Autochk cannot run…
Man! What a conundrum! The other day I powered down my laptop (Windows 7 installed) in frustration and boom, upon rebooting, the poor thing decided that it needed to run chkdsk to fix parts of the hard drive.
Well, I guess the worst part is that a recent software package (in this case, likely a Windows update) seemed to be interfering with the install, so I got the following message:
Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS
Volume label is OS.One of your disks needs to be checked for consistency. You may cancel the disk check, but it is strongly reccomended that you continue.
Windows will now check the disk.
Cannot open volume for direct access.
Autochk cannot run due to an error caused by a recently installed software package.
Use the system restore feature from the control panel to restore the system to a point prior to the recent software package installation.
An unspecified error occurred (766f6c756d652e63 3f1)
SO… I tried using system restore but sadly it wouldn’t run due to a corrupt disk, so I was trapped in a circular issue.
At this point, I figured my options were limited – recover data off the hdd and reformat and/or try to use an offline version of chkdsk. I chose the later, since it presented the best opportunity for getting back to work.
RESOLUTION: I insterted the Windows 7 installation DVD and booted from it. Went through the repair system motions, opened up a command prompt and ran:
chkdsk /f /r c:
Five hours later (yup – a super slow process), the chkdsk completed and Windows was stable again. After that, I removed some of the most recent packages on the computer with system restore (just to be safe) and voila, I was back at it.
Comments
Comment from George
Time March 15, 2010 at 10:06 am
How do I use the Windows 7 DVD to repair the system when I only have the Windows 7 upgrade which will only install windows?
Comment from raj
Time March 19, 2010 at 11:56 am
@George – the upgrade DVD also contains all the tools necessary and is bootable
Comment from GlobalDutchStore
Time March 19, 2010 at 11:32 pm
@raj – Thanks for the extra info about being able to use the upgrade DVD to access any recovery tools. Instead of using CHKDSK, I resolved the issue by asking Windows 7 to perform a System Repair from the DVD… waited 30 mins, rebooted, it worked like a charm. Geoff
Comment from alasdair
Time March 23, 2010 at 11:35 am
hi
i had this problem today and this post helped me sort it out. thanks.
alasdair
Comment from Ryan
Time April 7, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Regarding the windows upgrade disk… If you have an upgrade disk, you can download a “recovery” image from microsoft. This is a bootable cd that has the same features for fixing the installation as the install DVD, but without the install feature. Saved me from MBR corruption (due to accidental deletion of my partition…)
Hope this helps.
Comment from Dominic
Time April 14, 2010 at 1:15 am
Hey raj,
I’m experiencing the problem described in your post, but I’m not sure how to proceed. When you say “boot from installation/upgrade DVD”, does that simply mean “insert disk, follow the dummy proof process”, or actually booting from the DVD as in changing some of the voodoo in my BIOS? I’m not really familiar with the anatomy of my laptop and I’m afraid to do something wrong, so would it be possible to get a more detailed explanation?
Also, any idea what type of installed software might cause this? The only thing I remember installing 2days ago (when this error started appearing) was StarCraft, a game nearly as old as myself. It seems odd that this could cause such a serious problem?
Thanks in advance,
Dominic
Comment from Dominic
Time April 14, 2010 at 7:44 am
Hey again raj,
After some browsing on win7 fora, I found out my laptop (’s windows) has built-in repair files. Took little under 30minutes and the error’s gone. However, when I tried to run a diskcheck (Schedule one on next boot & then reboot), no scan happened. I’m sort of wondering if that’s normal. Any input?
Comment from raj
Time April 14, 2010 at 7:51 am
@Dominic – kinda hard to help you if you don’t leave a valid email address
Comment from Eric
Time April 25, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Hi Raj,
I just had this issue myself. Your blog helped me solve the problem in record time. Thanks so much for taking the time to post things like this. I really appreciate it.
Comment from Stephanie
Time May 18, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Hey there. I am having this same issue, but I don’t know how to boot from the disk. Can you help me? Thanks!
Comment from raj
Time May 18, 2010 at 2:15 pm
@Stephanie every computer is different – you should check with your manufacturer regarding how to boot from a bootable diskette
Comment from Bev
Time June 6, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Raj, excellent post. Do you have the problem of this coming back? I have fixed this twice before and it has returned. I’m thinking it may have something to do with Windows Mobile Device Center. I was wondering if you were able to sync anything without the problem returning?
Thanks.
Comment from raj
Time June 6, 2010 at 2:35 pm
@Bev I haven’t seen the issue reappear. Could it be your hardware?
Comment from Bev
Time June 6, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Possible. I put Win 7 on a Motion Computing LE1700. No problem there. However, I was connecting an ancient Creative Labs Zen Vision M to it. I’ll do some experimenting and see what I come up with. I figured if anyone could confirm my theory I wouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel. If I come up with anything useful I’ll let you know. Thanks.
Comment from Derek
Time December 6, 2009 at 9:41 am
Thanks for this post. This issue just started on one of my Win7 machines and I wasn’t sure which direction to take. I haven’t done the chkdsk yet but I hope it works.