Every time I start my system, autochk (check disk)always runs. I can never get it to stop automatically running.And on top of that, it is telling me that it cannot gaindirect access to the volume, telling me that a recent software package that I installed is causing thisproblem. It wants me to restore my system to an earlier point to fix this. However, I cannot restore my system! Each time I do, it restarts telling me thatit was unsuccessful.Every time i try to restore, I restore to a different point, still not helping. I don't know what is causing this or how to fix it. Any ideas??? I really need this fixed because if I do have a failure in the future, I will not be able to restore my computer. By the way, allof my important files and backups are on an external hard drive.My only main fuss is that if I do have to reformat and reinstallwindows, it takes me hoursto download updates and upgrade, and I would hate tohave to go that route once more.Thanks

" it takes me hoursto download updates and upgrade, and I would hate tohave to go that route once more."Uh, on windows7? there are only 3-4 updates available.cyanna

How many disks, internal and external, do you have connected to your system? Try rebooting w/only the system disk (the disk where Windows 7 is actually loaded) connected. Are any of your other disks, such as an external drive, formatted with FAT32? Chkdisk will usually run when it encounters bad clusters or some sort of corrupt data. It may be in your best interest to be prepared to possibly get a new disk. If there is a recent software package that is preventing Windows from gaining exclusive access to the hard drive, then you may want to boot into Safe Mode and run the chkdisk there so that it can clear the dirty bit that flags when it will run. Although this may be an issue with Windows 7 beta, it never hurts to remain on the cautious side as hard disks are physical devices that will fail at some time in the future. When something like this happens, heed the messages. You may have a disk on its last leg.

Ok, reply to cyanna: Well, I choose to reinstall Windows Vista, my native operating system, and then upgrade to W7. I feel more comfortable doing this so that I don't mess things up with the installation and the drivers. I have never felt totally safe doing a clean install of an OS particularly because of past problems that I have run into with previous betas. Would it be recommended to do a clean install of W7? I'm sure it would be much easier but I am unsure how to do so... Reply to DarienHawk67: I have one internal disk, two partitions (one is the primary partition (C:\) , the other is recovery (D:\) and one external disk (F:\ , NTFS, Western Digital). I have disconnected my external hard drive previously and it does nothing other than speed up the start up. Also, I have tried Safe Mode and it will not start up in that mode. It stops loading after a certain .sys file, but it is not stuck. The hard drive is still processing something, but it stays that the same .sys item for hours. I would hate to go back to this mode because I had to do a hard shut down by pushing and holding the power button. I don't want torepeat thisin fear of hard drive corruption and not being able to fix bad clusters because of my problem. I hate to think that my disk is on its last leg, mostly because I just purchased this laptop October 2008. By the way, this is my computer model:HP Pavilion dv5-1002nr Notebook. Thanks for the prompt replies! I am very grateful you replied quickly. btb42693

Okay, since you have a relatively new computer, we can safely assume your internal hard drive is in good condition. However, you did provide one key piece of information. You upgraded from Vista to Windows 7. Although Microsoft wants people to beta test both clean installs and upgrades, I have found that the only reliable method of installing any operating system (whether it is Windows or *nix) is to do a clean install from scratch. In your case, with you having a relatively new laptop, loading Windows 7 via a clean install may do you good. As for drivers, mostif not allHWQL Vista drivers will load w/out much incident on Windows 7 (at least that has been my experience). In any case, whatever you do, do not delete or overwrite the D drive which is your recovery partition. You can easily boot with the Windows 7 DVD, remove the C drive and click next. The OS will automatically create the correct partitions and everything. Another question. Does chkdisk run only when the external drive is connected at boot, or does it run regardless?

Thanks for the reply! Ok, that sounds good. I too have always had my friends tell me that a clean install is always the best way to go so that there are less problems that occur in the registry and transferring files over. Also one question...the beta key will still be usable, correct? I don't want there to be a problem with this. Since you have told me this, i am going to considerreinstallingW7tonight :) Also, I do have CDs that HP provided me with that will reinstall my recovery partition and my primary partition to factory installed settings, so I am thinking that this should not be a problem. And yes, chkdsk runs reguardless whether the external hard drive is connected. Any good ideas for a clean install?

As for using Window 7 as a day-to-day OS, I believe it is stable enough. Personally, I am using it on several machines to include my day-to-day desktop. Although my experience has been a very good one, I cant say that everyone will be as fortunate. However, being an experienced system engineer proficient with Windows and *nix, I abide by some best practices that shield me from some of the more interesting problems some people seem to have. Looking at the specification of your notebook, http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01490732&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN, it seems to me that you would have an enjoyable experience with Windows 7. However, you will definitely have to do some manual loading of drivers, but that should not pose any real difficulty. Since you have actual media from HP, then you are in good shape as long as your data is intact on another drive, which I assume is the external WD. Give it a shot. When you boot with the Win7 DVD, select the custom option. When you get to the Where do you want to install Windows? screen, click Drive Option (advanced). There, delete all partitions except your recovery partition. At this point, there is no need to create and format a new one as the OS will take care of all of that during its installation. Just make sure you tell it to install onto the unallocated disk space. Click the Next button and enjoy.

Ok, dude you are seriously awesome. Thanks and kudos to your knowledge! :) I will definitely be reformatting my hard drive and re-installing W7. For the feedback part, this has been one of the more stable betas that I've tested. I'm glad that Microsoft chose to release it at this point and not any earlier than they did. W7 to me is a relatively good step forward (not as far as the jump they made to XP). Although IE8 hasn't changed much (other than some tuned-up security....still not perfect, but we're getting there) I think they're starting to step into the light a little further. With a few bug fixes and additions, W7 may prove to be promising, at least more promising than Vista. Thanks again! I will definitely update this once I'm finished reformatting. Also, have you tested chkdisk? I'm sure other people have but i'm curious to if it has changed at all. I highly doubt it, but also have you or anybody else here have had an issue with it? One more thing....Norton 360 v3....I have this for my security. I chose this one because I know that Symantec has proved me well in the past that it is a great security suite (security wise, maybe not so much performance). I have heard about an issue that I found on a forum that says about its "Tamper Protection" feature preventing System Restore from operating correctly. Is this true? I have tried turning this feature off and trying to restore my system. Unfortunately it didn't do any good....maybe it's something else but by the end of tonight, it won't be.

Since you have asked if I tested chkdsk on Windows 7, I did so with my laptop. From what I can tell, it has not changed much from previous versions. All of the arguments appear the same as the version that shipped with Vista. I have seen the problem you are experiencing with all other versions of Windows from Windows 2000 on up. When the dirty bit is set, that tells Windows to perform a chkdsk on boot. Once chkisk completes the check, it automatically clears the dirty bit so that subsequent boots are performed normally. If chkdsk cannot complete the check for one reason or another, the dirty bit remains thus forcing chkdsk to start again on the next boot. If you have had good success with Norton 360 v3, then continue to use it. I have not read that its Tamper Protection could interfere with System Restore; however, I dont doubt the possibility due to the way it works. If that is true and having an intact System Restore in important to you, you can always disable the Tamper Protection featureespecially if the computer is your personal computer sans other users. Personally, I use Symantec AntiVirus Corporate 10.2 for Vista as it has served me well over the years. Some things about System Restore I believe cause some confusion. Although the name suggests otherwise, what System Restore really does is backup key system files along with the registry so that they can be restored in the event they get corrupted or overwritten. System Restore is not meant as a mechanism to restore a system to a previous OS load. System Restore can be successfully used in a case where a badly written application is loaded and causes the computer to do some funky things. Restoring the system to a point immediately prior to when the application was loaded can save the user some heart ache. However, using it as a means of data recovery is wrong as that is not its purpose. Microsoft renames certain applications, components, and features for various reasons; I believe they need to rename System Restore to something that does not imply a certain capability which is not there. If you are really serious about getting to know the innards of how Vista/Windows 7 really works, I suggest investing in books that cover not only user interface topics, but also how system works under the hoods. The two that I have and recommend are: Windows Vista Resource Kit, Second Edition: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/books/12788.aspx Microsoft Windows Vista Inside Out: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/Books/9361.aspx

I am having a similar issue except it is an internal drive with 2 partitions. Windows 7 sees the first partition just fine but says the second one is corrupted. The second one gets scanned every time i start my computer in win 7. It works fine in XP and Linux. My Linux Partion is not on the faulty partition. Windows 7 does assign it a drive letter.