Trouble running scan disc and defragmenter

[Faramir]

I'm running win98se and am having trouble using scan disk and disk defragmenter. Both utilities stop and restart constantly. scan disk says another program is writing to the HD causing it to restart. I've shut everything down on the taskbar at the lower right (except systray and explorer). Is there another way to find out what is running or causing these utilities to keep restarting?

thanks---- Faramir

[thxmanu]

Faramir, the problem is with the Windows swap file. Everytime defrag moves something, it writes to the swap file. This causes defrag to restart. If you have another HD in your system, you can move the swap file there (right click My Computer, click Performance tab, click Virtual Memory), reboot, defrag and put it back (or leave it depending on your preference and disk space). You could also clean boot to DOS and run from there.

[Dominus]

Easiest way to solve your problem: Run both Scandisk and Defrag in Safe Mode.

[pickel]

The best way ,IMO, is the get Norton 2000 and use those utilities that come with it. I have this program on my daughter's computer which is running 2nd edition and it keeps it nice and healthy without those bothersome Microsoft applicationns http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

the pickel

[Faramir]

sorry its taken so long to respond back--
Dominus I tried to run those in safe mode but had the same results
thxmanu I checked my swap file and it showed the minimum was 0 and the max was 4+ gig is this the correct setting?


BTW ... this is on the same HD

[This message has been edited by Faramir (edited 05-07-2000).]

[Biff]

Faramir, I got my swap file set to one size. Windows ajusts the size of file depending on sys resources and what your doing. For optimum performance you can set min and max to same size, so win does not keep resizing it. I got 256 meg ram and swap file set at 150 meg, There are times I need a bigger size (when I run Falcon 4.0)

[pickel]

Faramir; Have you run "Systems File Checker" yet ????? Could be you have some corrupted or missing files preventing theses utilities to function properly. And not to disagree with Biff, however from my research on the "Swap File" from various sources, it should be approx. 2 times the size of the installed RAM
I have 160Mb and run mine at 320. However on my wife's computer it would not let me do this , so I that one 2 and one half times.
Set both mininmum and maximum the same and don't be concerned with Windows warning box.
Hers is 32Mb and set at 80. Try it , you can always change it , but this works for me http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif
Good Luck

the pickel

[Faramir]

OK thanks guys... I'll check that out and post what I find out

[grandslammer]

Okay, okay.. FIRST, you need to make sure you don't have enything running in the background. IE task scheduler, a screen saver, etc.

I sent you mail that will tell you how to make sure absolutely nothing is running in the background. That's the biggest reason defrag won't work for most people.

Every time the screen saver tried to start, defrag sees it as a change, and re-starts. Also power management could be a problem. You can adjust that from the bottom of the screen saver tab in properties. Just set the fields to always on, and the next three to never....

Also, specifying your virtual memory size will drastically reduce fragmenting in the future.

Good luck, and let me know how it goes...

http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

M

[grandslammer]

I guess that wasn't fair, I need to post that info in case someone else has the same problem, so:

Running scandisk and defrag once a week helps keep your system running at its peak. There are a couple of things you need to do to make sure nothing stops these processes in mid-stream. The problem is, if something is running in the background, it MAY stop defrag in the middle of its run, and cause it to re-start. This will make it take a substantially LONGER time to complete. Sometimes it may actually never finish.

Before you start your scandisk/defrag tasks, RIGHT click an empty space on your desktop. Then click on properties. Now, click on screensaver tab. Select none. Then go down to Energy Saving Features, then click on settings. In this window, at the top, select Always on, and in the next three boxes select never, never, and of course, never.... Then click OK, then OK again...

Now, from your desktop, hit ctrl/alt/del ONE TIME. A "Close Program" window will pop up. From this window select (one at a time) all the "running" programs EXCEPT explorer (not windows explorer of Internet explorer!, just plain EXPLORER) and systray. This way, there SHOULD BE NOTHING running in the background to interrupt your defrag.

Now go ahead and run scandisk, then defrag. Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Scandisk, THEN Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter.

If you do this once a week or so, you will be able to keep your system running up to it's potential... And, once you specify the size of your swap file, your computer will “fragment” less. Fragmentation is a major cotributor to slowing down a computer!

[grandslammer]

Here's my skinny on virtual memory:

I’d keep your swap file on the fastest hard drive if you have more than one. How much ram do you have? If you have 32mb, I’d specify a 100mb-swap file. Use this number for both min and max. If you have 64mbb, I’d set it at say 160mb. If you have 128mb, then I’d set it to 200-220mb. Just RIGHT click on My Computer, then click on properties, then performance. Then virtual memory. Select “let me specify my own swap file size.” Use the above numbers, or your numbers. Use the same number for minimum and maximum. Then hit okay, then yes. Now click on file system. Under typical role of my computer, select Network Server, instead of desktop. Or, if you use cacheman, “cacheman settings” will appear in this field. That’s cool…

Now, you’ll most likely need to restart your computer to make these changes, but if these are new settings, you should actually notice some improvement. It’ll make your computer work more efficiently.

Now, last reply here, I know, I know, I'm too long winded, but I wanted to poast me 6 1/2 cents worth here, since I e-mailed him a copy of the same.

Oh, here's a link to cacheman:
http://www.familyshoebox.com/family/991/FSLO-951869458-116991.zip

Have fun.......

http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

M



[This message has been edited by grandslammer (edited 05-08-2000).]

[michelletje]

For regedit lovers
If you have troubles defraging.
regedit
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\RunOnceEx]
Flags=dword:00000003
Title=Defrag at startup
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\RunOnceEx\Defrag]
Cmd=| |DEFRAG.EXE/ALL

After this reboot youre computer and it will defrag onces this always works.

Yours Michelletje

[grandslammer]

huh? Good deal.

http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

M

[raider rick]

Here's a fix that solved my Scandisk/Defrag troubles, www.winmag.com/fixes/defrag.html (http://www.winmag.com/fixes/defrag.htm)
Hope it helps you!

[This message has been edited by raider rick (edited 05-09-2000).] Sorry, I fixed the link.

[This message has been edited by raider rick (edited 05-09-2000).]

[Faramir]

http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif yes I'm still working on this.... I've tried to use all the info everyone has posted at sysopt, with the exception of michelletje's regedit idea ( I'm not entirely comfortable changing my registry yet). The scan disk and defragmenter still starts over constantly. I went to the link Raider Rick offered and ran defrag that way and it still took 42 hours to finish. Something is causing it to restart and I can't find it. I still have one other option and thats using another HD for my swap file, if that doesn't work I will f-disk and reload windows.

[raider rick]

Hello Faramir, By chance, do you run Zone Alarm, and have it configured to run at Startup? I had the same problem using the link(s) I posted. I found out you you have to open ZA, un-check the box Load ZA at startup. Hope this works for you. -rick

[Dave_H]

Try going to the folder: C\Windows\Applog
and rename it to something like "OldApplog"
reboot your system, Windows will create a new clean applog, shut down all the running tasks and cross your fingers.
BTW- Norton 2000 is the way to go for a de-frag in my opinion.
Good Luck http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif
Dave

[leftseat]

I had the same problem you describe for a long time.I went to www.hotfiles (http://www.hotfiles) and downloaded a program called enditall. This closes everything and lets scandisc and defrag run just fine. At least it did for me.
Good luck

[Faramir]

thanks leftseat... thats a pretty neat program. I still get the restarts but it significantly reduced them. They will restart maybe a tenth the number of times as before. I looked at the list it gives you for the programs it will shut down and its the same stuff that I shut down before .. so I don't know what made the difference.

thanks again--- Faramir

[rtyp3]

Are you sure you closed all programs in the background? That fully solved all of my problems, and some of my friends did the same and it all of theirs! Remember: Push Control+Alt+Delete to get the popup. Then close all of the programs by clicking end task until the only one left is explorer. That works for everyone I know. Should work for you too.

[senecadan]

Faramir, have you tried running msconfig and seeing what is loading on the startup tab? Sometimes programs will load as "services" and not show up when you press "ctrl-alt-del". Unchecking some of these may help.

[Faramir]

senecadan... that did the trick, thanks http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif Like you said , there was some stuff in there that doesn't show up in the ctrl+alt+del window and the Enditall program. Using that msconfig I would think, through a process of elimination, be able to find out which program was giving me the trouble.

raider rick suggested Zone Alarm so I will look at that one first.

thanks for eveyones input

--- Faramir

[jray]

I have a customer who had the same problem with scandisk & defrag, although he has scandisk scheduled to run once a month & defrag once a week. Using msconfig, I had him disable all but scheduler from startup prior to scheduled events, that seemed to work in his case...

[john robbinson]

i agree with you grandslammer thats exactly what i do. BUT one otherthing will cause it too stop if you o/c and have a temp sensore it will keep checking and changing as the temp increases from defrag and scandisk.

[flyboy1997]

Best thing to do would be to get Diskeeper it won't have to restart at all and can does a much better job. You can also set it to run continuously or at certain times.

[Prince]

One thing no-one's mentioned:

Virus.

[Faramir]

I did think about maybe a virus was causing it but I ran several virus scans and didn't find anything, even then I still didn't discount that idea but I looked for other causes. I went through every program I had looking for anything that might have caused it and I even un-installed some programs I wasn't sure about. I shut down everything I could find to shut down-- I even unhooked the cable modem..lol but after trying the msconfig idea that finally shut down whatever it was that was running-- I haven't had time yet to track down which program was causing the shut downs.

Thanks for the help----- Faramir

[asaja]

Faramir,
Running Win98, I must disable VShield(McAfee) and Windows Guardian to run Scandisk.Nothing seems to bother Defrag.It's a good tip on the msconfig thing though,I'll use that one for sure.