Win98 laptop defrag problem

[uracootie]

I did an apparently successful(??) Scandisk - but then tried to Defrag afterwards..got hung on defrag..had to power off cuz couldn't shut down normally...so now each time I turn on my laptop it goes immediately into Defrag and hangs at same incomplete spot..here's error msg: "surface scan - problem found. Some data is stored in an area of drive C: that is about to fail although data can still be read from this area it takes much longer than it should which indicates that this area of the drive has become unreliable. Chose Fix It to have Scan Disk remove the affected data to an undamaged area of Drive C: Scandisk will then mark the failing area to prevent it from being used to store data in the future.
FIX IT DONT FIX IT MORE INFO "
When I go to FIX IT (using arrow keys on k/board) - it just goes back right into the unfinished defrag. How can I fix this problem? Thanx so much for any advice. I don't know if I can find my way back to this forum/post - so please e-mail me...thanks again. P.S. been reading about using Safe Mode - but it seems as soon as I turn on puter it goes immediately into unfinished Defrag spiel. How do I get around this?

 

[TekTippy4U]

Press and Hold CTRL on bootup (just before Win logo would appear)
Choose Command Prompt Only
Type SCANDISK C:
ctrl+alt+del

Do the Same boot up but choose;
SAFE MODE
Start > Run SCANDSKW
start >> shutdown >>. restart

Press and hold CTRL again into Command Prompt Only
type and hit Enter after each line;
CD WINDOWS
DEL WIN386.SWP
CD APPLOG
ATTRIB -r -s -h
DEL *.*
ctrl+alt+del

Press and hold CTRL
choose Safe Mode
Run Disk Defragmenter



TT4U

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[uracootie]

TechTippy4U: thank you very much for your kind reply. I will definitely try the steps u have suggested, and hopefully I'll be able to get my IBM Win98 laptop back to normal usage. If not, then I will be back with more questions.

 

[uracootie]

TekTippy: On my IBM laptop (Win/98) I did as you suggested -- as soon as I turned on the puter, i pressed and held down CTRL - but got no further - bcuz this error msg immediately came up: "error message 00301 Test Restart
- so i did Restart - and then this msg appears: "OK" (with a slash across it) and "IBM" (both OK and IBM enclosed in a small square box) 14 301."

I couldn't do anything else as it froze the screen and i had to power it off. Now i'm at a loss as to how to proceed with the rest of your instructions since i can't get past the first hurdle ... should i press and continue holding down the CTRL key - or should i just press Ctrl and let go immediately? Thanx for any further input.

 

[micker377]

I've always gotten into "Safe" mode by using the "Shift" key, not the "CTL" key.

uracootie: can you change the boot order in bios and boot from a floppy? This would at least tell you if the motherboard and bios are OK.

 

[TekTippy4U]

uracootie;
Wait - count to 10 - before pressing the CTRL key. If you see the WinLogo, you've waited too long.

If still problems -
Try tapping on F8 key (just before the WinLogo would appear) or try mickers suggestion of SHIFT for safe mode. The diff is that my way allows you to choose which kind of startup...(ie Command Prompt Only)...where SHIFT boots directly into Safe mode.

Could try a boot from a floppy to run the initial SCANDISK C:
once completed, remove the floppy and reboot into Safe Mode

Does your IBM have a built in Diagnostics program that may be interfering with these Standard Win98 Startup menu options?

TT4U

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[uracootie]

Micker & TekTippy: thanx for ur suggestions...i will keep trying and see what will work. This is a used IBM laptop with probably approx. 2 GB unused space. I don't have a boot floppy for it and will try to obtain one from bootdisk.com. I don't know to "change the boot order in bios"...can u clue me in on this? I don't know for a fact if my IBM has a built in diagnostic program - but when i hit CTRL as u suggested, those error msgs quoted above in my previous post, appeared - and as mentioned, I can't get past those error msgs to do a normal shutdown or startup. I will try again with the SHFT method and see what happens next. Thanx guys! I'm sure with u all helping i will sooner or later get this problem licked. Pls just hang in there with me!!

 

[TekTippy4U]

uracootie;
get a win98 bootdisk and boot from it....use (Del , F1, or F2 perhaps) to enter your BIOS setup and put floppy A: as first boot device (the screens in bios will show the boot order). Visit IBM's site for more exact info on your Laptop model and possibly d/l the manual (also may need an odd combo of key presses to enter BIOS, such as ctrl+alt+del then F10 or something) - search the site for updates too (though you'll use these later perhaps). Use a Search engine such as google by typing in your exact Make/Model laptop.
This MS article may help once you can boot from a bootdisk -

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q218160

TT4U

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[TekTippy4U]

The article also suggests d/l a diagnostic utility from IBM specific to your HDD make and model. This would also run from a floppy, so you need to try that too. Your pc may already be set to check the floppy drive upon boot. Just make sure to write-protect the boot floppy and diagnostic floppy before using. It seems you may need a full reinstall of OS after working out the disk errors, probably by replacing the HDD , if the IBM utility can't fix it. If for some reason you're given advice to alter a file on the boot floppy - you'll need to push the "write-protect" tab on that floppy to the unlock position.

TT4U

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[uracootie]

Many thanks for all your helpful suggestions re my defrag problem. (i didn't act on them earlier cuz i was away) Well, now i'm happy to report back that today i finally got my laptop to complete a Scandisk/Surface Scan. After i pressed SHFT it brought up a screen with START RESTART - so i went ahead and pressed START. It then ran through a series of tests w/System Board/Memory/Display/HDD/PCMCIA/Parallel/Serial/DSP/CD-Rom/Infrared/Audio/FDD-1/FDD-2 -- with everything showing OK except FDD-1/FDD-2/DSP- then I hit Restart and it ran a Surface Scan which said "Problem Found: some data is stored in an area of drive C that is probably about to fail although data can still be read from this area it takes much longer than it should which indicates that this area of the drive has become unreliable. Chose FIX IT to have Scandisk move the affected data to an undamaged area of Drive C"....etc, etc. To make a long story short the scan found 843,171 clusters - 1278 unused clusters and approx. 320 bad (sorry i forgot to write down the exact bad #.
After the scan i was able to restart Windows and then Shut down normally. My question now is this: should i now try to run Defrag normally or should i do the Defrag in Safe Mode? Thanks again so much for all your help.

 

[TekTippy4U]

You should always run Defrag in Safe Mode to be safe...BUT always do a Scandisk prior to running a defrag.

this with everything showing OK except FDD-1/FDD-2/DSP
probably indicates Floppy Disk Drive 1 and 2

TT4U

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[uracootie]

TekTippy4U - thanks for ur reply. Should I run Scan Disk normally, or should I also do this in Safe Mode?
Another question -- should I first clear all the following programs which are displayed in the taskbar as follows:-
Thinkpad config/volume/pccard(PCMCIA)/status/100%remaining X infrared disabled/task scheduler is ready/show desktop/launch Outlook Express/Explore/MS Power Point/MS Access. (I am guessing these all launch at startup)
I bought this Thinkpad 365X secondhand from a company employee, and have no idea which ones are safe to disable/delete. Would very much appreciate your advice as to which ones I certainly don't need showing in the taskbar and how would I go about deleting/disabling them, before I do Scan Disk/Defrag.

 

[TekTippy4U]

1st
There's SYSTRAY (where all the startup icons are along with the clock) including TaskManager (double click to Open - once opened go to Advanced Menu and choose "Stop using Task Manager".
Most others you can access their Startup properties with a Right Click on the icon and going into their Options and "Disable startup" or "Disable systray icon"

2nd
then there's the Quick Launch bar (these are just shortcuts - not starting till you click on them - most can stay anyway) don't delete ShowDesktop from Quick launch...very handy to minimize many windows at once - then also toggle them all open if you like.

You can run Scandisk normally (I always do - and a good working machine will do fine) - no need to though.

Defrag is run in safe mode because there's no need to do it in Normal mode when all the Startups can interfere, along with items below (there may be more in startup folders scattered around the HDD in different places anyway)....and when booted into safe mode - you don't have to remember to Shut off the Screensaver and Power Management settings before running Defrag.

There are Registry Keys which can be used to delete/ control the annoying startups that just won't stop

TT4U

Notification:
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