File with screwy dates causes problems

[Opinicus]

I've got a file whose "Date" appears to be "01-01-1980 00:00" and which was
"Modified" on "01-01-1842 00:00:00".

The file was created last week. Two programs that access this file choke on
it. One complains about "Parameter" problems.

Since this is a video I can't modify the file. I tried converting it to
another format and the conversion program also choked.

WiMP displays the file normally but keeps the funny dates if I do a "save
as".

How do I fix the dates?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I've got a file whose "Date" appears to be "01-01-1980 00:00" and which
was "Modified" on "01-01-1842 00:00:00".

The file was created last week. Two programs that access this file choke
on it. One complains about "Parameter" problems.

Since this is a video I can't modify the file. I tried converting it to
another format and the conversion program also choked.

WiMP displays the file normally but keeps the funny dates if I do a "save
as".

How do I fix the dates?

touch.exe from http://pobox.com/~stevemil.

You should have a closer look at the tool that created this
file. It appears to have a serious problem.

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was 1/14/2008 9:36 AM, and on a whim, Opinicus pounded
out on the keyboard:

I've got a file whose "Date" appears to be "01-01-1980 00:00" and which was
"Modified" on "01-01-1842 00:00:00".

The file was created last week. Two programs that access this file choke on
it. One complains about "Parameter" problems.

Since this is a video I can't modify the file. I tried converting it to
another format and the conversion program also choked.

WiMP displays the file normally but keeps the funny dates if I do a "save
as".

How do I fix the dates?

Hi Bob,

Try this utility to see if you can change the date, but it may be have
other damage:
http://www.febooti.com/products/filetweak/

It has a free working trial.

--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
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Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

 

[Opinicus]

touch.exe from http://pobox.com/~stevemil.

I remembered that utility after posting the message...

You should have a closer look at the tool that created this
file. It appears to have a serious problem.

I'm wondering, too. The first time this happened a couple of months ago I
thought it was due to a USB disk hiccup. This time it was a file that was
burned to DVD.There may be an underlying cause but at this point it's not
clear what it could be.

 

[HeyBub]

I've got a file whose "Date" appears to be "01-01-1980 00:00" and
which was "Modified" on "01-01-1842 00:00:00".

The file was created last week. Two programs that access this file
choke on it. One complains about "Parameter" problems.

Since this is a video I can't modify the file. I tried converting it
to another format and the conversion program also choked.

WiMP displays the file normally but keeps the funny dates if I do a
"save as".

How do I fix the dates?

This sounds like the clock on the motherboard. The clock is normally
maintained by the battery, but the battery is only used when the computer is
unplugged.

So, turn off the computer and leave unplugged for a bit (overnight?).
Restart. Is the date okay? If not replace the motherboard battery.

 

[Opinicus]

This sounds like the clock on the motherboard. The clock is normally
maintained by the battery, but the battery is only used when the computer
is unplugged.
So, turn off the computer and leave unplugged for a bit (overnight?).
Restart. Is the date okay? If not replace the motherboard battery.

Thanks for the suggestion. As it happened we had a severe thunderstorm last
night so all computers were turned off for the duration. This morning (8
hours later) I turned them on again and all the clocks are right to the
second. So it doesn't sound like it's a battery problem.

Upon reflection I think both of the files with screwy dates were videos
downloaded from the binary groups. It may have been that their dates were
mangled to begin with. I must keep track of that in future.