Stumper of an XP problem

I am working on a Dell laptop running XP. The problem is that it can not connect through the internal nic. The nic was removed from device manager before the machine came to me.

I naturally tried to install the nic with the proper driver BUT the machine will not recognize the r49651.exe file OR any exe file on any removeable device. Very strange. Same thing in safe mode. Two differennt system restore points yield the same thing. System will not even boot from CD....cd drive could be bad.....don't really know. I tried to rename the EXE but it still will not show it in windows explorer. I tried to zip the EXE but the unzipper tells me that the zip file is corrupted. EXE files on the systems hard drive show up and run. I am realy at a loss.......HELP!! Looking for ANY suggestions.

-Jim

 

Hey Jim,

Are you getting error messages? What exactly happens when you try and run the .exe?

Also, are you logged in as the Administrator?

Steve

 

Thank you for your reply. No error messages. Nothing abnormal appears in the event logs. I am logged on as administrator. The EXE file does not even appear in Windows Explorer but other files do. If I go to command prompt and do a "dir/w/o/p" the exe file does not show up. While still in command mode I try to execute r49651.exe and it comes back with "no such internal command". This is realy wierd.

-Jim

 

OK. I was looking for an Invalid Data error. It is a puzzler.

 

Thank you. I ran sfc /scannow, never ran it before, it ran to completion with no errors or repairs. Still the same issue with the removable flash drive. I wonder if it is an issue with the flash drive specific to EXE files? I'm going to try an external USB hard drive to see what happens.

-Jim

 

I wanted you to see the article below, it usually has error messages with it but not always. It did help several users who were unable to install drivers. It sounds like you know what you are doing, so if this doesn't seem to apply just disregard.

Steve

 

Thanks for your response. I tried the registry permission thing and no change. I did attach an external USB hard drive and was able to see and execute EXE files. The problem seems to only surface with a flash drive and Windows XP. I will continue to research.

-Jim