[Spyderturbo007]

I'm having an issue with some corrupted files. Every time I boot the machine, I receive an error saying "C:\Windows\Fonts" is corrupted, please run chkdsk. The machine also tries to run chkdsk on every boot. It's causing problems when trying to open programs, such as QuickBooks, and tells me that the fonts are corrupted. Here's what I've tried and nothing has worked.

• chkdsk /r (Ran but didn't fix the problem)
• chkdsk /f (Ran but didn't fix the problem)
• sfc /scannow (Prompted for the disk to repair some files, but didn't work)
• Tried running the "repair fonts folder" with the TweakUI powertoy (I hit the repair button and it doesn't seem to do anything)

I've searched the web and can't seem to find much about this particular corruption error, but have read that they fonts play a much larger role in the system than one might think.

Can anyone help with this? I really need to get QuickBooks running and can't even repair the program installation because it keeps flagging the fonts as corrupted and won't repair.

EDIT -> It's a Windows XP Pro machine running SP3.

Edited by Spyderturbo007, 02 August 2010 - 06:39 AM.

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have you looked in the fonts folder? do you see anything that looks like it's probably not a font? or are there a LOT more files that should be in there (i've got 500, if you've got something like 1,000 files in the folder and you don't remember installing 500 extra fonts...i'd be suspicious)? to be safe i suggest taking a spin through the malware forum.

Please read the Malware/Spyware cleaning guide here follow the instructions at the top....

That will give you several steps that will help you clean up 70 percent of all problems by yourself. If at the end of the process you are still having difficulty (and you may not be) then post an OTL log in THE MALWARE FORUM forum.
(Posting OTL logs or ANY other logs requested in the malware/spyware cleaning guide in any other forum other than the malware forum is forbidden. If you post any of these logs in any other forum, it will be removed and it will take you longer to get help, so please make sure you only post logs in the malware forum)

If you are still having problems after getting a clean bill of health from the malware expert, please return to this thread..


you could also run a repair install (assuming you've got your system disks). when you ran sfc, it detected that the files where there, and left them alone. SFC doesn't always inspect every file to see if it's functional or not, just if it's there. a repair install doesn't inspect anything. it simply deletes all of the operating system files and puts them back.

Repair the Windows XP installation.

To do this, follow these steps:

• Make sure that the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive is the first priority startup device.
  See your computer documentation for information about how to do this.
• Insert the Windows XP CD into the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart your computer.
• When the instruction to "Press any key to boot from CD" appears, press a key. Your computer starts from the Windows XP CD.
• When the computer starts from the CD, the system verifies your hardware, and then prompts you to select one of the following options:
  

  - To set up Windows XP now, press ENTER
  - To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.
  - To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

• Press ENTER.
• Press F8 to accept the Licensing Agreement.
• A box lists your current Windows XP installation, and then the computer prompts you to select one of the following options:
  

  - To repair the selected Windows XP installation, press R.
  - To continue installing a fresh copy of Windows XP without repairing, press ESC.

• Press R.

You'll get to keep your existing apps & settings, but you need to re-install SP2, Windows Updates & any unsigned drivers afterwards.
NOTE: Be aware that you'll lose any protection from Blaster / Sasser type worms. Don't go online without a firewall, whether the built in Windows one or 3rd party.

How to Perform A Re-Install Of XP.

[dsenette]

have you looked in the fonts folder? do you see anything that looks like it's probably not a font? or are there a LOT more files that should be in there (i've got 500, if you've got something like 1,000 files in the folder and you don't remember installing 500 extra fonts...i'd be suspicious)? to be safe i suggest taking a spin through the malware forum.

Please read the Malware/Spyware cleaning guide here follow the instructions at the top....

That will give you several steps that will help you clean up 70 percent of all problems by yourself. If at the end of the process you are still having difficulty (and you may not be) then post an OTL log in THE MALWARE FORUM forum.
(Posting OTL logs or ANY other logs requested in the malware/spyware cleaning guide in any other forum other than the malware forum is forbidden. If you post any of these logs in any other forum, it will be removed and it will take you longer to get help, so please make sure you only post logs in the malware forum)

If you are still having problems after getting a clean bill of health from the malware expert, please return to this thread..


you could also run a repair install (assuming you've got your system disks). when you ran sfc, it detected that the files where there, and left them alone. SFC doesn't always inspect every file to see if it's functional or not, just if it's there. a repair install doesn't inspect anything. it simply deletes all of the operating system files and puts them back.

Repair the Windows XP installation.

To do this, follow these steps:

• Make sure that the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive is the first priority startup device.
  See your computer documentation for information about how to do this.
• Insert the Windows XP CD into the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart your computer.
• When the instruction to "Press any key to boot from CD" appears, press a key. Your computer starts from the Windows XP CD.
• When the computer starts from the CD, the system verifies your hardware, and then prompts you to select one of the following options:
  

  - To set up Windows XP now, press ENTER
  - To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.
  - To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

• Press ENTER.
• Press F8 to accept the Licensing Agreement.
• A box lists your current Windows XP installation, and then the computer prompts you to select one of the following options:
  

  - To repair the selected Windows XP installation, press R.
  - To continue installing a fresh copy of Windows XP without repairing, press ESC.

• Press R.

You'll get to keep your existing apps & settings, but you need to re-install SP2, Windows Updates & any unsigned drivers afterwards.
NOTE: Be aware that you'll lose any protection from Blaster / Sasser type worms. Don't go online without a firewall, whether the built in Windows one or 3rd party.

How to Perform A Re-Install Of XP.

[Fenor]

Hi Spyderturbo007!

Looks like you just need to replace the fonts from those on the XP CD.

Below is a copy/paste from THIS site explaining how to do just that:

The only fonts that XP requires are the standard system fonts that are installed with XP. These include the following:

Courier New (TrueType, including Bold, Italic, and Bold Italic variations)
Arial (TrueType, including Bold, Italic, and Bold Italic variations)
Times New Roman (TrueType, including Bold, Italic, and Bold Italic variations)
Symbol (TrueType)
Wingdings (TrueType)
MS Serif
MS Sans Serif

You could expand just these fonts files from the CD to the font directory one by one but that would be time consuming. I suggest just getting all the font files from the CD and restoring them to the Fonts folder.

To do this verify the location of your font folder. On most XP systems it will be C:\WINDOWS\FONTS.

Place your XP CD in the CD drive. If it autoplays just cancel it. Open a command prompt by clicking Start then Run and typing CMD then hitting Enter. Change to your CD drive letter by typing it at the prompt followed by a colon. In most cases this will be D:

From here change into the i386 folder by typing cd i386 and hitting enter. You prompt should now look like D:\i386>

At this prompt you will now type the old DOS command to extract and expand files from the install CD to your font directory.

The command you want to type is expand -r *.tt_ C:\WINNT\FONTS or expand -r *.tt_ C:\WINDOWS\FONTS depending on where your Fonts folder is located. This will extract all the fonts from the install CD into your Fonts folder, including the crucial system fonts.

That should do it.

Once done, reboot the computer and see how things go.

**EDIT**
IF THAT DOESN'T WORK, YOU CAN DO WHAT THE CRAZY MONKEY SUGGESTS.

Edited by Fenor, 02 August 2010 - 07:22 AM.

[dsenette]

must've cross posted....i saw that bloggieblog too when i was googling....figured a repair would get anything else that might be corrupted too...

either option might work. if you'd prefer to do it surgically do fenor's method, if you like sledgehammers do mine hehe

[Spyderturbo007]

have you looked in the fonts folder? do you see anything that looks like it's probably not a font? or are there a LOT more files that should be in there (i've got 500, if you've got something like 1,000 files in the folder and you don't remember installing 500 extra fonts...i'd be suspicious)? to be safe i suggest taking a spin through the malware forum.

Yep. I was poking around in there and even after showing hidden files and protected OS files, I only see about 30 or 40. They were all fonts that I've seen before.

As for Malware, I'm pretty positive I'm clean. I run MalwareBytes every once in awhile and have Avast set up to scan weekly. To be honest, I very rarely ever browse the web with this machine and am diligent about updates. It's my desktop upstairs and basically just runs QuickBooks, iTunes and does video file conversions to iTunes format. Other than that, I really don't use it. All my browsing is done on my MacBook Air, or my iPad.

Hi Spyderturbo007!

Looks like you just need to replace the fonts from those on the XP CD.

Below is a copy/paste from THIS site explaining how to do just that:

Thanks Fenor, I'll give that a shot.

either option might work. if you'd prefer to do it surgically do fenor's method, if you like sledgehammers do mine hehe

I think I'll go surgically first and then resort to the sledgehammer.

Edited by Spyderturbo007, 02 August 2010 - 07:30 AM.

[Fenor]

must've cross posted....i saw that bloggieblog too when i was googling....figured a repair would get anything else that might be corrupted too...

either option might work. if you'd prefer to do it surgically do fenor's method, if you like sledgehammers do mine hehe

Sometimes it is a lot of fun using a sledge hammer to fix computer issues, so I won't be upset in the slightest if you prefer to do the monkey's suggestion.

[dsenette]

the malware suggestion is a "better safe than sorry" type of suggestion. do with it what you will.

[Fenor]

the malware suggestion is a "better safe than sorry" type of suggestion. do with it what you will.

Completely agree. It never hurts to check for malware, but it always can hurt to not check for it.

[Spyderturbo007]

the malware suggestion is a "better safe than sorry" type of suggestion. do with it what you will.

Completely agree. It never hurts to check for malware, but it always can hurt to not check for it.

Thanks a bunch everyone, Fenor's suggestion worked perfectly. No more annoying corruption popup and after the replacement, QuickBooks was working again.