Corrupt file please help

[SIGG]

I got dsl a couple of days ago. I've been playing games online no problem till yesterday in the middle of a game(Medal of honer) my computer rebooted. Now everytime I try to play that game my computer reboots. Also when I try to scan my system for viruses the computer reboots in the middle of the scanning process. I have McAfee virusscan and ZoneAlarm installed.
The next time I tried to start a game the following message appeared after reboot:

*** STOP: (0xA18CE004, 0x00000001, 0x80459619, 0x00000002)
*** Address 80459616 base at 80459619, Datestamp 3ad7ad60-ntoskrnl.exe
If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again follow there steps...

When I rebooted the computer I got the following message:

Starting windows
Windows 2000 could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEMCed Startup options for windows 2000, press F8. You can attemp to repair this file by starting windows 2000 setup using the original setup floppy disk or CD-ROM. Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.

I tried rebooting again and got the following message:
Windows 2000 could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt
<windows 2000 root>\system 32\ntoskrnl.exe please reinstall a copy of the above file

I shut the computer off and planned on reinstalling Windows 2000 the next day. Today I turned on my computer and it booted up with no problems but I'm scared to play any games or do anything. I did a clean install of win2000 a couple of months ago and don't want to do it again. How do I fix this problem and make a startup disk? Also what causes a file to become corrupt and how do you fix it? Sorry for all these questions but I'm really lost here. I don't think a virus could have caused this because I have ZoneAlarm and McAfee virusscan installed. I have all the latest drives for everything. Thanks for your help.

ASUS A7v133
1.2g athalon
Soundblaster Live
GeForce2 Ultra
LINKSYS network card

 

[jasen]

The only way to fix corrupt files is to replace them. It sure sounds to me like you need to reinstall. Not necessarily a clean install though, boot off of the CD and do a repair. Reinstall McAfee and scan thoroughly. Then reinstall your games as well.

 

[jasen]

Now that I think about, I'd also be leary of Zone Alarm. Software based firewalls are notorious for causing crashes in combination with certain apps. I've had problems with Zone Alarm in particular, causing dumps with the United Devices app and IIS.
So long as your AV software is up to date, and your box is secure (no open shares, and no blank or easy to guess passwords, and IIS isn't running) you shouldn't need Zone Alarm.

 

[CALV]

and your box is secure (no open shares, and no blank or easy to guess passwords, and IIS isn't running) you shouldn't need Zone Alarm.

I have to disagree with that one, if you dont have a firewall, then you box is NOT secure, theres more than just shares and iis that are a cause for security concern


If they squeeze olives to get olive oil, how do they get baby oil?

 

[SIGG]

Yesterday after I posted a message here my computer locked up and wouldn't reboot normally. I tried to boot off of the cd and do a repair. The computer wouldn't boot from the cd so I formated the hard drive and reinstalled everything. What a pain in the #$%@&*. How do I make a win2000 startup/boot disk? How do repair my computer if this happens again?
Thanks for your help.

 

[CALV]

on the 2k cd is a util called makebt and makebt32, they are in the bootdisk folder on the cd, the 32 version being windows, the other being dos version.


If they squeeze olives to get olive oil, how do they get baby oil?

 

[markprz]

What graphics card do you have? I had the exact same thing happen a few months ago. I started a game of Quake 3, with a GeForce2 MX, and the graphics became distorted a few minutes into it (parts of characters were sticking out into infinity, etc.) Before I could exit, my computer froze and restarted. When I tried booting up again, it told me ntoskrnl.exe was missing or corrupted. Restarted again, same thing... Yikes. So I turned off the computer, waited a few minutes, and when I tried again everything booted up fine.

My guess is that your video card may have overheated, as mine probably did when this happened to me (I was experimenting with overclocking it at the time, I believe).

 

[slickstaa]

i know this is kinda off the topic here but McAfee? disgusting. Go with avg antivirus (grisoft.com)
It is a better prog and doesn't take as much of ur system resources as McAfee.

 

[SIGG]

I have a geforce2 ultra. I never had any problems with McAfee yet. Is Norton Antivirus any better? I finally solved the problem with my computer locking up. After about a half an hour of playing any games my computer would lock up. I figured maybe it was an heat problem because I had all the latest drivers for everything. I bought 2 new fans and set one to blow in the tower and the other one to suck air out. I also bought a new heat sink for the cpu. Man is this thing loud but I can now play online games for hours with no problem.

 

[jasen]

I have to disagree with that one, if you dont have a firewall, then you box is NOT secure, theres more than just shares and iis that are a cause for security concern

My point was, if the box is properly secured to start with, the firewall is not important. Too many people use a software based firewall in leiu of actually securing the computer. If there are no services/shares/ports/etc open for attack, there's not much the script kiddies can do. This involves a lot more than just turning off shares of course.


I like NAV better than Mcafee.

 

[jc14all]

First of all I will say Norton is better. McAfee is difficult but possible to uninstall/remove from your system. They have special instructions on the McAfee website to completely uninstall it. Just make sure if you do intent to run another virus scan program that you completely eliminate the first (McAfee) before installing another.

Now, something that may come of value in a crisis situation, such as you experienced. Make yourself an "Emergency Repair Disk" (ERD). First format a floppy disk with W2k/NT, so that it has the correct partition boot sector (that is if you are running NTFS file system). Here is the path: Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Backup. Then click on the Emergency Repair Disk icon, be sure to check the box "backup registry..." Now you have a good ERD available if you need it in tough times. <b>Important:</b> From time-to-time go back and redo the same process on the same disk (update) as your registry changes from installing and uninstalling software.

Ok, for a W2k boot disk:

First format a floppy disk in W2k (Important so W2k can read the proper disk boot sector, same as above). While in windows explorer make it so you can see all hidden files and super hidden file (menu bar: Tools/Folder Options, "View tab"). Click the radio button for "Show Hidden Files and Folders", also, uncheck the box "Hide Protected OS file (recommended)". You will need to be logged on as Administrator to do this. Now you are ready to copy to this W2k formatted floppy disk from the %root directory%: Ntldr, Ntdetect.com, Boot.ini, and Ntbootdd.sys (if your HDD's are SCSI,or 2 seperate HDD's), If your system is set up to dual booting with Win98, copy these files to the same disk also: Autoexec.bat, Bootsect.dos, Command.com, Config.sys, Io.sys, and Msdos.sys

There you go. Hope this helps.




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