Strange WinXP Message

[Scarlett]

I have encountered a strange message in a WinXP dialog box on my husband's computer:

Windows File Protection

"Files that are required for Windows to run properly have been replaced by unrecognized versions. To maintain system stability, Windows must restore the original versions of these files.

"Insert your Windows XP Professional SP1 CD now."

After asking for more information, I get this response:

"You have inserted wrong CD (i.e., a different Windows product CD that the version installed).

"The CD-ROM drive in your system is not functioning."

This computer is on at all times, no WinXP CD had been inserted, and the last time I used the CD-ROM, it worked perfectly! My husband uses the computer for surfing, never downloads anything, but sometimes prints articles that he finds. He has a bad habit of leaving windows open, though I have asked him repeatedly to close them when he leaves the computer for the night. I don't know that this is a real problem, but I am uncomfortable with leaving any windows open any longer than necessary, and I would like to know if my discomfort is unfounded or has merit so that I can pass that information on to my husband.

Can anyone shed any light on this mystery? Before I try to "restore the original versions" of the files, I need to be relatively certain that this is a legitimate Windows message rather than a malicious attempt to get me to do something I shouldn't!

Many thanks!

Scarlett

[Variable]

WFP is a legitimate windows utility used to replace corrupt files windows deems important. It's possible that spyware or some other malware has changed a file protected by WFP. If I were you I would allow it to replace the files.

It does not hurt to leave windows open. They are not openings into your pc that can be exploited over time. If they could exploit your machine, they would do so when you connect, not after an 30 minutes, an hour, etc. Stop badgering your poor husband about leaving windows open! The poor man has enough to worry about. : )

[Scarlett]

Thanks so much for the quick response! I will proceed with the repair.

So far as my husband is concerned, he would agree that he has much more to worry about than his computer's performance. But he would also tell you that I'm worth it! :-)

Thanks again for the help!

Scarlett

[Donn]

With respect, I disagree with Variable. There are malware or virus type agents that can jump off a webpage into your registry. Zero-Day Virus was the first we took particular notice of. Whether something like that has actually happened with your PC we do not know, who's to say, but one way to safely try to find out is to do an online scan, Scarlett, pick one, or two if you like, and run them and see what they say:

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/licence.php

http://www.pandasoftware.es/actives...ivescan-com.asp

Please let us know if you are running Adaware or SpyBot, are they updated as of today? And what Antio-virus program are you running? Is it updated as of today?

Then again, it may be a legitimate notice, however-- it begs the question: where did this little blessing come from, yes?

So, if you have not already let that file run, may I hunbly suggest that you
1. run a scan on your pc
2. download, update, and run both SpyBot and Adaware, in safe mode
3. update your AV if it is not and run it in safe mode
4. the generally accepted pattern is tht if they all run clean in safe mode, then chances are you are clean
5. One other thing you might want to do just to be sure is post a HiJackThis log You can dnld it at:

http://www.subratam.org/?page=removal

When you dnld it look for the check box to unzip the file to a C:\ file, don't leave on desk top or in a temp file, In c:\ file back-ups are safely stored.

Close all windows and browsers, log off the net, nothing but the HiJackThis icon on the desktop or My Docs or wherever. Click on the icon, when it opens click on scan, the scan icon then becomes the save file icon, click on it and save it to file, highlight the whole log, copy it, log on to the net, come back here to a post box, paste it in and send it along. One of the HJT experts will check it out for you. DO NOT fix anything in it yourself.

(edit) And actually it would be seen easier if you put the HJT log on it's own new thread, call it 'Scarlett's HJT log'. . .

Can't hurt to check. . .

6. I agree with oyu--keeping a window(s) open when not in use is womething I would not do and recommend against-- 1. there is a chance it might imprint your screen, 2. why tie up someone's website? I don't feel safe about doing that--gut feeling, 4. kick his but for it. . . :)

Donn's Maintenance Recommendations (Standard Schpiel)

Maintenance of your computer is more than just regular defragging.

Before defrag you should run Disk Clean-up, then Scan Disk. If Scan Disk will not go through you will have to go to close programs and end-task on everything EXCEPT Explorer and systray. I try to do this once a month, or, if I do some uninstalling and downloading, I defrag afterwards. I also like to run a little program called RegSeeker especially before defrag and at other times (once a week or so)

You should regularly (every day is good) empty TIF and %TEMP% files and your recycle bin.

If you are not running SpyBot and Adaware then please consider it. This Donn's standard schpiel-- most, but not all, of which resource was derived from paying attention to this forum over two years:

Anti-Spyware/Adware Arsenal

Very good free Sygate firewall:

www.majorgeeks.com/download3356.html

Two very good free edition Anti-Virus:

http://www.Grisoft.com

http://www.AVAST.com

Download, and update, Spybot here:

http://www.download.com/Spybot-Sear...4-10289035.html

How to use Spybot:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/for...showtutorial=43

Download, and update, Adaware here:

http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html

Adaware settings (post #3):

http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthrea...are+Se+Personal

How to use Adaware

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/for...showtutorial=48

Anti-Spamsmotics:

http://www.spamihilator.com/

http://www.mailwasher.com/

Rogue spyware info site:

http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm

Jason’s Browser Security Test (free):
http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/BrowserSecurity/

Gibson tests (free):
http://www.grc.com/default.htm
I use LeakTest, DCOMbobulator, ShieldUp, and UnplugNpray

I try to update AV and Spybot and Adaware every 4 days or a week or so, no longer, to keep it affective.

If you have windows ME, read this:
http://www.burzurq.com/forum/trevtweak.html

[Variable]

:p Donn.

Your response is to long to respond to. Few things I will point out is that you cannot imprint a screen by leaving a web page up. That went away some time after amber and green screens. :) Screensavers have no effect on monitor health. Technology advanced past that awhile back. Also, leaving a window open does not tie up someone web site, it doesn't work that way. Even if you initiated a session with an app the web server has a ttl on the session.

[Donn]

Well thanks for that Variable, but maintenance resource is not meant to be responded to, it is meant to be a. . .resource. You are, of course, welcome to your opinions of them.

Most of us don't use screen savers anymore because it suddenly ocurred to someone that while you re using a screen saver you are using your monitor--it's a lot less stress on it to just turn it off, and wait a few seconds when you turn it on. There is a thread on this somewhere if you want to search for it. Thanks again.

edit: Scarlett, if your still on this thread, again, gut feeling says tell hubby NOT to leave the PC on with a window open. . .wear and tear if nothing else.

:cool:

[Variable]

Donn, what I posted isn't an opinion, it is a fact and it wasn't part of the Maintenence it was from above that ...
6. I agree with oyu--keeping a window(s) open when not in use is womething I would not do and recommend against-- 1. there is a chance it might imprint your screen, 2. why tie up someone's website? I don't feel safe about doing that--gut feeling, 4. kick his but for it. . The difference is I do this for a living, so I tend to have more insight. Look into both things I said for yourself. Gut feelings have little to do with computing. Knowledge is what matters.

Sometime ago, the company I worked for did a study (of which is was deeply involved) of the cost saving features of leaving the monitors/PC's on or off. We talked to all the manufacturers and the electric company local to us, as well as, called shops that repair Monitors and electronics. The conclusion was that the greatest cost was the wear and tear on both monitors AND PC's because of the daily powering on and off. This is even taking into consideration of the reduction of cost associated with heating of the building in the winter time and the additonal cooling costs in the summer.

[Scarlett]

Well, yes, I am still here--but just barely! Donn, I appreciate all the good advice, and I am going to print it for future use--just as soon as I can! Unfortunately, the printer that we use on our network is attached to the XP machine that is now completely down, and we can't access it. I wish I had seen your reply before I attempted to "repair" the XP machine! I would have done everything you suggested in the order you specified.

I am running Norton's System Works on that computer, and the virus scan found nothing. I have both Spybot S&D and AdAware installed, but I did not run those first. I did delete some programs (MS Office and Nickelodeon's Party Blast) and emptied the recycle bin in order to get enough free space to do a Win XP "Upgrade" on the computer. This computer has a very small hard drive and is used mainly by my grandson to play games and, of course, by my husband to surf and leave windows open! :)

During the reinstall, after gathering the necessary files, the XP install program returned the following message:

FATAL ERROR
An error has been encountered that prevents Setup from continuing.
Setup failed to install the product catalogs. This is a fatal error. The setup logfiles should contain more information. Press OK to view the setup log file.

Error:
The signature for Windows XP Upgrade is invalid. The error code is fffffdda. The system cannot find message text for Message No. Oxfffffdda in the message file for syssetup.dll.

Do you have any idea what I am missing and/or how to find it? I have turned the computer off, because it is in a continuous loop that tries to complete setup each time it restarts. I have not tried to restart it in Safe mode, but I would like to abort the reinstall process, as well as locate the missing files.

Many thanks for any assistance!

Scarlett

[Scarlett]

Variable, I don't want to get caught in the middle of your exchange with Donn. Both of you have valuable information to offer, and I appreciate your input.

Regardless of whether the open windows cause problems, I am still irritated when I find them open--it is "clutter" if nothing else, and I thought open windows were a drain on system resources. If not, I stand corrected, but my personal preference is to close them when I leave my computer for the night. The only window I leave open is my email client, because I want to keep it active.

We do leave our computers running 24/7. I primarily use a Dell Inspiron with an LCD screen--no burnin of images there--but the pesky problem computer has a monitor that does have a burned in image on it! It is a 17" Mitsubishi with a beautiful display, but the message that tells us there is no signal is quite obvious when the monitor is turned off. At this point, since the damage has already been done, we just don't worry about it. I believe it was that way when we acquired it several years ago. I agree with you that more stress is placed on the computer and monitor by turning them off and on--so we leave them on.

Thank you again for your responses to my problems!

Scarlett

[Paul Komski]

It sounds as if (a) either there actually is a problem with your CD (cables/connectors/jumpers) or (b) that the registry is not finding the original installation files from a value held in the registry.

Was (1) Windows XP preinstalled on this system and (2) Is the installation CD for a proprietary firm or is it an original microsoft product - and (3) if so - is it a full or upgrade version?

I would have followed THIS ADVICE (http://www.winxptutor.com/sfp.htm) for the original problem and would still try it if you can get into the system.

The other thing you could try if you can get in is to download and install BanishCD (http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/system/banishcd.htm). This small useful utility from analog X is usually used to point the system to the installation files if you ever decide to copy them to the HDD having first installed from a CD (hence the name) but it can also be used to point them to wherever you have the installation files (in this case in the X:\i386 folder - where X is the drive letter of the CD). The utility can reset the changes back if you want it to.

If you can't get it to do a repair/in-place upgrade then at this stage after a partial installation the only recourse may be a clean or a parallel installation. The latter is one way to gain access to any data files that you need to backup but with a small drive there may not be enough space for the second installation.

The monitor on or off business is an old saw and I doubt if there is much difference if you only turn the monitor on or off every day or so. I have a cousin who works for Thomson Multimedia's Division that manufactures Monitor CRTs and he is always adamant that you should lean heavily towards always leaving a modern SVGA monitor on to get the longest life (usually many years) out of them and that burning the sceen is also a thing of the past. BTW - leaving them turned off gives them an even longer life!! ;)

[Scarlett]

Paul, thanks for the suggestions. However, I am caught in a hopeless, continuous loop! When I tried to start the computer in Safe Mode, I got the message that "Setup cannot run under Safe Mode and is restarting the computer." When it restarted, it went directly to the place where it left off, i.e., trying to install XP. I then get the fatal error message again, and after I close the system log, the computer reboots and goes back to Setup. I have tried using "Last Known Good Configuration" to no avail.

To answer your questions about the OS itself: I bought the computer with XP already loaded. The seller indicated that he had "lost" the XP CD. When I got it home, I reinstalled my copy of XP which is volume licensed. No problems. After I got the message that some of the files had been replaced, I used the same CD to do an "Upgrade" on top of the original installation, and that's when the real problems started! I would gladly uninstall and do a clean install of XP if I could figure out how to abort the Setup routine that simply will not die! It seems to me, when a "fatal" error is encountered that prevents the completion of the install process, the entire process should fail instead of continuing to flog a dead horse!

If you can tell me how to escape from the clutches of "Setup" so that I can do a clean install, I will appreciate it. I am beginning to have a nagging suspicion that the product catalogs and missing .dll files were not found on the installation CD, assuming that is where "Setup" looked for them. In any event, I am at a point where I cannot just start over. Could I simply remove the hard drive, install a brand new one, and start from scratch that way? I need a larger hard drive in this system anyway, I guess, but I would much rather just wipe this hard drive and start over since it isn't a high usage machine.

Thanks again!

Scarlett

[Scarlett]

You know, I just had another horrible thought: When I was deleting files and the recycle bin, I was asked if I wanted to purge all "Norton protected files" and I said, "Yes." Could that have deleted some of the files that Setup cannot now find? If so, that's a scary proposition! It didn't even ask me if I was sure I wanted to do that, or explain what the ramifications might be--I thought all I was doing was to get rid of the files in the recycle bin. Now I really have a headache!

I am leaving for my night class now, but I will check back in around 9:30 tonight to see if I have completely blown up my system.

Thanks again,

Scarlett

[Paul Komski]

You can delete all existing partitions on the HDD and zero the boot sector by running wipeout from http://www.lurkhere.com/~nicefiles/index.html. Just add it to a boot floppy diskette and then from an a:\ prompt run wipeout /p /q

That is a lot quicker than zeroing the whole drive.

Then just boot to the WinXP installation CD which should be straightforward since it should think it is installing onto a new HDD.

[FastLearner]

This is one crazy thread! I think Paul's last post was the winner, though, since I'm almost 100% positive it will solve the problem (nothing new for Paul K.).

To Variable and Donn:
I am much newer than the both of you, but I have to interject (please take it for what it's worth):

It really doesn't do anyone any good if we argue with one another, even if one of us is right and one of us is wrong. How many times have we seen it that it has taken more than one viewpoint to solve a problem?--happens all the time in this forum. The point is that if we want to correct one another--there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. The right way is with respect, and the wrong way is putting the other person down. Everyone is entitled to his/her viewpoint, but if it is negative, let's duke it out in the chat room as a general rule. Agreed? Let's face it, the whole point of a discussion forum is to discuss things (which sometimes meaning accepting the viewpoints of others, whether you agree with them or not). Please keep in mind that I am not emphasising that one of you is right and one of you is wrong. It doesn't matter.

Sorry about venting. I just don't like to see the people who I have learned so much from attacking one another in the forums. That's not why we're here.

[Scarlett]

Okay, guys, I got it fixed! Apparently, this is a known problem for Microsoft, and they offered a simple fix for it, and it actually worked. Here is the solution:

With the error message still on the screen, press Shift F10 to get a command prompt. Then type cd\windows\system32\ and press Enter.
Then type rename catroot2 catold and press Enter.
Try again to finish the upgrade.

Since I didn't have anything to lose, I tried it, held my breath, and the whole process finished just as it was supposed to. I logged into this forum on the XP computer, and I am typing this post on it.

If anyone is interested in the full discussion about this problem, you can go to Microsoft Help & Support - Article ID 307153. Here is the link:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q307153

Thanks again to each and every one of you who offered assistance and suggestions!

Scarlett

[Paul Komski]

Thanks very much for posting back.

I suppose, since we never knew exactly what had previously been installed when you got the pc, that this must have been one of the upgrade installations indicated in the MSKB article and with the resulting problems.

[Variable]

Sorry about venting. I just don't like to see the people who I have learned so much from attacking one another in the forums. That's not why we're here.

When somone posts erroneous information, especially to computer neophytes, it should be responded to. I totally disagree with your post. If you take the truth as an attack I don't know what to say. The beauty of machines is their is a wrong and right - very little gray area. Remember that, all written internet correspondonce comes off much colder than it is meant to be. Just the way it is.

Scarlett im glad your problem was resolved. You are right that leaving a window open does take system resources anything you have running on your machine takes resources away from RAM, if your not doing anything with it it takes very little CPU power. It just isn't a security hole.

Variable

[Paul Komski]

all written internet correspondonce comes off much colder than it is meant to be
That is true - and experienced peeps can do a lot with careful choice of language, smilies and the like to compensate for the absence of the tone in one's voice that would be there in a normal conversation and which can help to ensure that the words themselves are not interpreted as inflammatory or cold.

The beauty of machines is their is a wrong and right - very little gray areaHmmmm - not so sure about that one. Mathematics - yes. Machines - well they can have personality, idosyncracy and even heart!! :) ;) He He - what sex is your PC for example :D

[Variable]

Well you have a point with some hardware issues. But you can't get more basic that 0ff and On, 0 and 1

Thats about as black and white as you can get :)

I think mine is a shemale.. dunno if it counts. :eek:

[Paul Komski]

aaah maybe - but there are of course 10 kinds of people: those that understand binary numbers and those that don't.

:)

[FastLearner]

Variable: I don't want to push this thing into the ground, but I know you meant no harm, but somehow the words came accross as such (an attack) to me, obviously to Donn, and perhaps to others looking at this thread. With typing, it is very easy to create a negative tone even if you don't intend to, like you mentioned.

Look at what I mean, side by side:

Donn said: "With respect, I disagree with Variable."

You said: "The difference is I do this for a living, so I tend to have more insight."

Maybe that is true, but it is not what proves your point (has nothing to do with monitors or ttl on web servers), and was therefore irrelevant to the topic. If only the people who do this for a living were allowed to post advice on this forum, then there would only be a handful of you carrying a very large workload.

But in your defense, you did back up your reasoning with facts and other research.
And in doing so, you proved your point.

I love everyone on this forum, and I appreciate all the help you guys give to me and to other up-and-coming neophytes. Let's just forget that whole exchange ever happened....what happened? (see, already forgotten)

[Variable]

**group hug time**

;)

V

[FastLearner]

I agree...:)

[pave_spectre]

http://www.curevents.com/vb/images/smilies/hug.gif