Vista is just too smart for its own good. I spoke with a member friday evening that said after setting up Vista home premium his computer would give him an error to Scan and Fix his IPOD. However when he would plug his IPOD into his wife’s Windows XP machine there was no error.
I was able to recreate the error by forcibly ejecting my own ipod from a Windows XP machine. The reason for the error is that his IPOD was formatted FAT32 on Windows XP; this can affect thumbdrives, cameras, smart cards. What happens is the device was not properly dismounted by Windows XP and there is an archival bit set that Vista needs to reset before it will stop reporting there is an error.
At this point if you don’t read anything else read this: don’t click the “Scan and Fix” button.
Instead open up a command line prompt by clicking on the windows logo key and then clicking on the command prompt icon:
At the command prompt type the following command.
chkdsk (device drive letter): /f
for instance my ipod was mounted at drive l so I typed
chkdsk l : /f
Once the chkdsk process is completed you should not see the “Scan & Fix” dialog for your ipod or other device again.
- Mark Flavin
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Yes, make sure that disk usage is enable. Otherwise, itunes unmounts the driver letter from windows
after a few weeks of getting the “scan and fix” message, I made the mistake of clicking yes.
now, windows recognizes my ipod but itunes doesn’t. i’ve tried restarting my ipod, reinstalling itunes, and have read a bunch of help forums online but nothing seems to be working. when I try to play a song on my ipod, it just stays at 0:00.
and, since itunes can’t recognize my ipod, I can’t restore it to factory settings. what should I do? thanks
hello i have a problem with my ipod photo 40gb with color when i plug the ipod the scan thingy comes up and my computer recognizes the ipod but when i try to open itunes it freezes when the ipod is connected and some times get blue screen thing my os is windows 7
Thanks for the post. i kept getting that on an ipod i was using and was told to fix. it worked a treat thank you
hi i keep getting a error 53 on my ipod and i have tried restarting my i pod counless of times , i restored twice and still i keep getting it
When I enter chkdsk into the command prompt I then get “Convert lost chains to files?”… Don’t want to mess anything up so should I type Y for yes or N for no? Any help would be nice
Hi guys.
Been working on this problem for days (professionally).
Vista (maybe XP or Win 7 too) sometimes sets a reserved bit (BS_Reserved1) in the FAT32 boot sector.
(Search for fatgen103 documentation.)
This can happen when some programs do a perfectly correct file write. The bit gets suddenly set for no reason at all.
Vista (not XP) is sensitive for this bit when plugging in a device.
So I have a program to reset it (no chkdsk needed) and the “Do you want to scan and fix” will not appear any more when plugging out and in again. However, next time some program writes, it might (or not) popup again. So my suggestion, sue Microsoft… Vista at least is real crap.
Mine keeps saying ”cannot open volume for direct access” when I use chkdsk on Commans Prompt. Are there any solutions to this?
Didn’t fix it for me, running Windows 7. Tried every solution on the net…Apple “Genius Bar” says IPOD is fine, it must be Windows. Ready to throw IPOD into the ocean…
Tim,
Were you able to run the chkdsk command on your ipod?
Hey, I’ve been having some trouble this article. I’ve done everything it says but my computer is not letting me access the files(?). Please help!!
Hey, I’ve been having some trouble this article. I’ve done everything it says but my computer is not letting me access the files(?). Please help!! Also I have no idea what a “device drive letter” is, so I don’t think it’s working for me properly.
mine keeps sayi ng acess denied as you do not have th esufficient privileges and then you have to invoke this running in elevated mode when i do the chkdsk thing. Does anyone know why. My ipod says it’s connected but it doesn’t come up on itunes!!!!!!! I am so near to smashing the computer and ipod!!!!!
Thanks! This was usefull.
i started getting the scan and fix error some time ago….i allowed it to scan, but being very cautious i had unchecked the box for automatic fix….it didn’t find anything wrong, but the dialog box still came up every time i plugged in my nano 5g (win 7) and i would click continue without scanning. Well i just followed your command line fix and it seems to have worked!! YEAY!!
To anyone getting the “cannot open volume for direct access” error:
Go to the Settings tab of your iPod in iTunes. Check “Enable Disk Use” and allow iTunes to apply these new settings. When the Scan Disk prompt comes up again, run the command prompt as mentioned above and it should work without a hitch.
If you get any kind of “unable” to do so error message at the Command Prompt after entering chkdsk X: /f Undock and turn the power on the ipod for about 10secs or so. Then power off, redock and try the line command again. Worked for me after failing the first time on a Vista O/S. Luck.
Perfect solution thanks so much – its been driving me mad for 3 days
Very much appreciated. Worked like a charm. That message sure was irritating!
Yes, I guess I got it fixed. Thank you very, very much. Check out my YouTube channel for cool computing tips and tricks.
If you clicked (scan and fix) you cant restore your ipod to factory settings using itunes.. instead:
1. go to my computer
2. right clic on your ipod
3. click format
4. make sure quick format is selected, & run
I did this, my ipod works fine
YAY!!! This worked. Thank you so much!!!!
I use a 4 gig I SD card for Ready Boost in Win 7 and I keep getting the message that says do you want to scan and fix Ready Boost (F)?
I tried the suggestion about going to the command prompt and I type in C:\Users\Jared>chkdsk:/f and it says chkdsk is not recognized as either an internal command or an external command, operable program of batch file. Should there be a space somewhere in the command line?
Sorry I need to correct/clarify my post.
I use a 4 gig SD card for Ready Boost in Win 7. I used the same card in Vista and it was fine, but after I upgraded to Win 7 I keep getting the message that says, do you want to scan and fix Ready Boost (F)?
I tried the suggestion about typing in the command prompt, C:\Users\Jared>chkdsk:/f and it says, chkdsk is not recognized as either an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
SOLUTION:
1) – Go to DEVICE MANAGER
2) Under Disk drives – select the drive
3) Under Properties / Policies
4) Select “Better Performance” (and not!! Quick Removal)
Be happy with the stupid alert message GONE!
Still not fixed after months of using this. It simply keeps coming back about once a week or so.
I think I have an idea though. I noticed that when I get an reminder to upgrade to a new version of iTunes this pop-up appears. I’ll have to track more but so far this is the case.
None of these solutions are working for me. My ipod says its connected but it is not showing up on my itunes? Also everything has been deleted off my ipod. Any solutions to this?
Hi all,
I have run into this same problem on Win7 64. pretty effin annoying. I ran chkdsk on my ipod & that didn’t work at all.
Hopefully I can find something that works.
When I tried to run chkdsk it gave the message:
“The type of the file system is RAW. chkdsk is not available for RAW drives.”
any suggestions? Thanx.
BTW, I’m running windows 7
I had the same issue with my MagicJack (I thought I’d reply so the search engines would pick it up easier I guess) In Vista, and windows 7 finally I got tired of it and searched. This solution fixed the issue for it as well with a nice and clean popup free plugin.
These posts were extremely helpful in trying to get the “Scan and Fix” error resolved however I was unable to get the chkdsk utility to run when Vista was booted in “normal” mode. After doing to some research is appeared to have something to do with other program running that were interfering with the operating system obtaining exclusive access to the USB disk. I fixed this problem by booting into safe mode and running the utility. After rebooting into “normal” mode, the error was resolved.
Thanks Mark,
Helped me. Two things I would add tp this article: 1. Why you shouldn’t select “scand and fix” and 2. What does chkdsk do?
Thanks for your help
I am getting this same error with my Flip Ultra camcorder. The chat support for Flip was not helpful, so I followed the advice here. No more error asking me to scan, HOWEVER, the FlipShare software did not automatically install on my machine when the camera was plugged in either, so it did not completely fix my problem.
The software for Flips is on the camera and runs when plugged in, therefore can be used on anyone’s sytem (supposedly). It is not running on my new i5 Windows 7 system, but works on the Vista system for some reason … Now off to see if I can get the FlipShare software from them somehow. Thanks for the post anyway!
Still looking for a permanent solution. This is still a weekly occurrence, and doesn’t fix the issue long term.
now. this. is. magic.
thanks a lot!
WOW it worked!
I have 2 USB drives I use on a daily basis & that —–ing pop up was driving me up the wall on my new Win7 system. Here’s how I got rid of it:
1: entered the chkdsk command in the run box & clicked OK which set up the command with admin priviledges.
(NOTE: I’m the only user so I usually run as admin.)
2: insert USB drive
3: decline the scan
4: go to Run & click OK, it checks the disk & the problem is fixed.
5: Repeat for any other device with the same problem
Apparently the problem was the FAT32 issue “dvopek” referred to. Might not work for everyone but it did work for me & I’m back to purring happily. Thanks everyone
Terrific work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher!
This didn’t work for me, and I’ve tried everything else!
Very helpful insight. This fixed the problem immediately. Thanks for posting this.
this didnt work,after finishing the command prompt process it seemed it would but then when the ipod was actually syncing to itunes it froze and it wouldnt allow me to eject it cos it was in use but i couldnt do anyting bout it cos it was frozen!!talk about neverending circle!
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