Endless loop - Windows 7 - C drive has errors - run chkdsk - chkdsk says need to run system restore
I have Windows 7 Home Premium with all current updates on a Gateway DX4209-09 with an AMD 9103 processor and 4GB of DDR2. Upon startup, I get a message that there are disk errors and I should run chkdsk, but then it won't run. The computer will then boot into Windows 7 and run fine. Then I try to run CHKDSK, but it will not run while the disk is in use. So I schedule it to run at satrtup. At startup, CHKDSK will not run and I get a message that says to use SYSTEM RESTORE. I try that and SYSTEM RESTORE won't run because it says that there are disk errors and to run CHKDSK. And around and around it goes...
May 17th, 2010 5:11pm

It sounds like you may need a new hard drive. Make sure you have a current backup. If you do need a hard drive the current one could fail at any time. Once you have a backup try the following. In the "Search programs and files" box type Backup. In the results list click on Backup and restore. Click on Create a system repair disk. Follow the instructions to create a bootable system repair disk. Make sure your BIOS is set to boot from the CD/DVD drive and boot from the repair disk. Once you get to the repair menu open a Command prompt and run chkdsk. Note that if the drive is going bad running chkdsk may cause it to fail altogether. It is imperative you have a backup before you do this. Kerry Brown MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
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May 17th, 2010 5:22pm

Thanks, I'll give your suggestion a try. I do have a current backup on an external drive. Although the system is less than a year old, I realize that a hard drive can fail at any time. Your solution does give me a way to run CHKDSK. Thanks again.
May 17th, 2010 5:36pm

Let us know if it works or not. There are other things like bad RAM that could cause this problem. Kerry Brown MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
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May 17th, 2010 6:06pm

Hi, I suggest you run Check Disk in Recovery Console for a test. For more information, please refer to the link below: check disk file NTFS Thanks, Novak
May 18th, 2010 6:01am

Having dealt with many of the 4209's, I can say that it is a safe bet that the hard drive has gone bad. Before this started happening, did you notice a slow down in system performance? I reccomend a couple of different hard drive scans. Drive fitness test: http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm Seatools: http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=SeaTools&vgnextoid=720bd20cacdec010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD You should be able to burn a cd of each of those and at least 1of them will run depending on which bios revision your motherboard is. Lemme know what happens :-)
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May 20th, 2010 12:05pm

This exactly the same answer I gave a day before this answer. Why is this marked as the answer? Kerry Brown MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
May 24th, 2010 5:29pm

I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to reply, but even though I was getting the errors I described above, the computer worked and it is my wife's and I really didn't have the time to follow your directions until a few days ago. I created the system repair disk, ran CHKDSK, it found no errors. But now the system doesn't find any errors upon startup, it doesn't say to run CHKDSK and everything seems okay. Thanks a lot. My wife does complain that the computer is not terribly fast and it doesn't seem to be any faster than the old Windows XP with an AMD XP 2700+ and 2 GB of memory that it replaced. It mostly takes a long time to connect to the Internet, even though it is hard wired to the Model 7500 Westell Verizon wireless router. This even occurs when it is the only computer attached to the router that is on. I chalk that up to the Internet and not the computer. Windows 7 does seem to be much more stable than Windows XP.
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June 12th, 2010 6:41am

The hard srive is a Seagate and it checked out fine. I was able to create the system repair disk, ran CHKDSK, it found no errors. But now the system doesn't find any errors upon startup, it doesn't say to run CHKDSK and everything seems okay. Thanks a lot.
June 14th, 2010 9:16pm

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