So, I have been running Windows 7 for months (since RC was available) on this computer without a single crash! Impressive! I upgraded to the final release as soon as it hit the stores. Never had any issues, but then all of a sudden, a bluescreen. Kernel Power Error 41/Bugcheck 0. I know, most likely just a random reboot, first one in half a year, it can happen. The trouble started upon restart. CHKDSK started to run automatically, and I thought I'd let it do its business. Major error. CHKDSK found hundreds of orphaned files. The screen was going quick, but I could tell the orphaned files were critical system files. Not good. To my surprise, the system restarted, but you can tell Windows is deeply wounded. 1) The most obvious sign: Windows is not telling me it is not genuine. (It is) I know the reason: The activation file is gone. Can't re-activate either. 2) Many other system services no longer work, including recovery, windows defender, file sharing... 3) I can't even start the windows 7 installer from the WIndows 7 DVD since the disk system something is not working. Anyone else had this problem? My computer has 2 hard drives. I feel like something is terribly wrong with CHKDSK. Is there a way to recover from this, short of a boot-from-DVD repair install? Recovering to a previous restore point did not help. Also, wonder if there is any way to permanently disable CHKDSK?

If CHKDSK ran it is because your system shut down dirty or the disk structure really was badly wounded. Chances are VERY goodthe missing filesarenot CHKDSK's fault.If it's been running stably and this problem is one you haven't seen, suspect an actualhard drive failure. They can and often do fail a little at a time as hardware gets loose, electronics get weak, etc.Look in your System log (if you can) to see if it has logged any disk problems. Also, make sure the SMART feature is enabled via your BIOS. That will often tell you of impending disk failures.-Noel

Thanks for the response. I ran a bunch of hardware tests, but everything checked out fine. I suspect the crash was a once in a blue moon bluescreen, maybe due to micro power outage. I have a theory though what might have happened. I noticed that whenever I try to run CHKDSK from any prompt from within windows, I get an error message that the version installed is a 32bit version not compatible with my 64 bit system. (I have Windows 7 pro x64) Why would Windows try to call the 32bit version? I found a 64bit CHKDSK copy and that one runs fine. So, if Windows tries to call the 32bit version by default, wouldn't it do the same during a reboot? Except that during a boot time check, the processes that would tell CHKDSK to stop are not running. Therefore, Windows 7 ran a 32bit CHKDSK during reboot, which naturally thought the 64bit system files were corrupt, and that's where I am now. That would explain why everything 32bit works, and 64bit system processes don't. The clearest evidence is that now 64bit IE will not run, but 32bit IE will work just fine. That just does not sound like a hardware failure to me any more. Hardware would not selectively kill all 64bit apps and leave the 32bit apps intact.

Hm,by default it's supposed to runCHKDSK.EXEfirst, as far as I know,from the C:\WINDOWS\System32 (64 bit) folder. I did a search and found that there is indeed a 32 bit CHKDSK.EXE in the C:\Windows\SysWow64 (32 bit) folder. That one runs just fine, no error message.Is it possible you have an old one somewhere else in your path?I don't know of an out of the boxsystem-provided method for determining which one is running when you just type CHKDSK, but I have installed Gnu tools and the "which chkdsk" command tells methe 64 bit oneis runningon my 64 bit system. I suppose you could do a DIR CHKDSK.* in every folder listed in your path.It could be a problem if the system path has the system running an old CHKDSK that you've gotten from somewhere else. I don't know how explicit the system is about running the one supplied with the system during bootup - that's a good question.-Noel

Hey thanks for the update. I have four CHKDSK editions on my system. the default one in system32, and the one in syswow64, then another one in C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft-windows-chkdsk and another one in C:\Windows\winsxs\amd64\microsoft-windows-chkdsk I mistakenly thought the syswow64 was a 64bit folder. This means the version in the system32 folder is still the correct 64bit version, which doesn't run. The AMD64 one does not run either, the x86_microsoft one does. Which raises the question why is windows telling me that the correct CHKDSK version is the wrong one? Somehow, whatever happened during that reboot disabled 64bit functionality. What else could CHKDSK to delete 64bit files? I noticed another thing: file permissions are no longer available.

The issue is most likely caused by hard drive failure. May be you have installed some incompatible controller drivers, chipset or BIOS. I suggest you boot in Last Known Good configuration. If the issue persists, I suggest you run System Restore to a stable previous status.Arthur Xie - MSFT