Weirdest problem i've ever encountered!

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clever_j

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I know this is SOME LONG AZZ POST, but I hope some of ya'll have the patience and time to help me out....

ok.. here we go..

I've been having problems with some installations... everything else in my PC works dandy, except for some installer files on my HDs that are OK (not corrupt) but doesnt seem to work. The 2 installers are:

Sierra Print Artist Platinum 4.5

and

PhoneWorksPro.exe

I get errors such as:

Can't run 16-bit Windows program
Cannot find file *** (or one of its compontents). Check to ensure the path and filename are correct and all required libraries are available.

NOTE: "***" is the location of the setup file that I JUST LAUNCHED.. I dont understand why windows can't find it..

I've also had problems with installing FarCry and UT2004... not sure if they are related.. EVERYTHING ELSE works fine so far. I've installed windows XP, MS office, DOom3, many other huge stuffs.. seems to be ok..


I noticed that both installers are compressed packages.. and one (PhoneWOrksPro) seem to "extract" itself first and then launch the installer from the temp directory.. It seems to extract properly, but it gives an error when launching the setup.exe file (see above error).

After trying some stuffs i noticed a pattern.

For PhoneWorksPro.exe, everytime i reboot, MY FIRST ATTEMP TO INSTALL IT is OK (the file is extracted and setup is launched and i see the setup screen etc). I cancelled the installation and launched the installer again.. then i get the error!

I did this many times and the first attemp always works.. the succeeding atempts fail miserably after exract.


I tried everything.. scan disks... rebooting.. turning AV off.. removing my over clocks.. i even deep scanned my hard drives, ran tests on my memory modules and cpu burn ins.. everything was fine.. Then I tried removing one of my RAM sticks to see if maybe one of my rams are broken (despite the memtests).. both rams (alternate) gave the same results..


NOW FOR THE WEIRD PART[\b]
Since the exraction works, and since the FIRST ATTEMPTS (every reboot) to install PhoneWorks works, I rebooted and tried to install.. during the SETUP screen, and before I cancelled, i went first to the temp directory and snatched the extacted files.. they were in a folder called:

"pftD~tmp"

I put this folder on my desktop.. I cancelled the current installation.. and launched the setup.exe RIGHT FROM THE "pftD~tmp" FOLDER ON MY DESKTOP.. and guess what.. it works!! the extracted setup files seem to work in every attemp..

I now have 2 folders... 1 was the folder I manually extracted earlier called

"PhoneWorksPro" (running setup.exe in this folder raises an error, EVEN ON FIRST ATTEMPTS right after reboot as opposed to running the original installer itself)

and the other was the "snatched" from the temp directory called..

"pftD~tmp" (running the setup.exe in this folder is OK)


THEY HAD IDENTICAL FILES IN THEM!

NOW THE REALLY WEIRD PART.. brace yourselves...

I was trying different things.. I also tried to REPLACE EACH FILE from the "pftD~tmp" to the PhoneWorksPro folder... I ENDED UP REPLACING ALL THE FILES in the PhoneWorksPro folder with the files from "pftD~tmp" folder.. and guess what? Setup from PhoneWorksPro folder is still not working!!!

THEN... for some reasons, i changed the filename of the "pftD~tmp" folder to "pftD~tmp2" (because i wanted to duplicate)....

but then... THE SETUP.EXE FILE FROM "pftD~tmp2" (which was originally "pftD~tmp") DOESNT SEEM TO WORK ANYMORE!!!

I removed the "2" from "pftD~tmp2" bringing it to its original folder name and running setup.exe again from within it works again!!! I added another number to the folder name.. ran the setup.exe.. i get the ERROR!!

Here's the bottom line.. THE SETUP.EXE FILE SEEMS TO WORK IF IT IS IN A FOLDER WITH CERTAIN NAMES, adn SOME NAMES GET THE ERROR!!

Original FOlder name that worked:
"pftD~tmp"

SOME of the other folder names that worked (I didnt touch the files inside the folder, just renamed the folder itself)

"pftD~tm"
"pftDtmp"
"pftDtm"
"phone"
"damnthis"
"t3"
"bootre"
"bootre2"
"bootre3"
"dutchman"
"scaramon"
"PhoneWor"
"akd9fk40"


.. i tried lots.. even just naming the folder "p" worked

SOME of the folder names that DIDNT work (again, just renaming the SAME folder)

"pftD~tmp3"
"PhoneWorksPro"
"PhoneWorks"
"phoneworks"
"damnthis3"
"scaramonga is the shiznit"
"asd isk"
"ph one"


Freaking weird huh?!

After trying stuffs and painfully observing for preculiarities i found 2 patterns..

1) If the folder name has a space in between its characters, an error occurs
2) If the folder name is MORE THAN 8 characters, an error occurs


Now I tried this with some other installers and exe files on my HD (same drive and different as well) renaming their folders to something really long and spaced out like:

"akd9fk40asdio audioaudoasud aod3 iapdio 3q209da"

they still work...


Guys? Is my PC spooked or what?!


Tea
 
@ ShoobieRat

hahahaha. well, just read the bottom part.. it's about folder names defining the success/failure of launching the setup.exe

never seen such a problem before
 
Hey, I've only got two brain cells. When the left ain't talking to the right the left's not in the right mind.
 
its windows, what do u expect, the other day my computer was acting weird and it had been for awhile and i couldnt figure out why, so i do a recovery with the xp disc, instead of recovering, it *****es about not being able to find files when all the ones it needs should be on the cd and then screws the entire install and im forced to format and reinstall. if i didnt dual boot with mandrake or have a knoppix disc laying around i woulda been screwed with all the data sitting on the windows partition that i need, when im using the means that ms gave me to fix their own os. pathetic, imo

as for ur prob, i had an installer that worked great, reinstalled windows and tried to reinstall the software using the installer i used before and nothing, errored everytime,. downloaded the same version again and it worked, guessing it got corrupted so thats what happened to me. have u tried a newer version or re-dloading the one u have

i even read ur whole post :p
 
neversleeps said:
its windows, what do u expect, the other day my computer was acting weird and it had been for awhile and i couldnt figure out why,
That's what we're here for.
neversleeps said:
so i do a recovery with the xp disc, instead of recovering, it *****es about not being able to find files when all the ones it needs should be on the cd
If your copy of XP is OEM, or a distributed copy (such as from Dell, Gateway, Compaq, etc), these are not editions cut by Microsoft. Errors in the installer and included bins are the responsibility of the distributer, not Microsoft. These are complaints/errors which should be brought up with Microsoft, so that Microsoft can go inspect the system being used by Dell (or whatever) to correct problems. These kinds of things aren't found easily, since most people phoning in are just idiots who didn't do something correctly.
If you purchased your XP cd seperately, you should bring these issues up with Microsoft. Chances are, you have an out-of-date installer (notorious on hard-copy cd releases), or you have some kind of proprietary hardware/drivers that the CD is picking up and trying to find the associated drivers for. This is common for people who are using purchased CDs on Dell (or whatever) machines, or when they canibalize a Dell (or whatever) machine for proprietary parts.
Lastly, if it is such the case that you bootlegged/stole/purchased-from-street-vendor your copy of XP, don't complain...
neversleeps said:
and then screws the entire install and im forced to format and reinstall.
Windows will not continue with a full installation if it cannot install needed software modules for the OS to function. It WILL NOT proceed, and as an added note, it is virtually impossible to do this. The problems you experience with the installation trying to find things on the CD or elsewhere, is either clear indication of an OEM/proprietary/bootleg copy, OR you have hardware on the box that that edition of the installer and driver cabinet can't identify. The OS fails because of 3rd part problems, not the OS. The OS is fine.
neversleeps said:
when im using the means that ms gave me to fix their own os. pathetic, imo
Correction. The XP installation is NOT a recovery installer. The CD may be, but the OS installer is NOT. If some computer manuf. gave you a recovery CD, and it doesn't work, you blame the manuf., NOT MS.
On top of the fact that the installer doesn't really do anything to fix problems. It just does a blanket overlay of the files and registry, and is done. If replacing possibly corrupted files or drivers does not solve the problem, then the problem is beyond the scope of the installer. The Windows Repair option is NOT an intelligent repair tool. It simply looks at what is missing, moved, modified, or out of size-spec, and replaces it.

Please try to maintain a level of intelligence. You are outright and abruptly blaming MS for a problem that has many many other parts to it. You take that CD and put it in another machine, it installs fine, guess what? It's not the CD or the OS. Take the time to examine the whole problem before popping-off like some mindless drone yelling "MS sucks" repeatedly and letting the real problems get ignored.


Clever, yer gonna have to try a repair, and if that doesn't work, I'm afraid a reinstall. Like said before. You got lucky and bummed out of an installation at a bad place, and something's seriously nixed. That's all we can say.
 
you have some damaged files. try this, it'll reregister the needed files, hopefully . Start/run/cmd

then type the following (oh yeah, put in the windows xp cd but dont let it autorun):

expand D:\i386\config.nt_ c:\windows\system32\config.nt
expand D:\i386\autoexec.nt_ c:\windows\system32\autoexec.nt
expand D:\i386\command.co_ c:\windows\system32\command.com
exit

Im assuming, by the way, that c:\ is the system drive (in case of dual boot) and the D:\ is the cdrom. Let me know if this works, there are other things you can do. I'll check technet to find some info then and give the hyperlink.
 
back to te orginal topic, I was having issues like this with /blackBox on my SP2 install. spaces in folder names can be troublesome, at least in unix (I think it uses%/ to represent spaces). I think you are onto something with the 8char long names. Sounds like a DOS limiation (saw this come up in my DVD backup spree a week ago), how old are these installers? Try and get newer versions for the publisher.
 
@neversleeps
i even read ur whole post
lolz

@ ShoobieRat
This is a fresh install of XPSP2 im running. I just installed it a few weeks ago.. had the problem with printartist right from the start.. had a problem with phoneWorks yesterday.. and thought to myself this can't be right.. similar problems.. hence the posted topic of mine..


@ killians45

thanks man! i can't wait to try this.. however, the XP w/ SP2 CD (original) isnt with me right now.. that's what I used with my current installation of XP..

All i have is my old XP (original version w/o SP2).. would this be ok?

@ digitaloracle
im glad you see some "leads and clues" as well... im not just about ready to reformat and reinstall windows just yet.. i could but I WANT TO KNOW what's causing this.. I want to LEARN.

So yeah, it does seem like a DOS thing... and the error says
"Can't run 16-bit Windows program"

..hmm.. what do you think mate?

Also yes these are UPDATED INSTALLERS.. NOT CORRUPTED as i was able to install both printartist and phoneworks..

With both "Sierra Print Artist Platinum 4.5.exe" and "PhoneWorksPro2004.exe" i extracted it and renamed the folder to something within 8 characters and no spaces.. the setup.exe in them folders worked fine under those conditions.

As with my other problems, Farcry and UT2004 (5 nero "nrg" files each) well, i can't do much about that since the installers unpack the CAB files during installation, and if it is the same scenario as the above installers, I can't "snatch" the dynamically extracted files..
 
yes, the original version should be fine. just copy over if it says a file is older blah blah blah.
 
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