"Checking file allocation tables..." then "Checking folders..." When it
gets
to two bars on "Checking folders..." it goes back to "Checking file
allocation
tables..." and repeats. It's been doing this for a half an hour. Same
behavior in Safe Mode or running normally.

It did give me the ten-tries bit, saying that something else was writing to
the
disk. I brought up Process Explorer and killed everything I could find that
didn't seem necessary (and discovered that I was wrong about a couple of
them
when the system stopped pretty dead after killing them).

Advice, clues, commiseration?

- Bill

Do it in Safe Mode.

Tried that, no good.

Last sentence, first paragraph under "Second:" says "Same behavior in Save Mode
or running normally."

- Bill

Bill,

WBEM - Could that be MS Web-Based Enterprise Management perhaps?

However, try running scandisk in Real Mode DOS. But be aware that you
*might* just have a faulty hard drive and therefore you *may* be putting
your data at risk.

Boot, using your WinMe Startup (floppy) Disk and select 'With CD-ROM
Support' then at the A:\ prompt, type "scandisk c:" (no quotes and note
there is a colon after the letter c) then press Return.

Follow the screen prompts - and for the first time at least, (unless you are
happy that either the disk is OK, or you can sacrifice your data) tell it
NOT to do a Surface Scan. See what it reports and keep a check on its
progress.

If it reports major problems, copy your important data to another drive (or
media) before attempting to write (surface scan) to the disk.

Don't forget to remove the floppy disk BEFORE you tell the machine to
reboot.

Good luck

Mart



"William J. Leary Jr." wrote in message
...
"Alias" wrote in message
...
William J. Leary Jr. wrote:
We had a crash on my kids machine.

These may not be related, but I'll give both just incase.

First:

It reported that C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WBEM\REPOSITORY\CIM.REP had an
incorrect
size, and offered to repair it.

I told it to go ahead.

Second:

All attempts to run Scandisk have resulted in Scandisk "looping." It
says
"Checking file allocation tables..." then "Checking folders..." When
it
gets
to two bars on "Checking folders..." it goes back to "Checking file
allocation
tables..." and repeats. It's been doing this for a half an hour. Same
behavior in Safe Mode or running normally.

It did give me the ten-tries bit, saying that something else was
writing to
the
disk. I brought up Process Explorer and killed everything I could find
that
didn't seem necessary (and discovered that I was wrong about a couple
of
them
when the system stopped pretty dead after killing them).

Advice, clues, commiseration?

- Bill

Do it in Safe Mode.

Tried that, no good.

Last sentence, first paragraph under "Second:" says "Same behavior in Save
Mode
or running normally."

- Bill

"Mart" wrote in message
...
WBEM - Could that be MS Web-Based Enterprise Management perhaps?

There's quite a number of files and several directories within \windows\wbem,
so I suppose it could be. I don't recall ever explicitly installing it, but
after looking around in the directory, I recalled that I've seen it before.

However, try running scandisk in Real Mode DOS. But be aware that you
*might* just have a faulty hard drive and therefore you *may* be putting
your data at risk.

Seems unlikely the drive is bad, but I've been doing all runs with the
automatic repair option turned off.

I thought of doing exactly this after I posted the original message. The
machine won't boot from my startup disk, though my other machine will. The
drive hasn't been used in many months, and from the way it's behaving, I
suspect the drive is crudded up again. Seems to happen every time I need it.
I'll clean it tomorrow and try again.

Now, here's another oddity to throw into the mix. The disk check which is part
of defrag DOES work. Goes right through taking the same amount of time it
always takes (about a minute) and finds no errors. I don't know what that
means relative to the problem.

- Bill

Bill wrote :-

The machine won't boot from my startup
disk .... and from the way it's behaving, I
suspect the drive is crudded up again ..

I assume that you were referring to your A: drive. They soon get "crudded
up" due to the fans sucking (dusty) air in through the disk aperture. A
regular little vacuum cleaner g

The disk check which is part
of defrag DOES work.

IIRC - doesn't it only do a (very) lite check?

Mart


"William J. Leary Jr." wrote in message
. ..
"Mart" wrote in message
...
WBEM - Could that be MS Web-Based Enterprise Management perhaps?

There's quite a number of files and several directories within
\windows\wbem,
so I suppose it could be. I don't recall ever explicitly installing it,
but
after looking around in the directory, I recalled that I've seen it
before.

However, try running scandisk in Real Mode DOS. But be aware that you
*might* just have a faulty hard drive and therefore you *may* be putting
your data at risk.

Seems unlikely the drive is bad, but I've been doing all runs with the
automatic repair option turned off.

I thought of doing exactly this after I posted the original message. The
machine won't boot from my startup disk, though my other machine will.
The
drive hasn't been used in many months, and from the way it's behaving, I
suspect the drive is crudded up again. Seems to happen every time I need
it.
I'll clean it tomorrow and try again.

Now, here's another oddity to throw into the mix. The disk check which is
part
of defrag DOES work. Goes right through taking the same amount of time it
always takes (about a minute) and finds no errors. I don't know what that
means relative to the problem.

- Bill

"Mart" wrote in message
...
Bill wrote :-

The machine won't boot from my startup
disk .... and from the way it's behaving, I
suspect the drive is crudded up again ..

I assume that you were referring to your A: drive.

Yes.

They soon get "crudded up" due to the fans sucking
(dusty) air in through the disk aperture. A regular
little vacuum cleaner g

Yes. This machine is the worst. It's in the front hall, and only about a foot
off the floor. I have to keep cleaning out the inside of the case just to keep
the bugger from overheating. I get a fist full of cat hair out of it each
time. Last night I'd finally had enough of that and put it up on the shelf
above the monitor rather than in the housing it's supposed to go in in the
lower right of the desk. Still haven't cleaned the floppy out, but read below
for why...

The disk check which is part
of defrag DOES work.

IIRC - doesn't it only do a (very) lite check?

As I recall, yes.

Now here's another "odd" to finish this off. After cleaing the inside of the
machine and moving it as noted above, it passed the normal defrag. And hasn't
issued it's "overheat" warning again either. I'm now led to suspect that it
was just SHORT of overheating (that is, the BIOS SMI thermal trip) during the
earlier failures and once I cleaned out the dust, and moved it to where it got
less dust and hair and more air, it moved far enough away from being too hot
that it works now.

- Bill

Bill wrote :-

... once I cleaned out the ..
and hair ..
... hasn't
issued it's "overheat" warning again either.
I'm now led to suspect that it
was just SHORT of overheating

Ah! no longer Hot - so I guess you could say 'it's hair today and warm
tomorrow'

...... Sorry

I blame it all on Harry g

Mart



"William J. Leary Jr." wrote in message
. ..
"Mart" wrote in message
...
Bill wrote :-

The machine won't boot from my startup
disk .... and from the way it's behaving, I
suspect the drive is crudded up again ..

I assume that you were referring to your A: drive.

Yes.

They soon get "crudded up" due to the fans sucking
(dusty) air in through the disk aperture. A regular
little vacuum cleaner g

Yes. This machine is the worst. It's in the front hall, and only about a
foot
off the floor. I have to keep cleaning out the inside of the case just to
keep
the bugger from overheating. I get a fist full of cat hair out of it each
time. Last night I'd finally had enough of that and put it up on the
shelf
above the monitor rather than in the housing it's supposed to go in in the
lower right of the desk. Still haven't cleaned the floppy out, but read
below
for why...

The disk check which is part
of defrag DOES work.

IIRC - doesn't it only do a (very) lite check?

As I recall, yes.

Now here's another "odd" to finish this off. After cleaing the inside of
the
machine and moving it as noted above, it passed the normal defrag. And
hasn't
issued it's "overheat" warning again either. I'm now led to suspect that
it
was just SHORT of overheating (that is, the BIOS SMI thermal trip) during
the
earlier failures and once I cleaned out the dust, and moved it to where it
got
less dust and hair and more air, it moved far enough away from being too
hot
that it works now.

- Bill

LOL!

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
"Mart" wrote in message
...
Bill wrote :-

... once I cleaned out the ..
and hair ..
... hasn't
issued it's "overheat" warning again either.
I'm now led to suspect that it
was just SHORT of overheating

Ah! no longer Hot - so I guess you could say 'it's hair today and warm
tomorrow'

..... Sorry

I blame it all on Harry g

Mart



"William J. Leary Jr." wrote in message
. ..
"Mart" wrote in message
...
Bill wrote :-

The machine won't boot from my startup
disk .... and from the way it's behaving, I
suspect the drive is crudded up again ..

I assume that you were referring to your A: drive.

Yes.

They soon get "crudded up" due to the fans sucking
(dusty) air in through the disk aperture. A regular
little vacuum cleaner g

Yes. This machine is the worst. It's in the front hall, and only about
a foot
off the floor. I have to keep cleaning out the inside of the case just
to keep
the bugger from overheating. I get a fist full of cat hair out of it
each
time. Last night I'd finally had enough of that and put it up on the
shelf
above the monitor rather than in the housing it's supposed to go in in
the
lower right of the desk. Still haven't cleaned the floppy out, but read
below
for why...

The disk check which is part
of defrag DOES work.

IIRC - doesn't it only do a (very) lite check?

As I recall, yes.

Now here's another "odd" to finish this off. After cleaing the inside of
the
machine and moving it as noted above, it passed the normal defrag. And
hasn't
issued it's "overheat" warning again either. I'm now led to suspect that
it
was just SHORT of overheating (that is, the BIOS SMI thermal trip) during
the
earlier failures and once I cleaned out the dust, and moved it to where
it got
less dust and hair and more air, it moved far enough away from being too
hot
that it works now.

- Bill

"Mart" wrote in message
...
Bill wrote :-
... once I cleaned out the ..
and hair ..
... hasn't
issued it's "overheat" warning again either.
I'm now led to suspect that it
was just SHORT of overheating

Ah! no longer Hot - so I guess you could say 'it's hair today and warm
tomorrow'

My father used to say things like that.

..... Sorry

Yeah, and he usually said that afterwards too. Nobody believed he was "sorry"
either.

I blame it all on Harry g

Well, he never did try to blame his on other people, but if it works for you...


Back to the subject of the thread... it's a funny thing, but a good deal of my
job is debugging the interface between hardware and software. That is, when
something wonks up, was it a firmware/software bug, or did the hardware foul
up? I *always* consider marginal thermals on the job. It just didn't occur to
me to apply it to a system in my own house. I simply assumed that if it wasn't
giving a thermal warning, all was well.

- Bill