Defragmenter won't open
 

Hey guys and girls, hope you can help with a problem. When I try to open defragmenter nothing happens. I have tried everything i can think of to open it but nothing works. All ideas are welcomed.

Did you try booting into safe mode? F8 + boot to safe mode.

yes I have tried in safe mode and scan disk does work but defrag won't even open. It tries to open and nothing even happens. I downloaded Diskeeper lite to try and open it and it will not open either. any other thoughts?

thanks,

How do you "open" or "run" it?

You may need to run a full scandisk first.

if your running XP you can do it from teh command line

C:\Documents and Settings\gil bates>defrag /?
Usage:
defrag <volume> [-a] [-f] [-v] [-?]
volume drive letter or mount point (d: or d:\vol\mountpoint)
-a Analyze only
-f Force defragmentation even if free space is low
-v Verbose output
-? Display this help text

C:\Documents and Settings\gil bates>

You can try in windows xp to go to run, and type in
-"mmc" > a console will open in
-Cntrl M > hit control key and M at once.
-Add button >
-highlight disk deframenter >
- Close button
- Ok button

Is this the built-in defragmenter? Try Diskkeeper or Perfect Disk.

Xazy, if it won't run from the Program file or from command line, it's sure not going to run from the Management Console. Also, for a home user, I wouldn't recommend running the Management Console anyway.

I have run a full scandisk and the scandisk comes up fine saying all is normal and defrag still wont open. I've tried Diskeeper and when i click to open it the defragmenter will not open, the same situation as when I try to open it normally on Windows. It almost appears that some program is preventing or is corrupted and is not allowing the file to open. It understands the command but when it tries to open it, nothing happens. Thanks for all your responses and any additional ones are welcomed. I will try the Command line when I get home tonight, though I dont think I totally understand Dilbert's instructions.

Question regarding Dilbert's post, how do I get to the Command line in XP to force defragmenting?

in a run box type

OK i tried to use the cmd function and i got an error message

Error: cannot load resource DLL.
contact system administrator

Any help appreciated!!

You can't open a shell? That's bad.

In a run box (Start Menu --> Run), type this:
If that does nothing, type this:
and then reboot your computer.

This will attempt to restore your damaged or lost system files from a local cache, or failing that, your Windows CD.

Then give cmd another try.

See here for some more info if you need it:
<a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=310747">System File Checker</a>.

i've done the sfc / scannow before and used the windows xp disc. it took forever and looked like it was downloading the disc but after completing i had the same problems as before. it is almost like i am missing some DLL files that are needed to run these programs. where can i just download the necessary files to execute this program. i dont want to reinstall Windows xp again!! Thanks!

Well they would be on the disc itself. If you know which filenames you're looking for you can explore the .cab files to get what you want. However I recommend one of three options.

1. boot with the win cd and when it prompts you for action choose to repair an installation.
2. if 1 fails, resort to reinstallation; just install right on top of the old.
3. if 2 fails to fix things, then do a quick format reinstallation (or you can just skip to this step if you want).

If even that fails, you may want to check the MD5 on your win disc and make sure it's correct. Since you dont' want to reinstall, I'm open to suggestions, but it sounds like your system is in a bit of a mess.

Silly question.. you're in XP, right? ..it wasn't always "cmd"..

You got this error running cmd or defrag? If cmd, then you have massive issues. If defrag, then you have issues - but just with the defragmenter.

I'll try not to pollute the waters - this one sounds weird - but can you tell us more about how XP came to be on this drive?

Was it a fresh format/install or was there another OS that you upgraded, etc.?

Did it work for awhile and then stop or did you never really get this install running?

Have you noticed disk errors recently? Automatic chkdsk activity at boot time?

It sounds like there are major binary incompatibilities or corruption and XP is fairly hosed. It might be recoverable but if the install is recent - not much investment in configuration - I'd be more confident starting fresh.

do you have administraticve rights to the drive?

or is this a system at your work.

it is a personal computer. this was an upgrade from Windows 98 (Version 2 I believe). The upgrade was fairly recent so I could try to do a fresh install but the defragmenter has never worked since the time i did do the upgrade so i wonder if it will still not work. i cannot open any of the administrative tools either but when i run scans i dont find any errors. also it was a pain setting up my wireless router to configure to this laptop since it is so old so i fear having to do that again by reinstalling xp. That is why i am hoping there is another way. Any additional thoughts definitely welcomed!!

It sounds like the install of XP is pretty badly messed up. First, try booting from the XP CD and doing the Repair option - it copies back over a bunch of system files, hopefully that would fix things. If not, try reinstalling XP overtop of itself.

You say this was an upgrade from 98. Can you reinstall XP without touching 98 at all? If possible, I'd recommend getting 98 as far away from that system as possible.

sounds like i need to do a complete fresh install. How do i do that exactly? the last time i attempted to do this i thought it was a fresh install but instead it looks like it just upgraded windows from 98 to xp.

Is your copy of WinXP an upgrade copy or a "full" copy? If it's a full copy, just pop it in the drive, boot off the CD, and just pretend like you're installing the operating system again (though don't delete existing partitions or reformat unless you plan on losing your data).

If it's an upgrade, I'm not sure how the procedure differs. Hopefully someone else has more experience with that.