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Is there a switch somewhere that will direct Scandisk to keep going despite interruptions and without asking me ? Even though I make sure that no programs are running before I do a scandisk, I still get the following message " ScanDisk has restarted 10 times because Windows or another program has been writing to this drive. Quitting some running programs may enable ScanDisk to finish sooner. Do you want to continue receiving this warning?" The problem is that it waits for a response and if I don't happen to notice the querry, it extends the long time that it already takes...
Basty
"Even though I make sure that no programs are running before I do a scandisk, I still get the following message " ScanDisk has restarted 10 times because Windows or another program has been writing to this drive."
Are you running a screensaver?
Try running scandisk from safe mode.
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Jam
I'm not running a screen saver. Running Scandisk from Safe Mode is of course an option, but I would have to reboot (as far as I know), and then I'd have to balance that inconvenience against the one I have complained about.Basty
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You can run MSCONFIG and temporarily disable the 'startup' items or run it from safe mode, as already mentioned.. But it's probably restarting because of the swap file. Everytime that changes scandisk will restart.
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How is rebooting an inconvenience? Win9x/ME machines should be rebooted regularly anyways, at least every couple of days, due to memory leak issues. I also see you're running WinME with 770MB RAM? Did you edit the vcache settings in the system.ini file?
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Jam
I close WinMe down whenever I can - AT LEAST once a day (while I sleep).<<Did you edit the vcache settings in the system.ini file?>> I boosted the memory in the belief that 'the more the better'. I did NOT edit the system.ini file, nor do I understand anything about vcache. If you would like to help me with it, assuming that something would improve, I'd appreciate it. AFTER this posting I will look at the URL you sent.
Since posting my question, I have established that though I 'kill' all I can, There are two process that I have not been able to kill : One is a custom Desktop from a Calendar program, and the other is a CPU and RAM monitoring program associated with the clock.
Basty
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I've read the URL and decided that the QuickLaunch Bar is the likely culprit. I have automated (batch-filed) the shutting down of all that I can, so I would like to add disabling the Quick Launch to it too. I wonder if that is possible ?
"Turn Off the Quick Launch Toolbar While You Run ScanDisk
To do this, follow these steps:1. Right-click a blank area of the taskbar.
2. On the shortcut menu that appears, point to Toolbars, and then click Quick Launch.NOTE: A check mark appears next to Quick Launch. When you click Quick Launch, the check mark disappears. The Quick Launch toolbar is disabled."
Basty
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"I boosted the memory in the belief that 'the more the better'"
Win9x/ME only supports up to 512MB RAM. If you install more than that, it can cause problems UNLESS you edit the system.ini file.
http://www.dewassoc.com/support/win...
And how are any of the things you're trying any better than simply running scandisk from safe mode?
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Jam
Running from Scandisk from Safe Mode requires first rebooting into Safe Mode.I've had the look at the system.ini file and vcache is 'mentioned' without any further detail. Thanks for the hyperlink - I hope that it can guide me as to what editing can be done.
Interestingly, although my WinMe has not 'complained' about excess RAM, a WinXP system has - I guess it was a limitation of the PC that the WinXP was running in.
Basty
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"Running from Scandisk from Safe Mode requires first rebooting into Safe Mode"
I'm not an idiot, I know that. What I don't understand is why you're making out rebooting into safe mode as being such a chore? You obviously have a program that's writing to the drive. If you deteremine what it is, you'll have to disable it, then reboot...after that, you can run scandisk. Once it's complete, you will have to re-enable the program & reboot again, so I don't see how that's any better.
Or you could run MSCONFIG, select "diagnostic startup", then reboot...after that, you can run scandisk. Once it's complete, you'd have to run MSCONFIG again, select "normal startup" & reboot once again, so I don't see how that's any better either.
How about booting off the WinME floppy & running scandisk from DOS?
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With 98--and I assume, ME--too much ram can give the symptoms of too little ram. So that may be one of the reasons for the restarting.
Adapting 98/ME to run with that much ram is more art than science so opinions vary. Here's a link to a download for some screenshots showing one fix:
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DAVEINCAPS
The advantage of the extra RAM is not obvious - I just assumed that more would be better. I can run it with just the 512Mb.However, I do have a lot of stuff in the QuickLaunch bar, and one response said the Quick Launch is implicated.
I can try both options - less RAM and disable QuickLaunch, to see which (if any) improves 'performance'.
Jam
I'm not interested in rebooting more than I have to. Currently, I don't need to reboot at all (for scandisk).Basty
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"I'm not interested in rebooting more than I have to"
You're being illogical. You have been given several options that will overcome the "ScanDisk has restarted 10 times" issue but because you have to reboot, you refuse to consider them. What is this phobia you have about rebooting?
"Currently, I don't need to reboot at all (for scandisk)"
And what happens? Scandisks runs in a loop, continually restarts & never completes. So much for your method.
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Jam
Scandisk DOES finish. It is just that I would like to be able to give the scandisk command and come back some some time later and find the job done, instead, I MAY find the message that I quoted before about <<do I want it to go ahead, even though it has restarted 10 times>>.
I do NOT have a phobia about rebooting. I have already told you that I turn the PC off whenever I expect a significant period of non-use - which requires a reboot before I can use it again. I just don't want to reboot if I can get a scandisk done without rebooting.I have written that there are now two options I can try which MAY get round the problem without the need to reboot.
Basty
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One last time & I'm done with this thread.
You're not supposed to use the computer when scandisk is running anyway, so the easiest, quickest & most efficient way to do it would be to boot into safe mode, run scandisk, then boot back again when it's done. Notice that it IS one of the options offered by Microsoft in the link I posted in response 4. Obviously & for whatever reason, this is a problem for you.
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It looks like disabling QuickLaunch has done the trick.
If this proves to be wrong in the longer run, I hope I will be able to say so in this thread.Basty
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