Problem with scanreg /fix

Hello all and thanks for your help in advance. My issue is when scanreg /fix is invoked it indicates 100% complete for the second task then just hangs. There are 3 tasks, I think, that it does. I'm at work now so I can't be very specific, sorry. The bottom line is that it doesn't complete and I have to reboot to get out. Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Thanks.

 

Hi ib12541, scanreg /fix can only complete if you are not in Windows OS.
Do you enter the command after a boot from a floppy. or a restart in
MS-DOS mode ?
regards

 

Hi merlin, thanks for responding. Yes, I'm at the command line when I run scanreg. The windows gui is not up. I discovered this during my weekly maintenance. My normal routine is to boot to safe mode and run scandisk and defrag, boot to the command line and run scanreg /fix and /opt then boot windows.

 

Hi ib12541,
Please post what happens if you boot from a good Win98 ERU disk,
and at the A: prompt, you type
scanreg /fix
regards

 

sorry to say but it does the same thing.

 

How big are System.dat and User.dat?

 

Hi WhitPhil, thanks for jumping in. my system.dat is 8445KB and user.dat is 713KB.

 

If the System.dat gets to around 10MBs or higher, Scanreg has trouble with it, but this is not the case.

Try a couple of things.

1. Run Scanreg/Opt a couple of times back to back. On a normal boot, the scanreg that runs will to an OPT if the unused space in the registry exceeds 500K. So try the opt and then the fix.

2. Download and run MRUBlaster. Then, do item 1. MRUBlaster will delete items, which in turn creates unused space, which in turn OPT should find and squeeze out.

 

thanks for the link to mru blaster. pretty nifty utility. i ran that, deleting 95 entries, booted to dos and ran /opt several times as you suggested then ran /fix with the same results. the exact error is:

• looking for valid system registry keys
• checking system registry structure
• rebuilding system registry

the first entry is check marked complete. the second entry has a ">>" with a 100% complete notation at the bottom of the screen and the third entry never invokes.

 

At this point, I would use the System File Checker [Sfc.Exe] to replace the file C:\Windows\Command\Scanreg.Exe

 

hi markp62. are you suggesting that i replace my system.dat from the cd or something else? obviously, something in the registry or some file has been corrupted. thus far troubleshooting this issue has not been successful and a file replace may be in order.

 

Hi ib12541.
Mark is wisely suggesting you restore a good copy of scanreg.exe
- not restoring a copy of the registry system.dat
regards

 

thanks merlin. i will try that tonight when i get home. we have another storm to prepare for but i hope to get on it sometime today or tomorrow. of course, if my pc ends up in alabama the point will be mute.

 

Good luck and take care !
regards

 

Might I suggest, at this point, that you make a backup of scanregs backups of the registry and any system files you have included in these backsups? These are usually located in WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP folder going by the dated names rb***.cab. There may be no telling what funky things may be going on to these if you continue to have problems with scanreg.

Just copy these *.cabs to a folder of your choosing for safe keeping.

 

hi ann, thanks for the suggestion. just did it. i also restored the scanreg.exe from the installation disk, booted to dos, invoked scanreg and got the same results.

 

Hi ib12541, This is becoming quite a mystery, as scanreg.exe seems to be OK.
That only leaves your system files as causing the problem.
What have you on the PC for registry checking apps ?
Have you run MS regclean.exe ? Do you have any third party reg cleaners ?
What are the file attributes of Windows/system.dat and user.dat ?
Have you checked scanreg.ini to see if it is correct ?
It is the steering file for scanreg.exe and may be garbled ...
regards