"Bad crc" during system restore

Hello,

I'm trying to reload an Emachines Tower 500is
running Win 98 for a friend. I do not have any
background information regarding this machine which
was obtained as used. I have the original restore
disk that came with the machine.
The restore disk locates the archive cabs.img
and begins inflating files, but a large number
( not all by any measure) of .CAB files respond
with:

inflating: filename bad crc xxxxxxxx (should be yyyyyyyy)

Eventually the failed restoration spreads beyond
the .CAB files to include others - .EXE, .DLL, and others.
Googling "bad crc" is quite monstrous. Does
anyone have any suggestions to narrow the Google search ?
I've successfully formatted the hard disk multiple
times. A surface scan with scandisk does not find any
problems. The restore CD has one scratch. Would
the system respond with "bad crc's" because of
a scratched disk ? Is my CD drive failing ?
I stumped. I'd appreciated a direction to follow.

Thanks, Bob

I would suspect that either the restore CD is damaged or the CDROM drive is
faulty and needs to be replaced. It's also possible that you may have a
problem with the memory (RAM) in the computer and that it is corrupting the
files during copying/decompression.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User]
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* My website, such as it is ... http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"bob olbrich" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I'm trying to reload an Emachines Tower 500is
running Win 98 for a friend. I do not have any
background information regarding this machine which
was obtained as used. I have the original restore
disk that came with the machine.
The restore disk locates the archive cabs.img
and begins inflating files, but a large number
( not all by any measure) of .CAB files respond
with:

inflating: filename bad crc xxxxxxxx (should be yyyyyyyy)

Eventually the failed restoration spreads beyond
the .CAB files to include others - .EXE, .DLL, and others.
Googling "bad crc" is quite monstrous. Does
anyone have any suggestions to narrow the Google search ?
I've successfully formatted the hard disk multiple
times. A surface scan with scandisk does not find any
problems. The restore CD has one scratch. Would
the system respond with "bad crc's" because of
a scratched disk ? Is my CD drive failing ?
I stumped. I'd appreciated a direction to follow.

Thanks, Bob

Just adding a point to Richard's reply, if you have a CD burner available on another
computer, try burning a copy of the restore CD, and using that. Copy to an image on
the hard disc first, rather than "on the fly" from CD drive to burner. If it copies
to image successfully, that may indicate that the CD is OK. If the burning app
cites read errors, then the disc may be damaged.

If there are read errors (and even if there are not), try making a copy with the
trial version of CloneCD. It will often succeed in copying a disc that another
burning app won't. It makes exact clones of the original CD.
http://www.slysoft.com/en/clonecd.html
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"bob olbrich" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I'm trying to reload an Emachines Tower 500is
running Win 98 for a friend. I do not have any
background information regarding this machine which
was obtained as used. I have the original restore
disk that came with the machine.
The restore disk locates the archive cabs.img
and begins inflating files, but a large number
( not all by any measure) of .CAB files respond
with:

inflating: filename bad crc xxxxxxxx (should be yyyyyyyy)

Eventually the failed restoration spreads beyond
the .CAB files to include others - .EXE, .DLL, and others.
Googling "bad crc" is quite monstrous. Does
anyone have any suggestions to narrow the Google search ?
I've successfully formatted the hard disk multiple
times. A surface scan with scandisk does not find any
problems. The restore CD has one scratch. Would
the system respond with "bad crc's" because of
a scratched disk ? Is my CD drive failing ?
I stumped. I'd appreciated a direction to follow.

Thanks, Bob

Hello again,

Since I posted I've run two hardware diagnostics.
#1-tufftest lite showed everything OK.
The AMIDIAG demo for DOS was consistent in one way,
that is it never froze at the same point. Sometimes
it froze analyzing the hard disk, sometimes it
froze at the sound card,...etc. It never
completed all the tests. I don't know
if that helps ???

Bob

glee wrote:
Just adding a point to Richard's reply, if you have a CD burner available on another
computer, try burning a copy of the restore CD, and using that. Copy to an image on
the hard disc first, rather than "on the fly" from CD drive to burner. If it copies
to image successfully, that may indicate that the CD is OK. If the burning app
cites read errors, then the disc may be damaged.

If there are read errors (and even if there are not), try making a copy with the
trial version of CloneCD. It will often succeed in copying a disc that another
burning app won't. It makes exact clones of the original CD.
http://www.slysoft.com/en/clonecd.html

I'd be looking seriously at the memory, although perhaps the power supply as
well now based on this new information.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User]
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* My website, such as it is ... http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"bob olbrich" wrote in message
...
Hello again,

Since I posted I've run two hardware diagnostics.
#1-tufftest lite showed everything OK.
The AMIDIAG demo for DOS was consistent in one way,
that is it never froze at the same point. Sometimes
it froze analyzing the hard disk, sometimes it
froze at the sound card,...etc. It never
completed all the tests. I don't know
if that helps ???

Bob

glee wrote:
Just adding a point to Richard's reply, if you have a CD burner available
on another
computer, try burning a copy of the restore CD, and using that. Copy to
an image on
the hard disc first, rather than "on the fly" from CD drive to burner.
If it copies
to image successfully, that may indicate that the CD is OK. If the
burning app
cites read errors, then the disc may be damaged.

If there are read errors (and even if there are not), try making a copy
with the
trial version of CloneCD. It will often succeed in copying a disc that
another
burning app won't. It makes exact clones of the original CD.
http://www.slysoft.com/en/clonecd.html

On Fri, 24 Dec 2004 13:50:54 -0600, bob olbrich

I'm trying to reload an Emachines Tower 500is
running Win 98 for a friend.

Why? Specifically, what problems are you attempting to blindly
bulldoze away? See...

http://cquirke.mvps.org/reinst.htm

I do not have any background information regarding
this machine which was obtained as used. I have the
original restore disk that came with the machine.
The restore disk locates the archive cabs.img
and begins inflating files, but a large number
( not all by any measure) of .CAB files respond
with:

inflating: filename bad crc xxxxxxxx (should be yyyyyyyy)

Eventually the failed restoration spreads beyond
the .CAB files to include others - .EXE, .DLL, and others.

There are two patterns of failure you may see he

1) Static

Always the same files are reported as broken. Suspect a bad
installation disk or drive; clean disk, retry, etc.

2) Variable

Different files and errors everytime. Suspect flaky hardware,
starting with RAM if it's completely random, HD if it's almost or
actually *is* static in nature, etc.

With a PC about which nothing is known except that it doesn't work, I
would never bother to try "just wipe and re-install Windows" until I'd
checked the hardware. That's fans, motherboard caps, RAM on
www.memtest.org or www.simmtester.com, and hard drive.

Else it's a CWOT.



---------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
Proverbs Unscrolled #37
"Build it and they will come and break it"
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Thanks everyone,

It was a bad memory problem. Memtest86+ listed
1,000,000+ errors. I don't know why my other
diagnostics did not find a memory problem.

Thanks, Bob