[newreel]

Hello,

I was recently given some advice by someone for a problem I'm having with a Dell Dimension 4700 getting a blue screen.

They said to try sfc /scannow. I assumed I was to type that at a command prompt? If not, where should I be entering that command? Because when I type it at a command prompt, I get a message back saying that the command is not recognized.

Please Help!

 

[Rubix]

System File Checker! A very good tool to use to keep track of the important files for healthy operation. Many command switches. Look here at the MS knowledge Base:
Article ID : 310747
Last Review : May 7, 2007
Revision : 4.3


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310747

You should find everything you need there. If it doesn't work, you don't have the sfc.exe file in your OS. You can get tools off the disk. 40 of them aren't loaded during setup, you have to install them manually. Sfc.exe was installed in my XP SP2 Home during setup.

 

[newreel]

Okay, I checked out the knowledgebase article. So, it sounds like the sfc files weren't loaded during installation. I have an XP Home SP2 disk here that I can use if necessary. I don't have the user's disk here at my office. I'm assuming they are using XP Home.

So, what should I do now? Insert the XP Home CD into the drive and get to a command prompt and copy file(s) to the hdd? To which folder do I copy the files? I think I remember my DOS: copy *.* c:\*\* enter right?

So, please give me the name(s) of the file(s) I need to copy, and then a destination. That would be awesome.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Rubix]

As far as I know, the sfc.exe is installed as part of Service Pack 2. Its part of the Windows file protection which I think was refined in SP2. The file is on the XP SP2 disk in the root of I386 folder but its not the same size as the one in my system32 folder, its much smaller on the CD. I expect the setup extracts it from a compressed state. It probably won't run unless you have upgraded to SP2. You can do that easy at MS updates site. If you are already upgraded then something went wrong with the SP2 upgrade because its supposed to be there; in Windows System32 folder.

The support tools in the Support folder under tools on the XP HOME SP2 Installation Disk do not include the system file checker. Its a native part of the XP SP2 version.

 

[Deleted090308]

System File Checker (sfc.exe) is included in all versions of XP.

Look in C:\WINDOWS\system32 - can you see this icon?

Make sure you have a space after sfc when you type sfc /scannow.

 

[Rubix]

Also I installed the additional tools on the CD under the Support\tools\setup.exe and I noticed I already had some of the tools installed. I ran it earlier but had to restore before the install and the Tools in Programs list disappeared. The sfc.exe is in the I386 folder on the CD and is named SFC.EX_ . Maybe its just compressed cause its much smaller. I don't know but loading the entire tool set using Custom on the install might include the sfc; this I don't know. As far as copying it to your computer you can do that with explorer and just drag and drop but it won't execute. There used to be an extracter for Win98 CD files in win 98 but I don't know if there is one in XP; I can't find one. Of course there is one for Zipped folders.

 

[Rubix]

You might be able to use the Recovery console from the CD to extract that file; I'm not sure I have to check. I don't have a lot of experience using the Recovery Console yet.