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Defragmenting my "C" drive, causes error
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Windows Me Annoyances Discussion Forum
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Defragmenting my "C" drive, causes error
Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 6:41 am
Posted by elmoticky
(134 messages posted)
This past Monday evening I decided to Defrag my "C"
drive after removing hundreds of pictures from the files.
I went to Programs-Accessories-System tools-Disk Defrag. It all seemed so simple
as the task took off as
soon as I clicked Defrag "C" drive. I went to bed and left the computer run after
the screen went dark. Only
the orange light shined as I slept. In the morning I found a prompt on the screen
that said: "Locomserver_3_0 has caused an error in Kernel 32 DL. Locomserver will
now close". I clicked close and
their was another prompt exactly as the first one. I
clicked close that one also and the Defrag never stopped running. However, since
Monday, it has only
4% complete. Perhaps I am doing something wrong. I have never done this and would
like advise. As always I will appreciate your help. P.S. I must mention that I do
the defrag task on selected periods
of time, and not all at the same time. I always get the same amount of 4% complete
and have not gone
higher since.
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re: Defragmenting my "C" drive, causes error
Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 9:53 am
Posted by Keith Stanier
(1651 messages posted)
Well you could always try defragging in Safe Mode. That will mean nothing else is
running apart from the basic Windows system files.
As your computer is starting up keep the Ctrl key pressed until you see the DOS menu.
Select Safe Mode and hit Enter.
Now I always Defrag using double-click My Computer and right-click on your hard drive
and select Properties. On the Tools tab click defrag button then you don't have to
select a drive. Thats if you only have one hard drive?
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re: Defragmenting my "C" drive, causes error
Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 10:07 am
Posted by elmoticky
(134 messages posted)
Thanks Keith. Wow, I just went for the juglar as I said
in my post. Your advise sounds great and I will get on
it right now. I have been at 4% complete since Monday. I will get back to you if
results are better. I
will go with both of your suggestions -- one at time of
course.
On Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 9:53 am, Keith Stanier wrote:
>Well you could always try defragging in Safe Mode. That will mean nothing else is
>running apart from the basic Windows system files.
>
>As your computer is starting up keep the Ctrl key pressed until you see the DOS
menu.
>Select Safe Mode and hit Enter.
>
>Now I always Defrag using double-click My Computer and right-click on your hard
drive
>and select Properties. On the Tools tab click defrag button then you don't have
to
>select a drive. Thats if you only have one hard drive?
[Reply or follow-up to this message]
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re: Defragmenting my "C" drive, causes error
Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Posted by Ed
(741 messages posted)
Defrag will never run successfully with Norton's anti-virus program NIS 2008 running
in the background. Entering Safe Mode will not disable the antivirus program if it
is being loaded from the ROM-BIOS.
Go to BIOS and there disable the anti-virus program from running at bootup (i.e.
uncheck appropriate option and then save the changes).
Ed
On Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 10:07 am, elmoticky wrote:
>Thanks Keith. Wow, I just went for the juglar as I said
>in my post. Your advise sounds great and I will get on
>it right now. I have been at 4% complete since Monday. I will get back to you if
>results are better. I
>will go with both of your suggestions -- one at time of
>course.
>
>
>
[Reply or follow-up to this message]
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re: Defragmenting my "C" drive, causes error
Friday, January 8, 2010 at 4:05 am
Posted by Keith Stanier
(1651 messages posted)
Of course it will Ed. Safe Mode stops everything running apart from the basic Windows
files.
[Reply or follow-up to this message]
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re: Defragmenting my "C" drive, causes error
Friday, January 8, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Posted by elmoticky
(134 messages posted)
Keith, I have tried everything suggested, Safe Mode
and what Ed suggested plus other advise. I have found out that this is not an error
or virus issue. It is
simply my very old WinMe that just quit on me. It
will run properly while trying to defrag, but it seems
to hit a bump and just slides and holds on at 4% complete since early Monday. I have
left it on while
I sleep hoping for a miracle, but find it in the morning
stopped with Kernel errors. I will submit this request
for help as solved. I quit, simple as that. it is very
frustrating when my computer is not a burden to me
that needs defraging or else. Thanks keith. I will send
Ed a note of thanks also.
On Friday, January 8, 2010 at 4:05 am, Keith Stanier wrote:
>Of course it will Ed. Safe Mode stops everything running apart from the basic Windows
>files.
[Reply or follow-up to this message]
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re: Defragmenting my "C" drive, causes error
Friday, January 8, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Posted by elmoticky
(134 messages posted)
Ed thank you for your sound advise. I do not have
Norton, and have tried everything suggested to me
by Keith and you. I appreciate that as always. What
I have here is failure to comunicate with my PC. It
seems to work properly while it does its task, but then just hits a snag and stay
on 4% complete -- since Monday..Please read the note I sent to Keith
just minutes ago. I quit on this. I think I explained it
better to Keith. As always, thanks Ed. "solved".
On Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 4:26 pm, Ed wrote:
>Defrag will never run successfully with Norton's anti-virus program NIS 2008 running
>in the background. Entering Safe Mode will not disable the antivirus program if
it
>is being loaded from the ROM-BIOS.
>
>Go to BIOS and there disable the anti-virus program from running at bootup (i.e.
>uncheck appropriate option and then save the changes).
>
>Ed
>
>
>
>
[Reply or follow-up to this message]
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re: Defragmenting my "C" drive, causes error
Friday, January 8, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Posted by Keith Stanier
(1651 messages posted)
When was the last time your system defraged ok?
You only other option is to do a system restore. Now I know the Windows system restore
is crap, I've never got that to work. The only other option is to do a DOS system
restore. This can't be done easliy as WinME doesn't have a Command Prompt Only
option on boot up. The only other way you can do this is to use a bootable floppy
and goto c:\windows\command and type in Scanreg /restore and choose a date
when it used to drag last.
If you get stuck doing this then let me know?
The other option which I would recommend is save all your important files onto a
flash drive and do a format and a rebuild. If you need more help on this part then
let me know.
[Reply or follow-up to this message]
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re: Defragmenting my "C" drive, causes error
Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 6:23 am
Posted by elmoticky
(134 messages posted)
Keith, As I always say, you guys are great bunch. To
continue encouraging me to fix this defrag issue is a
bit of an example. I remember my daughter buying this WinMe in the wee 90`s. In 94
she gave it to me and a defrag has never been done on it. A quick mind-math tells
me that no matter what I do, time has taken over this PC. It is slow, but dependable
to what I do which is only read websites and post in forums a bit. Other than that,
I have not dumped it because I do not see myself as an addicted computer
nut who spends his days online. Oh don`t get me wrong, I enjoy great moments and
escapes while I
use my computer, but I really do not feel up to putting you and the rest of the guys
here at annoyances through the "annoyance" of defraging this
junk of machine. I really think it will solve nothing as
far as my use of it. When I removed a ton of pictures
from the files, I hastly, and without thinking thought
of the defrag..It was a mistake. I am frustrated and
you make some valid points in guiding me through in
this task. I do not trust system restore, as I have used it previously to fix some
small inconsistencies in
my files, only to find a monster problem, causing me
to abandoning this feature completely. Really Keith,
I will not even attempt to go beyond the 4% complete that my try generated. Again,
thanks a lot.
Make no mistake, I will always search you guys out
whenever I get stumped with an issue..This one does
not merit any emergency attention, as it just old and
tired, ready to fold on me. Thanks Keith.
On Friday, January 8, 2010 at 5:23 pm, Keith Stanier wrote:
>When was the last time your system defraged ok?
>
>You only other option is to do a system restore. Now I know the Windows system restore
>is crap, I've never got that to work. The only other option is to do a DOS system
>restore. This can't be done easliy as WinME doesn't have a Command Prompt Only
>option on boot up. The only other way you can do this is to use a bootable floppy
>and goto c:\windows\command and type in Scanreg /restore and choose a date
>when it used to drag last.
>
>If you get stuck doing this then let me know?
>
>The other option which I would recommend is save all your important files onto a
>flash drive and do a format and a rebuild. If you need more help on this part then
>let me know.
[Reply or follow-up to this message]
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re: Defragmenting my "C" drive, causes error
Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Posted by Keith Stanier
(1651 messages posted)
elmoticky wrote:
|I remember my daughter buying this WinMe in the wee 90`s.
I don't think so elmoticky I think the name should be a give away. WinME came out
in September 2000 thats why they called it Windows Me (Millennium Edition).
[Reply or follow-up to this message]
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re: Defragmenting my "C" drive, causes error
Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 10:47 pm
Posted by Ed
(741 messages posted)
One thing I forgot to mention. Defrag.exe is in origin a DOS-based program, and so
it will fail to complete (exhibiting the symptoms you've mentioned) if it encounters
the notorious DOS "directory limit".
DOS could only read a file if it was not more than 8 levels "deep". Defrag has the
same limitation, because it is running on DOS fundamentally. DOS still can't read
such a file, not even in the version of DOS that ships with Windows ME.
But Windows doesn't have that limitation. So it's perfectly possible you've created
more than 8 levels of subdirectories using Windows. The only time that will ever
be a problem is in running the Defrag program, because Windows was built to overcome
that particular drawback of DOS. In technical terms, the "path" (to the file) is
too long for DOS to read.
Therefore, you should check to see whether your hard disk has any files in a sub-directory
that is more than 8 levels below the C: root directory.
The (very easy) solution is to simply move them, using Windows, to a higher level
directory. Make sure you get them all, because you may have inadvertantly done this
with lots of files. I know I did!
By the way, I strongly recommend that you only run Defrag after running ScanDisk
for Windows in thorough mode and also ScanDisk for DOS (and run the latter
in pure DOS mode, using the Windows ME "Emergency Boot Disk" floppy).
Ed
On Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 6:23 am, elmoticky wrote:
>Keith, As I always say, you guys are great bunch. To
>continue encouraging me to fix this defrag issue is a
>bit of an example. I remember my daughter buying this WinMe in the wee 90`s. In
94
>she gave it to me and a defrag has never been done on it. A quick mind-math tells
>me that no matter what I do, time has taken over this PC. It is slow, but dependable
>to what I do which is only read websites and post in forums a bit. Other than that,
>I have not dumped it because I do not see myself as an addicted computer
>nut who spends his days online. Oh don`t get me wrong, I enjoy great moments and
>escapes while I
>use my computer, but I really do not feel up to putting you and the rest of the
guys
>here at annoyances through the "annoyance" of defraging this
>junk of machine. I really think it will solve nothing as
>far as my use of it. When I removed a ton of pictures
>from the files, I hastly, and without thinking thought
>of the defrag..It was a mistake. I am frustrated and
>you make some valid points in guiding me through in
>this task. I do not trust system restore, as I have used it previously to fix some
>small inconsistencies in
>my files, only to find a monster problem, causing me
>to abandoning this feature completely. Really Keith,
>I will not even attempt to go beyond the 4% complete that my try generated. Again,
>thanks a lot.
>Make no mistake, I will always search you guys out
>whenever I get stumped with an issue..This one does
>not merit any emergency attention, as it just old and
>tired, ready to fold on me. Thanks Keith.
>
>
>
[Reply or follow-up to this message]
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re: Defragmenting my "C" drive, causes error
Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 11:12 pm
Posted by Ed
(741 messages posted)
I should have also said -
When you run ScanDisk for Windows (go to START > RUN and there type SCANDSKW.EXE
and click OK) it will report on the name and file location ("path") of every file
which exceeds the DOS limit.
So you don't have to do a lot of guesswork to track down any errant files that are
more than 8 levels deep. It will find them for you.
But it only does this if you tick/check the option "Report MS-DOS mode name length
errors" in the "Advanced" options section of the ScanDisk for Windows program before
running it.
Ed
On Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 10:47 pm, Ed wrote:
>One thing I forgot to mention. Defrag.exe is in origin a DOS-based program, and
so
>it will fail to complete (exhibiting the symptoms you've mentioned) if it encounters
>the notorious DOS "directory limit".
>
>DOS could only read a file if it was not more than 8 levels "deep". Defrag has the
>same limitation, because it is running on DOS fundamentally. DOS still can't read
>such a file, not even in the version of DOS that ships with Windows ME.
>
>But Windows doesn't have that limitation. So it's perfectly possible you've created
>more than 8 levels of subdirectories using Windows. The only time that will ever
>be a problem is in running the Defrag program, because Windows was built to overcome
>that particular drawback of DOS. In technical terms, the "path" (to the file) is
>too long for DOS to read.
>
>Therefore, you should check to see whether your hard disk has any files in a sub-directory
>that is more than 8 levels below the C: root directory.
>
>The (very easy) solution is to simply move them, using Windows, to a higher level
>directory. Make sure you get them all, because you may have inadvertantly done this
>with lots of files. I know I did!
>
>By the way, I strongly recommend that you only run Defrag after running ScanDisk
>for Windows in thorough mode and also ScanDisk for DOS (and run the latter
>in pure DOS mode, using the Windows ME "Emergency Boot Disk" floppy).
>
>Ed
>
>
>
>
[Reply or follow-up to this message]
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re: Defragmenting my "C" drive, causes error
Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 4:38 am
Posted by Keith Stanier
(1651 messages posted)
Ed wrote:
|One thing I forgot to mention. Defrag.exe is in origin a DOS-based program
Thats correct Ed but that was when we were using Windows 3.1. I can't remember if
Windows had a defrag, its a long time ago. I could check my old Win3.1 floppies if
anyone is interested. The file system was the same as DOS up to 8 characters so that
problem wouldn't arise.
[Reply or follow-up to this message]
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re: Defragmenting my "C" drive, causes error
Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 7:26 am
Posted by elmoticky
(134 messages posted)
Keith once again I have to admit you are correct. I
nevertheless made a google search on when my Dell
Dimension 4100 WinMe was made and I cannot find
anything near the date I mentioned. To me it seems
like I`ve had this PC forever. But you are correct,
sorry for saying something I was not sure about. It
will not happen again when you are only trying to help. Thanks Keith for the heads
up.
On Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 12:50 pm, Keith Stanier wrote:
>elmoticky wrote:
>|I remember my daughter buying this WinMe in the wee 90`s.
>
>I don't think so elmoticky I think the name should be a give away. WinME came out
>in September 2000 thats why they called it Windows Me (Millennium Edition).
[Reply or follow-up to this message]
|
re: Defragmenting my "C" drive, causes error
Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 7:35 am
Posted by elmoticky
(134 messages posted)
Ed thank you again for the advise. After letting the
defraging run all night on Safe Mode I found it this
morning, again with two layers of Kernel errors and
when I clicked both close, the completed task was at
4%. A whole week I have spent on this and nothing
seems as if it is going to work -- and for what? I ask
myself. I know your answer has to be: "well you want
to do it!"
Reading your new sound advise seems like a novel
approach. What I am going to do is wait for my Son
to stop by after work tomorrow. He is the computer
savvy guy here. He solved my missing "D" drive when I was trying to remove a ton
of pictures from
my PC. It turned out that I have no "D"drive but have
a zip drive that works as the "D" drive. So I will get
back to you on what he says about this new novel
approach. Thanks again Ed.
On Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 10:47 pm, Ed wrote:
>One thing I forgot to mention. Defrag.exe is in origin a DOS-based program, and
so
>it will fail to complete (exhibiting the symptoms you've mentioned) if it encounters
>the notorious DOS "directory limit".
>
>DOS could only read a file if it was not more than 8 levels "deep". Defrag has the
>same limitation, because it is running on DOS fundamentally. DOS still can't read
>such a file, not even in the version of DOS that ships with Windows ME.
>
>But Windows doesn't have that limitation. So it's perfectly possible you've created
>more than 8 levels of subdirectories using Windows. The only time that will ever
>be a problem is in running the Defrag program, because Windows was built to overcome
>that particular drawback of DOS. In technical terms, the "path" (to the file) is
>too long for DOS to read.
>
>Therefore, you should check to see whether your hard disk has any files in a sub-directory
>that is more than 8 levels below the C: root directory.
>
>The (very easy) solution is to simply move them, using Windows, to a higher level
>directory. Make sure you get them all, because you may have inadvertantly done this
>with lots of files. I know I did!
>
>By the way, I strongly recommend that you only run Defrag after running ScanDisk
>for Windows in thorough mode and also ScanDisk for DOS (and run the latter
>in pure DOS mode, using the Windows ME "Emergency Boot Disk" floppy).
>
>Ed
>
>
>
>
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re: Defragmenting my "C" drive, causes error
Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 8:21 am
Posted by Keith Stanier
(1651 messages posted)
elmoticky wrote:
|After letting the
|defraging run all night on Safe Mode I found it this
|morning, again with two layers of Kernel errors and
|when I clicked both close, the completed task was at
|4%.
Well thats a least a start.
I bet its years since you did a format and rebuild. Just open Windows Explorer and
look at the date a time of the Windows folder?
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