sfc /scannow repeatedly stops for graphics card related system files

Thanks, Pete.

I compared my list in my first post to your two lists you just provided. The only matches I have are as follows:

ati.dll, atidrab.dll, atidvai.dll, and atiraged.dll exist in your dllcache folder but they are not anywhere on my computer.
The ATIMBPAB.IN_ file in the I386 folder might be related to my missing atimppab.sys.

I'll probably be looking at a friend's Windows XP Home computer tomorrow and I'll see if I can gather any more information that might help me resolve this SFC issue.

BTW (in case anyone is wondering), after I installed my ATI card, I did try letting the Hardware Wizard try to search for suitable drivers (including the Internet). That was unsuccessful. I even tried changing my HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup SourcePath registry key value to the CD drive that has my Windows XP CD.

My Installation Sources registry key in the same location has an empty value. In the image PeteC provided in post #2 above, the value is not empty. I don't know if this could have anything to do with the Hardware Wizard's failure to find suitable drivers.

I might register and login to the Driver Cleaner Pro author's forums and see what I can diplomatically dig up about this SFC issue.

 

On my XP home SP1 CD, I386\driver.cab contains atievxx.exe (as well as several other ati files).
You can open and extract the file from the .cab using e.g. Winzip

The same .cab is on my SP2 slipstreamed CD.

 

AHA! THANKS, JRosenfeld.

The driver.cab file contains ALL of my SFC error files.

I will copy those files appropriately to the system32 and system32\drivers folders and post my SFC results.

I'm very excited and optimistic about this right now.

 

Problem Solved

My sfc /scannow issue is RESOLVED!

First, I tried to uninstall my ATI drivers via Add/Remove and I now remember why I downloaded Driver Cleaner Pro. Windows' Add/Remove programs could not proceed (for some unknown reason). I just got an uninformative pop-up window stating Windows could not perform the task (or something to that effect).

Second, I used Driver Cleaner Pro to remove the drivers and to remove the Add/Remove Programs entry for my ATI display drivers. Driver Cleaner Pro apparently works pretty well...as long as one knows what to do with it. (Suggestion: Do not use Driver Cleaner Pro's "Cab Cleaner" tool. If you do, then use the information in this thread to fix what it does...if you want SFC to work properly.)

Third, I installed my nVidia AGP card and installed a somewhat earler version that I had downloaded last October (per Matt's suggestion). Their latest version was always complaining (on every boot) about SLI capabilities being disabled because my current hardware configuration doesn't support it.

Finally, I copied the files I listed in the first post of this thread from the I386\driver.cab file to the folders that sfc /scannow was complaining about.

After performing these tasks, sfc /scannow ran without a hitch!

Thanks again, everyone! I have learned a LOT with this task and my goal is met.

EDIT: Now I am tempted to replace my modified C:\WINDOWS\Driver Cache\i386\driver.cab file with the one from my Windows XP CD. I'll wait a week or so. If I don't have any new issues crop up, I'll probably do that.

 

Glad your troubles are over.
Yes, I would replace the driver.cab, it will bring your system back to what it was before you let Driver cleaner loose on the cab files. While you are at it you could also check out the SP1.cab and/or (if you have it) the SP2.cab, probably the ati files they contain were also removed.

Even though you are not using ati files, the OS expects to have them available (hence your sfc scans).

Personally, I have never used driver cleaner, it seems unnecessary to me, never had problems updating my graphics card files (ATI as it happens).

PS I have SP1.cab and SP2.cab because I started with XP SP1 and updated to SP2. If you started with SP2, you may only have the one, not sure.

 

mailman, well done. I have come across similar "teasers" in the past and your detailed fix will help me, I am sure, in the future.

Glad to hear the info about the nVidia drivers was helpful. I thought that was the least of your problems

Well done to Pete too, he wasn't going to give up either

Matt

 

Thanks again for all your valuable help.

Turns out after posting my "RESOLVED" post above, I got a BSOD STOP: 0x0000007F error on every boot. [EDIT: The only way I could successfully boot into Windows with the nVidia card was via Safe Mode.] I tried several things (though I forgot to try the Catalyst Uninstaller), including:

When I swapped out my nVidia card with my ATI card, I could boot into Windows Normal Mode. I also realized I forgot to change my BIOS back to PCI video when I was using the ATI. I played around with changing the BIOS video back & forth between PCI and AGP while swapping video cards. Even after running Driver Cleaner Pro again to remove the ATI drivers, Windows was still recognizing the ATI Rage Pro and booting into 1280x1024 resolution, 32k colors. Then I used the Control Panel's System>Device Manager to remove the ATI drivers. That worked for getting the "New Hardware Found" message on boot with the ATI card. I clicked on "Cancel" and verified the ATI drivers were uninstalled in Device Manager.

Then, when I installed the nVidia card, I was back to the BSOD 0x7F error. After pulling out my hair a little more, I ran Driver Cleaner Pro's "Cab Cleaner" (GASP!) and that still didn't fix the problem.

It's still a mystery to me why Windows wouldn't cooperate. Matt, you're right. The graphics drivers are complicated.

I finally decided to use the Acronis F11 key on boot to access the Acronis recovery menu. I used the Acronis "Snap Restore" feature to restore my C:\ drive from the backup image I had made in the Acronis "Secure Zone" before all my sfc /scannow issue fix attempts. The Snap Restore worked! I currently have my nVidia card installed in Windows Normal Mode with 1280x1024 resolution, 32k colors active. I assume my computer's state is currently the same as it was a few days ago, except for the e-mail messages I just downloaded (and the ones I lost that I downloaded between the backup and restore).

Now, with what I have learned in this thread, I'll put the ATI and nVidia related files listed in the first post of this thread appropriately back into the system32 and system32\drivers folders.

I'll also replace my hard drive's "Driver Cleaner Pro Cab Cleaner-modified" driver.cab file with the Windows defaullt driver.cab file from my I386 folder. We'll see if this messes up my boot-up again.

My hard drive's C:\WINDOWS\Driver Cache\i386\ CAB files are as follows:

Driver.cab 120,034 KB 10/21/2005 10:54 PM This is the date I apparently had first installed my XFX GeForce 6800 AGP card (nVidia based).
MD5 Hash 0C47180428B9416CB9694BACB7FDDEB6
I'll certainly replace this with the DRIVER.CAB file on my
Windows XP Home SP1 CD: 74,902 KB 3/31/2003 8:00 AM
MD5 Hash 8B14674E76E3E4294A84B3DEE43A3572

SP1.CAB 9,921 KB 3/31/2003 8:00 AM
MD5 Hash B162DDEB9376C983B467A6DAB56CD466
(same as on my Windows XP Home SP1 CD)

SP2.CAB 21,724 KB 8/24/2004 6:19 PM
MD5 Hash 43554F8F0D8D04654287F36DF21CDDE1

My Windows XP Home CD is SP1. Therefore, I have no locally available SP2.CAB file to compare with. Would someone please compare my SP2.CAB file with yours and let me know if yours appears to be the same? File size, date and time match should be sufficient. These CAB files should be in your C:\WINDOWS\Driver Cache\i386\ folder (if you have Windows XP installed on C:\).

If you want to compute the MD5 hash value, you can use the free utility:
Karen's Hasher v2.2.1

There are lots of other good, free utilities there too:
KarenWare Main Page
Karen's Power Tools List

 

I'm not really disappointed. I confirmed that the Acronis True Image v9.0 software I downloaded works (so far) AND I know what to do to get SFC working properly. Besides, I'll remember better with practice. At least my trepidation is nearly absent.

Thanks for the links about the 0x7F STOP error. As I recall, mine were of the 0x00000000 (divide by zero) type. I didn't write down the entire line because all 4 parameters after the 0x0000007F were 0x00000000 every time (I think).

Since the BSODs suddenly occurred near the ATI/nVidia switch and I expect my boots will be normal now, I'm not going to worry too much about it. (I haven't tested over several boots yet though, so don't hold your breath.)

Thanks for comparing. I agree, the file size difference seems reversed (in regards to Home vs Pro). However, since the date [EDIT: of my SP2.CAB is 8/24/2004] and Driver Cleaner Pro's Cab Cleaner apparently changes the date when it rebuilds a cab file, I'm pretty sure I did NOT use Cab Cleaner on SP1.CAB and SP2.CAB. Cab Cleaner allows one to select which file(s), DRIVER.CAB, SP1.CAB, and/or SP2.CAB, to run Cab Cleaner on. Since my SP1.CAB is an exact match to my Windows XP Home CD, I expect my SP2.CAB is also strictly Windows (i.e., with no 3rd party modifications).

I'm going to work on a friend's Windows XP Home computer this afternoon/evening. I'll try to remember to look at the SP2.CAB file there.

 

mailman--Forgive me. I have not read the whole thread. And this really has nothing to do with the video card files, but rather with setting up your Registry so you can run SFC from I386 the next time you want to do so.

Let's go back to the first three posts.
If you run a search for I386 you will find several. The one with the operating system files is probably in C:\ . That is why PeteC suggested you direct those two Source Path lines in Registry SetUp to C:\ .
I do not however, know how you got your C:\I386 folder. If it is the largest of the I386 folders, however, it should be the one that has your OS files. Its size should be something between 500 and 900MB. (I think you will find the other I386 folders are much smaller.)
SFC looks for the newest version of any file, first in DLLCache and only then in I386 so you do not have to worry about replacing a new file with any old, unless it is corrupted.

 

The locations to use in the registry depend on whether the original install was XP SP1, updated to SP2, or an original install of an integrated XP SP2 CD.

Mine was the former, and I have the following I386 folders:

C:\I386 this is the one from the original XP SP1 install

C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386 this is the SP2 one

C:\WINDOWS\Driver Cache\I386 contains the cab files and some driver files.

In my registry, the data for ServicePackSourcePath is C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles, the data for SourcePath is C:\

with those settings, sfc looks in the ServicePack\I386 folder, i.e. in the SP2 files before it will look in C:\I386 (both after it has looked in the DLLcache folder).

If the original install was an XP SP2, then it would be the C:\I386 folder (there would not be a Servicepackfiles folder) and in this case indeed both paths in the registry should point to C:\

 

Thanks for your explanations, guys. You must have read my mind. I have long been wondering where SFC looks and what order it follows.

I can now, with certainty, say my sfc /scannow issue is resolved! Yee haa! (Several reboots and cold boots with no BSODs either!)

Tonight, I simply moved my Driver Cleaner Pro Cab Cleaner-modified Driver.cab file out of my C:\WINDOWS\Driver Cache\i386\ and replaced it with the DRIVER.CAB from my Windows XP Home SP1 CD. (No need to manually copy individual files from the DRIVER.CAB file to my system32\ and system32\drivers\ folders as I had originally planned.)

After doing that, sfc /scannow ran to completion UNATTENDED.

It appears SFC checks inside the C:\WINDOWS\Driver Cache\i386\DRIVER.CAB for files to extract, if necessary, and place in the dllcache. However, I can't conclude that with certainty because I forgot to check the dllcache, system32, and system32\drivers folders for ati.sys, ati.dll, etc. before replacing the Driver.cab file and I didn't do a test run of SFC before replacing the Driver.cab file. At this point, I don't want to experiment with it to be certain. Perhaps I will experiment with it after setting up a test box sometime. Perhaps someone else will come along with a similar problem and I can suggest this simple procedure. Then I won't have to experiment to verify.

I checked my friend's Windows XP Home C:\WINDOWS\Driver Cache\i386\ DRIVER.CAB, SP1.CAB, and SP2.CAB and found that all CAB file sizes match. However, the dates do not match, perhaps because that computer is an HP and mine is home built.

The MD5 checksums match for the DRIVER.CAB and SP1.CAB, but the MD5 checksums do not match for SP2.CAB. That computer's MD5 hash for SP2.CAB is [EDIT: C674C93F7652A82FD5A6593525AD744D. (I had originally pasted my computer's MD5 hash value for SP2.CAB in this post.)]

I'm curious about what other people's MD5 checksums are for SP2.CAB (hint, hint).

To be perfectly honest, I don't know for sure whether my C:\I386 fiolder that is there now was there since I installed from my Windows XP Home SP1 CD or I manually placed it there. At one time, I did copy the I386 folder from my CD to a different folder on my hard drive. I think I recently moved it to C:\.

Anyhow, my C:\I386 folder is 461 MB (483,521,066 bytes), the same as on my Windows HP Home SP1 CD (full-install version, not upgrade).

[SIZE= "3"]Thanks again, EVERYONE, for all your help. I have learned a LOT and I wholeheartedly appreciate your kindness, patience, and willingness to help.[/SIZE]

 

Edit: I shouldn't start searches while I am replying. I see you have some good news in the last post, I will read it now. I won't edit this post, just in case

Maybe I could add some information on the driver front.

Pete seems to have ATI drivers installed while he has an nVidia card. My nVidia system only has ATI drivers tucked away in the drivers.cab file.

Your original quest was to remove the ATI drivers, but then SFC started complaining that the ATI files were "missing ".

I would be tempted to do my utmost to uninstall those ATI drivers so that SFC no longer says that they are missing. As I said, for some reason, SFC wants the ATI drivers installed. My theory would be that the ATI and nVidia drivers installed together will be causing the Stop errors (how Pete's system works must be different).

If you want to work on it I will make some suggestions.
Avoid Drive Cleaner Pro. It seems to be only partially removing the driver files.

You can remove the nVidia card and it's drivers. That does not seem to be an issue.

Install the Rage Pro card and it's drivers. If you cannot get Windows to install the drivers, I would consider using the drivers you referred to at the start of this thread, which are probably the same as those offered at the ATI website for people having problems with their drivers (I think you qualify ).

Once you have a good set of ATI drivers installed, you will then need to completely uninstall them. For that I would go to Safe Mode, run the Catalyst Uninstaller, look in Add/Remove Programs and uninstall any ATI programs there, then check in Device Manager that there are no display adapters listed, if so, uninstall them. After that I would hope that you could do a search and the only ATI files listed would be in the Drivers.cab file (we hope!). Shut down replace the Rage Pro with the nVidia card, etc.

My aim would be to remove the ATI drivers so that SFC is no longer looking for them (not putting them in to make SFC "happy again "). I don't think they need to be anywhere on the system, except in the drivers.cab file. I can't see why they can't be uninstalled to a state where SFC no longer thinks they are part of the operating system.

Anyway, see if there is anything here that you could use.

Matt

 

I have a SP2 CD I ordered from Microsoft awhile back and just this morning I got the idea to look on that CD for the SP2.CAB file. I found it inside the XPSP2.EXE self-extracting archive (via WinZip 10.0) in the CD's root. The specs are as follows:

• filename: sp2.cab (lowercase)
• size: 18,738,937 bytes (calculates to 18,300 KB when divided by 1024) -same as yours
  I extracted the cabinet to a folder on my hard drive and Windows Explorer indeed displays the size as 18,300 KB.
  EDIT: The file's Properties (via right-click on the filename) say it's 17.8 MB (found by dividing 18,300 by 1024).
• date: 8/4/2004 -same as yours
• time: 1:05 AM -different than yours

I'm still puzzled why the C:\WINDOWS\Driver Cache\i386\SP2.CAB on my hard drive, and on my friend's hard drive, is a different, larger size (21,724 KB).

EDIT: Isn't it nice how we are managing to keep this thread "XP forum-appropriate" although it's drifting a little from the original sfc /scannow topic since that issue is resolved? Interesting to see how our thought processes evolve and have a record of it.

 

It appears the compression method Microsoft used for the SP2.CAB files may be different, depending on how/when the CAB files were released by Microsoft.

I extracted the contents of the differing filesize SP2.CAB files to separate folders and then compared.

The sizes of the unzipped folders are identical for both [46.9 MB (49,184,556 bytes)].

The entire contents are identical for both except the file dates and/or times for several of the the CD's sp2.cab files are different than the ones in my Driver Cache\i386 folder's SP2.CAB. Here are small samples of the beginnings of the alphabetized file lists for comparison:

Files in the sp2.cab [17.8 MB (18,738,937 bytes)] from the XPSP2 CD I purchased from Microsoft.

Code:

FILENAME	SIZE	DATE MODIFIED	MD5 HASH
1394bus.sys	53,248	8/3/2004 23:10	009927DB8019C54477DABF6F9D795053
4mmdat.sys	12,288	8/3/2004 23:00	9546D4CF7F9E902D20B269511CA1F95D
61883.sys	48,128	8/3/2004 23:10	86D7B1E70661D754685B9AC6D749AAE5
ac97ali.sys	231,552	8/3/2004 22:32	065A6D38A79216592DE03F3525D6296E
ac97via.sys	84,480	8/3/2004 22:32	819BF44085104BE6527B86A88ACF856B
acpi.sys	187,776	8/3/2004 23:07	A10C7534F7223F4A73A948967D00E69B
admjoy.sys	10,880	8/3/2004 22:32	A23675760DEC131B9F799B6FB038A1F0
adv01nt5.dll	4,255	8/4/2004 00:56	E843F15273FD0BB4D8D82D02786E0501
adv02nt5.dll	3,967	8/4/2004 00:56	8EBACA0542B6BA1F9E44D51571782743
adv05nt5.dll	3,615	8/4/2004 00:56	ABD110E5843DBC92DB3AF6BD22D87B00
adv07nt5.dll	3,647	8/4/2004 00:56	0CB199356BC00F25C68C6A6FC195B5B7
adv08nt5.dll	3,135	8/4/2004 00:56	71248001E6C8100274569219F14CFAA1
adv09nt5.dll	3,711	8/4/2004 00:56	68B89CCB062E18A201DA0D7A719EA3E8
adv11nt5.dll	3,775	8/4/2004 00:56	5E6161F389B252450AD23D3CCEA10508

Files in my C:\WINDOWS\Driver Cache\i386\SP2.CAB [21.2 MB (22,245,337 bytes)]:

Code:

FILENAME	SIZE	DATE MODIFIED	MD5 HASH
1394bus.sys	53,248	8/4/2004 02:10	009927DB8019C54477DABF6F9D795053
4mmdat.sys	12,288	8/4/2004 02:00	9546D4CF7F9E902D20B269511CA1F95D
61883.sys	48,128	8/4/2004 02:10	86D7B1E70661D754685B9AC6D749AAE5
ac97ali.sys	231,552	8/29/2002 00:00	065A6D38A79216592DE03F3525D6296E
ac97via.sys	84,480	8/29/2002 00:00	819BF44085104BE6527B86A88ACF856B
acpi.sys	187,776	8/4/2004 02:07	A10C7534F7223F4A73A948967D00E69B
admjoy.sys	10,880	8/29/2002 00:00	A23675760DEC131B9F799B6FB038A1F0
adv01nt5.dll	4,255	8/4/2004 03:56	E843F15273FD0BB4D8D82D02786E0501
adv02nt5.dll	3,967	8/4/2004 03:56	8EBACA0542B6BA1F9E44D51571782743
adv05nt5.dll	3,615	8/4/2004 03:56	ABD110E5843DBC92DB3AF6BD22D87B00
adv07nt5.dll	3,647	8/4/2004 03:56	0CB199356BC00F25C68C6A6FC195B5B7
adv08nt5.dll	3,135	8/4/2004 03:56	71248001E6C8100274569219F14CFAA1
adv09nt5.dll	3,711	8/4/2004 03:56	68B89CCB062E18A201DA0D7A719EA3E8
adv11nt5.dll	3,775	8/4/2004 03:56	5E6161F389B252450AD23D3CCEA10508

I created these file lists with
Karen's Directory Printer v5.1 -a handy, FREE (donationware) utility
Copyright © 1997, 1999-2002, 2004-2005 by Karen Kenworthy, All Rights Reserved
http://www.karenware.com/

EDIT: I can now rest easy knowing my C:\WINDOWS\Driver Cache\i386\SP2.CAB is 100% legitimate. Let's see what we think of investigating next.