Fat 32

Jolly_Roger

My computer keeps gleefully shutting itself down after 1.5 years of trouble free use. The opertaing system claims it has detected a FAT 32 problem requiring a disk scan. It gives a volume serial number of OD69-10EC, whatever that means. The scan disk never seems to find anything, but on and on it goes, randomnly shutting the computer down whenever the mood takes it. How do I prevent this from happening and why is it happening?

Hellion

open up a command prompt window by doing the following -

1.

if its 2000/Xp goto Start-run and type cmd,

or if its win 98 it should be labelled as ms dos or something in your start menu.

2

Type the following to enable check disk to run then next time you restart your system.

chkdsk c:/f

the c ids the letter of your main drive and the f specifies to fix any errors

you may get a message asking to run check disk next time windows restarts, jusy say yes.

bbb_uk

That will only a do a quick-type check of the harddrive. Instead type:-

chkdsk c: /f /r

the additional /r specifies that it will locate any bad areas and try and recover from them.

If it doesn't find any errors on the harddrive then the chances are you have a software/driver or even hardware problem that is preventing windows from shutting down properly. When this happens, windows then automatically checks the harddrive (but only a quick test and not the more indepth one indicated above).

Jolly_Roger

OK. Got the following message:
"Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Chkdsk may run if this volume is dismounted first. ALL OPENED HANDLES TO THIS VOLUME WOULD THEN BE INVALID. Would you like to force a dismount on this volume? (Y/N)"
Sounds very intimidating!! What should I do?
I should mention that two pieces of software are now not running properly. The system shutdown today was manic whenever I used Dragon Preferred voice recognition software. I also had to uninstall Norton Security, which loads, but which cannot then update itself automatically. I tried rolling back XP to last week, when things were better, but no cigar. I should mention that it is difficult for XP to shut down correctly, you have to prompt it twice. This appears to have happened since loading Dragon some time ago. The laptop I am using to write this also has Dragon and XP, but does not have FAT 32 problems, although does struggle to shut down. The only major revision of the other computer with the problems was undertaken two months ago when my graphics card had to be replaced. Could this have been the problem?

Jolly_Roger

Definitely XP! Tried various Google searches and there is definitely a problem out there with FAT 32 and XP conflicts, but it all goes over my head!

Jolly_Roger

Dear Mr Skint,
Took a look at the MS page... Wow! I could implement the procedure, but could you explain in non-technical terms why converting FAT 32 to NTFS is the fix? What is a NTFS? Does anybody else out there agree with this fix? If I do this, how can I get back if it doesn't work? Sorry, have to ask that I need my main computer for work!!
Regards
JR

Hellion

You should really try to find the root of the problem before you start converting to NTFS. BTW, do you have any other OS on the same drive?

Jolly_Roger

No, no other OS on same drive.

Joe_Bloggs

The requirement for a scandisk/chkdsk on boot up was caused by the system not shutting down in an ordered fashion. Try it shutting it down yourself before it falls over to prove it one way or the other.
There is a memory test thread which suggests using memtest86 and other free utilities to check for memory errors. http://www.memtest86.com/memt31a.zip
Find out your motherboard manufacturer and model number.There have been batches made with poor motherboard capacitors that overload the power supply and make the system unstable. CPU-Z will identify your motherboard for free. http://www.cpuid.org/index.php
J_B.

bbb_uk

Jolly_Roger wrote:

Definitely XP! Tried various Google searches and there is definitely a problem out there with FAT 32 and XP conflicts, but it all goes over my head!

I use FAT32 and WinXP and have no problems at all. FAT32 is actually faster than NTFS (Microsoft even admit this) but NTFS is more secure but at home unless you have files you don't want someone seeing then NTFS isn't important. Obviously computers at work would all be in NTFS.

Oh and yes you can convert back to FAT32 but it can only be done using software like Partition Magic as the Microsoft converter will not convert back again.

UPDATE: When I build computers most of the time I use FAT32 as it's little faster but I guess it's personal preferences.

But before deciding on something like converting to NTFS, the problem you describe sounds like (as posted in my first reply to this post) that it could just be something like drivers, or something having problems closing down when windows tries to shut them down.

To determine if the problem is software/driver issue just boot Windows into Safe Mode and wait a few minutes and then shut down windows normally without loading any software, etc. If windows is booted into safe mode, then only absolutely essential drivers, etc are loaded and none of the other stuff.

To boot into safe mode, turn your computer on and press the F8 key (and keep pressing every 2 seconds or so) until a menu shows up on the screen.

If the menu isn't displayed and the windows logo appears (ie it is now loading Windows) then you weren't guick enough. This can happen if you reset the computer as opposed to turning it off properly and then turning back on again, or alternatively pressing the reset key on your tower should be ok.

When the menu is displayed use the up/down arrow and highlight "Safe Mode" and press Enter twice.

Windows will now load with essential drivers only. The screen resolution will probably look different but this is normal.

In Safe Mode, you may find that certain things don't work or you may not be able to make some configuration changes but again this is normal.


Now whilst in safe mode, just leave the computer for a minute or so to load anything else in the background and then just shut the computer down the normal way - ensure it's turns the power off or a message is displayed to say its safe to turn off the computer.

Now when you next start the computer does the same message appear?

bbb_uk

Mr_Skint wrote:

If you read his earlier post he use's his PC for work so yes it should be NTFS and fat32 is just stone age.

My apologies I must have missed that but still he uses for work but he is (I assume) at home.

I believe that before converting to NTFS, he try and find out the cause of the problem as I've not of heard of anything that doesn't like FAT32 especially the newer type programmes as FAT32 can only be used on the older Win9x/ME anyhow. When a programme tries to save stuff it uses M$ API commands (the programme "asks" XP to save it, etc) therefore unless the programme was using its own commands to save and is relatively new software and designed for exclusive use of XP/2000, etc (ie can only be ran on NTFS).

I do believe that it is a software/driver issue causing windows not shut down properly and therefore XP automatically tries to check the disc for errors for lost fragments, etc.

The best method to determine this is to boot into safe mode (as indicated in my earlier post) and not run any other programmes but just leave it for a minute then shut down. Repeat this few times to be sure if he wants.

He also mentions that he has Dragon on his laptop and that doesn't have the same problems but is slow to shut down. A slow shut down can be caused by XP having problems shutting down a driver, etc.