re: missing files
Monday, January 31, 2005 at 5:58 am
Windows XP Annoyances Discussion Forum
Posted by Joel Thayer
(2 messages posted)
As an update to my last reply to Mike:
My experiment(s) supports the "missing files" problem as
fundamentally a HARDWARE problem. I can't say what exactly (although a 400 Mhz,
192 ram, 145 watt, 66 bus, running two hard drives, xp and itoons simultaniously
and a cd-rw in burn session is a problem waiting to happen) but I'll share my experiment:
I reinstalled my Old CD-ROM (36x) and loaded all my programs successfully--including
xp. I then reinstalled the cd-rw along side the cd-rom and all is well. I still
can't load programs from the new rw. The CD-RW is one of these cheep kind ($40)
and that might have something to do with it. Nor can I change the read speed on it--not
in the cmos or bios or on the unit itself.
ALSO: I've not attempted to burn software to this cd-rw but I have burnt music.
And occasionally the music SKIPS(!) consistantly in the same place regardless of
the unit from which I play the music. And this is the case for each music cd I burn.
So it's obvious to me that the hard ware--i.e. motherboard, cpu, ram, or perhaps
the power supply--is compatable but not FULLY compatable with the newly installed
cd-rw. I'm almost certain if I were to burn software I would have a "skip"--so to
speak--in it as well. Indeed. A "skiped" or "missing" file.
to restate: a 400 Mhz, 192 pc100 ram, 145 watt, 66 bus, running two hard drives,
xp and itoons simultaniously and a cd-rw in burn session is a problem waiting to
happen. I have not narrowed the problem down to a specific piece of hardware but
I must conclude it is a HARDWARE problem-- wether reading or burning.
On Sunday, February 15, 2004 at 7:51 am, mike wrote:
>Greetings:
>
>We'ed like to point out a few things we've noticed with the cyclad and other files
>missing problem.
>
>Just to get this out of the way. This problem plagues
>legitimate copies of windows XP and Xp pro.
>
>Here's what we've noticed.
>
>#1: The cyclad... and other missing files occur in the install started from MS-DOS
> or XP boot disk install including the /i386/winnt.exe technique.
>
>#2: When upgrading from within windows 98, the errors of "missing (unable to extract)files"
>does not occur.
>
>#3: When viewing the drivers.cab file in windows 98 one can see and extract the
cyclad
>and the other missing files.
>
> *Two out of the five* copies of windows XP we tested had problems with reading
>the drivers.cab missing files (ex.cyclad,e.t.c.) and other driver & CAB MM files.
>This includes viewing or extracting the files manualy in windows. Even if the entier
>windows xp install cd is copied to the HD for quick installation. The missing files
>problems still persists when done by (fresh install) ms-dos or xp boot/install floppy
>disk.
>
> As far as we can determine. There are either weak sectors on the windows
>xp install cd's , or the dirver.cab was not properly compiled.
>
>As for the no missing files when upgrading . It is conceivable that since windows
>98 can read the cab files correctly and retries several times over to read a file
>. It is possible that the cyclad and other files are perhaps crosslinked or just
>bad cab files and windows 98 is able to recover the weak data.
>
>One person did comment to us that they didn't have a problem with the the missing
>files when running under an NTFS OS &partition, granted this may be possible. However
>our NTFS OS & partition test resulted in the same number of missing files as with
>a fat-32 partition.
>
>We did notice a difference when we installed and used a much slower/older cd-rom
>drive. 9 missing files instead of 14.
>
>Our best guess is the "weak sectors" theory. As slower/older cd-rom drives tend
to
>produce less of the missing file errors. However it does not explain why a cd-writter
>with it's more advanced /accurate reading abilities
>is not able to read the weak sectors as well while in Ms-dos or NT/XP boot OSthan
>an old ex. 12x cd-rom drive. Unfortunately there is very little that can be done
>to undo the dammage to the data in the weak sectors.
>
>The missing/unredable files is also rather unstable. It's not
>always 14 files, it could be 11, or 3, or 15.
>
>In other words MS got a bad batch of cd's or the master was defective when making
>thier copies.
>
>Nextly we can't confirm this. However it is possible that if one has smartdrive
running
> when installing xp from dos that
>it could casue these errors. Though we've never seen evidence of this. We can not
>confirm the effect of smardrive on Xp install's own cache.
>
>Also setting the cd-roms to mode 2 in the cmos/bios did provide a marked improvement
>in the number or missing file errors. We agree that this is odd . However it only
>makes sense when a fast cd-rom/writter is used on an older computer system .
>
>We hope this helps.
>
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- Written in response to:
- re: missing files (mike: Sunday, February 15, 2004 at 7:51 am)
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