AC power failure and WindowsXP?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Hank
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H

Hank

Had my first AC power failure while my new WindowsXP computer
was up and running. When power came back on and I re-started I
expected it to do some sort of a disk scan check like it did for
Windows 95 and 98 but it just came up as if it had been shut down
normally. Thinking something might have been lost by power failure (a
crash shut down really) I tried a chkdsk from the run line. On the
second step of the process it seemd to find something and correct it
(?) but too fast for me to see. When I re-ran chkdsk again it seemed
to go through the complete process. SO my question is why doesn't
system automatically run the process to fix any disk problems when
system is crashed like it did in Win 98? Also chkdsk starts with a
line that say read/check only because /f parameter not specified.
What does this mean? What process or command in windowsXP do I use to
do what Norton's Disk Doctor use to do in Win 98?
email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
TIA
Hank
 
I had a similar experience---- a power drop, enough to make the microwave
blink OOO! (I have a surge protector) I was in the midst of sending an
Email, and had 3 other programs open. The computer acted weird for 2-3
hours-- jamming--freezing---one program wouldn't close at all, even after
rebooting a few times.
 
XP has much better recovery capabilities than Win9x. I am not an expert at
system recovery but I think it goes something like this: If XP finds a
corrupted registry or system file it usually copies the last known good
configuration or copies a system file from a protected system folder and
continues to boot. If you are using NTFS, it has copies of the file table
as a backup. These are reasons why you are using XP instead of Win95 or
Win98. If you look in the event viewer, you will probably see one or more
entries relating to the shutdown.
 
Had my first AC power failure while my new WindowsXP computer
was up and running. When power came back on and I re-started I
expected it to do some sort of a disk scan check like it did for
Windows 95 and 98 but it just came up as if it had been shut down
normally. Thinking something might have been lost by power failure (a
crash shut down really) I tried a chkdsk from the run line. On the
second step of the process it seemd to find something and correct it
(?) but too fast for me to see. When I re-ran chkdsk again it seemed
to go through the complete process. SO my question is why doesn't
system automatically run the process to fix any disk problems when
system is crashed like it did in Win 98? Also chkdsk starts with a
line that say read/check only because /f parameter not specified.
What does this mean? What process or command in windowsXP do I use to
do what Norton's Disk Doctor use to do in Win 98?
email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
TIA
Hank
Click to expand...


WinXP also runs a check at startup. If needed, chkdsk will run. The filing
system, NTFS, is a bit more resilient to mishaps so it's not unusual that
it didn't run after the power loss.

The /f switch is for "fix" telling the utility to fix any problems it runs
into. If you open a command prompt window (Start> Run> CMD) and enter the
command: chkdsk /?

You'll get a list of all available switches and their use. You can run
chkdsk from here or you can use <drive:> Properties> Tools> Error Checking.
After making your selections in this window, XP will inform you that it
needs to restart to run the check so let it restart.

The chkdsk report is displayed on screen for a very short time after chkdsk
finishes. If it went by too fast, you'll find the same report listed in
Event Viewer. It shows as a "winlogon" event in the Applications branch.
 
WinXP also runs a check at startup. If needed, chkdsk will run. The filing
system, NTFS, is a bit more resilient to mishaps so it's not unusual that
it didn't run after the power loss.

The /f switch is for "fix" telling the utility to fix any problems it runs
into. If you open a command prompt window (Start> Run> CMD) and enter the
command: chkdsk /?

You'll get a list of all available switches and their use. You can run
chkdsk from here or you can use <drive:> Properties> Tools> Error Checking.
After making your selections in this window, XP will inform you that it
needs to restart to run the check so let it restart.

The chkdsk report is displayed on screen for a very short time after chkdsk
finishes. If it went by too fast, you'll find the same report listed in
Event Viewer. It shows as a "winlogon" event in the Applications branch.
Click to expand...
Did a search on winlogon and got two hits for winlogon.exe one
in c:\I386 and the other in c:\windows\system32. If I double click on
the file nothing happens or is displayed. If I look at the task
manager winlogon.exe is listed. Did a search on event viewer and got
nothing. Search on application had some hits but nothing like event
view. Sorry I am really new to windowsXP so need a little more detail
on how to find this report. Tried your CMD and it brought up a DOS
like window in the c:\document and settings\Hank directory. The
chkdsk /? command works. Can you execute chkdsk and the switch options
from this window? I tried to change the directory like I would for a
DOS command line in ealrier windows but nothing happened. Is this a
limited DOS capability? Thanks for your patience.
email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
TIA
Hank
 
Another person relied about "event viewer" but I have no idea
where to find it. Are you saying this automatically repairs lost
clusters to use a term from the older windows? As for a defective
registry to the point of not booting properly even the older windows
systems started in safe mode with the last working registry on file.
But if the registry error is slight or only in an application you were
using can it correct that? Thanks for your patience with a senior
citizen.

XP has much better recovery capabilities than Win9x. I am not an expert at
system recovery but I think it goes something like this: If XP finds a
corrupted registry or system file it usually copies the last known good
configuration or copies a system file from a protected system folder and
continues to boot. If you are using NTFS, it has copies of the file table
as a backup. These are reasons why you are using XP instead of Win95 or
Win98. If you look in the event viewer, you will probably see one or more
entries relating to the shutdown.
Click to expand...

email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
TIA
Hank
 
XP uses basically Win 95 style recovery. 98 was much more powerful. By ME it had SFP (called WFP on XP), System Restore, and also 98's scanreg.

--
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.uscricket.com
Colin Barnhorst said:
XP has much better recovery capabilities than Win9x. I am not an expert at
system recovery but I think it goes something like this: If XP finds a
corrupted registry or system file it usually copies the last known good
configuration or copies a system file from a protected system folder and
continues to boot. If you are using NTFS, it has copies of the file table
as a backup. These are reasons why you are using XP instead of Win95 or
Win98. If you look in the event viewer, you will probably see one or more
entries relating to the shutdown.

--
Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
Hank said:
Had my first AC power failure while my new WindowsXP computer
was up and running. When power came back on and I re-started I
expected it to do some sort of a disk scan check like it did for
Windows 95 and 98 but it just came up as if it had been shut down
normally. Thinking something might have been lost by power failure (a
crash shut down really) I tried a chkdsk from the run line. On the
second step of the process it seemd to find something and correct it
(?) but too fast for me to see. When I re-ran chkdsk again it seemed
to go through the complete process. SO my question is why doesn't
system automatically run the process to fix any disk problems when
system is crashed like it did in Win 98? Also chkdsk starts with a
line that say read/check only because /f parameter not specified.
What does this mean? What process or command in windowsXP do I use to
do what Norton's Disk Doctor use to do in Win 98?
email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
TIA
Hank
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hank said:
Did a search on winlogon and got two hits for winlogon.exe one
in c:\I386 and the other in c:\windows\system32. If I double click on
the file nothing happens or is displayed. If I look at the task
manager winlogon.exe is listed. Did a search on event viewer and got
nothing. Search on application had some hits but nothing like event
view. Sorry I am really new to windowsXP so need a little more detail
on how to find this report. Tried your CMD and it brought up a DOS
like window in the c:\document and settings\Hank directory. The
chkdsk /? command works. Can you execute chkdsk and the switch options
from this window? I tried to change the directory like I would for a
DOS command line in ealrier windows but nothing happened. Is this a
limited DOS capability? Thanks for your patience.
email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
TIA
Hank
Click to expand...
Right click on My computer and select manage. Look for event viewer
on the left hand side. Click on eventviewer and on the right you will
see the different categories.

gls858
 
Did a search on winlogon and got two hits for winlogon.exe one
in c:\I386 and the other in c:\windows\system32. If I double click on
the file nothing happens or is displayed. If I look at the task
manager winlogon.exe is listed. Did a search on event viewer and got
nothing. Search on application had some hits but nothing like event
view. Sorry I am really new to windowsXP so need a little more detail
on how to find this report. Tried your CMD and it brought up a DOS
like window in the c:\document and settings\Hank directory. The
chkdsk /? command works. Can you execute chkdsk and the switch options
from this window? I tried to change the directory like I would for a
DOS command line in ealrier windows but nothing happened. Is this a
limited DOS capability? Thanks for your patience.
email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
TIA
Hank
Click to expand...


Hi, Hank. Open Event Viewer first. It's one of the Administrative tools.
You can get to it via the Start Menu (if you've added admin tools to this
area) -or- Control Panel> Administrator Tools -or- right click My Computer
and select Manage -or- (my favorite) Start> Run> eventvwr.msc

Once you have Event Viewer on screen, look in the left column for
"branches" named System, Application, Security (and you may have an extra
or two added by other programs). Click on Application in the left pane and
the right pane will display all kinds of notices about events relating to
this category.

In the "Source" column look for "winlogon." Double click on any of these
that you find to bring up a viewer that shows detailed information about
the event. One of these will have your chkdsk report.

As far as running chkdsk from a command prompt window - yes, you can do
that but since it also requires a restart as well - I find it easier to use
the GUI interface (right click on a drive icon and select properties>
tools> error checking).

TIP: Give Help and Support (on the start menu) a try once in a while. It is
much improved over Help in older versions of Windows. While the tendency
was to avoid help in Win9x, I find it to be more useful in XP.

If you search while connected to the internet, the results will include
related Knowledge Base articles as well as local help file content. I just
did a search for Event Viewer with Help and Support and got 45 "hits" in
the search results area: 15 suggested topics, 15 full text matches and 15
Knowledge Base articles (I have configured Help in its Options menu to
limit search results to 15 maximum in each category).
 
Other posters below give good instructions about finding the event viewer.
The event viewer is a history file. It does not itself repair anything.
 
Hi, Hank. Open Event Viewer first. It's one of the Administrative tools.
You can get to it via the Start Menu (if you've added admin tools to this
area) -or- Control Panel> Administrator Tools -or- right click My Computer
and select Manage -or- (my favorite) Start> Run> eventvwr.msc
Click to expand...
Thanks was able to find it. There are a number of warning
entries but follow up to microsoft for additional data says no problem
and user profile will recover.
Once you have Event Viewer on screen, look in the left column for
"branches" named System, Application, Security (and you may have an extra
or two added by other programs). Click on Application in the left pane and
the right pane will display all kinds of notices about events relating to
this category.

In the "Source" column look for "winlogon." Double click on any of these
that you find to bring up a viewer that shows detailed information about
the event. One of these will have your chkdsk report.
Click to expand...
Looked but did not find any with winlogon as a source. Could
be that using just chkdsk without a slash modifier is not recorded.
Did find a number of warnings from Userenv about profile things but
Microsoft says not to worry. Other popular ones are ESENT and
ccsetmgr. Now that I have located them should be able to figure out
if anything important needs action.
As far as running chkdsk from a command prompt window - yes, you can do
that but since it also requires a restart as well - I find it easier to use
the GUI interface (right click on a drive icon and select properties>
tools> error checking).
Click to expand...
Like your last suggestion to right click on icon. Will
remember that. Must say I got use to Norton's Utilities with their
neat one button disck doctor and one button complete system check.
Complete check was always finding lnk files to erase since I had
already deleted a document or moved something. Any of MS utilites or
accessories do the one button check?
TIP: Give Help and Support (on the start menu) a try once in a while. It is
much improved over Help in older versions of Windows. While the tendency
was to avoid help in Win9x, I find it to be more useful in XP.
Click to expand...
Have tried the new help section a number of times but did not
find a direct answer particularly when I asked about chkdsk. To see
how to use the command looks like you have to click through several
links to locate where it is. Another example of wondering how to do
things from help is looked up "error check" like you suggested above.
Got a clear description of where to find the button like you said but
a foot note below. "All files must be closed for this process to run.
If the volume is currently in use (I assume C drive is always in use
in windows), a message box will appear prompting you to indicate
whether or not you want to reschedule the disk checking for the next
time you restart your system. Then, the next time you restart your
system, disk checking will run. Your volume will not be available to
perform other tasks while this process is running." Stops me cold. If
I use the Task Manager with Ctrl+Alt+Del I get a long list of what I
assume are open files. Do all of them have to be closed to run this?
Do I have to close my virus protection and firewall? You see where I
am going? Being 66 years young or old depending on the context (in
computers it is old) I am use to a clear cut answers not one with
qualifications that I may not be able to judge. Take the simple step
of closing a task listed in the task manager window. In windows 98 you
just highlighted it and end the task. Do that in windowsXP you get a
dire warning about possible problems if you end a task. Really helps
the novice user. Have vented enough on how system operation is moving
in a direction for some of us to either start ignoring everything and
hoping for the best or asking some good folks like you for an
explaination.
If you search while connected to the internet, the results will include
related Knowledge Base articles as well as local help file content. I just
did a search for Event Viewer with Help and Support and got 45 "hits" in
the search results area: 15 suggested topics, 15 full text matches and 15
Knowledge Base articles (I have configured Help in its Options menu to
limit search results to 15 maximum in each category).
Click to expand...
Yes and reading the entire encyclopedia will make you able to
answer many questions but you might not be able to answer the specific
question you started looking for. Another point is that some of the
hits you come up with do not even apply to windowsXP but rather win98,
win95 etc. Must read fine print at bottom before bothering to read
the article. Sorry know it is not your doing that structured the files
and responses. Thanks again
A big thank you to all of you that took the time to respond to
my original inquiry and the follow up.
email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
TIA
Hank
 
Hank, hi, from one silver surfer to another - also transferee from W98
direct to XP.

Understand your reservations based on W98 experiences. I had them too.
BUT - having had XP now for 3 years, and several "power-outs", I urge you
to TRUST XP's powers of recovery. In my experience it's a very stable
system. I'm not, never was, an IT professional - all I have is years of
experience with various pc's, using DOS3 and later, then W3.1 through W98,
and now XP - my own kit and my kids'. Despite several hardware mods, I've
only ever re-loaded XP ONCE, at the outset, on supplier helpdesk advice.
After 3 years experience, I think now that it was wrong advice, but, no harm
done.

Unless you're doing some actual hard-disk routine, a power-out will only
lose data from running applications (data from open WORD doc, Excel
spradsheet, etc- the actual application and system settings will normally be
retained. If there IS an application problem, it can be recovered by
re-starting XP to boot from "Last Good Configuration" in System Restore (and
it's good practice to create a restore point when you add a major program,
after it's up and running). As you've discovered, the system looks after
itself.

It's advisable to run housekeeping on a regular basis (defrag, clear
internet history and temp files, etc). Norton Utilities works, but I think
better and cheaper utilities are available - I use 2 or 3, including one
which is always on, defrags as necessary in the background. (A full defrag
takes minutes, rather than hours).

If I read your post correctly, your system recovered from the power-out, far
more efficiently than under W98, and, you are really seeking to assure
yourself that is the case. Trust me on this - XP's self-diagnostics and
self-repair is good - it will run any self-checks/repairs needed, accessing
system backed-up copies of system files and settings (and ScanDisk at boot
if needed).

You could try pointing yr browser at www.pcpitstop.com - test anonymously.
It's a good FREE resource to put yr pc through its paces - do read ALL the
test result pages rather than just the summary, and take note of the
recommendations. Theres's also a free downloadable utility called Everest
Home Edition, from Lavalis, which gives a very comprehensive analysis of
your pc. http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html is one download link.

Hope this helps! Len
 
Thanks was able to find it. There are a number of warning
entries but follow up to microsoft for additional data says no problem
and user profile will recover.
Looked but did not find any with winlogon as a source. Could
be that using just chkdsk without a slash modifier is not recorded.
Did find a number of warnings from Userenv about profile things but
Microsoft says not to worry. Other popular ones are ESENT and
ccsetmgr. Now that I have located them should be able to figure out
if anything important needs action.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I never run chkdsk in read only mode so am not aware if it
makes a report or not for that mode.
Like your last suggestion to right click on icon. Will
remember that. Must say I got use to Norton's Utilities with their
neat one button disck doctor and one button complete system check.
Complete check was always finding lnk files to erase since I had
already deleted a document or moved something. Any of MS utilites or
accessories do the one button check?
Click to expand...

The "right click on icon" is as close as you'll get to the old Norton one
button routine.
Have tried the new help section a number of times but did not
find a direct answer particularly when I asked about chkdsk. To see
how to use the command looks like you have to click through several
links to locate where it is. Another example of wondering how to do
things from help is looked up "error check" like you suggested above.
Got a clear description of where to find the button like you said but
a foot note below. "All files must be closed for this process to run.
If the volume is currently in use (I assume C drive is always in use
in windows), a message box will appear prompting you to indicate
whether or not you want to reschedule the disk checking for the next
time you restart your system. Then, the next time you restart your
system, disk checking will run. Your volume will not be available to
perform other tasks while this process is running." Stops me cold. If
I use the Task Manager with Ctrl+Alt+Del I get a long list of what I
assume are open files. Do all of them have to be closed to run this?
Do I have to close my virus protection and firewall? You see where I
am going? Being 66 years young or old depending on the context (in
computers it is old) I am use to a clear cut answers not one with
qualifications that I may not be able to judge. Take the simple step
of closing a task listed in the task manager window. In windows 98 you
just highlighted it and end the task. Do that in windowsXP you get a
dire warning about possible problems if you end a task. Really helps
the novice user. Have vented enough on how system operation is moving
in a direction for some of us to either start ignoring everything and
hoping for the best or asking some good folks like you for an
explaination.
Click to expand...

You're worrying about this too much. Chkdsk will run when/if it's needed or
if you initiate it manually. When running in read only mode, the tool
requires a restart (unless it's running due to a self-check at startup).
This seems foreign to us old Win9x users but it's normal for WinNT based
operating system such as WinXP.

Yes and reading the entire encyclopedia will make you able to
answer many questions but you might not be able to answer the specific
question you started looking for. Another point is that some of the
hits you come up with do not even apply to windowsXP but rather win98,
win95 etc. Must read fine print at bottom before bothering to read
the article. Sorry know it is not your doing that structured the files
and responses. Thanks again
Click to expand...

Check your Options in Help and Support. You can elect to limit the
Knowledge Base articles to Windows XP in these screens.
A big thank you to all of you that took the time to respond to
my original inquiry and the follow up.
email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
TIA
Hank
Click to expand...

You're most welcome :)
 
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