continual reboots during chkdsk @ bootup

So I schedule a chkdsk /r to take place on my RAID0 array and reboot the computer.

It fires up and kicks off. Gets to about 90% of step 4 (verifying file data) and reboots the computer w/ no prompt whatsoever. Then continues on to do another chkdsk.

followed by another, and another and another.

The only saving grace is before it starts each chkdsk, it does the "press any key to skip disk checking" prompt so i can catch it.

Anybody know what i can do to get a chkdsk successfully run on this thing? It's my C drive so doing it in the OS is unfortunately out of the question. As is doing it w/ another computer since this is a RAID0 array.

I know how to do chkntfs /x to shut off the disk checking on start up, the problem is that the array needs to be checked.

Thanks in advance.

i have a RAID1 NAS w/ all my irreplaceables so i'm not overly worried about the data on the system, just the hassle of having to put it all back if i were to do a complete re-build.

i assume your suggestions to disable hibernation and page file are recommended in the short term so that the chkdsk can just get its job done and move on, yes?

Captain Zero said:

Correct. Any/all of those suggestions may correct the problem. However, it's not something I would trust. I'd format (full) the RAID and ensure it's problem-free and reinstall a clean OS.

roger. i disabled hibernation and the pagefile, kicked off a chkdsk /r /i /c in hopes skipping some of the more detailed checks would get me through but it ran all night which tells me it was rebooting again.

i'll be doing a system image and then a reformat this weekend. Thanks.

Hi try a Startup Repair as was discussed over on this thread, as a solution to a similar
problem like the one you are having, I hope it helps.
chkdsk bug

jfar said:

Hi try a Startup Repair as was discussed over on this thread, as a solution to a similar
problem like the one you are having, I hope it helps.
chkdsk bug

thanks for this suggestin - it never occured to me to use the new & improved Repair console in Win7 to see what I could do w/ it.

I did this and had it do it's "Auto fix" of startup problems. It reported during the course of things that the disk needed to be checked, and did so in a crazy-fast 87s; made me a bit skeptical of whatever "fix" it performed as the log afterward indeed said the check was successful.

The computer then booted normally, but is now running absolutely dog slow. So i've done a memory diagnostic through the repair console (didn't stick around to see the outcome) which then rebooted the computer and booted normally, again, in to windows; still dog slow.

I'm now in the process of booting in to the repair console yet another time, launching a command prompt, and executing a chkdsk /r on the main OS drive. I am hoping this will take care of things for me. If not i'll be booting in to windows, running a system image backup, and then doing a wipe of the array.

I'll update more if need be, but for now i think this suffices.

thanks for all the suggestions!

another update:

i ran chkdsk from the command prompt w/in the repair toolkit and it ran fully and successfully w/ no errors found on the drive. The computer is booting normally and performing normally now.

The only error i did encounter was one that said:
"Failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50."
which from my understanding is normal when running chkdsk from a boot/repair CD. I have to wonder, though, if this was the msg being shown in the blip of time before the routinely scheduled chkdsk finished and auto-rebooted into the endless cycle; because it couldn't write the log it never cleared the "dirty" flag. Since all things show "good" after a /r run, though, i'm inclined to believe i'm ok (for now) but am going to run a system image backup tonite anyway :)