Blue screens, corrupt files, programs freeze or don't run.

Hi. I have been having lots of problems with my machine for about a month now. I've worked extensively with spybot forums to see if this is a malware problem. They referred me here. I am still having the following problems:

• Windows frequently gives me a message that such-and-such file has become corrupt. The message is usually not displayed long enough for me to write down the filename, but it has been several different files. It recommends running chkdsk.exe.
• Chkdsk.exe runs, but aborts itself. It says, "Cannot lock current drive. Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process." It then asks if I want to schedule a scan upon reboot. After choosing yes, the computer reboots as normal without running said scan.
• I've gotten several blue screens of death, though none in the last couple weeks (crosses fingers). The machine locked up once the other day.
• Firefox will not run at all. (Click on icon, nothing happens). I deleted the default user, uninstalled, reinstalled, and still have the same problem.
• Photoshop 7 freezes consistently when performing certain tasks such as setting the quality to save a .jpg or duplicating a layer (seems to be tasks which require a dialog box).
• Dragon Naturally Speaking will load but not run. It either reports an "unexpected" error, or says that the program has become unstable.

I am running a year-old Dell Vostro 1720 with Windows 7 Pro 64-bit edition. It has an 2.2 GHz Intel Core2 Duo, 232 GB Hitachi ATA drive, and an NVidia GeForce 9600M GS. Looking at the hardware settings, I noticed "Mass Storage Controller" is by an "Unknown" manufacturer, and "The drivers for this device are not installed (Code 28)."

Thanks for your help!

Hello TheEarl,

Welcome to the WTT Forums!

Sorry to hear you're having problems.

This could be caused by myriad of things, including a genuine file corruption problem. The Stop Errors (Blue Screens) could be linked to the errors you're getting, but we can't find that out until I have a good look at the dump files. Just follow the instructions below to upload them to the forum :

(If you have already installed WinRAR or Winzip, Skip to 3 )
1. Go to http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm and download the most recent release of WinRAR
2. Install WinRAR and restart your computer.
3. Open up Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\Windows\Minidump
4. Highlight all the files, right-click and click on "Add to "Minidump.rar"".
5. In your next post, scroll to the bottom and Upload Minidump.rar

Before we have a go at trying to get chkdsk to run, I need to know if you have a copy of the Windows 7 Installation disc handy. It should have been supplied with the system when you bought it and should be with the manual.

Cheers,
Nahumi

The Minidump folder is empty. CCleaner may have cleared it out. I ran it because I was getting an error reinstalling photoshop, and that was the solution I found in a help thread.

Okay, that makes things a little difficult. Did you run the registry cleaner too by any chance?

Yes, which I know is a no-no, but I had to get a photo project out, and that's kinda hard with photoshop uninstalled. The good news is the software reinstalled after running it. :/

Yeah, doing any automated "cleanups" on the registry can lead to a whole load of mess. Did these problems start happening before or after you used CCleaner?

Long before. First time using CCleaner on this machine was last night.

Okay, well lets try a system restore to see if that changes anything. 1. Go to your Start Menu and type "System Restore" into the Search Box 2. Hit enter and follow the on screen instructions to restore your system to an earlier point. Try to pick a restore point that was at least a week before you started experiencing problems. This will not delete any personal files, but it will uninstall any applications you have installed since you made the restore point. It should also undo any changes you made with CCleaner.

The earliest restore point I have is 12/17, which was after I began experiencing problems. I don't remember exactly when they started, but it was around the end of November or beginning of December

Right….okay.

What I'm going to suggest now is somewhat unorthodox. I'm going to alert the more senior members to this thread in case they have any further concerns with the steps below.

1. Go to http://fix-it-center.en.softonic.com/ and download Microsoft Fix It Centre
2. Install Microsoft Fix It
3. When prompted, select to personalise the setup now.
4. On the next screen, tick all the troubleshooters and click next.
5. You don't really need to create a Fix It account, so skip registration.
6. Click Finish and then start Fix It Centre from your Start Menu.
7. Run the following troubleshooters :

"WIndows File and Folder Problems"
"Hardware and Devices"
"Improve Performance, Safety…"
"Program Compatibility"
"Video freezes or crashes…"

8. For each of those listed above, select to automatically detect and fix problems.


The reason I'm getting you to do this instead of a Startup Repair is that it's a new service being rolled out by Microsoft. Windows 7 is very good at keeping track of what goes wrong, but until now, it's very difficult to get at the information and to use it properly.

Because this is still in Beta, it may not come up with anything. But it may go some way in fixing a few of the problems.

If it doesn't change anything, then we'll have a look at repairing Windows, and then eventually, if we really have to, we'll have a look at reinstalling it. I'd rather stay clear of these two to save you from having to back up all your files and programs, hence why we're trying this first.

Should I wait to do it until you hear from them?

Yeah, you can if you like. I'll let you know if they have any concerns with the steps laid out above.

Right, the general consensus is that maybe Fix It isn't going to work particularly well. Because it's still in Beta, and because people haven't had particularly good results from it yet, it may not help or resolve any problems. I apologise for posting this red herring because it seems to have wasted a bit of time. So, we'll go back to the more orthodox procedures and try running both chkdsk and sfc (system file checker) from your Windows Installation disc : 1. Locate your Windows Installation Disc and insert it into your computer. 2. Restart the computer and enter the BIOS to make sure that your DVD/CD drive is at the top of the Boot Order List 3. Save all the settings in the BIOS and restart. 4. When prompted, press any key to boot from the Windows Installation Disc. 5. Select English as your language and click next. 6. Towards the bottom of the next screen, click on "Repair your computer" 7. Select Windows 7 and click next. 8. Select the top option and click next. 9. Select Command Prompt and click next Once you've got Command Prompt running, type in "chkdsk /f" and hit enter. Take a note of the results Then type in "sfc /scannow" and let the test run. Please post the results from both in your next post.

If you don't have an XP install CD, download and run ARCDC by Artellos. It will download the required files from the Microsoft Web site and crete a .iso file. It will also offer to burn the iso image to a CD for you. If you don't do it then, there is a good freeware burner called ImgBurn which will do it at a later time. If you're unsure how to do this, you can follow the tutorial here: How to Burn an ISO File

So I accidentally ran the startup repair diagnosis first, which apparently ran chkdsk. I've posted the results of that plus the results when I ran chkdsk manually and sfc. The log from sfc is attached. ================================= Startup Repair Diagnosis and Repair Log Number of repair attempts: 1 Session Details System Disk = \Device\Harddisk0 Windows directory = C:\Windows Autochk Run = 0 Number of root causes = 1 Task Performed: Name: Check for Updates Result: Completed Successfully Error Code = 0x0 Time Taken = 0ms Task Performed: Name: System Disk Test Result: Completed Successfully Error Code = 0x0 Time Taken = 0ms Task Performed: Name: Disk Failure Diagnosis Result: Completed Successfully Error Code = 0x0 Time Taken = 31ms Task Performed: Name: Disk Metadata Test Result: Completed Successfully Error Code = 0x0 Time Taken = 63ms Task Performed: Name: Target OS Test Result: Completed Successfully Error Code = 0x0 Time Taken = 187ms Task Performed: Name: Volume Content Check Result: Completed Successfully Error Code = 0x0 Time Taken = 172ms Root Cause Found: System volume on disk is corrupt Repair Action: File System Repair (chkdsk) Result: Completed Successfully Error Code = 0x0 Time Taken = 148856ms ========================= Chkdsk: 302080 file records processed 1132 large file records processed 0 bad file records processed 2 EA records processed 65 reparse records processed 371282 index entries processed 0 unindexed files scaned 0 unindexed files recovered 302080 file SDs/SIDs processed 34602 data files processed 33680992 USN bytes processed 244156599 KB total disk space 169751440 KB in 260447 files 13282 KB in 34603 indexes 0 KB in bad sectors 411563 KB in use by system 65536 KB occupied by file 73860772 KB available on disk 4096 bytes in each allocation unit 61039149 total allocation units on disk 18465193 allocation units available on disk failed to transfer logged measures to the event log with status 50 ================================== SFC: C:\Windows\system32>sfc /scannow Beginning system scan. This process will take some time. Beginning verification phase of system scan. Verification 100% complete. Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them. Details are included in the CBS.Log windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log