Windows 98/ME SCANDISK startup bug fix!

Why does Scandisk run when I restart my machine, even though I shutdown properly?

This question was answered on June 8, 2001. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

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Users of Windows 98/98SE/ME may notice that Scandisk runs occasionally or in some cases everytime you start your system, even though you shutdown properly.

By design, this is only supposed to occur when a system locks up and is reset or powered down in order to clear the locked machine.

If your system has an IDE hard drive (and 99% of you do) it may actually be from a bug in Windows that causes the virtual cache to be improperly written to the drives on-board cache.

Microsoft is aware of the problem and has posted a fix on their website To update your Windows 98/ME system go to:

<A TARGET="_top" CLASS="LINK" HREF="http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com ">http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com</A>

then click on the "Product Updates" link to create the catalog of available updates for your computer.

After the catalog is created, click to select the "Window IDE Hard Drive Cache Package" check box, then click Download and follow the instructions to complete the download process.

Advanced Users Only:

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For the updated Ifsmgr.vxd driver to add the necessary delay during the shutdown process, it may be necessary to update a registry value The CacheWriteDelay value specifies the number of milliseconds of delay To modify this value:

Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).

Locate and click the following key in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.

Type CacheWriteDelay to name the new value, and then press ENTER.

Right-click the CacheWriteDelay value, and then click Modify.

Under Base, click Decimal.

In the Value data box, type 2000, and then click OK.

Quit Registry Editor.

Shut down and restart the system Allow it to finish running Scandisk and wait for the Windows desktop to appear Then, shut down and restart again to check if Scandisk runs at startup.

About the author

Posted by Ken Colburn of Data Doctors on June 8, 2001

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