Resolved Followed instructions in old post to speed computer; now frozen in chkdsk

Hi, I'm a COMPLETE novice to the inner workings of computers. I found and followed an old post regarding computer slowing down significantly and stuttering (posted by topeira on 29 Oct 2009) and Evan Omo's response (posted same date).

I followed all the instructions (over the past couple evenings) for my desktop computer and it *seemed* my computer was working much better and faster - and no stutters/freezes, which had been happening even when working on a document or viewing a website. I started the final instruction yesterday evening: "Click Start< Run type in cmd and press enter. In the command prompt window that opens type cd\ followed by enter. Next type the following command and press enter, chkdsk /r. A message will appear saying that check disk cannot run while the volume is in use. Type Y and hit enter. After thats done reboot the computer to allow check disk to run. "

Well, I've done this three times now and each time it gets to stage 5 of 5 ( "CHKDSK is verifying free space "), and then freezes at 37% complete (20099039 of 71029066 free clusters processed). I don't know how to get past this point or how to undo/exit the CHKDSK so that it does not start up and repeat the whole process when I restart the computer.

Any help you can provide is most appreciated. I'd provide more information re my computer but, as it is frozen, I can't access anything. It's probably about four to five years old. Thank you!

Rebecca

 

Most probably a bad sector has developed in the hard disk & Windows is trying to read from it. How long have you waited for it to finish ?

 

The first time over night last night. Most recently +4 hours (since it froze and the stopping of visible computer activity). It's stopped at exactly the same place (37% completed, 20099039 of 71029066 free clusters processed) each of the three times.

 

Thank you, Arie. How do I do this? As my computer is frozen in CHKDSK, I need to force a shutdown. When I restart my computer, it launches right back into CHKDSK from the beginning. Is there a way to interrupt or stop this automatic launch so that I can log in and check the drive? Thanks.

 

Thanks everybody for your help. I have my computer back again. Unfortunately, the original problem I was trying to fix (slow, stuttering) hasn't gone away. Will probably take it into the shop...

 

Hi , thought you might be interested in additional computer recovery options.
I presume you have executed a full disk test scan using the applicable disk drive maintenance tool , either bootable cd or a-drive diskette
( If you do not know the drive vendor just run the seagate seatools program and it will note the drive vendor and model
Then access the vendor download site for your model drive and download and create the applicable tool )
and as such most likely reported errors and errors repaired - however if the issue continues with the maintenance tool reporting errors i would suggest that the disk drive is irreparable and as such should be replaced
There is usually notification in the test report
(no fault of the thread forum post advisors - the procedures described merely detected an existing problem - the apparent disk surface faults are most likely on disk free space and not causing Windows operating or program errors, but just a matter of time would - sectors to a disk drive is like pages of a book)
If you have the nous , desire , time and determination you can fix this problem by purchasing a retail sourced drive of same form factor and capacity or larger and cloning the disk using a bootable cd cloning tool
http://www.easeus.com/disk-copy/home-edition/
This will copy all sectors exactly including hidden recovery partitions
The bad sectors will be skipped
In the meantime you can save valued personal (non-program/system files) to removable media by running a Linux distribution operating system in try/live mode
I would suggest Ubuntu
If your computer is retro-age use an older version such as 6.06
http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/releases/6.06/
Burn the downloaded distributable iso file to a cd disk using the iso burn option , not the default burning a data file, this will create a bootable tool
This will detect and mount (Windows speak "initialize ") an usb external drive or flash drive ready to have files pasted to from the Windows directory
This is a simplified outline of one solution procedure

 

Next time, please ask us what to do with the problem you are haveing. Sometimes what might work for one may not work for another. Not always, but it is better to ask and be safe than sorry.