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Scandisk Not working

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by crowngreen Sep 4, 2002 last reply Nov 21, 2002

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After rebooting my PC after a problem or lock up using the reset button scandisk no longer runs automatically when the PC reboots.
I can access scandisk from system tools and it will work. I have McAfee virus scan installed and enabled. Even when disables scandisk fails to run automatically after using the reset button

Any ideas greatfully appreciated

8 replies

by blackcurrant Sep 4, 2002

You need to edit your copy of C:\MSDOS.SYS. First, copy the file as msdos.old. Next remove the read-only, hidden and system attributes of the file. Next open it in notepad and find the section called [options]. Under this section there shouldan entry called autoscan=n

Where n: 0 = do not run scandisk, 1 = prompts before running scandisk, and 2 = does not prompt before running scandisk but will prompt before fixing any errors.

Good Luck

by blackcurrant Sep 4, 2002

I forgot to mention that you must reset the attributes for the file after you save it, and that it must be saved as an ASCII file (standard text file). This will ensure that scandisk runs as you want it to *before* Windows starts. Setting scandisk to run after windows starts (by placing it in your startup folder) will not help prevent any major disk errors from stopping Windows from starting at all.

by crowngreen Nov 21, 2002

Poster rated this answer

by khall3 Sep 4, 2002

These instructions are step by step for Windows 98. They are similar for other Microsoft OS's but not step by step.

To add ScanDisk to your StartUp folder

On the taskbar, right-click Start, and then click Open.
Click the Programs folder, and then click the StartUp folder.
On the File menu, point to New, and then click Shortcut.
In Command line, type:

scandskw.exe

Click Next.
In Select a name for the shortcut, type:

ScanDisk

Click Finish.

To check for disk errors when your computer starts

In your StartUp folder, right-click ScanDisk.

Click Properties.
On the Shortcut tab, type one or more of the following after the text that appears in Target:Type To
x:
(substitute the drive letter for x)
Specify the drive you want to check.
/a Check all your local hard disks.
/n Start and quit ScanDisk automatically.
/p Prevent ScanDisk from correcting any errors it finds.

This should fix your problem

Good Luck!