Defragment won't start

[dubruoy]

I have a win 2k pro machine on which defrag won't start. This is not the problem where it starts and keeps stopping, it won't start at all. The machine has a zip drive and if I highlight that and click analyze or start, defrag will respond and analyze or start to defrag. If I highlight the c: drive and click analyze or start, it does nothing. I haven't had this problem before. I did get a low virtual memory error on this computer this morning and adjusted the vm but it makes no diff. This computer has 256 mb ram, service pack 4, pentium 4 1600, 40gb hd.

I have run ctl-alt-del and stopped processes, no help. Safe mode, no help. Was sure to be in admin account during all attempts.

Any ideas? I have searched the forums for this problem but the closest I can come is when defrag keeps starting over.

 

[xwb]

It keeps restarting because the C drive is in use. Try getting diskeeper lite from

http://www.diskeeper.com/defrag.asp

It will handle defrags even when you use the drives. Far better display too.

 

[dubruoy]

Thanks xwb but it doesn't restart, it doesn't even run. I know defrag works because I can highlight the zip drive and it will start. If I highlight c: then it won't respond. It won't analyze and it won't start to defrag. It won't do anything.

 

[xwb]

Not sure about this one but I think the standard MS defrag relies on at least 15% of unused disk space.

When you say it doesn't even start, how long have you waited? If the disk is very badly fragmented, it could take a long while both to start and to run. If you are not an administrator, you can't kick off defrag on the main drive: only on removable drives.

 

[dubruoy]

xwb, I have waited about 3 hours and it will not start. All attempts while in administrator account. 67% free space on hd. This is really strange as I know defrag works because it will start on the zip drive but does nothing at all on c:.

 

[dubruoy]

Problem solved!

Thanks for the help, I got it figured out.

 

[theharvester]

Do you know what the fix was? I find it very annoying when I have a problem and do a search and find a thread with my problem only to get to the end and find "it's fixed thanks. I think it will help reduce multiple posts of same problems and help people who do search befor posting.

 

[dubruoy]

What I did to fix the problem is that I downloaded a third party defrag utility that had a trial period. I used this to defrag the disc, uninstalled it and now windows defrag works. Sorry for not posting the solution. The only person who posted a response was xwb and (s)he didn't seem to understand it so I thought nobody was interested. Sometimes I get hung on a problem with a solution that is so apparent that nobody addresses it and I thought this must be one of those.

 

[theharvester]

Thank you for the reply.
I have an XP laptop that will not defrag and could not get it to start just like you. I do not use it much (just for astrophotography and did not want to spend money on a third party software so I have given up on the defrag. I put alot of images on it and also delete alot of images so I am sure it is in need of defragmenting. I will try what you did and see what happens.
Again Thank you.