What to do when Windows 7 fails to start the disk drive check?

Question

I suspect there are problems with my hard disk, so I wanted to start a drive check, as outlined in this Microsoft article. However, after selecting both Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors and clicking Start, the dialog box closes, and no scan begins. Also, contrary to the article above, there is no prompt about having to restart the computer to run the check.

In Disk Management, the drive shows up as normal, no errors.

Can I somehow force a check at startup or from a special boot disk/CD?

Answer 1

Open the start Menu, go to All Programs > Maintenance > Create a System Repair Disc, burn this to CD or DVD and boot from it.

Follow these instructions to get a command prompt using the disc you made

Once at the cmd prompt, type

chkdsk /r C:

Hit enter key, it may take several hours to complete (depends on the size of the C partiton), do not interrupt the process.

Answer 2

Try this. Press WinKey+R (Winkey is normally in the lower left hand corner of your keyboard between ctrl and alt)
In the new run dialog, type CMD then press OK.

In the black screen type chkdsk /f
If it asks you if you want to run on next restart press Y then Enter.

Reboot your machine. It should go through the disk check. If it doesn't work, let me know.