Scanreg /fix results in an error

Is there a limit on the number of files/folders scanreg can handle?

I have a Dell P3/800 with 256mb running 98SE. My C: drive is 40 gig with 24.5 gig available.

As part of housekeeping I ran regclean; ran scandisk (OK); Norton antivirus (OK); Adaware 6 (OK); system file checker (OK)programs/accessories/system tools/tools check registry (OK); defrag (OK).

Then I rebooted with a startup disk and ran scanreg /fix. User.dat ran OK, but it stopped at 87% of repairing system.dat. Said:

Registry Repair Results. Windows found an error in your system files and was unable to fix the problem. Try deleting some files to free up some space on your Windows drive. If that doesn't work then you will need to install Windows to a new directory.

Actually, I did uninstall some seldom used programs/folders/files and tried again, but the results were the same. Could it be that scanreg has a limit on files? Scandisk says that I have 4,483 folders and about 66,800 files.

 

TonyT,

Thanks for the reply -- I had seen that article in the MS knowledgebase before, but since it was in reference to a different error than what I was getting I ignored it.

Since you suggested it, though, I did it exactly like the article states (well, almost -- the article says to hold the ctl key down to get to a DOS command prompt, and I needed to hold down F8).

Then I checked the memory available using the 'mem' DOS command: I had about 400K conventional. So I tried again, with the same results:

Registry Repair Results. Windows found an error in your system files and was unable to fix the problem. Try deleting some files to free up some space on your Windows drive. If that doesn't work then you will need to install Windows to a new directory.

I am open to any other ideas.

Bill Z

 

400 kb of conventional?
The "Mem /c /p" command will show you what is loaded, but here is something that will give you more. Add or Edit these commands to your config.sys as follows,

Device=C:\Windows\Himem.Sys
Device=C:\Windows\Emm386.Exe Noems
Dos=High,Umb

If you use any programs that need Expanded Memory, though there is little around that do except for some old dos apps or games, change the Noems to Ram. One or the other must be there for this to work.
What this will do is allow two of Windows files [Ifshlp.Sys and Vmm32.Vxd] and OS use the Upper Memory Area which exists between 640 kb and 1 mb. The File Handles and Buffers will be moved there also. "Mem /d /p" will show that.
You should notice an increase in available conventional memory after doing this.
Windows 9x will work fine like this, or better for you, as it will Reserve some of that Upper Memory for itself.

 

I found the following with a groups.google search:

From: Alan Edwards (edwards@southcom.com.au)
Subject: Re: Problems with the Scanreg /fix switch
Newsgroups: alt.windows98
Date: 2001-04-12 17:06:48 PST

If you have a system.dat over 8.5 Mb, then Scanreg /Fix has a good
chance of failing
========================
From: Alan Edwards (edwards@southcom.com.au)
Subject: Re: Scanreg fix error
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.win98.scanreg
Date: 2003-02-03 15:42:09 PST

I have never found a way to fix it so I suggest you ignore it.

...Alan
--
Alan Edwards, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
http://dts-l.org/index.html

In microsoft.public.win98.scanreg, "plc" <trix-1@msn.com> wrote:

>So do I just ignore the problem or is there another way to
>fix the problem?
>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>Some people have trouble running "scanreg /fix" once System.dat gets
>>above the 8.5-9Mb range.
>>The solution is not to run scanreg/fix.
>>
>>....Alan
>>--
>>Alan Edwards, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
>>http://dts-l.org/index.html
>>
>>In microsoft.public.win98.scanreg, "plc" <trix-1@msn.com> wrote:
>>
>>>I did a "scanreg /fix" in MSDOS and it was stopped at 97%
>>>with an registry repair results error "windows found an
>>>error in your system files and was unable to fix the
>>>problem. Try deleting some files to free updisk space on
>>>your windows drive ", in C:/win/sys.dat My h/d is only 3/4
>>>full. What do I do from here to fix the problem?
>>>Thanks...

 

That's the answer..

Alice! Exactly!

System.dat is 11+ meg, and on my other computer where scanreg /fix works it is only 7.

Since I haven't observed any other symptoms I like your/Alan's advice: ignore it.

Or maybe I'll be more aggressive cleaning up after uninstalled programs and the like and try to get it under 8. But that's a LOT of entries.<g>

Bill

 

You can "try" using a registry cleaner to delete some of the junk that has been left behind.
Then try a Scanreg /Opt which will do a compact of the deleted space.
See if this reduces the overall size?

 

That system.dat is too big !
Tried regclean.exe (after a backup) ?
regards

 

Tony,

One of the guidelines said to start from the startup disk in order to ensure as clean a boot as possible, with as much memory as possible. Since I had a boot disk handy it was easy to do.

Rebooting and pressing F8 and selecting the command line prompt does as well, I believe.

Bill Z

 

With 400Kb of conventional memory and a System.dat of 11+ Mb I would say that you haven't run scanreg /fix for a long time.

MSKB mentioned above states that more than 340Mb may be required to run /fix. MSKB 183887 states 580Kb so Microsoft haven't got a clue what the limit is; even roughly.

No reg cleaner followed by /opt is going to get a 11+ Mb reg down to 8 or 9 bearing in mind that if Optimize=1 in scanreg.ini then the system would have chipped in when the wasted space exceeded 500Kb.

You may get a surprising amount of space back by clearing the AutoComplete on the Content tab of Internet Options; assuming that you use AutoComplete - I don't now.

There's only one way to get that reg down significantly and that is to bite the bullet and uninstall a heck of a lot of apps.

I'd be interested to know why you only have 400Kb of conv mem. My reg got too large at the beginning of the year and I spent sometime shuffling stuff around to the extent that I now have 624Kb of conv mem when in DOS. My reg is now at 7.5Mb after ripping out a whole mess of apps which hadn't seen the light of day for ages.

I'm afraid that you have a job and a half on your hands but allowing scanreg /fix not to be available to you is not really an option. If the system ever chips in to restore a reg and needs to use /fix then you will be in dead trouble. You can reduce the likelihood of that by increasing the number of reg backups to 10 or 15 if you haven't already done so.

 

Download JV16 and delete some of the very old backup files and a lot of other rubbish

http://download.com.com/3000-2094-10125354.html