Disk checking at every boot.

[A4Apollo]

Hi! @NS360, I am the MrRobot. It looks like you were interacting with @Jeet_singh, but he is out of the office today so I'll take over from here.

I appreciate your efforts for trying out the steps.

As you mentioned the issue still persists after trying out the steps.

Since you are not able to boot into windows, I would suggest you perform a complete system recovery on your PC and try the steps recommended below.

Please try the steps recommended below.

Go to the “Troubleshoot” feature in Windows as you did in the first method.
Left click or tap on the “Advanced options” menu.
Left click or tap on the “Automatic repair” option.
Left click or tap on the “Command Prompt” option.
In the command prompt window, you will need to write: “bootrec /RebuildBcd”.
Press the “Enter” button on the keyboard.
Write in the command prompt: “ bootrec /fixMbr”
Press the “Enter” button on the keyboard.
Write in the command prompt: “bootrec /fixboot”
Press the “Enter” button on the keyboard.
Write in the command prompt: “Exit”
Press the “Enter” button on the keyboard.
Reboot your Windows 10 operating system

Let me know if this works!

Have a great day ahead! 🙂
 

[ROLANDUS]

BIOS F.46 released, but does not solve the issue unfortunatly.

[NS360]

Edit: This comment got deleted and then came back after I rewrote it. So forget this one and see my comment below. 

[NS360]

What the heck. Did my last comment litterely got deleted?! for what?? 

Hi @MrRobot

What I said in the comment that just got deleted for no reason, is that I think you misunderstood the problem “we” are having.

Our Spectre x360’s are not having trouble booting into Windows. The problem is an extra ~4 seconds of booting time caused by a black screen with the following text:

            "To skip disk checking, press any key within X seconds(s)"

It counts from 8 to 5 seconds and then Windows just boots like it should.

I have tried many possible solutions to fix this issue, none of them worked until I replaced "autochk.exe" (C:\Windows\System32) with the previous version (the one before the Creators update). See my previous comment for more info.

Although I did find a “fix”, it is not what I see as a solution to the problem. Like I told the same thing happened before after I installed the “Aniversary update”. Back then I also tried many generic solutions, and even got so frustrated that I did a clean install of Windows. This was a couple months ago and that time I didn’t think of replacing autochk.exe, so can’t tell if that would have helped.

If this was an issue affecting other types of laptops/pc’s, I’m sure I would find lots of topics about it, but I simply can’t. All I can find is people who have this problem on a HP Spectre x360 with a Skylake processor. Now, after the Windows 10 Creators update and back then after the Anniversary update.

Hope I’m clear now.

[Marley24]

Good work, NS360. 

I should have pointed you to this CNET thread:

https://www.cnet.com/forums/discussions/windows-10-creators-update-on-3-comps-chkdsk-issues/#post-85...

but I didn't becuase I wasn't getting any traction there.  (I'm Marley27 on CNET.)

The original poster (Grif Thomas) on this CNET thread didn't have the aborted autochk countdowns on every boot that you and I got, but he did have the problem with (e.g.) "chkdsk /f" not running on the next boot that I (and I think you) am also having.  He likewise was able to get his problem to go away by replacing the new "autochk" with the previous "autochk".   For him, and others, his problem was fixed by KB4016871.  But KB4016871 didn't fix either problem for me, and apparently not for you.

For me, KB4016871 happened to be released the same day that I installed Creators Update, and was installed immediately afterward.  I tried rolling it back, but it made no diifference for either problem.  I then tried rolling back the Creators Update, but that's when things went south and I had to reinstall.  After doing a clean install of Creators Update I checked for both problems both before and after installing KB4016871.  The problem with the aborted autochk countdowns on every boot was gone both before and after KB4016871, but the aborted autochk countdowns after a "chkdsk /f" were still there both before and after KB4016871.  I mentioned some of this in my last post on this (HP) forum.  I should have said more.  Sorry.

I never tried just replacing "autochk" myself, but I should have.  By doing this I think you have provided important evidence of additional "autochk" issues, despite the KB4016871 "fix".

But it's still very puzzling.  For me, both the HP factory reset and the HP clean install of Creators Update made the aborted "autochk"s on every boot go away, despite the different "autochk" versions.  And neither the factory reset or the clean install made the "chkdsk" problem go away, despite the different "autochk" versions.  The KB4016871 fix refers to the autochk issues as "random".  Perhaps they don't mean unrepeatable, but rather under difficult to predict circumstances like timing of boot events with different hardware/software/configuration combinations.

By the way, I just want to comfirm - you do also have the problem with "chkdsk /f" producing an additional aborted autochk countdown (not actually running) - right?  If so, could you check to see if this problem is affected by the "autochk" version?

[ROLANDUS]

Did some deeper diving. I found the following registry key:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\AutoChkSkipSystemPartition

And changed this from 0 to 1 which "solved" my issue. I have been doing some searching but this specific key seems to be new? Could not find it in screen shots on older versions of Windows 10 in the registry or any other reference.

It stopped me from having the 8 sec. Disk Checking every boot, but am unsure what this key is for exactly.

Can you guys also please check this out?

[Marley24]

Here's what I found:

On my x360 (which had the 8 second countdown issue until I did a clean install) running 1703, AutoChkSkipSystemPartition is set to "0".

On my wife's x360 (a slightly different model which never had the 8 second countdown issue) running 1703, AutoChkSkipSystemPartition is set to "0".

On an older Presario still running 1607, the key does not exist.

The name of the key certainly implies that a "1" would stop "autochk" from running, which it appears to have done for you.  It would be very interesting to know why this key was added.

[NS360]

Hi @Marley24

No need for sorry. Although it’s a frustration issue, I do get joy out of solving weird issues.

I installed the Creators Update before it officially came out about two week later and I’m sure I didn’t have the issue then. It all started after installing KB4016871. So, it looks like Microsoft tried to fix something that affected many users (but not us) and while fixing “broke” something on our Spectre’s.

The fact that a factory reset + clean install did make the aborted "autochk"s on every boot go away makes this even more complicated. But on the other hand, that was my solution the last time I had this problem. So it’s probably caused by the same “thing”, which is not autocheck.exe, but for some reason can be ‘solved’ by replacing it. Very confusing…..

I tried the chkdsk /f like you asked. First I tried it with the old autochk.exe. After rebooting it just rebooted, no disk checking at all. It doesn’t matter if I have “Fast startup” enabled or not.

Then I tried with the new autochk.exe. Again, the countdown, but this time it goes from 8-7-6-5 and then it starts again from 8 but “normally” boots when it’s at 7. Very weird.

-------------------------

@ROLANDUS 

Great find! I did look in “Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\” today, but didn’t notice the “AutoChkSkipSystemPartition”. I checked on a system without the Creators Update and it was not there, so I think we can confirm that this key is indeed new.

And yes, changing it from 0 to 1 did solve the issue (with the new autochk.exe)! Even though I’m also not sure what this really does, it looks like a better fix then replacing autochk.exe with an old version.

But… "chkdsk /f" still does not work. It just gives the 8-7-6-5 countdown again. At least the countdown at every boot is gone 🙂

[Marley24]

You guys have made a lot of progress today.  Rolandus, I'll certainly keep the registry tweek in mind in case this problem resurfaces, which I suspect it will.

NS360, thanks for checking out the chkdsk issue.  With the new "autochk" your experience matches mine.

[NS360]

After some sleep, I read all the comments again and come to the conclusion that we found two workarounds for the issue that made me create this topic.

1. Replace "autochk.exe" that has version number 10.0.15063.296 and can be found in C:\Windows\System32 with "autochk.exe" that has version number 10.0.14393.0 and can be found in your Windows.old folder (if still there) or on a Windows 10 build without the Creators Update.

1. Open the register (regedit.exe) and change the value of "AutoChkSkipSystemPartition" from 0 to 1, you can find this key in Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\

Both workaround fix the issue for some reason, but I call them workarounds, because Marley24 who did a Factory reset and clean install has confirmed that the issue got fixed on his Spectre, even tough he has the 'new' autochk and also has the register key at value 0. This makes it still unclear what is the exact cause of the issue.

Still, in all cases we are unable to let a Disk check complete at boot. When we type "chkdsk /f" in cmd it does schedule a disk check at boot, but again we see it count from 8 to 5 and then just boot Windows. It doesn't matter if "Fast startup" is enabled or not in the Energy Settings.