Defrag freezes System 2

[prof1949]

After shutting down all other programs (in the Taskbar too), disabling screensaver and all other stuff, i tried to defrag my hd. Exactly at 80% the system freezes, no alt+crtl+del possible, only power off/on works. Im running Win98 SE. Any ideas?

Thanx in advance

 

[adscrims1]

make sure that no device or display are sheduled to go down after a certain time limit. e.g. screensaver or monitor. If it still happens you have a sector error on your H/D. Try re-install of windows. Or try to skip sector.

 

[Win98User]

Before a re-install, it might be worth rebooting the machine to the command prompt and running scandisk.

It could be that you have a disk error, that defrag is trying to negotiate but can't.

Worth a try.

Regards.

 

[gargouille]

Just to make sure I understood Win98user correctly, I think a surface scan is in order...when bad sectors start appearing, defrag may or may not tell you so...a thorough scan will mark and avoid bad sectors. IF you get more than a few...prepare (after backing up) for the worst...

 

[Win98User]

Yes gargouille, that is exactly what I meant.

Regards.

 

[prof1949]

Thanks you all, but all these things i tried before. Defrag in safe mode, scandisk from reboot Dos-prompt runs without problems.
Scandisk from windows - no error - same result.
No screensaver running, all other programs in the taskbar ended - same result.
Adscrims1: How do you skip a bad sector in defrag?

 

[gargouille]

Well, Win98User, here we are again, ignored with the good stuff! LOL

 

[Gloryhound]

I hate to say it but when the defrag proggy it self is affected by what ever damage has been done by cross-link or lost allocation chains, you will get this problem. Also Defrag seems to have a limit on how bady a fragged file system it can recover. I've found that anything over 30% fragmented is iffy. Defrag just isn't reliable after that. Oh and if your win98 keeps crashing during defrag you will get tonnes of lost data so don't do that. Back up and format the drive and reinstall. That is the safest route, or you can take your chances with a 3rd party defrag utility. I've seen norton defrag something windows couldn't, but installing any symantec product is begging for problems as well. So you could trade one problem for another if you want to go that route, but I'd just format and reinstall.

GBU!

 

[Win98User]

Hi gargouille,
I'd be interested to see the contents of the prof's scandisk log.



No matter how many times you tell people about backing up they don't want to know 'til it is to late.

Backing up does not necessarily mean going backwards.

 

[ceh4702]

You can run defrag from a win98 boot disk. You might need Hymem.sys to run it though. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[ceh4702]

Might be time to purchase a new harddrive for Christmas! If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[prof1949]

The HD is about 6 month old, yesterday i tried a scandisk /autofix /surface from the Dosprompt, ran without errors, then defrag from windows without freezing. Hooray, it works!!!

 

[CrookedHouse]

Just to add my half-a-sixpence;

"Autofix" - "Ran without errors".

Well done Win98User and gargouille you called this one and it confirmed what I also thought.

Good job lads.
Stupid is as stupid does - Forrest Gump