"the volume is dirty" blue screen

[jfolino]

Hi,
I have followed the troubleshooting advice and am using "selective startup" (msconfig) to run protools.

I deselected all startup except MMERefresh. I also deselected all services that were not Microsoft. Everything worked great.

However, I wanted to return to normal startup for things other than protools. When I do so, I get a blue screen saying my volume is dirty. When it finally boots up, I get all kinds of corrupted file messages. Most of my applications will not run correctly including Windows Explorer, Internet Explorer, Norton Antivirus, and Itunes.

I have worked with Dell customer support and run a complete system restore,
losing my entire system hard drive in the process (I'm using an external drive for protools).

After restore, all worked properly in normal startup. Again I optomized for protools using selective startup. Again, tried to go back to normal startup. Again, same blue screen and problems.

I don't know what the issue is. I don't suspect a virus because when I did a system restore, everything ran properly. Does anyone have similar issues or knowledge of what is going on?

Thanks,
jfolino

My system info from Sandra...

Processor
Model : Genuine Intel(R) CPU T2050 @ 1.60GHz
Speed : 1.60GHz
Cores per Processor : 2 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)
Type : Mobile, Dual-Core
Internal Data Cache : 2x 32kB Synchronous, Write-Thru, 8-way set, 64 byte line
size
L2 On-board Cache : 1x 2MB ECC Synchronous, ATC, 8-way set, 64 byte line size, 2
threads sharing

Mainboard
Platform Compliance : Intel Centrino Mobile Technology
Bus(es) : ISA X-Bus PCI PCIe IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
MP Support : No
MP APIC : Yes
System BIOS : AT/AT COMPATIBLE DELL - 27d60c12
Mainboard : Dell Inc.
Total Memory : 1015MB DDR2-SDRAM

Chipset 1
Model : Dell Computer Corp 955XM/945GM/PM/GMS/940GML Express Processor to DRAM
Controller
Total Memory : 1GB DDR2-SDRAM
Shared Memory : 8MB

Video System
Monitor/Panel : Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor/Panel : Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor/Panel : Plug and Play Monitor
Adapter : Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family
Adapter : Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family

Physical Storage Devices
Hard Disk : WDC WD1200BEVS-75LAT0 (112GB)
Hard Disk : LaCie Group SA LaCie d2 Extreme LUN 0 IEEE 1394 SBP2 Device
CD-ROM/DVD : SONY DVD+-RW DW-Q58A (CD 24X Rd, 24X Wr) (DVD 3X Rd, 3X Wr)

Logical Storage Devices
Hard Disk (C:) : 106GB (86GB, 81% Free Space) (NTFS)
New Volume (E:) : 153GB (66GB, 43% Free Space) (NTFS)
CD-ROM/DVD (D:) : N/A

Peripherals
Serial/Parallel Port(s) : 1 COM / 0 LPT
USB Controller/Hub : Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Universal Host Controller
- 27C8
USB Controller/Hub : Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Universal Host Controller
- 27C9
USB Controller/Hub : Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Universal Host Controller
- 27CA
USB Controller/Hub : Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Universal Host Controller
- 27CB
USB Controller/Hub : Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 Enhanced Host Controller
- 27CC
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
FireWire/1394 Controller/Hub : OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
Keyboard : Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse : Synaptics PS/2 Port Pointing Device
Mouse : Logitech USB WheelMouse
Human Interface : Logitech USB WheelMouse

[DigiTechSupt]

This could possibly be signs of a drive going bad.

Try this:


1. Click on the Start menu and select 'Run'.
2. Type "cmd" (without quotes) and hit return.
3. Next type "fsutil dirty query <letter of drive in question>" - for example "fsutil dirty query C:"
4. If you get a message saying the drive is dirty, go to the next step, otherwise, go to step 7.
5. Next type "chkdsk <drive letter> /x"
If you get this message, choose 'Y':

"Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another
process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be
checked the next time the system restarts? <Y/N>"

6. Go back to step 3 and repeat.
7. If the volume is no longer dirty, reboot and chkdsk should not reappear.

The "fsutil dirty query" tells you the status of the 'dirty' flag.

"Chkdsk /x" makes the prompt no matter what the state of the flag, fixes and errors (hopefully) and closes any files that were possibly left open previously.

[jfolino]

Thanks for the help. I ran a "fsutil dirty query C:" and it said...

Error: The process cannot access the file because another process has locked a portion of the file.

Any idea what that means? Maybe the drive is bad. It acts like files are getting deleted or are always in use. I am planning to run a system restore again. If the problem continues, I will contact Dell and suggest that the system drive may be bad.

Thanks for taking the time to help. It's greatly appreciated.
-jfolino