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New installs of large apps corrupt some system files

Discussion in 'Legacy Windows' started by Mal Nemesis, 2004/09/06.

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  1. 2004/09/06
    Mal Nemesis

    Mal Nemesis Inactive Thread Starter

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    Hi,

    I've been hunting around for all kinds of help with the problem I am having from Win2k Pro and so far no luck.

    Here's the problem: Whenever I install "larger" programs (it has happened with Visual Studio.NET 2002, FFXI and Diablo 1), system files seem to get corrupted in the WINNT folder and then that eventually spreads to the C drive, where all of my files get affected too. This has happened 4 times so far and I can't figure out what's wrong. I have scanned for viruses after this happens, but nothing is found. Any help would greatly be appreciated. If you can give me any live support, edit note: info removed. Newt
     
  2. 2004/09/06
    Newt

    Newt Inactive

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    Posting rule #3 - Use a meaningful title.

    Since you are new I've changed the title for you. Normally the thread would simply be locked.

    I also removed your AIM information. Please keep all postings about problems on the forum so that all can follow the progress and you will have the best chance of getting a solution posted. It will also benefit others in the future with similar issues if they can see all the reasoning and suggestions.
     
    Newt,
    #2

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  4. 2004/09/06
    Mal Nemesis

    Mal Nemesis Inactive Thread Starter

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    Oops, sorry about that.
     
  5. 2004/09/06
    Newt

    Newt Inactive

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    No problem and welcome to the forum.

    Can you give a little more information. I'm not sure at this point that I have a feel for exactly what is happening.

    Also, have you checked your event logs for errors or warnings that might provide more information? Click on start, click on run, key in eventvwr.msc and click OK.
     
    Newt,
    #4
  6. 2004/09/06
    Mal Nemesis

    Mal Nemesis Inactive Thread Starter

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    Thanks.

    I tried running the line you gave me, but no luck, "it" seems to have corrupted that one too.

    Alright, well what's going on is whenever I install some of these larger programs I have, it seems to delete/corrupt some of the Windows 2000 Pro system files in the WINNT folder. After that happens, the problems spreads to basically all of C gets wiped out. After that, this will be the fourth time so far, if I restart the computer, Win2k will not boot correctly and I have to reformat my hard drives and do a fresh install. I don't think it's a virus since I have scanned a numerous amount of times with AVG and McAfee. The only explanation I can come up with is A) Bad Windows 2000 Pro copy or B) Hard Drive Problem.

    I have 2 Western Digital 250GB SATA Hard drives if that needs to be known
     
    Last edited: 2004/09/07
  7. 2004/09/07
    Newt

    Newt Inactive

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    I'm guessing it is not either of the issues you suspect. If it were you probably would not be able to get a clean install of 2K.

    How are the two drives being used? That is lots of space so maybe OS plus software installs plus some personal data on one and lots of big personal files on the other? I know music can take lots of space.

    My best guess is that you are getting a clean install and then getting hit with some sort of malware before you can get the new OS load fully patched and hardened. That is becoming all to common these days. Still, it can't hurt to give the drives a good checkup so boot to your 2K CD and get into the recovery console. Once there, run chkdsk /r on both the drives. It will take a while with 250Gb drives but you will get a good surface test.

    Once that is done and any drive problem areas marked so they won't be used in the future, here's what I'd suggest and if you need detailed help with any part of it, post back.

    - 2K CD /w SP4 so if you don't have that version, you'll need to slipstream a copy of the OS and SP4

    - Burn copies of all the current security patches for 2K onto another CD (or two or three)

    - Have ONE AV program available on CD with the current ref file. You really don't want to have more than one AV program running.

    - Get some sort of image restore program like Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image or similar and burn a copy of your system when it is working well so at worst, if something goes wrong you can easily restore a good copy of your system.

    - Do a clean install of 2K by formatting the partition you will use for it and then doing the install.

    - Apply all the security patches you have and install the AV program before ever going online.

    - Go into your event viewer and look at the entries. Pay special attention to any errors and warnings. This will give you a baseline so later checks there will help you highlight new problems that show up.

    - As soon as you get online, go to the Microsoft update site and get any additional patches/hotfixes that your system needs.

    - Go to one of the online AV scanning sites and run a scan on both your drives.

    - Install your software in stages. So, load an app, run it for a while, check the event logs for new problems. Only after an app has run cleanly for at least a half day should you burn a copy and then install a new app.

    - The moment any strange things start happening, post back here with details.
     
    Newt,
    #6
  8. 2004/09/07
    Mal Nemesis

    Mal Nemesis Inactive Thread Starter

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    Alright thank you for the help, I did all of the things you said to when I fresh installed today. I'll post again if anything funny starts happening.

    As far as how the drives are being used: I am just putting everything on one so far. Last time I put them on both drives, but the problem happened that time as well so I just ended up going back to what I normally do. Should I be doing something different?
     
  9. 2004/09/08
    Newt

    Newt Inactive

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    You can probably get at least a half dozen opinions on how to best arrange your PC in terms of drives, partitions, and what to put where. All opinions from folks who know PCs and all different.

    The way you did it is fine.

    Please do post back and give us a status update. This was an interesting issue and it will be nice to know how things worked.
     
    Newt,
    #8
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