Defragmenting Drive C

[GrannyD]

:unsure:

I tried to defrag from 6:45 pm tonight until 9:06. The defrag screen said 0% complete and bar did not fill at all the complete time. I disabled Norton System Works before I began. Never had this problem before Norton System Works 2002. At PCPitStop, stated last defraged in Dec 02. HELP please.


Gateway; Windows 98SE; OE and IE 6. Zone Alarm; Config Safe

[Amie]

Granny

Are you using Window's own defrag, if so why not use the one that comes with Norton System Works, it is a lot quicker and does a better job.

[GrannyD]

Thanks Amie. I will try that and advise.

[LeRoi]

GrannyD,

Do you run a lot of Norton System Works software in the background? I find it is best to turn most of the software off in the background within the options of each separate part of NSW, just uncheck "load with Windows" or "run at startup" and click apply. I only run the antivirus portion of NSW in the background at all times (except when running defrag or similar or installing programs after scanning the installer with Norton anti-virus).

I can use either Window defrag or Speed Disk with no problems, but I prefer Norton Speed Disk, it is much faster and in my opinion does a far superior job.

It is best to run a standard scan disk before defragging to fix any problems beforehand. I also run Norton Windoctor before defragging (running Speed Disk).

[Elva]

Go into Safe Mode and run your Scandisk and Defrag from there. Reboot the computer and as soon as you see any DOS style text on the screen, hit F8 and keep hitting it til you get a screen of choices, pick the one that takes you to Safe Mode (usually #3) and be aware the colours and fonts will look ugly and big, that's because a minimum of drivers are being used. Nothing will be running in the background if you do it this way. Reboot to get back into Normal mode when you are done.
Elva

[lindastutts]

Hi,
I also tried to defrag my computer last night. I left it on from about 7:30 pm until this morning at about 4:30 am and it was STILL in 0% completed. How do you use the Norton defragger instead of the Windows? Do you just call it a scan?
Thanks.
Linda

[Amie]

Linda

Welcome to MPC

Do you have Norton System Works installed on your computer, if so open it and go to Utilities > Optimize Performance then click on Speed Disk.

It will scan your drive, then a recommendation window will pop up telling you how much your drive is defragmented. Select Full Optimization and Optimize Swap File, then click Start.

On my 17GB drive it usually takes about 18 minutes to complete the defrag.

[Amie]

Here is a screenshot of the Recommendation window:

Yours might look slightly different if you have another version to the one I have which is 2003.


Amie :amie:

[lindastutts]

Hi,
We don't have the "Norton SystemWorks" just the Norton Antivirus. I guess that's why I couldn't find the defragger. I just tried to go to the normal "Scandisk" in Windows Tools, and I got the following illegal operation error message:
SCANDSKW caused a general protection fault
in module KRNL386.EXE at 0001:0000768b.
Registers:
EAX=8090ea66 CS=015f EIP=0000768b EFLGS=00000282
EBX=bff718c7 SS=3377 ESP=00002626 EBP=812827f8
ECX=00000000 DS=3377 ESI=00001a9e FS=0000
EDX=80904b60 ES=0187 EDI=808da0d5 GS=0000
Bytes at CS:EIP:
66 cf 16 00 00 7f 12 cf 17 64 11 cf 17 05 00 ca
Stack dump:
808da0c8 0202000c 27f83377 00002826 00000002 1a9f0088 337f042a 00010002 41013376 49464c4c 44444558 534b5349 20202020 20202020 20202020 20202020
What in the world does this mean? Did I do something wrong? Now I can't even scandisk, much less defrag!!!! Help!
Linda

[Amie]

Linda

This error can occur if the Dskmaint.dll file in the Windows\System folder is damaged.

Try running System File Checker to replace this file;

Go to Start > Run

and type

SFC

then click OK.

If you click this link, you will find a tutorial on how to proceed from there;

SFC Tutorial (http://vil.nai.com/vil/systemhelpdocs/SFC.htm)


Amie :amie:

[lindastutts]

Thanks for the quick response. I will try that right now. Hope this will help some.
Linda

[LeRoi]

Are you ending tasks of all running processes except explorer and systray using Ctrl+Alt+Del before running scandisk (first) and defrag (in normal mode)?

Maybe you have a program running in the background that conflicts with these maintenence programs?

[lindastutts]

I did the ctrl-alt-del and got out of everything except for explorer and scan disk. Am I supposed to leave systray going? I know I am sounding dumber by the minute but I never had this happen before.
Thanks again for all your help.
Linda

[LeRoi]

I never had to disable systray, did your clock disappear?

I quit using thorough scan disk a long time ago, when I got Norton System Works and now use Disk Doctor, but when I used to use it I had to end tasks of everything except explorer and systray beforehand. I have so few running tasks at idle that the only ones that show in the task manager are explorer, systray and my antivirus, I have a couple others, but they don't show when you hit Ctrl+Alt+Del, don't know why, but I can exit the programs and they stop running. Norton also includes a tool that shows most all running processes called System Information is one reason I can see those processes running in the background and when I exit them they disappear from the list.

There is a free program called Process Explorer that can be used for similar purposes. It has some pretty powerful features and might be dangerous if used for anything except viewing background processes, by someone like me. I have used the feature to right click the process in the list and kill the process so I could rename a file that was present in memory so I could get rid of what I considered to be an unnecessary running process and it worked.

[GrannyD]

I had the same problem trying to run defrag. I disabled everything but anti virus and followed instructions in previous posts. Started at 7:43 pm and finally stopped it at 9 pm. The recommendation page never came up. The following 3 things ran over and over:

1. Converting application start data.
2. Select drive to optimize.
3. Optimizing files for drive c.

After seeing this twice in a row, I just stopped.

Does anyone know what I did wrong?

I have 13 GB and 10.9 are free. My memory 128MB

Config and Zone Alarm.

[LeRoi]

Hi GrannyD,

What version of Norton System Works are you using (year)? If it is a newer version, free email support (and a great knowledge base) are available to you. If it is 2001 or older the free email support is not available (my situation).

Have you run a standard scandisk before attempting to run Speed Disk? I always do, then I run Norton Windoctor then I run Speed Disk.

You could do a clean boot and run the Norton Optimization Wizard (disable screensaver too). This might help straighten things out. I will try to find some info on how to perform a clean boot.

[GrannyD]

Thanks Leroi. I have Norton System Works 2002. Every time I tried to run scan disk from systen tools, it did not work. I shut down everything but anti virus and Nortonscan started, but never completed. I fear I will never scan or defrag again.

I REALLY APPRECIATE ALL THE RECOMMENDATIONS.

[LeRoi]

GrannyD,

Do you happen to use Roxio Go-Back (part of some versions of Norton System Works)? If so, I have read that it can play havoc with scanning/maintenence programs. I think you are supposed to exclude some part of Go-Back (backups?) from defrag (Speed Disk) and also to disable it while running such programs as scan disk etc.

I still haven't found what I call proper instructions for a clean boot, perhaps someone else will have some info, but I'll keep looking.

[sixpac]

Hi GrannyD

"I disabled everything but anti virus"

Try getting rid of anti virus Ctrl+Alt+Del and try it again hopefully it will work

Nothing should be running but explorer.exe

It's also a good idea to dump your temp,tif,cookies,offline content,recent docs,and those who use XP your contents inside your prefetch folder,then reboot and try again either in safe mode (recommended) or from windows

Hope this helps

[linc]

Granny O,

you should disable your anti virus when defragging, it is better to not have anything running in the background when defragging.

i'm also on 98se, and defrag can take up to 90 minutes so i suggest you go to
www.wilders.org

On the lefthand side click downloads, scroll down and d/l newdefrag.
unzip then open windows folder, name the defrag prog there as defragold.open the newdefrag folder and move the defrag icon to windows, change name to 'defrag'

this is the defragger from win2000 and it's a lot quicker approx 5 minutes to defrag.

happy trails

linc

[sixpac]

Granny and others,you might want to try this defragger,it's quicker than the one in 98,and i think it's faster than norton speed disk

Vopt (http://www.vopt.com/)


I believe diskeeper lite is used in windows 2000,and XP defragging application

[carolj100]

I used to use End It All before Scan Disk and Defrag; it really helped! I would suggest trying to find the old version, though. I tried the new one and couldn't make heads nor tails of it. :lol:

[LeRoi]

Here's how to clean boot Windows 98:

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgen...id/199869145548 (http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/199869145548)

I don't know why I couldn't find it before, sorry.

Look on the startup tab of msconfig before you perform a clean boot, because you will need to uncheck the same ones again after the clean boot and optimization wizard are finished. I might try some of the above suggestions before I used this method. (remember to disable your screen saver)

[AussieRon]

GrannyD,
I'm attaching a note on doing maintenance with 98SE that I use to give to fellow oldies that I help out with their problems over here.
I would think that you would need to follow the option to go into "Safe Mode" to complete your scandisk and defrag.
Make sure you turn off your screensaver first before starting your maintenance also.
I hope it helps.
Ron D

[lindastutts]

Ron,
I am in about the same boat as Granny D. Thanks for the attachments. Going into the safe mode might be the best thing for me to try. You all are very helpful and I thank each of you for your help.
Linda S

[GrannyD]

Great news. Finally did a complete defrag. Had to close all Norton and used defeag in programs, system tools. Thanks for all your help.

[Amie]

Wonderful news, thanks for letting us know.

Amie :amie:

[GrannyD]

Hello again. When I tried a new defrag today. the "show details"screen remained white. In past, I saw the various color boxes and was able to monitor if I wanted to. The 0% never changed and the bar never filled. Finally stopped after 3 hours. I had closed all programs including screen saver. (As an "over sixty" my memory is terrible. Don't remember how I did it before. Please help. I know I have problems. Ran SFC and came up with lots of dll "current" and "previous" files.

Will discuss this in another post. Thanks.

[LeRoi]

Originally posted by GrannyD@Sep 17 2003, 03:46 PM
Hello again. When I tried a new defrag today. the "show details"screen remained white. In past, I saw the various color boxes and was able to monitor if I wanted to. The 0% never changed and the bar never filled. Finally stopped after 3 hours. I had closed all programs including screen saver. (As an "over sixty" my memory is terrible. Don't remember how I did it before. Please help. I know I have problems. Ran SFC and came up with lots of dll "current" and "previous" files.

Will discuss this in another post. Thanks.
Hi GrannyD,

Did you run a standard scan disk before attempting the defrag? This should always be done first to fix any problems before the defrag tries to run.

SFC is only valuable if you run it regularly, beginning early in your system's OS installation, if it hasn't been done regularly it is not a reliable source of information (from what I have read).