[Fitz]

I too stand corrected in that I hadn't entered the correct spelling when looking for the two versions of Scandisk, but now that I have, I have found that I do have the two versions, including the miniscule 5kb Windows Scandisk (an application, not a shortcut, so it says). I rather suspected that SCANDISK.EXE must default to the Windows version when run in Windows as that kept happening.
I rebooted into DOS and the DOS version (blue screen) works fine, but it still won't work after an incorrect shutdown. I have noted verbatim the message given when it fails to run:
"There was an error running SCANDISK.EXE, or it was canceled. Run Scandisk for Windows, as you may still have errors on your disk(s). Press any key to continue starting Windows."
Windows loads fine after this, and there's rarely a problem, but it would be useful to have the option to have SCANDISK run a check on startup.
Fitz

[Rollin' Rog]

Have you tried running a "Thorough" scandisk, the one that runs after a bad shutdown may be encountering errors that the other mode is needed to fix.

You might want to make the modifications to scandisk.ini suggested in this MS link...
http://support.microsoft.com/support.../q160/0/43.asp

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What the Dormouse Said

[Fitz]

I did a thorough run of Scandisk and all seems OK. It only seems to work properly though if I shut down everything except SYSTRAY and EXPLORER. I think the culprit that keeps making Scandisk restart is RUNDLL whatever that is.
One thought occured to me: How does MSDOS.SYS get read on startup? It isn't referred to in Config.sys or autoexec.bat, and because Windows hasn't yet loaded, I presume it isn't in any .ini files..This is where the AutoScan=1 setting is located.
Fitz

[Bryan]

Right click on MyComputer. Under the title "System", what is your W95 version num ber? That autoscan entry would only work if your running W95, version 4.00.1111 or better.

[This message has been edited by bhesson (edited 01-01-2001).]

[Fitz]

The Windows 95 version is 4.00.950B.
I know the entry is case-sensitive in the MSDOS.SYS option area which is why I've written precisely this:
AutoScan=1
with a capital A and a capital S in the middle of the word following the model in the MS Product help page. There are no gaps or semi-colons at the beginning of the line.
Scandisk.exe is there in Windows\Command where it should be. In any event, it seems to be memory resident so that it will run wherever you command it in DOS. I just can't see why DOS can't see it on startup.
Fitz

[Bryan]

I am a liitle lost here so bear with me. Is your only problem now, that scandisk does not run after an improper shutdown? Or does scandisk run but it errors and does not complete?

If it does not run at all then, do you happen to have multiple msdos.sys files on your system? First be sure your set to view hidden files in case for some reason one is marked as hidden. They shouldn't be though.

Start>Programs>WindowsExplorer>View>FolderOptions>View. Select "Show All Files" and click on Apply.

Then Start>Find>Files, key in msdos.sys and press enter. Does it find more than one?



[This message has been edited by bhesson (edited 01-01-2001).]

[Rollin' Rog]

I would say there have really been 3 questions here, 2 of which we may have ruled out:
Whether scandisk is being called after a bad shutdown (yes, because you get an error message when it tries to run).

Whether the error is due to problems on the drive itself (no if you ran a thorough scandisk and nothing was found).

And whether the file scandisk.exe (the DOS version) is problematic itself. When you ran a thourough scandisk, you did it from Windows, so this last is still an open question, assuming the two programs are entirely independent.

If you haven't done this, you really should boot to a command prompt or restart in ms-dos mode and run scandisk.exe from there -- independently of the 'bad shutdown' issue. I would try both modes, standard and thorough and see if either starts and runs to completion without error messages.

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What the Dormouse Said

[Fitz]

OK. The position is this:
I have both versions of SCANDISK on my computer and they both work.
I have tested the DOS version in the DOS environment and it's fine.
The only problem is that I cannot get (the DOS version of) Scandisk to work after an incorrect shutdown.
Fitz

[Rollin' Rog]

Hate to say it Fitz, but I'm out of ideas. Mabye BHesson can think of something else. It doesn't make any sense to me why scandisk.exe would try to run but fail after a bad shutdown, but run fine other wise

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What the Dormouse Said

[Fitz]

The fact is, I really thought that you had the solution way back when you suggested modifying the MSDOS.SYS file, because there was no entry at all about AutoScan until I put it there.
This is what the MSDOS.SYS file looks like now: Does this look right?:
;FORMAT
[Paths]
WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
HostWinBootDrv=C

[Options]
BootMulti=1
BootGUI=1
AutoScan=1
;
;The following lines are required for compatibility with other programs.
;Do not remove them (MSDOS.SYS needs to be >1024 bytes).
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxa
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxb
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxc
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxd
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxe
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxf
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxg
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxh
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxi
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxj
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxk
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxl
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxm
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxn
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxo
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxp
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxq
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxr
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxs
Network=1

[Rollin' Rog]

Except for the commented format statement (what's that about?), the network=1 (probably not needed unless you are on a network and want network support in safemode command prompt) and the lack of a winver entry (the significance of of which I don't know),

it looks just like Mine

My other entries are options that would not have any relevance to the problem.

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What the Dormouse Said

[This message has been edited by Rollin' Rog (edited 01-01-2001).]

[WhitPhil]

I haven't jumped in here because I am sure I have seen this message before, but darned if I can find it.

One thing to try.
Restart to a DOS prompt and enter
Scandisk /Custom
and see if scandisk runs or gives the same error.

On a bad shutdown, this is what scandisk runs with, which causes it to use scandisk.ini for it's parameters to do its scanning. Perhaps the file is corrupted. If you get the error again, use SFC to extract the scandisk.ini file from the windows cd into \windows\command.

[Fitz]

Thanks for these suggestions.
I've tweaked the MSDOS.SYS file and I've also run Scandisk/custom which works fine and doesn't throw up the error message.
I've closely examined the scandisk.ini file with its various comments and options, and there is nothing in there that I can see that has any bearing on the problem.
If there were something missing, if the Scandisk.exe and ini files were corrupt or in the wrong place, I could understand it.
Oh well, it doesn't really matter. Scandisk does work.
THanks very much for all your suggestions, advice, and help. It was very much appreciated.
Fitz

[WhitPhil]

Fitz:
One last long shot.
Look under \windows\command for a file called scandisk.alt.

If you have one, rename it and see if the bad shutdown works.

If not, or if you don't have one, copy scandisk.exe into the command directory and rename it as scandisk.alt.

[Fitz]

Well Whitphil, this is one last longshot that worked! Well done, and thanks. Scandisk now works after an incorrect shutdown for the first time in months.
What the devil is "Scandisk.alt" anyway?
I tried to take a look at it in Notepad but couldn't see a thing. I changed its name to Scandisk.old, rebooted, and..well it's back to normal.
Case solved.
Thanks once again.
Fitz