Cannot run some .exe files

[Ausatco]

In the last couple of days I've downloaded a Nero program update (filename nero63117.exe) and a driver update for my AC97 on-board sound card (filename wdm_a361.exe). Both are large .exe files, but neither will run. They just briefly open what looks like a DOS window with no command line in it (just blank black) which then closes in less than half a second.

Both files are legit from manufacturers' download pages on their websites, and both are identified for use on my OS.

The icon for both saved files is the Windows window, if you can see what I mean. Does that indicate what file type XP thinks it is?

I've tried running in all compatibility modes and also in safe mode with the same result.

I'm sure I used not to have this problem, but there's no way I can identify what I might have done to change the 'puter's behaviour.

.exe files known to be Windows-based, such as the various Setup.exe progs and Install Shield, etc, are fine.

Can anyone give me any pointers, pleeaassee!

XP Home SP1 fully updated, 2.6G P4, 512Mb RAM, Heaps of empty space on the system drive (at least 40G). AV is PCCillin (I tried turning off its real-time scan), Pest Patrol and ZoneAlarm are running plus a few other progs in the System Tray. Recent scans (yesterday) with Pest Patrol, Spybot S&D, AdAware and PCCillin are all clean.

Cheers

AA

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Ausatco,

You would think it would at least run in Safe Mode. Could have just been a bad day on the Net. Have you tried downloading them again, just in case?

Since you already tried Safe Mode, this might not help, but in Normal Mode, try hitting Ctrl+Alt+Del and stop all the extra processes before running the Driver and Nero.

Which Driver are you using? Also which Mobo do you have, my guess is the Audio is onboard and not a PCI Card.

Take Care,

Richard

[under_exposed]

Try opening a dos box mannually and running it from there.

[Ausatco]

Under-exposed, that's a good idea, why didn't I think of it!!

Richard, the sound card is on the mobo and is an AC97 from Realtek. I'm at work ATM and don't have my current driver details (ie the numbers) to hand. According to the read.me file on the Realtek download page the version number on the one I'm trying to install is in logical numerical sequence after the current one, so I'm 100% sure I have the right file. I'll post the numbers when I get home.

It would have to be a bad TWO days on the net, because I downloaded the Nero file yesterday and the AC97 file today, each from the manufacturer's own site, so I'd have to be unlucky to get two bad files. Still, stranger things have happened, I guess.

Is there a security setting in XP that could be doing this?

Cheers

AA

[Memetic]

Hi,

When you need to go into DOS from XP go in using cmd.exe instead of command.exe

The shell started by cmd.exe understands long file names, it makes life much easier!

I have no idea why there are two versions of the shell, one of which makes life hard when dealing with a default install!

Regards

Memetic

[Ausatco]

Thanks, Memetic, good tip. I ran the driver update and got a "not enough memory" message.

I right clicked the file, then properties and tried various configurations on the memory tab, to no avail. The file size is 9.4 Mb - I tried 10Mb and also the max available (16384) in the drop-down lists in the Extended, Expanded and DOS Protected memory fields. I don't know what I'm doing here, so if there's an option I'm stuffing up some guidance would be very welcome!

Richard, the currrenty istalled AC97 driver version is 5.10.0.4050. The update is 5.10.0.5580. And the audio IS on board, not a card. The driver is specifically for the on-board audio. Also, using msconfig I unticked all the items in the Startup tab and rebooted, but no joy. Also downloaded a new copy of the file from a different mirror - same result. The computer is a Medion 8008, the mobo is an MSI 6A7I0M4M (reported by Fresh Diagnose) or MS-6701 (reported by Belarc Advisor) with SIS chipset.

Cheers

AA

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Ausatco,

I know the mobo, it is a SiS 648 Chipset.

I would go to the SiS and Realtek Websites and download the latest Drivers for both the mobo and audio:

Realtek ALC650 AC'97 Audio CODECs (http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/dlac97-2.aspx?lineid=5&famid=12&series=8&Software=True)

SiS DOWNLOAD CENTER (http://download.sis.com/)

Take Care,

Richard

[Ausatco]

Thanks Richard.

Your Realtek link got me to an AC97 update package that worked, so thanks for that - that new driver has a number of excellent features. However, updating the mobo and sound card drivers didn't fix the problem in regard to the Nero 6 update. A reinstall of the OS (see below) didn't fix it either, so I've decided to live with ver 5.5.10.7

I put the Nero upgrade aside for the moment and started playing around with Windows Media Player. For some reason it had stopped playing streamed audio. Every time it connected it shut down with a nice polite apology, but always the failure was in the same mode, reporting an unhappiness to do with mplayer.exe and ntdll.dll.

The research I did on that suggested a repair of Windows was the way to go (reinstall of XP over the top of the current one.) Didn't work, did it. :( It kept failing in the last 5 minutes in the "finalising" segment.

That led to a format and re-install, and I took the opportunity to trim the installed software - even less than what it came with. Amazing how much faster it is without the extra baggage.:D

But there is an issue - I'll start a new topic for it.

Cheers

AA

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Ausatco,

It sounds like, one step forward, two steps back. I will look for your new thread.

Take Care,

Richard

[Ausatco]

Well, I found out yesterday why those downloaded files wouldn't work - they're corrupted.

I didn't figure that out until I tried to do them again and noticed an http download alternative. I tried that and all ok. So then I investigated a bit. I examined the originals with WinRAR and it reported that they all were corrupted in various ways. They were all ftp downloads via my browser (Slimbrowser).

I tried ftp downloads again, this time with an ftp client (Cute FTP). No problems. I tried other sites that offer ftp downloads. Through the browser, all were corrupted. Through CuteFTP or http, if offered, all were ok.

Soooo.... now the question is, why would the browser reliably corrupt ftp downloads, but not http? (in the browser setup I don't use a proxy for ftp downloads).

I don't need and answer, but would be interested if you have a suggestion.

AA

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Ausatco,

How does FTP download via IE? (I am wondering if there is an issue with Slimbrowser, I have never used it.)

Take Care,

Richard

[Ausatco]

It's wierd, Richard. I just ftp'd from both the German Nero site (where I had the problem) and the US mirror in both Slimbrowser and IE, and everything is now ok.

Maybe the ether was a bit thick on the first attempt:confused:

(You probably already know, but for the benefit of others, Slimbrowser is a tabbed browser shell built around the IE engine. It's only a 1.4meg download, so I imagine you're only downloading the shell, the innards are already installed by default on any Windows machine. It is easy to give it a trial run - it doesn't interfere with any other browser at all, so it's easy to dump if you don't like it. Security in IE and hence Slimbrowser has not been an issue because I keep everything up to date. Personally, I like it. I find it difficult to choose between it and Opera. But that's a different topic:) )

AA

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Ausatco,

I wonder what happened in your system which rectified the situation? It could be that you made a change to either your firewall or antivirus that solved the problem. :confused:

Take Care,

Richard

[Ausatco]

Doh!! I did that last test on the wrong machine.:{

I just did it again on the desktop, which I now recall is the one I used when I noticed the problem.

All my browsers on this machine - Slimbrowser, IE and Opera, produce corrupted files if the files are downloaded via ftp within the browser. WinRAR reports "Unexpected end of file" error.

Http downloads are OK and so are ftp downloads with an external ftp client such as CuteFTP.

I can reliably reproduce the problem, but I have no idea about where to start to fix it.

2.6gig P4, 512Mb ram, 80gb hdd with 50 spare, XPhome SP2 fully updated. All browsers fully up to date. PCCillin 2003 fully updated. ZoneAlarm Pro 4.5.594 (holding off on an update there as there were some issues in 5.0.xxx which may or may not have been fixed. I have 5.1.011 stored but not installed yet.)

AA

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Ausatco,

First remove Slimbrowser and then get the latest updates for IE. If that does not solve the problem, then completely remove IE from your system and then reinstall it.

That should solve the problem. Once you can download via FTP in IE, reinstall Slimbrowser.

Take Care,

Richard

[Ausatco]

Richard,

My software is already fully updated so I went to step 2.

I uninstalled Slimbrowser and then removed IE by unchecking the box in the Add and Remove Windows Components in the Add and Remove Programs applet in Control Panel. I'm not sure I got a full removal, because when I added it back again all my custom link buttons came back, plus a couple of helpers - Spoofstick and Roboform (both desirable and benign.) The removal and re-installation did not fix the problem.

But before I go into another more rigorous uninstallation, here's another clue:

I placed the URL ftp://ftp4.nero.com/ into the address line. In each browser I got a list of files, as you'd expect.

In both Slimbrowser and Opera I was able to copy the file NMP1403.exe to a folder on my PC, uncorrupted, via a right click copy and paste. Note that previously both browsers would produce a corrupted download file if the download was started from this link (http://www.nero.com/en/download_nero6.php?pak=4&serv=de), which points to exactly the same file in exactly the same location and uses the same (ftp) protocol.

However when using the same method in IE it broke about 90% into the transfer, reporting lost connection. This is all repeatable.

Questions to ponder:

Why does IE break the file or connection during transfer?

Why do the other two browsers let you do it successfully if you do it step-by-step manually, but not from the link?

I'm at a loss :(

AA

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Ausatco,

The only thing remotely close on the M$ site was this:

You cannot download files from an FTP server (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;816037&Product=ie600)

But I do not think that will help much.

Richard

[Ausatco]

Yes, I found that too, Richard. I checked my version of URLMON.DLL and it's later than theirs, as you'd expect with SP2 applied, so I didn't go for the hotfix.

Odd that one machine is ok and the other isn't, though the software environment is virtually the same.

Thanks for sticking with me on this, but I think I'll give up on it for now - I have a couple of workarounds, so all is not lost. Perhaps it'll fix itself in some unannounced way - it's happened before.

Cheers

AA

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Ausatco,

Well you know the sure fire fix for it. With all the time you spent on it, if you had done the fresh install at the beginning, I think you would have already been ahead on time. (A Repair with the WinXP CD might fix it too.)

Richard

[Ausatco]

Yes, I might try the Repair, Richard. I'm not in a hurry to do a full rebuild as the system is fine in all other respects. Though having said that, this installation, with updates and lots of experimentation, has been going for a year now. A refreshing rebuild, rather than a renovation, to use a construction-worker's terms, might be appropriate.

Also, trying to diagnose and fix the problem is educational, so while I have spent time on it, I've learned stuff on the way. Just have to remember it now:O

Thanks again

AA

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Ausatco,

Also, trying to diagnose and fix the problem is educational, so while I have spent time on it, I've learned stuff on the way.

That is half the fun. :ok:

Richard

P.S. The other half is knowing you were able to help someone. ;)