CHKDSK Memory Leak?

[mike.r.olson]

So, I've noticed that when I run CHKDSK with the /R argument on NTFS volumes, my RAM usage jumps dramatically. For instance, right now, I am running CHKDSK /R on a firewire hard drive and cmd.exe is using 2.5GB of RAM. Anybody experienced the same issue or know of a fix?

---------- Post added at 10:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:37 PM ----------

Oh, and to add, I've seen on other forums that I am not the only one experiencing this issue.

[SmogHog]

I posted this about 2 days ago in a different thread.

http://windows7center.com/forums/win...bsod-help.html

I got numerous BSODs in 98SE,2000 and early on in XP installations.

The BSOD many times was too quickly gone for these old eyes to fully read the page.

By right clicking on My Computer then open Advanced Settings>Advanced>Startup and Recovery>Settings and uncheck Automatically restart will keep the BSOD visible so it can be read in it's entirety.

I am monitoring memory usage using task manager. I have 2 computers running windows 7 7600 RTM.I noticed spikes in memory usage on both.

The problem is easiest to duplicate if you run chkdsk on a drive other than your boot drive (so you can actually have task manager open while it runs). chkdsk /f on a large hard drive works fine, or chkdsk /r on a smaller hard drive will work as well.

It doesn't seem to depend on which stage it is in - the memory usage balloons during stage 2 of a chkdsk /f on a (full) 1TB hard drive I have, and it happens during stage 4 of chkdsk /r on a full 32GB USB flash drive as well.

You can try if you have a second hard disk.Running chkdsk on a primary drive on reboot can't monitor the memory usage.

I have a 1TB.

Open Task Manager>Performance

Now hit the start button>all programs accessories.

Right click on accessories >Right Click on Command Prompt and Run as Administrator

Type chkdsk E:/f (E is my 1tb drive letter)

In the task manager monitor the memory usage.

This could also happen when running a memory intense program or multiple windows opened multitasking.

[mike.r.olson]

I have no other issues other than when I run CHKDSK though.

[crdnilfan]

Yup, i noticed this 2 days ago, explorer.exe was taking up about 3.2GB of RAM slowing everything down horribly. i would try to optimize it, i got it down to 100MB but it jumped back up to 3.2GB within 5 seconds.

[ConductRe]

If you guys are all on 64 bit you can try limiting the cache with the setcache utility.
This will prevent windows from allocating all the RAM to one program and then start using the swap file on your HDD.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

I suggest limiting it to 1GB and seeing if that solves the problem (it may be a completely unrelated problems).

Also, see this MSDN post about the issue: Ntdebugging Blog : Too Much Cache?

[mike.r.olson]

Well we've now had 2 other users in the IRC verify this CHKDSK memory leak issue. I've only seen it happen in x64, so if anybody has x86 and wants to try it and report their findings, please do.

[pilot76103]

A critical show stopper bug has been found in the Final Windows 7 RTM 7600.16385 and in the updated 7600.16399 builds on both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) installs! Thanks to mikerolsonw7c of Windows7Center for informing us of the critical bug. The issue is related to the "chkdsk /r" command on a NTFS drive other than the system drive (Issue not present for FAT32 Drives). For example if you have drive C: and drive D: with C: being Windows 7. If you open "cmd" and run "chkdsk /r D:" on "Stage 4" of chkdsk it will have a very critical memory leak and max out the system memory then BSOD due to lack of memory available. This issue is present on non-Patched 7600.16385 and Patched 7600.16399 RTM builds. This is a very critical bug that Microsoft should have caught before sending 7600.16385 to OEMs. Sadly, now Microsoft will have to fix this and then re-distribute RTM code to OEMs or patch it. I would not doubt myself when Microsoft gets word of this Show Stopper bug if the TechNet/MSDN releases on Thursday the 6th get pushed back to re-implement new code into the RTM build.


UPDATE: This issue is also present if you boot from the Windows 7 RTM 7600.16385 DVD and run "chkdsk /r" from WinPE.

CRITICAL SHOW STOPPER BUG in Windows 7 RTM Build 7600.16385/16399 - Neowin Forums

WinBeta.Org - Beta / News / Reviews

CRITICAL SHOW STOPPER BUG in Windows 7 RTM Build 7600.16385 and Patched 7600.16399 - TheHotfix.net Forums

CRITICAL SHOW STOPPER BUG in Windows 7 RTM Build 7600.16385 and Patched 7600.16399 - My Digital Life Forums

---------- Post added at 02:30 AM ---------- Previous post was Yesterday at 10:19 PM ----------

From Neowin.net Forums.

Confirmed. And yes this should be considered a showstopper. chkdsk killing a machine is not cool as there are real world uses for that tool.

I definantly 2nd that Chris123NT. Also, if "chkdsk" can crash a computer by BSODing it during a fix that "chkdsk" might be performing it can perminantly delete or render data unusable on the drive it is running on. This is 100% a Critical Show Stopper bug that IMO needs to have the RTM recalled and recompiled before the TechNet/MSDN copies go live and at least a Hotfix for the OEMs to impliment in System Recovery.

[mike.r.olson]

Wow, Neowin turned out to be a complete waste of my time other than having a few people confirm the bug.

[FireRx]

UPDATE:

After emailing back and forth with the VP Sinofsky, it was found that the chkdsk /r tool is not at fault here. It was simply a chipset controller issue. Please update you chipset drivers to the current driver from your motherboard manufacturer. I did mine, and this fixed the issue. Yes it still uses alot of physical memory, because your checking for physical damage, and errors on the Harddrive your testing. I'm currently completed the chkdsk scan with no BSOD's or computer sluggishness. Feel free to do this and try it for yourselves. Again, there is no Bug.

Thanks all.

[pilot76103]

Updated Post # 7 with new information regarding the "chkdsk /r" memory leak being present in WinPE when booting from Windows 7 DVD.

http://windows7center.com/forums/win...html#post30435