Weird Problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bill
  • Start date Start date
B

Bill

I have a problem on my XP Pro machine where every once in a while for no
apparent reason if I open my Start menu, the Frequently Used Programs list
will be black and I have My Computer, Control Panel etc. set to display as
menus, if I highlight them, they do not open, but if I click on them the
associated item opens in Windows Explorer. Also if I click on my run box I
get a message stating that "A shortcut cannot be placed here. Do you want
the shortcut to be placed on the desktop instead?" and the double arrow of
my Quick Launch toolbar stops responding. If I reboot my machine the problem
goes away until it decides to return again, which seems to be more and more
frequently. Also upon rebooting I have to set my Quick Launch toolbar to be
placed back on my taskbar. Any ideas what might be causing this and a
possible resolution short of a reformat/reinstall?

TIA
 
Hi,

Sounds odd, try running sfc /scannow from the run prompt to detect and
replace corrupted or damaged system files.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
Hey Rick,
No problems on the machine, just thought I would run the 'sfc
/scannow' for the heck of it. Well, it shows a number of problems with the
DLL cache and to insert the XP disk. I cancelled out of the sfc without
using the disk. Upon investigating, I found I was supposed to have an entry
in the Reg:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Setup\SourcePath

I have the entry up to the "Setup", but, there is no "Source Path."
As everything seems to be running fine, is this something I need to correct
with the original XP disk?? I have since installed all the updates and
SP2....using the original install disk would, itself, cause problems...would
it not?? I am very unsure how to proceed from here.
Heirloom, old and should have
left well enough alone
 
Hi,

Sourcepath would be a string in the setup key, so it would appear on the
right side as a string value, and the contents would be the location of the
I386 folder (so if it was C:\I386, the string value would be C:\).

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
Thanks Rick,
We are part way there....found the Sourcepath string value (duh, on
my part) and it is directed to (Data field) H:\, which is one of my CD
drives. A search for I386 shows a number of results, two pertinent:
J:\Windows\DriverCache and J:\Windows\ServicePackfiles
There are 5 other entries:
J:\Windows\system32\ReinstallBackups\0000\DriverFiles
through....
J:\Windows\system32\ReinstallBackups\0005\DriverFiles

Now, the question....In order to have SFC work properly, I need to change
the Data field from *H:\* to what?
J:\Windows\system32\dllcache (in blue text) folder has all of the .dll's
listed in 'blue.' The 'date modified' ranges from the time of XP install to
a mod date in 2005 for a windows update .dll. According to what I have
read in my searches, so far, SFC should check in various places for 'signed
updates' to alleviate the error window asking for the XP disk.

I would really like to get this feature to work, but, I don't want to 'bomb'
the system in the process. J:\ is a Raid 0 configuration consisting of two
80G HD's and I do have full disk clone backups using Acronis True Image on
another 300G drive....in the event things go awry <g>. I really appreciate
you sharing your knowledge and taking the time to help out an old geezer
trying to learn. Thank you.
Heirloom, old and learned
something new, the day is not wasted
 
Ok so I ran the system file checker tool and after checking event viewer to
see the results the file nv4_disp.dll was reported to have a bad signature
twice and restored to it's original version, but my problem still persists.
Any other ideas or suggestions for fixing this major nuisance?
TIA
 
Hi,

The sourcepath string currently containing H:\ should point at the I386
folder that was originally used to install the system (generally the one on
the CD). There is another for the ServicePackSourcePath which likely will
point to the backup under %windir%\ServicePackFiles. The others you find are
from backups and from system file protection.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
I did that because SFC hosed the ones that were installed but yet my oddity
continues. It happened before on another installation on the same machine,
but I couldn't find a solution and ended up just reinstalling Windows. With
the size of my digital music collection and other stuff I'd like to save I'd
really like to avoid that at this point. I don't have a DVD burner so
burning all my stuff to CDs is a lot of time I'd like to prserve if
possible. Any other ideas maybe?
 
Hey Rick,
Your last post is right on the money. As I stated,
J:\Windows\ServicePackFiles, does contain the I386 folder and it, the
complete list of .dll's. If the SFC /scannow command is, indeed, looking at
the signed, updated lists of system files, I question why I am getting all
of the error windows stating "Files that are required for Windows to run
properly must be copied to the DLL Cache." In the right hand pane of the
following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup
is the following:
[Name] [Type]
[Data]
(Default) REG_SZ
(value not set)
BootDir REG_SZ
J:\
CDInstall REG_DWORD 0x00000001
(1)
DriverCachePath REG_EXPAND_SZ
%SystemRoot%\DriverCache
Installation Sources REG_MULTI_SZ H:\
LogLevel REG_DWORD 0x0000000
(0)
PrivateHash REG_BINARY --lots of
letters and numbers--
ServicePackCachePath REG_SZ
j:\windows\ServicePackFiles\ServicePackCache
ServicePackSourcePath REG_SZ
j:\windows\ServicePackFiles
SourcePath REG_SZ H:\

As best I can tell, this should be correct. The H:\ was originally used to
install the system, of course, the I386 file is on the XP install CD. If
this is as it should be, do I need to run the SFC /scannow and put the XP
install CD in when requested? Won't this possibly replace an updated .dll
with an older version? The DriverCachePath and ServicePackSourcePath [Data]
are correct paths to the I386 folder, however, the ServicePackCachePath
[Data] does not contain the '\ServicePackCache' subfolder,
Windows Explorer shows the I386 folder, i.e.
J:\windows\ServicePackFiles\I386 . Now, if I understand your response,
the [Data] fields for ServicePackCachePath and ServicePackSourcePath should
be changed to:
j:\windows\ServicePackFiles\I386 Is this correct?

I know this is a lot, but, I DO appreciate your help......thank you.
Heirloom, old and trying real
hard
 
Bill said:
I did that because SFC hosed the ones that were installed but yet my oddity
continues. It happened before on another installation on the same machine,
but I couldn't find a solution and ended up just reinstalling Windows. With
the size of my digital music collection and other stuff I'd like to save I'd
really like to avoid that at this point. I don't have a DVD burner so
burning all my stuff to CDs is a lot of time I'd like to prserve if
possible. Any other ideas maybe?
Click to expand...

Bill I don't have one for your problem, but you need to have a backup of
that important data. What if the hard drive crashes? You should always
have a full and complete backup - data loss is a matter of when, not if.
 
This problem seems to be tied to the quick launch toolbar, Since the last
time the problem ocurred I didn't turn the toolbar back on and the problem
hasn't reocurred. Any bugs with the quick launch bar that has a fix by
chance?
 
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