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When chkdsk performs an autocheck, it allows you to cancel the check by pressing a key within 10 seconds. It takes many attempts for it to acknowledge the key press, though. Am I the only one experiencing this? Usually, I can trigger it by 6 seconds (it starts at 10), but just now I couldn't stop it at all. I rebooted and attempted 4 times. Nothing. I know my keyboard is fine not only because I'm typing to you now, but because I always hit F8 to manually choose my boot hard drive.

I recall it being the same in Windows XP, and expected to be fixed by Windows 7.

If you're wondering why I don't just wait it out. 1) waste of time. 2) I've actually had a drive wiped by either chkdsk or a faulty NTFS driver in Hackintosh, but I don't know which it was, and prefer to avoid it period.

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  • Question isn't clear to me, so in case it is something other then a USB keyboard issue (see: BIOS), then this guide may be of help (for things like "dirty bit" & more): "Chkdsk (Check Disk), ChkNTFS, and Autochk (Auto Check) *** and the infamous but mysterious, "dirty bit"" infocellar.com/winxp/chkdsk-and-autochk.htm
    – therube
    Commented May 24, 2011 at 1:09
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    if there's any doubt as to whether chkdsk or a hackintosh NTFS driver caused drive trouble, it should be clear which to blame by default. It's much more dangerous to your data to not run chkdsk when the file system is potentially dirty than it is to run chkdsk.
    – jcrawfordor
    Commented May 24, 2011 at 3:31

1 Answer 1

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You should get the opportunity to "skip" the CHKDSK operation before it starts, but once it's running typically the keyboard is ignored with Windows XP and above when it's initiated as part of the boot process.

There is nothing wrong with the input detection -- the keyboard is ignored while CHKDSK is running, and even CTRL-C doesn't seem to do anything as I recall.

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    Additionally, if this is a frequent problem for you, then regular full backups should be high on your priority list as an important preventive measure, especially given the risk of data loss that you mentioned.
    – Randolf Richardson
    Commented May 23, 2011 at 23:42
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    Eric Muyser is talking about being unable to skip AUTOCHK by pressing a key. Note that xe talks about the 10 second timeout, which is the default for the prompt for skipping AUTOCHK.
    – JdeBP
    Commented May 24, 2011 at 0:10
  • @JdeBP: You're right. In that case, it could be a problem with USB keyboards that I've seen on occasion that were resolved by using a PS/2 keyboard (in one really weird case with a server I just worked on last week I found it was the other way around in that a PS/2 keyboard was ignored by NetBSD but a USB keyboard worked fine both in pre-boot and post-boot environments). So, now I'll suggest trying a different keyboard in case the Windows boot process is having trouble recognizing the keyboard.
    – Randolf Richardson
    Commented May 24, 2011 at 0:16
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    JdeBP is correct. I do get the opportunity to skip CHKDSK, but it ignored my keyboard input, and I find it generally doesn't trigger within the first 4 seconds. My question is more of if this is normal and preventable. Thanks. Too bad I have no PS/2 keyboard, and my mobo has no PS/2. I'm using a $10 USB logitech keyboard. That's likely the answer though. I'm wondering if there's any bios or specific issues such as unplugging mouse, having it plugged in certain slot, etc.
    – Eric
    Commented May 24, 2011 at 3:43
  • Have you tried updating the BIOS (I assume you have backups)?
    – Randolf Richardson
    Commented May 24, 2011 at 3:44

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