[computer_par]

Hi there,

I have read all over the net a bug with chkdsk on Windows 7 but I have not seen one single solution to the problem.

The fact is that I am having bad sectors in my new dell computer and I do need to fix them (a lot of applications are crashing due to i/o problems, microsoft and non-microsoft applications, like windows backup and skype for example).

To solve the issue I boot on recovery mode, get into command prompt and run chkdsk /f /r but it takes forever, and never finishes, as of now is been running for two days already and almost no advance (it's been at 46% for the past 18 hours). The same thing happens if i schedule chkdsk on the next boot.

Does anyone know how to fix this problem?

Thanks!

[Mumbodog]

Is this RTM or a RC version of W7?

I wonder if you actually have a memory problem.

[computer_par]

RC, since i installed it almost two months ago. There is no way for me to see if i have a memory problem also mentioned all over the web, since chkdsk is running at boot checking my c: drive and while is doing that there is nothing else i can do. My laptop has 4Gb of RAM and the hard disk is 300 Gb, just in case. Os is Windows RC 64 bit.

I can try stopping the current scan and run it from recovery mode, will i be able to use task manager then to see if it is the memory leak problem? In case that this is the problem, what can I do to finish my HD scan since I do have bad sectors waiting for repair?

Thanks,
Miguel

[Elvandil]

Nothing you try to do on a machine with bad memory can be trusted to work properly. So there is no way of testing memory from within the system. They all use (possibly defective) memory.

Once memory has been validated and shown not to be the problem, then further diagnostics can be done.

Try a bootable memory test that is designed in such a way that it will move itself to different locations in memory so that all parts can be tested.

MemScope (Floppy and CD images.)
Roadkil's RAM Test
Microsoft Memory Test (floppy or CD ISO image)
Memtest86

If you have enough memory sticks, you can test them by removing one at a time and see if the problem disappears.

If you are running Vista, tap F8 on boot and choose the memory diagnostic, or if you can boot up, go to Start > Search and type:

mdsched.exe

Choose to run a memory diagnostic on next boot. Or, you can boot from the DVD and run it from there.

[Elvandil]

Nothing you try to do on a machine with bad memory can be trusted to work properly. So there is no way of testing memory from within the system. They all use (possibly defective) memory.

Once memory has been validated and shown not to be the problem, then further diagnostics can be done.

Try a bootable memory test that is designed in such a way that it will move itself to different locations in memory so that all parts can be tested.

MemScope (Floppy and CD images.)
Roadkil's RAM Test
Microsoft Memory Test (floppy or CD ISO image)
Memtest86

If you have enough memory sticks, you can test them by removing one at a time and see if the problem disappears.

If you are running Vista, tap F8 on boot and choose the memory diagnostic, or if you can boot up, go to Start > Search and type:

mdsched.exe

Choose to run a memory diagnostic on next boot. Or, you can boot from the DVD and run it from there.

There is no "bug" in chkdsk, despite the internet rumors to the contrary. Its behavior is by design and is unrelated to your problem. Yours in particular sounds like it may be a failing drive if memory tests OK. If you have "bad sectors", you need a new drive. They can not be fixed.

[peck1234]

I had very similar issues when on the beta versions of 7 as well....


Now that i'm on RTM I have no problems what so ever...

[computer_par]

Elvandil,

Not sure I am following you, why do you think I will have memory problems? I have definitely bad sectors, applications like windows backup stops every time because has I/O errors trying to read a system file. I run chkdsk at boot and immediately files start to show up as corrupted. My problem is not that I have bad sectors, is that chkdsk takes too long, 48 hours to be exact to scan a 300Gb HD, that is way off what it should be.

I checked the net, and there are tons of post of chkdsk being buggy specifically for Windows 7, chipset drivers being buggy, memory leaks in chkdsk for Windows 7. In another forum the first answer I got was "boot from a vista or xp CD, use their chkdsk, do not trust windows 7 chkdsk". While you might be right about memory, all my evidence points to a faulty chkdsk or something that impacts its behaviour in Windows 7, I do not see any evidence of corrupted memory.

I am a developer, porting applications from Visual Studio 2005 to 2008 in C#. Having said that at any given point I have open VS 2005, VS 2008, Excel, Word, Outlook, Photoshop, Ilustrator, 20+ web pages in IE and Chrome and another 10+ third party apps: I have never seen a memory missbehaviour in my laptop, in fact all applications that crash clearly said I/O errors and that is why when I decided to use chkdsk to find out.

Regardless, I will run your tests when I have a chance to rule that out, but I have very solid evidence in my laptop that chkdsk is faulty in Windows 7. No rumors, hard reality.

But thanks for all the memory checks suggestion, will get that done as well!

[computer_par]

Assuming I can get RTM (or final release just a few more weeks) in hand, can I upgrade from RC or will I have to do a clean install? You all may know well how frustrating is to install everything from scratch ...

[Mumbodog]

can I upgrade from RC or will I have to do a clean install?

Clean

[fairnooks]

Once the clean is done, run it mostly without installing the whole "kit and kaboodle" of apps right away if you can, see if the problem is going to stay away---long chkdsks can mean its having a hard time reading the sectors and might indicate a bad drive. If its bad you can switch it out with out doing the full clean twice over.

[Elvandil]

Originally Posted by computer_par

Elvandil,

Not sure I am following you, why do you think I will have memory problems? I have definitely bad sectors, applications like windows backup stops every time because has I/O errors trying to read a system file. I run chkdsk at boot and immediately files start to show up as corrupted. My problem is not that I have bad sectors, is that chkdsk takes too long, 48 hours to be exact to scan a 300Gb HD, that is way off what it should be.

I checked the net, and there are tons of post of chkdsk being buggy specifically for Windows 7, chipset drivers being buggy, memory leaks in chkdsk for Windows 7. In another forum the first answer I got was "boot from a vista or xp CD, use their chkdsk, do not trust windows 7 chkdsk". While you might be right about memory, all my evidence points to a faulty chkdsk or something that impacts its behaviour in Windows 7, I do not see any evidence of corrupted memory.

I am a developer, porting applications from Visual Studio 2005 to 2008 in C#. Having said that at any given point I have open VS 2005, VS 2008, Excel, Word, Outlook, Photoshop, Ilustrator, 20+ web pages in IE and Chrome and another 10+ third party apps: I have never seen a memory missbehaviour in my laptop, in fact all applications that crash clearly said I/O errors and that is why when I decided to use chkdsk to find out.

Regardless, I will run your tests when I have a chance to rule that out, but I have very solid evidence in my laptop that chkdsk is faulty in Windows 7. No rumors, hard reality.

But thanks for all the memory checks suggestion, will get that done as well!

I still believe that chkdsk is all right. You won't find a great deal of truth on the internet as a whole. But you can run a different version if you like, like the one from a booted XP disk. It will revert the NTFS version, but that will be remedied the next time the disk is accessed by Vista.

You might also try limiting the drive speed and see what happens if it is running at 3 GB/s now. Of course, if the problem occurs on only one drive and no other that you have on that machine, then the I/O buffer, and therefore memory, is not the problem.

Everything the computer does uses memory. Bad memory can cause data to be read and written incorrectly, appearing as "bad clusters" when it is actually the read/write process that is faulty. In any case, as you mention, the test is easy and will eliminate another possibility.

There are quite a few free tests for drives, too, including from the manufacturer. But if you have bad clusters, despite the claims of some retail programs, any "recovery" of those clusters will be very short-lived and largely imaginary.

Free Hard Drive Testing Applications:
Manufacturer's Tests
Victoria for DOS
Victoria for Windows (Both versions of Victoria are among the best and most thorough tests available.)
HD Tune
CheckDisk 1.03 (Marks bad sectors as unusable.)
HDAT2 (Diagnostics and bad sector recovery)
MHDD Low-level Diagnostics
Bootable Hitachi Drive Fitness Test Floppy or CD Image (works on most drives)

Hard Drive Manufacturers' Diagnostic Utilities Links:
TachTech
BleepingComputer