CHKDSK in endless loop at startup 1

[Phaedros]

my windows-xp pc (up to now running perfectly) has started to go into endless loops of CHKDSK /F and reboot. although i can escape CHKDSK manually and start windows normally, on next bootup it begins again. how can i escape this vicious cycle?

i have tried to boot from the windows cd and run CHKDSK /R (worked normally, no endless loop). but booting from harddisk always ends up in the loop.

where is this damn flag which forces CHKDSK after bootup? how can i complete it normally without an automatic reboot?

phaedros (technical user)

 

[SimonDavies]

Have a look in the Boot.ini as I seem to recall there may be something in there but don't hold me to it.

 

[SimonDavies]

Actually I lied.

Go to the registry, HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\BootExecute and remove the "autocheck autochk /p \??\C:" so that only "autocheck autochk *" is left there.

 

[Phaedros]

Thanks SimonDavies,

I checked the registry but all the keys "BootExecute" have already the presumed values "autocheck autochk *". boot.ini is pretty empty, and shows no suspicious entries.

still, windows begins a chkdsk at every startup, and the loop must be left manually before it starts. inside windows, no defrag can be performed because the required chkdsk is still claimed to be pending.

starting in protected mode does precisely the same. so, what else can i try?


phaedros (technical user)

 

[Phaedros]

Well, nothing worked. Finally I scrapped this Windows, formatted the system drive and installed everything from scratch. Took me considerable time, but now it's clean again.