Autochk.exe not found

XP Pro, SP3, current updates, ZA, A^2, Lenovo T60p Dual CPU - 2.1 ghz, 3 Gb computer memory, 3 cent operator brain

I seem to be having very much the same problem that has been discussed before here.

\system root\windows\system32\autochk.exe program not found - autocheck skipped.

The system continued with an apparently normal boot.

I tried the autochk.reg method found at:

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=146035

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[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager]
"BootExecute"=hex(7):61,00,75,00,74,00,6f,00,63,00,68,00,65,00,63,00,6b,00,20,\
00,61,00,75,00,74,00,6f,00,63,00,68,00,6b,00,20,00,2a,00,00,00,00,00

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I have RE 5.1. The above is a cut and paste from the post mentioned. I'm curious about the carriage return in the middle of the hex code, but I am not comfortable messing with it. And there is no "BootExecute" in the path noted.

I got an error saying the file was not binary and (therefore?) not a registry script.

I have also checked out several things I found on the internet: The presence of "Windows XP HotFix: KB824105" - not it. Autochk missing from boot autoruns - not it. An incorrect ID on the system root partition (17 instead of 07) - not it. It was noted that this is a different issue from the one in which the computer reboots after the same error is displayed.

Also as in the above mentioned post, I found the autochk.exe file in exactly the place the boot time error said it could not be found. And several other places like I386. They are all the same size, but I didn't compare them.

I tried running the autochk.exe directly from some of those places and always got an error saying it could not be run in a Win32 session. I can only guess that it is designed to run in some basic way before the system comes up.

So... I still haven't found the reason this problem arises. I have an article in which the author seems convinced that there is a hard drive issue, causing the boot call not to be able to find the file at this time.

I don't know if this is a dangerous situation. HELP?!

 

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