Win98 Scandisk or Defrag won't run!

[Chevy1]

About a month ago I reformatted my hard drive, and I used my computer's restore disk to bring my computer back to it's out of the box original configuration. I'm running Win98, Norton Utilities 2003, and AOL as my internet provider, and AOL spyware. My hard drive has become fragmented. I've attempted to run Win98 defrag,Scandisk, and Norton's Disk Optimizer with no success! Norton's Disk Optimizer will run for hours with no progress! Win98 Defrag will not run. So far I can only start my machine in MS DOS mode and run Scan Disk with no errors being detected on the H/D. The best I can figure out at this time is some program is running in the background causing Win98 Defrag, and Norton's Disk Optimizer to continously restart. I've turned off/disabled Norton, my screen saver, and Win98 Program Scheduler. How can I check to see what maybe stopping Defrag from running so I can clean up my H/D? Thanks. :dizzy:

[Dodge]

Hi and welcome to cybertech.

have you tried booting into safe mode and running Defrag?

Go into your start menu and choose run. Type msconfig and then go to the Startup Tab. Uncheck everything except System Tray and Scanregistry. (AV's and all should be unchecked, you can turn them back on later) Once you uncheck them, click Ok and then Yes to restart so the settings will take place. Defrag should work now.

[Merrick]

Hi!
I had the same problem (Though I do not have Norton). It started out of no where. As a last ditch effort I used the PowMax diagnostic dos tool that I downloaded from the hard drive manufactuer (Maxtor). PowMax found the problem as an error in the FAT 32 info and was able to fix it. I was not comfortable though and I decided to do a fresh install anyway. Hope this helps!

[Abyss]

Go to this link and follow the directions. The win me defragger works a ton better http://www.sandylee.net/computers/defrag.html
Enjoy

[Chevy1]

Thanks for the instructions. I went to msconfig, turned off everything in the startup tab, except System Tray, and Scanregistry. Then I was able to successfully run the Windows 98 Defrag program. The only thing I haven't been able to figure out is what item in the msconfig, startup tab that I need to turn back on so the volume feature on my emachine keyboard works.
Thanks for the assistance.
Chevy1

Hi and welcome to cybertech.

have you tried booting into safe mode and running Defrag?

Go into your start menu and choose run. Type msconfig and then go to the Startup Tab. Uncheck everything except System Tray and Scanregistry. (AV's and all should be unchecked, you can turn them back on later) Once you uncheck them, click Ok and then Yes to restart so the settings will take place. Defrag should work now.