"Correcting errors in the uppercase file" taking a very long time

[Aionism]

For some reason my computer decided that it should run chkdsk on its own when I turned it on. Everything went pretty smoothly until the "correcting errors in the uppercase file" part. It isn't showing any sort of progress and it's been sitting there for probably over an hour. It's doing this on my secondary hard drive, a 120GB IDE Western Digital. I wouldn't be surprised if it finishes right after I post this message. Any ideas why it's taking so long? Is there anything I can do other than wait? I'm using Windows 7 Professional 64 bit.

 

[Aionism]

It didn't seem like it was going to end any time soon so I reset my computer. It tried to start Windows but it stopped at the logo. apparently my hard drive is messed up. my ps/2 port isn't working right now either and that floppy rubber usb keyboard i have sucks so i'm using the on-screen keyboard (it's kinda cool now). i guess my question is answered.

 

[bagby]

Not that it will be any help to the OP, especially this late, but for others who come across this issue by search.

First, relax. This is not really a problem. So, deep breath. Now.

Windows changed the uppercase file -- that's the one that provides translation between uppercase and lowercase, to preserve case-insensitivity for pathnames -- a little bit, between XP and Vista.

You get this error if you formatted the drive under Vista or later, and are running chkdisk under XP or earlier.

If you run CHKDSK with the /F parameter, this "throws the switch", and that should make the error go away for future runs of chkdsk.

I think, though nobody has specifically said so, that the error will come back if you cross the boundary again, and should have the identical solution.

However, if your drive is otherwise toast, this will only get you past this little issue.