Scandisk always runs on startup

Sounds like the system is not shuting down properly.

TweakUI from Microsoft will let you select to never run Scandisk on boot if needed.

unless someone installed an OEM copy of win95 on the 486 this should not be happening... i would think it is set to run in the autoexec.bat file....

go to start > run
in the open field type the following: sysedit
then press the enter key

close all of the windows that are in the system configuration editor except the one titled autoexec.bat

look for a line that says scandisk on it...  will have text on the same line (possibly) before and after the word scandisk. if there is a line that looks like that add the letters: REM
before the text on the line and put a space after it, then save the file and close it and reboot... it should not run again... ofcourse this assumes you are running win95a or upgrade

I don't think Scandisk is the problem here, if you are not shutting down properly;  it is merely trying to help you avoid seriously screwing up your hard drive.  You MUST shut down properly each time you run windows, using the start menu->shut down.  I apologize if you already know this, but it is important, as Windows always has files open on your hard disk and they can be damaged if windows is not allowed to shut down your computer properly.  Check your autoexec.bat, as khemicals suggests, but using Tweak UI should only be a last resort - it is something like quieting a crying baby by taping its mouth shut.

regards,
Jeremy

Edited text of question

Adjusted points to 75

leylandii,
Win95B and newer versions will automatically run scandisk if a certain flag is left unchanged at shutdown.  This is normal, for the reasons Jeremy stated above.

Do you see a "It's now safe to turn off your computer" message on-screen before turning off the power?

If not, wait for it before powering-off.
Is so, we can troubleshoot further.
Let us know what happens.
Regards,
Ralph

As I mentioned in the question, the system shuts down okay, it tells you its safe to turn off the machine, but next time you boot up it insists on doing a thorough check of the disk, including a surface scan. I understand that win95 checks a file to see if it shut down previously okay, perhaps that flag isn't being unset properly, but why does it insist on doing a surface scan when on every other machine I've used it always skips that step.

It must think there are problems on the drive.  How was your system partitioned, and formatted?  Any disk utilities such as Partition Manager?  Is the BIOS configured properly for the drive?  Can you run scandisk, and defrag from Windows?

leylandii,
If you're using Win95B or 98, please see the following article:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q152/4/04.asp?FR=0

There's a description of the problem and solutions for it.
Let me know if you need more.
Regards,
Ralph

two things could be happening:

1. something is no reinitializing correctly (usually a driver)

2. There is a problem with the disk that the surface scan does not detect.

Do this: Go into windows, and run a THOUROGH SCAN DISK. Then run a defrag (it also doesn't hurt to do a virus scan) on all partitions. see what that does.

Next: when did this start happening? Did you install any hardware / software, or has this problem always happened.

Finally, BIOS can play a part in this, but it is so minute. If you are suspicious of the BIOS, then go in to your BIOS, and set it to it's optimal performance (if you have that option).

Let me know what happens.

This is a flag error.

Boot Win95 in safe mode, shut down using correct procedure. Turn PC off for 10 secs and then reboot normally and see if the error re-occurs. Please advise if it does.

there is a flag in MS-DOS.SYS you may want to check to make sure that it is not set to ALWAYS run scandisk, also in MSDOS.SYS you can turn off scandisk when booting up.

Perhaps you have a corrupted gdi.exe.  Try copying someone elses gdi.exe from their computer onto yours.  Or, if you really want to, simply rename scandisk so the computer can't find it, and it shouldn't bother you again.

windows does NOT do a surface scan by default. there must be a very serious problem with your harddisk if it requests to do a surface scan.

if there has been an improper shutdown or something, it would only do a normal file and directory scan free space etc. but NOT a surface scan. i suggest that there may be something seriously wrong with your harddrive, improperly configured or a virus present.

bush

leylandii... which of the suggestions above have you tried... without knowing what you have done we cannot really be sure that a logical path of solutions has been done.

Did you check to see if a scheduling utility thinks that it is supposed to do a thorough Scandisk at a certain time?  

As far as scandisk is concerned there is no problem with the disk. It does a thorough scan, checks the surface for defects, finding nothing wrong at all and then carries on with the bootup. If I run scandisk in win95 the same thing happens, it finds nothing at all wrong with the disk. Shutdown occurs without a hitch. Is it possible that one or both of the flags on the drive are just not being reset by scandisk for whatever reason. What utility would allow me to look at these bits ? diskdoctor ?

I don't think Disk Doctor will reset this flag.  Have you tried TweakUI?  It has the ability to set this flag (and remove it if it is already set).  You can change this flag yourself by editing the C:\MSDOS.SYS file (back it up first) and changing the autoscan=X to zero.  If it is set to two, then it will run every time you boot. Setting it to one will run it only when there is a problem with shutdown.

leylandii have you checked your autoexec.bat file to see if it is in there?

also, when you go to start > settings > control panel and open up the system control panel what does it say after system:

Run a defrag. That will indicate if you have any sector errors.

I do not think you are at the point of reinstalling anything yet. In fact, I would suggest not to do it.

Let's take this from a different perspective. Go into Control Panel, to device manager, and note down any device that has an exclamation point or question mark to it. I was just dealing with a computer that would not shut down (similar error, this was a win95a machine). There was a token ring card in it, but we were not connected to a token ring. We removed the Token ring drivers, and the computer acted fine.

Hopefully, we will find a driver that is not being used that we can disable, and that will fix your problem.

Let me know.

The autoexec.bat file is completely empty and there are no conflicting device drivers. The system is in a minimum configuration. Unfortunately I'm now away from the machine 'til the weekend when I'll check over all the comments again to see if one of them fixes the problem.
I'll let you know what happens.

leylandii,
When scandisk runs at startup, does it prompt you with the message "Your computer was not properly shut down......", or is it running automatically?

Is it running scandisk in Dos, (blue screen) or Windows?

If no prompt, check your startup folder, and run regedit to check entrys listed at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Regards,
Ralph

I've spent far too much time trying to fix this trivial problem, nothing seemed to work so in the end I've wiped the disc and reloaded Windows ! Thanks for the advice.