Recurring corrupt files

Hi--
I am glad to have found this forum and am hopeful that your combined knowledge will help me to resolve an ongoing problem with my girlfriend's computer.

Her system is a Dell Dimension running Windows XP SP2. As primary virus protection, she uses Avast On-access scanner--free version.

About every three weeks, Avast fails to automatically update its definition files, stating that a file is corrupt and requesting that chkdsk be run. When I restart her system, Windows detects a problem and runs chkdsk automatically; errors are found and are corrected. The system runs fine for another couple of weeks until the sequence repeats.

It seems to me that identical errors are found and corrected each time chkdsk is run. The first one enumerated by chkdsk relates to an error in index file I$30, if I remember correctly. It seems that all subsequent errors found in a chkdsk iteration relate to this core problem.

I did not record all the on-screen error messages and it has been a while since I have sat through a chkdsk session, so the information I have provided to you might be less than 100% complete and accurate. I thought that it was more important to get started correcting her problem. I can document her problem more thoroughly later, if need be.

Thank you for your time and insight.
---Ron

 

one of the questions in my mind now is, "did you do an uninstall of this avast and try downloading it from the web again "? sometimes when we download programs, even from the maker themselves, these can be corrupted during the download process. i would first try to remove this program throught the add/remove feature in the control panel. further, i would delete the current download that you may have saved in "my documents" or where ever else it is saved. then, go to the web site and get a fresh download of the program and install.

i have had avast for a while myself and do not experience anything you claim to be going through. make sure any programs running in the background are turned off when downloading and when you install. try not to do any other web surfing while you are downloading.

 

Hi, again--
Yes, I did an uninstall of Avast from the control panel--add/remove programs. I then reinstalled Avast and activated it with a fresh activation code. However, I did not do any special deletion of extraneous Avast program elements prior to the fresh install.

I am not entirely sure that file corruption is limited to Avast files. Earlier today, I ran Spybot Search and Destroy on her computer and got two instances indicating that there were problems in this spyware detection system as well. The specific error message was: there is a problem in Hijackers.sbi and you should look into the include errors.log file. Spybot FAQ #007 states: This error usually is the result of updates you have missed or installed only partially. To solve the problem, please install all updates checked by default at least, if not all. If you do not want to use the update function of Spybot - S&D, take a look at the download page (online link) here and download all manual updaters.

Prior to running Spybot on her computer, I had downloaded the latest Spybot updates using webupdate.

I might add that there are two other computers on her LAN. Both are Dells running Windows XP and Avast with no problems. I find it strange, too, that I have run chkdsk upwards of five times on her computer and it finds and fixes what seem to be the same file structure errors. (At least Windows reports that it has found and fixed the errors.)

Earlier today I did an "insurance" chkdsk /r from the Run command line. I don't know if this will give different results than the chkdsk run automatically on reboot.
---Ron

 

Thank you. That explanation makes sense. I will back up her hard drive when I get some time and will proceed from there.

Any "down and dirty" data backup instructions would be welcomed.

Today I did chkdsk on her computer once more and chkdsk found that same error in the same index-- I think it is $I130. When chkdsk corrected that error, about seven pairs of orphaned files were created (as before). These were recovered into directory file 10692.

Note that these are the same files that I have seen in the past. This time I was able to copy down almost all of the specific errors found. I can relay those if anyone thinks it will help to troubleshoot the problem. For me to complete the list, though, I will have to wait for data corruption to recur, then invoke chkdsk again. By then, I hope to have found enough time to back up her data and have performed hard drive diagnostics.

Thank you, once more, for your help and insight.
---Ron