Corrupt files?

Imwintergreen · 04-03-2009, 12:27 AM

Hi again..

Windows vista home premium - x86 platform. It was all fine till yestday evening, when i noticed a couple of errors saying corrupt files (which asked me to run chkdisk utility). It started going haywire after that. Had a couple of BSODs where the system could not do the memory dump successfully. Recently installed Google earth after which the BSODs started happening frequently. I'm not sure what went wrong. There was Page fault in non paged area BSOD as well. I restarted - it went up to the page where Microsoft windows loads and then nothing.

Later i took the general vista recovery disk (the one from neosmart) and did a system startup repair. Now it crossed the microsoft windows loading page to the next page where the vista logo shines. I get Werfault.exe, Wisptis.exe and taptip.exe application error and the screen flashes continuosly (in between i could see the greenish user accounts page)

I dont have a copy of Vista recovery dvd with me at present.

Pls help.

THanks
Winter

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crabby · 04-03-2009, 05:21 AM

Sounds like a system wide corruption. It was probably a virus that's added or removed a couple of bites of data from your system files. This really wouldn't be very fixable... I'd suggest attaching the hard drive to another computer which is dolled up to the eyeballs in security, copy what you need and then slow format and reinstall.

Someone else might have a less extreme suggestion, but I can't see how you could manually correct all the files... and even if you did, it would probably corrupt on the first boot again.

Having said that, it MIGHT (and this is a long shot) be damaged RAM. See if removing a stick or using completely different RAM helps? You could also try memtest to see if the RAM is ok?

crabby

Imwintergreen · 04-03-2009, 07:36 AM

Sounds bad! theres no other way? I did the memtest - no problem with the RAM.

crabby · 04-03-2009, 09:26 AM

There are other ways... just the first way is the easiest

You can get a antivirus boot disk which will clean your system (like avast BART)... then use the recovery disk to fix the system files (a repair installation). Then it should boot, but most of your programs wont work and will need reinstalling and you'll need all the updates.

crabby

Imwintergreen · 04-06-2009, 04:12 AM

Hi again

There's another irritating problem - some of my folders in my external HD have turned into files with various sizes (around 2MB). How did that happen? I couldn't open the folder even through command prompt. Any help?

PS: I've reinstalled my OS as you said. But i used my external HD in 2 other computers where in the 2nd computer i noticed the above problem. I have no idea how the folder changed into a file!

crabby · 04-06-2009, 05:16 AM

CORRUPTION! EVERYWHERE! EVIL! RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!

That's my official response

Are you safely removing the hard drive? Because hard drives aren't steady state memory (like USB flash sticks) they are much more likely to be corrupted if you just pull them out. I have had one hard drive go completely mental on me because of that.

Using 'scan disk' should find all the files in the folders, but they will have different extensions (usually numbers) and you'll have to change them manually. I doubt the folders are recoverable.

crabby

Imwintergreen · 04-06-2009, 06:43 AM

There are some folders which says cannot be opened / corrupted and unreadable. My hard disk's failing? Or it'll be alright if i do a format once..

crabby · 04-06-2009, 09:08 AM

It depends how it happened... Hard disks have a very long MTBF of usually a million hours, so I doubt it's on the way out... As I said it's probably just how you disconnected it. Reformatting would be a good idea, especially if it isn't formatted as NTFS (which it should be).

crabby

Imwintergreen · 04-06-2009, 03:04 PM

First i thought - things just disappeared

Then i thought - 'what the heck?' and did a scan. Now there's a folder named found.000 in the external HD, which can be accessed via command prompt (run as admin). All the missing files and folders are in here and all the directories are named continuosly by some numbers. And when i go in i see all the files. I tried copying and it copies. I'm trying to copy as much as i can before that disappear again..

Tried using the Active @ Undelete software to recover, but the software doesnt run in Windows 7 (Yeah, am running it temporarily till i get a copy of vista next week)

I'll let you know how it goes.

felix8406 · 06-04-2009, 06:26 AM

Please make sure you visit my Blog and my forum; use links below.

04-03-2009, 12:27 AM	#1
Imwintergreen Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 35	Corrupt files? Hi again.. Windows vista home premium - x86 platform. It was all fine till yestday evening, when i noticed a couple of errors saying corrupt files (which asked me to run chkdisk utility). It started going haywire after that. Had a couple of BSODs where the system could not do the memory dump successfully. Recently installed Google earth after which the BSODs started happening frequently. I'm not sure what went wrong. There was Page fault in non paged area BSOD as well. I restarted - it went up to the page where Microsoft windows loads and then nothing. Later i took the general vista recovery disk (the one from neosmart) and did a system startup repair. Now it crossed the microsoft windows loading page to the next page where the vista logo shines. I get Werfault.exe, Wisptis.exe and taptip.exe application error and the screen flashes continuosly (in between i could see the greenish user accounts page) I dont have a copy of Vista recovery dvd with me at present. Pls help. THanks Winter
(Offline)

04-03-2009, 05:21 AM	#2
crabby Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Salisbury, UK Posts: 2,355	Sounds like a system wide corruption. It was probably a virus that's added or removed a couple of bites of data from your system files. This really wouldn't be very fixable... I'd suggest attaching the hard drive to another computer which is dolled up to the eyeballs in security, copy what you need and then slow format and reinstall. Someone else might have a less extreme suggestion, but I can't see how you could manually correct all the files... and even if you did, it would probably corrupt on the first boot again. Having said that, it MIGHT (and this is a long shot) be damaged RAM. See if removing a stick or using completely different RAM helps? You could also try memtest to see if the RAM is ok? crabby
(Offline)

04-03-2009, 07:36 AM	#3
Imwintergreen Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 35	Sounds bad! theres no other way? I did the memtest - no problem with the RAM.
(Offline)

04-03-2009, 09:26 AM	#4
crabby Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Salisbury, UK Posts: 2,355	There are other ways... just the first way is the easiest You can get a antivirus boot disk which will clean your system (like avast BART)... then use the recovery disk to fix the system files (a repair installation). Then it should boot, but most of your programs wont work and will need reinstalling and you'll need all the updates. crabby
(Offline)

04-06-2009, 04:12 AM	#5
Imwintergreen Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 35	Hi again There's another irritating problem - some of my folders in my external HD have turned into files with various sizes (around 2MB). How did that happen? I couldn't open the folder even through command prompt. Any help? PS: I've reinstalled my OS as you said. But i used my external HD in 2 other computers where in the 2nd computer i noticed the above problem. I have no idea how the folder changed into a file!
(Offline)

04-06-2009, 05:16 AM	#6
crabby Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Salisbury, UK Posts: 2,355	CORRUPTION! EVERYWHERE! EVIL! RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!! That's my official response Are you safely removing the hard drive? Because hard drives aren't steady state memory (like USB flash sticks) they are much more likely to be corrupted if you just pull them out. I have had one hard drive go completely mental on me because of that. Using 'scan disk' should find all the files in the folders, but they will have different extensions (usually numbers) and you'll have to change them manually. I doubt the folders are recoverable. crabby
(Offline)

04-06-2009, 06:43 AM	#7
Imwintergreen Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 35	There are some folders which says cannot be opened / corrupted and unreadable. My hard disk's failing? Or it'll be alright if i do a format once..
(Offline)

04-06-2009, 09:08 AM	#8
crabby Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Salisbury, UK Posts: 2,355	It depends how it happened... Hard disks have a very long MTBF of usually a million hours, so I doubt it's on the way out... As I said it's probably just how you disconnected it. Reformatting would be a good idea, especially if it isn't formatted as NTFS (which it should be). crabby
(Offline)

04-06-2009, 03:04 PM	#9
Imwintergreen Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 35	First i thought - things just disappeared Then i thought - 'what the heck?' and did a scan. Now there's a folder named found.000 in the external HD, which can be accessed via command prompt (run as admin). All the missing files and folders are in here and all the directories are named continuosly by some numbers. And when i go in i see all the files. I tried copying and it copies. I'm trying to copy as much as i can before that disappear again.. Tried using the Active @ Undelete software to recover, but the software doesnt run in Windows 7 (Yeah, am running it temporarily till i get a copy of vista next week) I'll let you know how it goes.
(Offline)

06-04-2009, 06:26 AM	#10
felix8406 ABXpert Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: San Antonio, TX Posts: 3,628	Please make sure you visit my Blog and my forum; use links below. __________________ Your site for Free Always software: [URL="http://http://www.softdorm.com/"]http://http://www.softdorm.com/[/URL]
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