Double Startup of PC

P

pjm21b

Geek Trainee
When you start the PC there is a blue screen message that appears that says it will be checking system on F: (that is the main hard drive disk designation letter, not C:)

It goes through a chkdsk verifying the files in 3 different stages:

Stage 1, Stage 2, are verifying files and all of these checks seem to be reporting ok numbers and no problems.

Stage 3 is verifying Security Descriptors and this seems ok also.

Then it says to wait for the system to restart. Well we have waited for as long as a half hour and nothing happens so we hold in the PC power button until the system shutdowns.

When we restart the PC it comes on without any further problems and works all day with any problems.

When we start up the PC the next day we have to repeat the above cycle again in order to get the system to work properly.

We have to start the PC twice each day in order to get it to work properly.

There has to be a basic hardware or software problem that is happening that is causing this situation to repeat itself each day. Occasionally on a new day the PC will start without going through this cycle but that has been only 4 times since this problem started over 30 days ago.

After repeated emails back and forth with Dell they now tell me to do a "Repair" Restore on the machine.

Does anyone else have any other resolutions to fix or analize this problem ?

Thank you,
Paul
 
I would find out what company manufactured your drive and obtain some diagnostic software (which should be free for download) from that company for your drive. Run it, and see if there's anything amiss. If there is, I'd backup all your important files immediately. Actually, you might want to do that first thing.

If there's no issues there, run a virus scan and spyware scan with up-to-date virus engines.

If the following two come up clean, go ahead and use the restore disk.
 
chdsk running when the PC boots indicates that the machine wasn't shut down properly or that some service was shut down before it should have been so the system has been flagged as "dirty".

Try running chkdsk from the hard drive property page (once you get into windows). One thing to remember is that chkdsk can take an hour or more to finish so if you can, leave it running overnight.
 
Can you please explain what you mean by Property area of the hard drive in Windows ?

I usually go into MS Dos area and then run chkdsk -- is that ok ?

Thank,
Paul
 
Open 'My Computer'. Right-click on the hard drive. You my have an option to scan it in the menu that pops up. If not, go down to, and click on, "Properties".
You should have a tab labled 'Tools'. One of the options here will be to scan your drive for errors. You may have to reboot for some of the scanning to work (unfortunately).
 
First of all, Why is the hard drive on F: drive and not on C: drive..
This doesn't sound right,How many drives do you have ? Do you have DMA support checked? To me it sounds like you have a hardware problem and something is clashing....you have some conflicts somewhere.
Is this a fairly new computer?
 
The main drive on F: instead of C: happened almost 3 years ago and happened when I was doing a full Restore to the system when the hard drive went south. Dell was helping me do this restore and some how the drive letters got switched around. Dell at that time said this was not a major problem and programs would still work ok -- and for 3 years it has.

The overall system a a little over 4 years old.

The PC has one Hard Drive (F), one Zip Drive (C), one CD Rom Drive (D) and one CD Writer Drive (E:)

Do you have DMA support checked? --- What is this and how do I have it checked ?

I have been going back and forth on this issue with Dell Tech for over a month and they have finally told me to do a Repair Restore first to see if it will solve the problem of the system not sutting down properly (although visible it seems to be) and then wanting to do chkdsk when next it starts up. They said that if that does not work I would have to do a Complete Restore (completely down to the barebones).

Both type of restores mean a lot of work and time and I was just out on this forum seeing if any one else had any other easier solutions.

Any help would bne appreciate.

Thank you,
Paul
 
When you bought this dell computer, Did it come with some recovery disks?
I think the best way to fix your problem is not a restore,BUT By doing
a recovery... What else is this computer doing,besides the drive problem.
Do you have any important stuff on this computer ? I would either do a recovery, or do a fresh install, that is if you have windows xp or some other
OS laying around..
 
Yes I have the Recovery Disks.

The only two ways I know of using the Recovery Disks are:

1. Repair Restore -- Replaces all or most of the basic Windows XP components and supposedly leaves the data and applications alone.

2. Fresh Install Restore -- Goes right down to the bare disk and removes everything and then rebuilds the Windows XP on the system.

You mention a Recovery not a Restore -- What do you mean - what is a Recovery -- If you mean the Recovery back to a Restore Point process - that never works for me.

The PC seems to be running slower with the hour glass hanging around much longer when doing a function.

Yes we have important stuff on the PC -- It's running a business with a Access Db's etc. etc.

Thanks,
Paul
 
1. Do a backup of your important files on a CD.
2. [link=http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=223188]Change Drive Letters[/link]
3. Recover your windows as Ghostman said. it doesnt mean system restore. when you enter your windows cd you get two choices. one for repairing windows and other for complete new installaion of windows.

Good Luck
 
Thanks Karanislove:

He is right,To restore means to do a system restore inside of windows XP, to do a recovery mean using your Recovery disk to reinstall all your windows OS..
I would most diffently do a recovery on this problem, It seems you have too problems going on. Start your computer let go through it's process,Once it is done stick in your Recovery disk and then Reboot,Let it do its thing and when it get to format or Full Recovery choose that one.. You want to wipe the entire drive and do a Fresh install... You will have to reinstall all your programs back like your favorite AV & firewall,But this is the best way...
 
Ghostman and Karanislove,

I am sorry but I am dense to this issue:

There are three ways that I know of to attempt a restore to the PC:

1. The Restore function that you can do internal to Windows XP using the restore points etc. (this never works for me)

2. The "Repair" Restore when you use use the Windows XP Install Disk and click on the "R" Repair method - This I believe restores all the XP components to a new status and leaves all applications and data alone on the PC.

3. The "Complete" Restore that also uses the Windows XP Install Disk and this one completely erases everything off the hard drive, formats the hard drive and then Restores the Windows XP system -- this method you lose all applications and data you had on the PC.

I believe both of you are saying to use method number 3 above -- Correct ?

Can't using the second method (replacing all of the xp components) fix this issue I have ? And if not why do you believe this won't work ?

Thank you for your continued support.

Happy Holidays,
Paul
 
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