Unable to run check disk at boot up

[SteveMcCool]

I recently purchased my first laptop; yesterday I tried to run the Windows XP check disk program for the first time. Things were going smoothly. A Window came up saying the check would need to be scheduled for the next time the computer restarted, I hit 'Yes,' and restarted. Much to my shock and chagrin, there was a problem. The light blue check disk screen would come up at boot up, it would say it was checking the volume; however, after a moment a message to the effect of "Unable to open volume directly. Starting Windows' would come up, and that would be that. I tried a few more times, and that only served to exacerbate the problem. It got to the point that the computer would try and fail to run check disk at every bootup, failing in the same fashion each time. I was able to fix that by going into the command line and typing in 'chkntfs /d' to reset the drive to normal boot functions, but this has not fixed my original problem of not being able to run check disk. Im considering running a WinXP repair next if someone can't help me, although Im not even sure that would help. Here's hoping anyone out there knows what's going on, and thanks in advance for any info or suggestions.

[Jazz]

Hi Steve

That's practically impossible to troubleshoot without knowing the exact error message. However, saying that, the following MSKBA could be referred to, although, at present, there appears to be no known solution: -

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 823439

"Cannot Open Volume for Direct Access" Error Message When Chkdsk Runs at Startup

In addition, the following link displays MSKBA's pertaining to the typed word 'chkdsk' under the XP product: -

CHKDSK Support and Troubleshooting

Good luck........................

[SteveMcCool]

That first article sounds like its exactly what I have going on. Unfortunately the knowledge base says that MS doesn't even know what's going on :/

[Jazz]

There may be a solution in SP2, however don't hold your breath!

[siberi-inn]

Try disabling Symantec Norton Anti-Virus.

I was reloading a new disk from scratch, and all I had on it so far was WindowsXP (with the latest service packs and updates), plus Word, and Norton Anti-Virus (with latest updates). I decided to do a disk scan before reloading everything else, and ended up with the same problem: cannot open volume for direct access.

After poking around on several forums, someone suggested that NAV was the problem. I fully disabled NAV (especially do not load on reboot), and Chkdsk worked fine. I turned NAV back on after, and everything was back to normal.

I did not have this problem last week. My old hard-drive was crapping out, so I was running chkdsk often (which actually started clobbering files, so I stopped). Either the problem is caused by a recent WindowsXP patch, or recent NAV update.

Mike

[ringo919]

I tried turning off Norton Antivirus and still got the same message when trying to run check disk on reboot. Anybody have any other suggestions?

[siberi-inn]

While researching the problem, I saw on other forums that Zone Alert causes the same problems.

[SteveMcCool]

Well, I used my Windows CD to enter DOS and was able to run chkdsk from there. Then tried using the FIXMBR (fix master boot record) in DOS to no avail. Did a repair (reinstall) operation for Windows via the CD and everything works fine now. Didn't lose my programs, users or my settings (mostly) either.

I have both Norton Antivirus and Firewall running. Didn't try disabling them to see if they caused the problem, but whether they were or not repair fixed it so I can run check disk with them on now regardless.

[ringo919]

The problem with my system seems to be resolved- I updated my firewall (zone alarm) to the most current version and now check disk runs fine.