CHKDSK freezes up

I have a HP laptop running Vista. When powering it up i get the screen that says:


"Checking file system on C:

One of your disks needs to be checked for consistency. You may cancel the disk check, but it is strongly recommended that you continue.
Windows will now check the disk."

((The timer counts down giving me the option to hit a key and escape:if i let it continue-the following appears quickly on the same screen and the whole thing freezes at this stage.))

"CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)...
2 percent complete. (29466 of 147328 file records processed)"


If i stop it from running CHKDSK the computer then boots and everything appears normal.
However on the next reboot I have to go thru this sequence again.


The drive light does not stay on. The screen freezes with the message and none of the keys work. The only way to get out of it is to power down with the power button which does work. I have let it sit in this state for over 7 hours.
All I have is the recovery disk that I had to generate when I bought the computer. It did not come with an original Vista disc.
If I try to boot from it, will it erase everything and reinstall Vista?
I tried doing a system restore but when I do it says I must run CHKDSK before it will let me.
I am trying to avoid erasing everything and starting over if at all possible.

 

Hey I am not a Vista gruru by any means but, you might try this. Boot up and go to a command prompt and run chkdsk. See if it completes, restart and see if the error goes away. Just a shot in the dark.
Regards,
basementman

 

Thanks for the tip. I did as you suggestion and CHKDSK worked. I am now defragging the hard drive and will run RegCleaner before my reboot. Hopefully these steps will work. Will post the results here later.