Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

I'm running XP Home, NTSF, SP2 on a machine with an AMD 2500+ processor,
Gigabyte of RAM and a Maxtor 40 gig hd. Recently I've had occasion to find
the machine had crashed, attempted to reboot and hung unable to detect the C:
drive.

A cold boot got it up and chkdsk kicked in correcting file errors. ( on a
possibly related note, I also noticed in the last 3 months that I cannot get
System Restore to perform a restore, no matter which restore point I select.)
Suspecting a failing hard drive, I ordered another one and am about to put
it in this weekend.

But I'm wondering if it really isn't the hard drive but other file errors
that chkdsk can't seem to fix. I'll run chkdsk in read only and it says:

"Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
Windows found problems with the file system."

When I set it to reboot and run chkdsk /f, it goes through the process and
doesn't fix the errors. I'm running chkdsk about twice a day now.

I was planning on Ghosting the current drive and cloning it to the new
drive. But if the errors are OS related, won't I just be here with a new but
still unstable drive? Is there some way to fix these errors? Or, could it
just be that the drive is failing and that's the real cause?

thx.

 

[peter]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Hi,

Your restore files are corrupted. Right click My Computer/Properties, click
the System Restore tab and check the box "Turn off system Restore on all
drives" and then reboot. This will clear all old corrupted restore files.
After reboot, uncheck the box to restart system restore and then reboot.
Try to create a new restore point. If it works, the system restore is now
working normally.

To run chkdsk and repair, Start/Run/chkdsk /f/r, reboot to let chkdsk run,
do not disturb until it finish the process.

Hope it helps.

Peter

"frankswildnight" wrote:

> I'm running XP Home, NTSF, SP2 on a machine with an AMD 2500+ processor,
> Gigabyte of RAM and a Maxtor 40 gig hd. Recently I've had occasion to find
> the machine had crashed, attempted to reboot and hung unable to detect the C:
> drive.
>
> A cold boot got it up and chkdsk kicked in correcting file errors. ( on a
> possibly related note, I also noticed in the last 3 months that I cannot get
> System Restore to perform a restore, no matter which restore point I select.)
> Suspecting a failing hard drive, I ordered another one and am about to put
> it in this weekend.
>
> But I'm wondering if it really isn't the hard drive but other file errors
> that chkdsk can't seem to fix. I'll run chkdsk in read only and it says:
>
> "Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
> Windows found problems with the file system."
>
> When I set it to reboot and run chkdsk /f, it goes through the process and
> doesn't fix the errors. I'm running chkdsk about twice a day now.
>
> I was planning on Ghosting the current drive and cloning it to the new
> drive. But if the errors are OS related, won't I just be here with a new but
> still unstable drive? Is there some way to fix these errors? Or, could it
> just be that the drive is failing and that's the real cause?
>
> thx.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Peter,

thanks for the input. I turned off System Restore and I'll check that out
in a bit. I was more concerned with the disk errors, so I ran chkdsk /f/r at
startup as you suggested. It ran through everything, although it started
rebooting before I could read the results.

However, once I was back in Windows, I ran the readonly chkdsk and got a
similar error message as before, telling me to run chkdsk /f again at
startup.

"CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the
master file table (MFT) bitmap.
Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
Windows found problems with the file system.
Run CHKDSK with the /F (fix) option to correct these."

Wondering if this is a false reading and all errors were actually corrected,
I ran chkdsk readonly from an admin login on another computer running XP Pro
and got the exact same errors. That computer has never shown any evidence of
disk problems. One possible explanation (?) I have Executive Software
Diskeeper running for a couple of years on both computers. Maybe it is
causing chkdsk to report errors that really don't threaten the file system.
Any ideas? thanks.

richard

"Peter" wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Your restore files are corrupted. Right click My Computer/Properties, click
> the System Restore tab and check the box "Turn off system Restore on all
> drives" and then reboot. This will clear all old corrupted restore files.
> After reboot, uncheck the box to restart system restore and then reboot.
> Try to create a new restore point. If it works, the system restore is now
> working normally.
>
> To run chkdsk and repair, Start/Run/chkdsk /f/r, reboot to let chkdsk run,
> do not disturb until it finish the process.
>
> Hope it helps.
>
> Peter
>
> "frankswildnight" wrote:
>
> > I'm running XP Home, NTSF, SP2 on a machine with an AMD 2500+ processor,
> > Gigabyte of RAM and a Maxtor 40 gig hd. Recently I've had occasion to find
> > the machine had crashed, attempted to reboot and hung unable to detect the C:
> > drive.
> >
> > A cold boot got it up and chkdsk kicked in correcting file errors. ( on a
> > possibly related note, I also noticed in the last 3 months that I cannot get
> > System Restore to perform a restore, no matter which restore point I select.)
> > Suspecting a failing hard drive, I ordered another one and am about to put
> > it in this weekend.
> >
> > But I'm wondering if it really isn't the hard drive but other file errors
> > that chkdsk can't seem to fix. I'll run chkdsk in read only and it says:
> >
> > "Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
> > Windows found problems with the file system."
> >
> > When I set it to reboot and run chkdsk /f, it goes through the process and
> > doesn't fix the errors. I'm running chkdsk about twice a day now.
> >
> > I was planning on Ghosting the current drive and cloning it to the new
> > drive. But if the errors are OS related, won't I just be here with a new but
> > still unstable drive? Is there some way to fix these errors? Or, could it
> > just be that the drive is failing and that's the real cause?
> >
> > thx.

 

[peter]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Hi,

I also use diskkeeper and have not seen the problems like you have.
May be there are physical bad sectors on the Hdd.
You can go to maxtor website to download the disk utility tools to find and
fix the disk problems.

By the way, I would suggest you to clean install XP instead of cloning the
OS unless you are 100% sure the existing OS is absolutely stable and free
from any registries errors.
Also, clean installation would make you to clear out any unwanted/obsolete
applications and dummy registries.

Peter


"frankswildnight" wrote:

> Peter,
>
> thanks for the input. I turned off System Restore and I'll check that out
> in a bit. I was more concerned with the disk errors, so I ran chkdsk /f/r at
> startup as you suggested. It ran through everything, although it started
> rebooting before I could read the results.
>
> However, once I was back in Windows, I ran the readonly chkdsk and got a
> similar error message as before, telling me to run chkdsk /f again at
> startup.
>
> "CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the
> master file table (MFT) bitmap.
> Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
> Windows found problems with the file system.
> Run CHKDSK with the /F (fix) option to correct these."
>
> Wondering if this is a false reading and all errors were actually corrected,
> I ran chkdsk readonly from an admin login on another computer running XP Pro
> and got the exact same errors. That computer has never shown any evidence of
> disk problems. One possible explanation (?) I have Executive Software
> Diskeeper running for a couple of years on both computers. Maybe it is
> causing chkdsk to report errors that really don't threaten the file system.
> Any ideas? thanks.
>
> richard
>
> "Peter" wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > Your restore files are corrupted. Right click My Computer/Properties, click
> > the System Restore tab and check the box "Turn off system Restore on all
> > drives" and then reboot. This will clear all old corrupted restore files.
> > After reboot, uncheck the box to restart system restore and then reboot.
> > Try to create a new restore point. If it works, the system restore is now
> > working normally.
> >
> > To run chkdsk and repair, Start/Run/chkdsk /f/r, reboot to let chkdsk run,
> > do not disturb until it finish the process.
> >
> > Hope it helps.
> >
> > Peter
> >
> > "frankswildnight" wrote:
> >
> > > I'm running XP Home, NTSF, SP2 on a machine with an AMD 2500+ processor,
> > > Gigabyte of RAM and a Maxtor 40 gig hd. Recently I've had occasion to find
> > > the machine had crashed, attempted to reboot and hung unable to detect the C:
> > > drive.
> > >
> > > A cold boot got it up and chkdsk kicked in correcting file errors. ( on a
> > > possibly related note, I also noticed in the last 3 months that I cannot get
> > > System Restore to perform a restore, no matter which restore point I select.)
> > > Suspecting a failing hard drive, I ordered another one and am about to put
> > > it in this weekend.
> > >
> > > But I'm wondering if it really isn't the hard drive but other file errors
> > > that chkdsk can't seem to fix. I'll run chkdsk in read only and it says:
> > >
> > > "Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
> > > Windows found problems with the file system."
> > >
> > > When I set it to reboot and run chkdsk /f, it goes through the process and
> > > doesn't fix the errors. I'm running chkdsk about twice a day now.
> > >
> > > I was planning on Ghosting the current drive and cloning it to the new
> > > drive. But if the errors are OS related, won't I just be here with a new but
> > > still unstable drive? Is there some way to fix these errors? Or, could it
> > > just be that the drive is failing and that's the real cause?
> > >
> > > thx.

 

[GTS]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Running the chkdsk /f /r was the right thing to try. Unfortunately on rare
occasions there are logical disk errors (where there is no related hardware
problem) that chkdsk simply can't repair. 3rd party tools might or might
not help. I've run into a few cases with precisely the situation you
describe and had to backup the client's system, reformat the hard drive, and
restore to finally resolve it.
--

"frankswildnight" <frankswildnight@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:1D2930A7-0168-4151-B7DD-97BE121D8DCC@microsoft.com...
> Peter,
>
> thanks for the input. I turned off System Restore and I'll check that out
> in a bit. I was more concerned with the disk errors, so I ran chkdsk /f/r
> at
> startup as you suggested. It ran through everything, although it started
> rebooting before I could read the results.
>
> However, once I was back in Windows, I ran the readonly chkdsk and got a
> similar error message as before, telling me to run chkdsk /f again at
> startup.
>
> "CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the
> master file table (MFT) bitmap.
> Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
> Windows found problems with the file system.
> Run CHKDSK with the /F (fix) option to correct these."
>
> Wondering if this is a false reading and all errors were actually
> corrected,
> I ran chkdsk readonly from an admin login on another computer running XP
> Pro
> and got the exact same errors. That computer has never shown any evidence
> of
> disk problems. One possible explanation (?) I have Executive Software
> Diskeeper running for a couple of years on both computers. Maybe it is
> causing chkdsk to report errors that really don't threaten the file
> system.
> Any ideas? thanks.
>
> richard
>
> "Peter" wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Your restore files are corrupted. Right click My Computer/Properties,
>> click
>> the System Restore tab and check the box "Turn off system Restore on all
>> drives" and then reboot. This will clear all old corrupted restore files.
>> After reboot, uncheck the box to restart system restore and then reboot.
>> Try to create a new restore point. If it works, the system restore is now
>> working normally.
>>
>> To run chkdsk and repair, Start/Run/chkdsk /f/r, reboot to let chkdsk
>> run,
>> do not disturb until it finish the process.
>>
>> Hope it helps.
>>
>> Peter
>>
>> "frankswildnight" wrote:
>>
>> > I'm running XP Home, NTSF, SP2 on a machine with an AMD 2500+
>> > processor,
>> > Gigabyte of RAM and a Maxtor 40 gig hd. Recently I've had occasion to
>> > find
>> > the machine had crashed, attempted to reboot and hung unable to detect
>> > the C:
>> > drive.
>> >
>> > A cold boot got it up and chkdsk kicked in correcting file errors. (
>> > on a
>> > possibly related note, I also noticed in the last 3 months that I
>> > cannot get
>> > System Restore to perform a restore, no matter which restore point I
>> > select.)
>> > Suspecting a failing hard drive, I ordered another one and am about to
>> > put
>> > it in this weekend.
>> >
>> > But I'm wondering if it really isn't the hard drive but other file
>> > errors
>> > that chkdsk can't seem to fix. I'll run chkdsk in read only and it
>> > says:
>> >
>> > "Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
>> > Windows found problems with the file system."
>> >
>> > When I set it to reboot and run chkdsk /f, it goes through the process
>> > and
>> > doesn't fix the errors. I'm running chkdsk about twice a day now.
>> >
>> > I was planning on Ghosting the current drive and cloning it to the new
>> > drive. But if the errors are OS related, won't I just be here with a
>> > new but
>> > still unstable drive? Is there some way to fix these errors? Or,
>> > could it
>> > just be that the drive is failing and that's the real cause?
>> >
>> > thx.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Hi Peter,

"Peter" wrote:
> I also use diskkeeper and have not seen the problems like you have.
> May be there are physical bad sectors on the Hdd.
> You can go to maxtor website to download the disk utility tools to find and
> fix the disk problems.

Glad to hear that (diskeeper). Good idea on the Maxtor disk utility tool.
I'll also try that from the WD site on the other computer that's showing the
same error running chkdsk from within Windows.

> By the way, I would suggest you to clean install XP instead of cloning the
> OS unless you are 100% sure the existing OS is absolutely stable and free
> from any registries errors.
> Also, clean installation would make you to clear out any unwanted/obsolete
> applications and dummy registries.
>
> Peter

Yes, a clean install would be best, especially if I can't fix the errors.
Before that I'll make sure I have all the emails from MS Support on getting
Access 97 to run under SP1 without having out of memory errors (long story
but excellent help from MS Support on an old application). Maybe SP2 would
correct it anyway. Thanks for your help, Peter.

richard-
> <snips>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Yes, I'm starting to think I'll need a clean install. Strange that I'm
running into the same error on another machine that has seemed perfectly
stable. I'd like to find out what application might have caused it all.
Thanks for your reply.

richard

"GTS" wrote:

> Running the chkdsk /f /r was the right thing to try. Unfortunately on rare
> occasions there are logical disk errors (where there is no related hardware
> problem) that chkdsk simply can't repair. 3rd party tools might or might
> not help. I've run into a few cases with precisely the situation you
> describe and had to backup the client's system, reformat the hard drive, and
> restore to finally resolve it.
> --

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Update: Figuring I was going to install Windows again and format the new HD,
I went agains MS Support's advice to not install Diskeeper Pro 8.0. After
installing, I defragged and then set a boot defrag, including the MFT.

Long story short, after it reported an MFT with 0 fragments, I ran chkdsk
again from the command line within Windows and got no errors for the first
time. Running Diskeeper MFT defrag had never worked on the old drive. All I
can think is that installing it *after* SP2 had installed was the answer.
Hope this is helpful. I'll try uninstalling/reinstalling Diskeeper on the
other computers and see if that helps.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

The messages
"CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the volume bitmap
Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap"
may be only informational and not be real errors. You need to get to MS
-- this is a problem that has come up with SP2 but you need to be
careful because it could hide a real problem (how about that for
rolling the dice).
Secondly --- DO NOT RUN DISKEEPER AND Norton GoBack. In fact, I
wouldn't run any defrag with Norton GoBack -- it's prone to disassemble
your file system. File corruption and all heck breaks loose!!! JUST
DON'T DO IT!!!


--
Gnugs
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