BleepingComputer.com: Stuck on the chkdsk screen

My computer can't get past the chkdsk screen.
It says:
checking file system on c:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
The volume is clean.
Windows has finished checking the disk.
...
And it freezes there, tries to reboot, makes noise and fails, remaining on that screen.

I can no longer get into safe mode.
How this started:
Yesterday I got the "We apologize for the inconvenience, but windows did not start successfully. A recent hardware or software chnge may have caused this..."
What I did:
Got into safe mode, scanned for Viruses w/ McAfee ~ none found.
Removed the program that I installed the day before.
Went to safe mode w/ command prompt, typed in chkdsk/r and it's stuck there.
Just now I finally found the Windows XP disc that came w/ the computer (dell dimension 4600) went to the boot menu, said from CD and went right back to the chkdsk screen.

Hi labrash -

What was the 'program' you installed that may have caused your problem (if you don't mind me asking) -
I always use this CHK DSK command - Copy and paste this into Start > Run box - Click OK - It seems to work a bit better than the installed version -

CMD /C ECHO Y|CHKDSK C: /R | SHUTDOWN /R /T 30

Did you check in Control Panel to see if you did remove the item that may be causing your problem - Or just remove it with its own uninstaller -
You said you removed the item so you must have had some access to Programs to do this -


Thank You -

I updated my Creative Memories Memory Mangager from 2.0 to 3.0. The program worked the day I did it (sunday), but Monday the computer was having the problems. In safe mode I was able to do Cntrl Panel remove. I checked later and saw that it was gone. I can no longer get into safe mode.
I won't be able to enter the code you suggested as I'm more stuck now than I was this morning.
Thank you for your time.

Dell Diagnostic Lights, Dimension 4600

Scroll down to the section Diagnostic Lights.

Are any of the patterns listed...reflected on your system? If so, which?

Louis

We did that. The description says "other failure has occurred." I am going to break down and call Dell.

Wise move , good luck.

Louis

Pull the sound card and see if it finishes.

Some Dell made sound cards (creative and turtle beach) had drivers that caused a bug to only trigger when chkdsk was invoked while a usb device was connected. There were other bizarre ways to trigger it too but this was the one I found on an 8200.
Dell Issued an updated driver and a bios fix but hid the details and did not widely publish the info.

If yours is an after market sound card and you updated the drivers, it may have also triggered the chkdsk loop.

Basic troubleshooting for this kind of issue starts with pulling all extra cards and devices not involved with booting and basic video.

This model came with an on board sound device I think.