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autochk.exe - exhausting the options

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enoughrope

Technical User
Jun 29, 2006
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'lo all - problems bring me here.

I recently just ran into a problem that sounds almost 'common'. Upon booting up, a screen shows up saying that autochk.exe could not be found, autocheck is being skipped. It then proceeds to reboot, and it goes on like this, ad naseum.

I've spent the better part of last night and today looking up solutions and fixes for this - Ive read every autocheck thread on this and any forum I could find, and none are solving my problem. I figured Id try posting my experience with this, and seeing if anyone else has any other ideas/routes. I'd love to avoid formatting/etc if I could.

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How it happened: I've had problems with my norton antivirus 2006, part of norton systemworks 2006. It suggested I uninstall and reinstall to fix it. Upon doing this, the uninstall happened incorrectly and messed itself up. I couldnt correct it without reinstalling, but I had to uninstall first, again ad nausem.

So I found a program on the symantec website which removes all norton programs from your computer in one clean way. Heh, wasnt so clean. Upon rebooting, this is where autochk.exe messed up on me.

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What Ive done: It appears norton goback is still there, in some form. I tried to use it to go back, and it told me to finish my uninstallation first - big surprise, so now norton goback's out.

I tried F8 and its options. Restarting using last know good configuration didnt work, neither did any of the safe mode options. So now all that is out as well.

I then used my win xp disc. From the install windows option, there is no option to repair windows, so I backed out of there. From the recovery console, chkdsk said it corrected an error, but autochk.exe is still preventing me from starting up. Ive gone through most of what I, a novice (but good at following directions) at computer repair, can understand/do, but this route helps me none. I assume fixmbr is not a good idea right now?

Finally, as per another idea I read online, I booted using a MS-DOS boot disk and used ptedit. However, when that loaded, my hex was showing as it should be, 07, not 017 or 17, so that didnt solve the problem.

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So, now, I'm at a loss. End of my rope, as per my name. Any other ideas or solutions would be massively welcome. I guess I've reached the point where format/windows re-installing may be my only option. Never done it myself, and Im also not quite sure the win xp disc MDG gave me is just a boot utilities disc, or the whole win xp program itself. Which may mean, great, taking it back to them.

Id rather not lose all I have on my HD, though its not vitally important its still there I guess. Just frustrated and disapointed, and Ive gone on long enough now.

Any help is welcome, thanks a ton...
 
From the install windows option, there is no option to repair windows, so I backed out of there

There should be! If you select install new version of windows, it should find existing one and offer repair:-


This fixes a lot of problems - and may fix yours - but I would'nt be surprised if it didn't in this case (mainly because of Norton Goback, which may interfere with the whole process). Still worth a try - but you may need to do a clean install to get back up and running (after retrieving data of course).

fwiw - the only Norton product I ever use is Ghost (and nearly always from a boot floppy, where it can't mess with the o/s). Norton products are often a potential menace IMO (apart from being total resource hoggers). AVG is a much better anti-virus, XP's own firewall is adequate for most uses, and MS Windows Defender gives reasonable spy/malware protection - and all are free.
 
Chkdsk runs everytime on start up?
thread779-958348

It may be time to contact Norton Support for assistance in removing everything Norton from your machine.


An easy to follow recovery console description when unable to start computer due to corrupt registry.

This is a layman's version of Q307545 in simple language.



If they don't work you could try repairing windows by running it over itself. You will lose all your windows updates but your files will be untouched.

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP (Q315341)


HOW TO: Partition and Format a Hard Disk in Windows XP (Q313348)

Read the paragraph,
"How to Partition and Format Your Hard Disk by Using Windows XP Setup."


For more help (shows enlargeable screenshots) go here.



Data recovery.
PC Inspector



Plenty of other recovery software listed here.
 
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