Prefetch is corrupt.

[Guest]

Been having some trouble with my Tower today. I haven't used it in a few
days so when I loaded it up today, I figured all would be well. This is what
greeted me when I reached the log on screen.

"The file or directory \WINDOWS\Prefetch\SERVICES.EXE-2F433351.pf is corrupt
and unreadable. Please run the Chkdsk utility."

I've also gotten after a few restarts: "Windows cannot load the locally
stored profile. Possible causes of this error include insufficient security
rights or a corrupt local profile. If this problem persists, contact your
network administrator."

It freezes when I try to go into safe mode. The monitor blacks out when I
try to start it up regularly or it freezes at the log on screen.

I've been reccomended to try the recovery cd, which I do not have. I'm on a
laptop so DLing microsoft's 6 disc floppy version is also out.

 

[smackedass]

"The file or directory \WINDOWS\Prefetch\SERVICES.EXE-2F433351.pf is
corrupt
and unreadable. Please run the Chkdsk utility."

RAM is suspect. Run a program such as memtest, or, if there are 2 sticks in
2 slots, remove one stick, evaluate, then remove the other, and evaluate, if
necessary.

Could be spyware. Or virus. Or other hardware. After you check the
memory, remove the HD, install it as a secondary or slave, scan that drive
for viruses/spyware.

You can't get a hold of (I presume?) a generic XP CD?

Is the data backed up?

Lots of things to know, before you'll know what to do.

smackedass

 

[Vanguard]

Been having some trouble with my Tower today. I haven't used it in
a few
days so when I loaded it up today, I figured all would be well.
This is what
greeted me when I reached the log on screen.

"The file or directory \WINDOWS\Prefetch\SERVICES.EXE-2F433351.pf is
corrupt
and unreadable. Please run the Chkdsk utility."

I've also gotten after a few restarts: "Windows cannot load the
locally
stored profile. Possible causes of this error include insufficient
security
rights or a corrupt local profile. If this problem persists, contact
your
network administrator."

It freezes when I try to go into safe mode. The monitor blacks out
when I
try to start it up regularly or it freezes at the log on screen.

I've been reccomended to try the recovery cd, which I do not have.
I'm on a
laptop so DLing microsoft's 6 disc floppy version is also out.

So what happens when you delete the Prefetch directory? It is, after
all, a prefetch folder with pointers at programs. Not having it
simply means the OS has to interrogate the file system to find the
file rather than use the memory copy of the prefetch pointers. It
will get rebuilt on the next reboot and when you use your programs.
If the contents of a cache is corrupted or antiquated, flush it.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/915163/en-us

 

[Guest]

RAM is suspect. Run a program such as memtest, or, if there are 2 sticks in
2 slots, remove one stick, evaluate, then remove the other, and evaluate, if
necessary.

Could be spyware. Or virus. Or other hardware. After you check the
memory, remove the HD, install it as a secondary or slave, scan that drive
for viruses/spyware.

You can't get a hold of (I presume?) a generic XP CD?

Is the data backed up?

I'm going to try to ask some people to see if they have a disc tomorrow.

The data is not backed up.

I can't even get past the log in screen in order to dl and run any program.
I get the error as soon as I put in my log in pw, then I get that error, then
my monitor goes black.

 

[Guest]

So what happens when you delete the Prefetch directory? It is, after
all, a prefetch folder with pointers at programs. Not having it
simply means the OS has to interrogate the file system to find the
file rather than use the memory copy of the prefetch pointers. It
will get rebuilt on the next reboot and when you use your programs.
If the contents of a cache is corrupted or antiquated, flush it.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/915163/en-us

I can't get past the log in screen in order to delete the prefetch folder.
It always freezes after the error message.

 

[smackedass]

I can't get past the log in screen in order to delete the prefetch folder.

It always freezes after the error message.

You may or may not be comfortable removing the HD from that box and
installing it as a secondary or slave into another. In that other box, if
Windows is working, it will boot, and you'll be able to examine the contents
of the drive that you're having trouble with. Here you can scan for
viruses, spyware, delete the contents of the Prefetch folder, etc.

Installing a HD as a secondary or slave drive is fundamental to PC
troubleshooting and repair. I'm sure that if you Google something like
"install secondary drive", you'll probably get a skillion hits.

Best wishes,

smackedass