Computer reboots when trying to run defrag?!?!

2336

Elite Member
Feb 11, 2000
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A friend of mine gave me a call the other night about her computer. She's got a lot of stuff on the hard drive and was trying to make some room by running defrag and every time she tries to do so the computer reboots. I believe she's running Win98SE. Any ideas?
 

ddeder

Golden Member
Jul 5, 2001
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Have her disable startup items in MSCONFIG and try again. Also, disable power management and turn off the screen saver.
 

MacaroneePenguin

Senior member
May 12, 2001
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Run Scandisk and see if that works. If yes, run defrag again and if that doesn't work and
disabling any of the junk that ddeder mentioned didn't work then you should, Reformat :)

She must have a huge mess in her Hard Drive in order for it to do that after trying those solutions.

You could always try getting Norton Systemworks and running that.
 

BadThad

Lifer
Feb 22, 2000
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Defragging is not going to free up hard drive space. Also, for effecting defragging you need to have about 20% free space available. Tell her to delete all files in C:\temp, C:\windows\temp, all temp internet files and reduce the recycle bin percentage to 2-3%. This will free some space. If your desparate for space, seach for all *.txt files and delete them...most of them will just be readme and crap files. This is a good start. DEFINATELY run MSCONFIG and stop everything from running and DISABLE your antivirus autoprotect feature. Is she using FAT32?
 

Turkey22

Senior member
Nov 28, 2001
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Well an easy way to cleanup is to run, err... cleanup. Then don't go around deleting txt files, since some may be informational some day and they aren't really taking up that much space. I would try getting rid of bigger things. Like uninstalling a game or backing up mp3's somewhere else if at all possible. If she still has program disks she should be able to uninstall the programs to free up space.
 

michec

Senior member
Feb 1, 2001
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It's always a good idea to run scandisk and empty the recycle bin before defragging. Boot into safe mode to disable all the extraneous background processes and run defrag in safe mode. If it's still rebooting in safe mode, tell your friend to download the HD diagnostic utility from whoever the HDD manufacturer is and use it to see if there are any problems with the HDD.
 

2336

Elite Member
Feb 11, 2000
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Well guys, here's the situation. I finally got eyes-on with this rig. It's a H-P with a 10GB Quantum HDD that makes a helluva racket and locks up randomly, sometimes can't find an O/S, and I believe is generally just about dead. So, no amount of scandisk, defrag or anything else will help this. I'm going to download the appropriate diagnostics from Maxtor's/Quantum's site tonight, run it tomorrow (if it will) this thing won't even access the CD-ROM drive! Thanks for everyone's tips and advice but right now it really looks like it's time for a new HDD!:(
 

ddeder

Golden Member
Jul 5, 2001
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If the harddrive is making unusual noises (helluva racket) then it is definitely time for a new harddrive. Otherwise, just format it and see if any bad sectors are found.
 

BadThad

Lifer
Feb 22, 2000
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<< Then don't go around deleting txt files, since some may be informational some day and they aren't really taking up that much space. >>



Actually, those little text files take up a good chunk of space. Each tiny little file, even if it's only 1 byte, is going to take at least 4k of hard drive real estate (fat32). On a single partition, fat32, 10 GIG drive the clusters are probably 8-16k, therefore, they may take up more space than you realize. When you're running tight every bit counts. Many of the systems I work on have junk txt files taking up as much as 3MB of space in terms of clusters.

People forget that CLUSTERS control the available drive space and NOT file size.

2336 - Yes sir, that drive sounds like it's toast to me. You didn't mention how much RAM is on that PC. Lot's of web surfing on machines with only 32-64MB RAM can actually put a lot of wear on the drive. Besides speeding up a PC, the best thing RAM does is help save the hard drive. :)
 

2336

Elite Member
Feb 11, 2000
4,665
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badthad,
This rig is running an AMD K6-2/500 with a whopping 64MB of RAM and when I could get in and check the hard drive properties she still had almost 4GB free so it wasn't a problem with not enough room. Unfortunately she had taken it to one of the local computer stores and was charged $55.00 by this guy couldn't find his a$$ with both hands! Sorry, I didn't mean to beat around the bush. I know I shouldn't sugar-coat things! Anyway, this jerk charged her $55.00 and never resolved the problem, never sat her down and told her that the hard drive was probably dying - just took her money! The bastage!!!
 

BadThad

Lifer
Feb 22, 2000
12,099
47
91
2336 - Man, that FIRES me up! There is so many people getting RIPPED OFF by computer repair places it makes me sick. I don't claim to know it all, but there are some real dumbazzes out there working on PC's and bigger dumbazzes that pay 'em (no offense to your friend). Being a professional in the PC biz, I've heard stories and seen things that amaze me.

Definately throw another 128MB into her system along with that new hard drive. Should fix her right up! :)

-BT