Win 98 Scandisk and Defragmenter problem.

[Emos]

Sorry to be posting this in OT, but since I spend most of my AnandTech time here.......
The last several times that I've attempted to run Scandisk I receive the message "Scandisk has restarted 10 times due to another program running". Defragmentation is stuck because it appears to be endlessly cycling thru the Checking Drive for Errors stage.
I have already used Close Program to shut down EVERYTHING except Explorer and the problem continues to persist. What could be running in Windows to be causing this problem? Oh...my system specs:
Dell Dimension XPS R450
PII 450
128MB RAM
14.4GB IBM HD (7200 rpm)
ELSA Gladiac Geforce2 GTS 32MB
Intel SE440BX AA696089-408 mobo

TIA!

 

[dennilfloss]

Maybe you have a rogue program installed as a service. Download Wintop and Another Task Manager to find out your running processes.

Doctor Jones (Aqua)

 

[MissingLinc]

I have found rebooting into Windows Safe Mode is the best way to get that Defrag to work uninterrupted. After the mobo BIOS has finished POSTing and identifying the HDD(s), the computer will beep once, signifying successful POST (assuming your PC speaker is connected). Be ready to hit the F8 key. As soon as you hear the beep (after the BIOS has identified the HDDs), press the F8 key several times and you will get the Windows startup menu. Select Safe Mode, which should load very quickly since it does not load much into memory. Go ahead and run Defrag and when finished you can reboot back into normal Windows again.

Enjoy!

 

[Renob]

use norton speed disk its much better and faster.

 

[Taz4158]

DL NU2001 and try their superior defrag program.

 

[dennilfloss]

Guys,

If a program is working in the background, changing to a different defrag program will not help. In particular, it is important to make sure that no malicious worm or trojan is running hidden as a service here before any damage is done. On the other hand, it could simply be Task Manager or an automatic update program. Better safe than sorry.

Split Personality (Pink)

 

[Tran23]

MissingL has the right idea, go into safe mode and do it.

 

[AndyHui]

Go into safe mode and do it. Generally the culprit is something called MDM.exe...Machine Debug Manager. Kill it using something like Resman before you do the scandisk.

 

[Emos]

Thanks for the responses so far! Well.....I went ahead and tried to run Scandisk and Defragmentation in Safe Mode. Scandisk is STILL experiencing the same problem with "Scandisk has restarted 10 times due to another program running". Defrag seemed to work OK in Safe Mode.
Now get this....when I tried to restart my system, a Fatal Error window would pop up each time I clicked on the Start button..WTF??? I eventually just had to hit the reset button because Safe Mode (HaHa) windows wouldn't let me shut down properly! Man I hope this isn't going to be something serious
I'll try downloading and experimenting with the programs that were recommended in this thread over the weekend....wish me luck!
Any other suggestions (besides shooting my PC ) would be welcome!