Corrupt Windows Files

Hi there! Firstly, thank you for taking the time to read this and consider fixing my problem, i really do appreciate it.

So i have a variety of problems with my computer and i will detail them to you, but i'm pretty confident that the problem comes from corrupt windows files, hence the topic title, but i am unaware of how to fix them. I am running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit and this is a shared computer. I will make error messages appear in italics just to make sure they are clearly defined.

When i attempt to open Microsoft office outlook, the following error message appears:

OUTLOOK.EXE - Bad Image

"c:\progr~2\micros~3\office12\olmapi32dll is either not designed to run on Windows or i contains an error. Try installing the program again using the original installation media or contact your system administrator or the software vendor for support"

i then hit "ok" and this error message appears:

OUTLOOK.EXE - Bad Image

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\OLMAPI32.dll is either not designed to run on Windows or i contains an error. Try installing the program again using the original installation media or contact your system administrator or the software vendor for support"

Early today, the error message had a different file path.

Also, when trying to launch windows media player, the following error message appears

wmplayer.exe - Bad Image

"C:\Windows\system32\wmploc.dll is either not designed to run on Windows or i contains an error. Try installing the program again using the original installation media or contact your system administrator or the software vendor for support"

That error message appears twice, i click ok the first time and it reappears, click ok the second time and then disappears.

Other problems:

1: Windows Installer doesn't work at all and when i try to uninstall a program the following message appears: " The windows Installer Service could not be accessed. This can occur if the Windows Installer is not correctly installed. Contact your support personnel for assistance"

2: Windows updater does not work at all, no update can occur and it doesn't even begin trying to update.

3: My Microsoft Sidewinder X4 Keyboard had to be re-installed. Because windows installer doesn't work properly, the macros don't work anymore. This is a recent problem. This whole problem has been going on since about Wednesday and this has just occurred within the last 12 hours.

4: Firefox doesn't open or work at all.

What i have done recently to the computer?

1: Installed Avast Virus protection because needed a new virus protection software

2: Installed Oracle Virtual Box.

3: I didn't do this, but there was a Windows Critical update on the computer during the week. Not sure if this was part of the problem but i think it might have affected it.

What have i tried to fix the problem?

1: I have ran a bunch of virus checks, all clear.

2: Also tried to system restore before the Windows critical update, but that didn't change anything.

3: I ran cmd sfc/scannow and that produced a huge text document but i wasn't sure how to interpret it and act.

Please let me know if there is any more information i can provide you with, i will respond asap. Hopefully my post was clear, let me know if there is anything i can clarify further.

Thank you so much for your time,
Dt

Hi, Sorry to hear about the problems you are experiencing. It looks like you may have major problems with your computer, so I hope you have a good back up and a disc image kept safe on removable media. There are various "piecemeal" fixes we can use to try and address the issues one by one, but its likely to be a time consuming business…. and with no guarantees of success… Once you are happy that your back up is accurate and complete, and you have a good disc image then its worthwhile considering the following: 1 Press F8 immediately after powering on from a cold start and select repair my computer see if this helps next 2run the command you ran before ( from a cmd prompt with elevated privileges …..Right click and select Run as Administrator)…but note the syntax, the space twixt the c and the / needs to be there : sfc /scannow Next try and repair Outlook but make sure and double check your back up first…. in Win 7 with MS Office Outlook 2010 the sequence is: Start>Control Panel>Programs&Features>Outlook>Change>Repair>Continue when its all done then close down your computer, wait 30 seconds after the blank black screen, and then restart it wait 5 minures (by the clock,not a second earlier) and then start to use it, any better? When you reply please confirm you are happy with your back up and have agood disc image, your Windows and all other discs or downloaded executable files handy. Regards paws

Hi Paws, thanks for your time with this, it is really appreciated. We actually hadn't set up a backup prior to this whole incident, however, ran windows backup today and got that process all done. However, once i restarted the computer, i remembered that windows backup said it couldn't copy a couple of files. But upon opening the backup and restore part of windows it had forgotten that it had even done a backup at all. I suppose this is just another part of the problem? One of the files that couldn't be copied seemed familiar to an error i had gotten at one point, the number at the end of the file rang a bell, i think it was "90070002", is that at all significant to you? Sorry couldn't get the name of the whole file, i figured it would still be there once i restarted but guess i was wrong. That probably progressed the solution to my problem no further, so i'll move on. 1: Pressed F8 upon start up and ran repair, no apparent sign of change. 2: Running the scannow process at the moment, what should be done once it is finished? 3: Running MS office outlook 2007, but found a repair feature for all of office, but it was unable to complete the repair process so no changes occurred. I am quite happy with my back up, but, excuse my ignorance, i am unaware of what a "disc image" is, could you elaborate? Also, have windows disc's, but again not sure what you mean by "downloaded executable's files", sorry about that. Thanks for your time, Dt EDIT: Scan finished and said it found corrupt files but was unable to fix them.

HiDtGoesWTT

Scan finished and said it found corrupt files but was unable to fix them

Sounds like you have real problems with this machine..
Is it still under warranty?
do you have a service agreement for it.?
Next thing to do is to run chkdsk…. here's how
From a command prompt with elevated priveleges
type in
chkdsk /r
(note the space it needs to be there)
press enter
if you get a black screen with a warning on it then press Y and then Enter and reboot your computer
chkdsk will run and it may take several hours to complete all 5 passes, in checking your hard drive for integrity (DO NOT interrupt it, let it run…)
it will fix any problems it finds( that it is able to)

I would like you to try now to make the Windows disc image, (in Win 7 its called "System Image") Here's how:
Click on Start>All Programs>Maintenance and first select Create a System Image, the next screen will give you an explanation of this,

Follow onscreen directions (an external USB hard drive is suitable for the location of the system or disc image) Do not attempt to store it on your internal hard drive as this will then be unavailable to you if your internal hard drive is failing!

You mention that you have the Windows discs…Do you have the Windows 7 Installation DVD ? if so you don't really need to create the System Repair disc, however I always recommend that one is created as a spare ( disc are easily scratched or damaged!
Please post back with make and model number of your computer and the version of Win 7 you are running and if it is 32 or 64 bit.

It is too early in the diagnostic process to be sure, but there is a possibility that your internal hard drive could be failing, when it fails it will take everything on your hard drive, with it!(docs, settings, emails, music, photos, videos, spreadsheets, drivers, user names passwords etc etc…everything including Windows itself……! That is one of the reasons why I want you to check that your back up is 100% accurate reproducible and kept safe on removable media.

Downloaded executable files, for example, are files that are needed to install applications to your computer when there is no physical CD or DVD available, and stuff you may have bought over the Internet…etc
Report back on how you go….
Regards
paws

Hi Paws, sorry about the delayed reply, been really busy. My machine was put together by a friend about 3 years ago, so i don't think warranty is still valid. Not sure what a service agreement is, i'll take it to mean that it is an agreement with the people who made the computer to service it, but i just think my friend agreed to service it whenever necessary. Being a shared computer, my dad gave it ago at fixing it and ran a whole bunch of chkdsk operations, including the one you recommended, and it came back saying it was all clean. I managed to get in contact with my friend and he also tried to fix it, running a check disk through "my computer" and clicking on the disk itself. Again, produced similar results, saying it was all clean, but with no improvements. My friend was able to fix the firefox problem, by simply re-installing it but has had no luck with the much else. We managed to work out that the error message coming up for outlook resulted because the file is was looking for simply wasn't there. We also tried to repair it with the original office 2007 disk, but it couldn't complete the repair Part of the goal we had today also involved trying to fix windows installer, but in the process we found that windows service also doesn't work and it seems that we can't fix the errors in windows unless we do so through the windows disk. This seems to be where the whole situation is heading. There has been some sort of error caused in windows, by what i think was an update last week, and consequently it has caused a lot of problems. I am reluctant to create a system image because we do already have the windows 7 installation DVD and it takes an almighty amount of space on my external hard drive, which is pretty much full at this point, so i'd either have to do some serious deleting or go and buy a whole new hard drive if i was going to create one. I am running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. I am pretty confident in the system backup, i am happy that everything has been copied to the external hard drive successfully and will be there when it returns. So i think this leads me to just a few more questions: 1: I think reloading windows is somewhat inevitable, so i will have to pretty much reload most of the programs onto the computer again, i guess that is what you were getting at when you asked me if i have downloaded executable files. I think in the long run that shouldn't be a problem getting everything that is on here back, it will just be a lot of work, is there anyway that you know of to avoid reloading all these programs? 2: If the hard drive is failing, i really don't want to reload windows onto it and all the programs and find out that we will have to do it all again at some point, is there a way to tell for sure if the hard drive is failing? Was the chkdsk meant to tell us if it was failing? Thank you for your time and your help, hopefully you can find some sense in my ramblings Dt

Hi Dt, Ok I understand
I think it would be wise to check the hard drive to see if it looks to be OK or is starting to fail….. Chkdsk is a good test but the manufacturer's hard drive testing utility gives a more comprehensive view of the situation……As you rightly say there is little point in reloading Windows on to a failing disc…..
If you go here:
: http://www.tacktech….ay.cfm?ttid=287
you can download the correct disc checking utility for your particular hard drive….and this should provide a pretty good indication….. burn the CD as an image (bootable) a copy wont work, it must be an image, If you use ImgBurn for this it should be straightforward:
http://www.imgburn.com/
When you have booted from the CD (You may need to set your BIOS to boot from CD/DVD as number one priority) run first the short diagnostic test, and if this is OK then try the long test (there is no need to run the Accoustic test)
The tests should provide a basis for us to determine the next step…..

If the hard drive turns out to be OK then there are a number of additional fixes we can apply to try and get your machine running correctly without having to reload Windows…. but as always there are no guarantees, so its reassuring to know that you are happy that your back up is as good as it can be…..

I think reloading windows is somewhat inevitable snip………is there anyway that you know of to avoid reloading all these programs?

Yes… this is the System Image (disc image) I mentioned in my previous post…. otherwise and without this "good image"….. its a question of installing each one from the discs or downloaded executables….
Let us know what the manufacturer's dic checking utility says …
Regards
paws