Member Avatar for losh177

Hi,
I was cleaning up a friend's computer and decided to schedule a disk check for bad sectors from the Tool section in the C:\ Property window. I told him that next time he boot up his pc, the scan was going to start. When he did that, the scan started but it stopped on step 4 and it did not continue for about 4 hours. He told me that he unplug the pc hoping that next time he boot it up, the scan will not resume, which did not happened. Any ideas why the scan will freeze on step 4?

Thanks in advance

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A few practical notes based on what happened here and what and already said.

Stage 4 of a boot-time disk check is often where the utility verifies file data and — if the "scan for bad sectors" option was chosen — does a surface scan. That scan can be extremely slow on large drives or if the drive is failing, so it can look frozen while it’s actually working. Unplugging power during the process risks leaving the file system inconsistent; Windows will usually schedule the check again on the next boot.

Safe mode (as suggested) usually will not stop a scheduled boot-time chkdsk because the check runs before Windows loads. If the check repeatedly appears stuck, boot from Windows recovery or install media (or a Linux rescue USB) and run the check manually so you can watch progress: chkdsk C: /f /r. Before doing repairs, copy any irreplaceable data off the drive if possible.

Practical troubleshooting checklist:

  • If it’s only slow, let it run overnight — many fixes complete given time (as observed).
  • If no progress after many hours, boot to recovery media and run chkdsk C: /f /r so you can see messages.
  • Check drive health with SMART tools (for example smartmontools) or the drive maker’s diagnostics; many manufacturers provide bootable utilities.
  • If many bad sectors show up or SMART reports failure, back up immediately and replace the drive.

Microsoft’s chkdsk documentation is a good reference: chkdsk command.

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Member Avatar for chrishea

Try running in safe mode to see if it makes an difference.

Member Avatar for losh177

Yeah, i'll try save mode next time, what it looks like is that my friend freak out because it was taking too long. I told him to leave it over night and that was long enough for the scan to be completed.

Thanks

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