Volume is dirty

I've been working with the anti Malware Team from Safe Networking on this issue. For complete history of my issues and all posts related, please see: http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=64302
All related posts to this issue are there. I thought maybe we'd had the problem fixed. Except my Windows Internet Explorer had issues loading. I installed and ran HD Tune. During the very last part of the run I of the error check my HD I got the blue screen again. Now Safe Networking says I should post here and that this may be an issue with Windows itself.

Any help with this issue would be much appreciated. My operating system is Windows 98 SP3. I have a Dell 8400 with 3 GB Ram, 160 GB HD, about 6 years old. Also a1TB Seagate backup drive. My system is currently backed up to the Seagate .

CaddyDaddy

HiCaddyDaddy, Sorry to hear of the troubles with your computer.
The dirty volume indicate that you have inconsistencies or errors and corruptions on your hard drive
If its the original drive and the machine is around 6 years old then it could be that the hard drive is beginning to fail…as you know when in use they spin at around 5000 to 7000 RPM…and thats like your car engine running permanently at full throttle for hours at a time!
As a first step I would suggest you make a final back up to your external hard drive of any recent stuff on your machine that is not already backed up and that you wouldn't want to lose. When you have done that(and checked that it's all reproducible and comprehensive) then run chkdsk with the r switch from Start>Run
the command is
chkdsk /r
Note the space it needs to be there
Accept the warning, push Y and OK
Reboot your computer
Chkdsk will run…Do not interrupt it or allow your machine to be powered down whilst it's running..it may take an hour or two to complete all 5 passes..when it has finished it will reboot your computer
Next download the hard drive checking utility for your hard drive from here and run it, following the directions on creating the bootable CD
http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287
See how you go…. fortunately new hard drives are not expensive, and if you need to fit a new one then you can use your last good disc image ( if you made one) and you will be up and running in next to no time…If you don't have a good disc image made using Acronis or Symantec or Paragon or similar, or one of the free disc imaging applications then you will need to reinstall either using the manufacturers Recovery Partion, Recovery Disc(s) or a fresh Install from The Microsoft XP installation disc…( I guess it is XP SP3 you are running and not WIN 98 as indicated in your post?)
Let us know how things go….
Regards
paws
Regards
paws

Edit: Beat me to it Paws.

Before doing anything else, now would be a good time to back-up all your personal data including Email.to disk or USB drive.
See here How to back up and to restore Outlook Express data

Paws, I ran chkdsk /r (with the space) and got the following: "The type of file system is NTFS. Cannot lock current drive." "Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)" So I selected Y. On restart, Chkdsk ran for about 15 seconds with a couple of really fast screens, I noticed one screen said, "The volume is clean." Now I'm really confused on what to do. Yes my system is XP SP3 …. Never had Win98 on this machine….probably just a really bad flashback there! CaddyDaddy

Hi…OK I understand
Now run the disc checking utility from the hard drives manufacturer and lets see how that goes.
http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287
Regards
paws

Paws, Right after I send the last reply, I tried the chkdsk again. Now (I'm on another computer) at 5 of 5 chkdsk won't get past 95% complete. When I restart the computer it goes back into chkdsk from scratch….How do I turn the chkdsk off? I tried safe mode, but it stays on installing drivers, so its probably running the chkdsk in backround. Any suggestions. Oh by the way, I splurged for a new HD today, but I am unable to get it to boot yet. my computer knows it is there, but the CD/DVD are not recognized so it won't load the seagate utility disk. I am baffled. CaddyDaddy