Windows 7 - How do you fix corrupt system files that SFC can not?

Windows 7 - I need to fix corrupt system files that SFC can not, does anyone know how

Hi, I have had a lot of problems with my PC since last week that has ended in some corrupt files, I have included a file (sfc_second.txt) from SFC /verifyonly which I filtered out of the CBS.log file using some instructions I found, I don’t know if I filtered out the correct info.

Last week I downloaded and installed a few updates and shut the computer down (KB2529073, KB890830, KB2534366). The next day it I noticed that windows media player wouldn’t play WMV files (fine with other media files), it didn’t have the problem the previous day. I checked windows update and found KB2533552 was next to be installed (it had already downloaded), so I installed it hoping it would fix the WMV problem. I checked the media player and that was the same, no improvement. I decided to scan for a Trojan with Norton (NIS), but after trying to download Norton definition updates first it reported I had no protection and then I had to download 97MB to correct the problem with Norton.

I tried to use system restore a few times at different points and that failed. I then used SFC \scannow and found the corrupt files shown in sfc_first.txt. After that the video player played wmv files fine, until I restarted and I was back to square one. The malicious software removal tool was supposed to report if it found anything, it didn’t, but I perhaps that may have been the cause? I thought it may be a malware problem so I got some help in the malware forum, but I’ve gone as far as I can there. http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?p=1625829&posted=1

I have a full windows installation disk, but I've never made a recovery disc. There is a hidden volume which contains recovery tools like “startup repair” and “windows complete PC restore”, but I don’t know how to use them, if they can become infected by a Trojan or if they're the best solution.

Can anybody advise me how I can correct the corrupt files? I can not make a system restore point by the way as a relevant file is either missing or corrupt SSRSTR.DLL. I also have no firewall or antivirus (using an old computer here) as my Norton Subscription ran out, I have a new copy of Norton but don’t want to install it yet in case I need to re-install windows.

 

Sounds like a bit of scrambled data on the hard drive. Did you run error check on the hard drive? Also, you might want to try booting into safe mode and running the system file check again. Make sure you run the command prompt window as administrator as well.

 

Thanks for your reply, I'm not sure safe mode will help as sfc reports some of the files as "source file in store is also corrupted". How do you run an error check on the hard drive BTW?

 

I'm just going to upload copies of the dll that I have. They are from a two week old Win7 install with SP1 and all current updates.

Compare the file sizes to your copies.

If you want to test them try renaming your ssrstr.dll to something like ssrstrOLD.dll and then copying my copy of ssrstr.dll into System32. Then see if System Restore functions. I'm unsure if a reboot or using regsrv32 might be necessary.

Sometimes replacement copies work sometimes they don't--so retain your originals to undo any changes.

 

Greetings, lostdata.

Quick tutorial located here.

 

Thanks for the files I may give that a go, but right now I'm thinking of a clean install, the only thing stopping me is finding out how to re-use my oem copy of microsoft office pre-loaded with my pc (no disk or key included). I tried a test re-install on a spare hard drive (without registering) just to see how it went. The office install complains that the pre-paid rtc code can not be found in the registry, I'm trying to find out now where (if it still exists) this code can be found and if it can be re-used.

 

I checked the hard drive, it reported clusters needed to be repaired in a file called \windows\logs\system\re5479~1.erl

and 43 reparse records (not sure what they are)