Logical disk manager fails (among other things)

[steeve]

recently had an unexplained incident out of the blue - an error msg appeared saying something like "G drive ...corrupted ... run chkdsk" - i could not access the G drive so i rebooted and chkdsk ran automatically on reboot

this machine has 2 hard drives (one sata one ide) with multiple partitions. G is my main data partition. also, it's a well managed machine with AV, firewall etc.

so it booted up again and all seemed fine...i could access G drive ok

except ...these are some of the issues i have now:

1. cannot connect to the logical disk manager service (all the relevant services are set to auto and started) so disk management is not available

2. my backup software cannot see any drives

3. dcom error many times in the system log:

The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID
{1F87137D-0E7C-44D5-8C73-4EFFB68962F2}
to the user NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE SID (S-1-5-20).

This CLSID corresponds to Microsoft WMI Provider Subsystem Secured Host

i have worked through the MS fix for this without success

4. dcom error many times in the system log:

The server {A1F4E726-8CF1-11D1-BF92-0060081ED811} did not register with DCOM within the required timeout.

in the registry this belongs to Windows Image Aquisition which i do not specifically use, and the service is turned off anyway

5. if i check the dependencies tab for any service i get the error: Interface:Class not registered.

google searches only seem to turn up partially related fixes. have run sfc /scannow but no change. malwarebytes found no badies

so a bit sad really. just thought someone might have an idea or two

 

[gbhall]

You need to specify your OS and SP level. I am suggesting you could try system repair. Here is the Vista method. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936212 XP is similar. I am not familiar with the Win7 version.

In the case of XP this wont be very effective unless you actually have the install CD with slipstream SP level as well.

Other possibilities are system restore to before the original error; and/or a deep scan for malware.

Failing all that, a complete system reinstall might be advisable, which is a pain in fundamental anatomical areas.

 

[steeve]

thanks for your advice - more or less what i was expecting - it seems in cases like this, specific fixes will hardly ever be available

any ideas how these type of problems can happen (just to try and avoid them in the future)

apologies, this is XP SP3. it's quite a recent fresh install, so i am disappointed it is broken so soon.

i do have an slipstreamed XP disk. although i have installed / reinstalled many times, i have never tried a repair. oh well nothing to lose - except time

 

[gbhall]

There remains a small possibility your HDD is faulty - developes bad spots quickly. You could use the manufacturers deep testing suite, which will run for possibly hours.

Some people say these kind of odd, random and unexplained errors often come from bad ram, and again you can download memtest86 and run it for at least 7 passes (or seven hours whichever comes first !!). A single failure is enough to condemn the ram.

 

[steeve]

i did try to test the hdd with some software that i have, but it couldn't find any drives!

i will try to get the manufacturers suite. and memtest is an excellent suggestion - will try that too

if it is a hardware problem, it would be good to find that out

 

[steeve]

ok i have run memtest (7 passes) with no errors and the western digital diagnostic tests on the hard drives - all passed. so it doesn't seem to be a hardware issue

also done deep scans with malwarebytes and alvira

i'm still trying different avenues to find a fix, mainly out of fear (possibly ungrounded) that a system repair will end in catastrophe

i have had some bad experiences in the past - loss of data etc

 

[gbhall]

Then you need to examine the possibility that it is corruption caused in other ways.

Is the original install CD faulty ? Then the OS would show errors as soon as the faulty install application was run. So those DCOM errors - did they occur the first time you ran any DCOM facility? If not see here http://www.updatexp.com/dcom-windows-xp.html

Next what did you install just before the problem began ? Chances are the install is from some old, ancient software no longer compatible with SP3

This is sometimes a network software problem. Have you got the latest network driver, do you have different software from normal for a firewall, a network application, a browser?

I would agree that system repair is not very likely to help, but would not necessarily damage anything though. It would put back to install status any software that has been replaced by a newer version either from MS themsleves or - more likely - something you installed. That could break the 'something' you installed lately, and would require a reinstall of that.

BUT I would say system repair is still worth trying, because if it cures the trouble, you will have pinpointed a later install as the culprit.

Reason why system sfc may not do a good job is that, as far as I am aware, it will only check the version, MS key, time and date of each component dll. This can be useless if the dll is actually internally corrupted (as from a dud CD). What it should do is calculate a hash key for each dll to ensure every bit and byte is exactly what it should be. Do you expect MS does that? Me neither.

 

[steeve]

thanks for providing that info - much apprecialed

the install CD is probably ok - i have installed from it quite a few times on various computers.

i now strongly suspect an install attempt of QuickTimePlayer to be the culprit

On May 10 the error is logged : The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run the chkdsk utility... once each for volume C, volume F and volume G, ie for all my partitions

looking back, that was the same day i (very reluctantly) tried to install QuickTime Player. There were some movies I wanted to watch, but i knew that that application would create a scary number of files and registry entries...anyway the installation failed with errors ( but was successful on another machine)

later when i tried to run MSI on another file, there was a message about the QT installation.... and files being missing ....and unable to restore to previous state

so it seems very likely that that is when the damage was done. there are an astounding 684 reg entries corresponding to quicktime!! i always use revo to install software for this very reason - but that time the installation failed, so revo had no log...

 

[gbhall]

You are likely on the correct track there, and your best solution, short of a reinstall, might be a systems restore to before the failed install. You quite likely DO have failed NTFS entries too, and the software warning to run chkdsk /f is apt.

 

[steeve]

i don't have a suitable restore point, somehow, so i guess i will have to face a reinstall at some point. i will limp along for now

You quite likely DO have failed NTFS entries too, and the software warning to run chkdsk /f is apt.

will chkdsk fix these errors? will they keep returning?

 

[gbhall]

Chkdsk /f will most likely cure any NTFS corruptions, and If they were caused by the faulty install of quicktime, then no, they will not recur.

Since you were advised to run chkdsk, did you not do so? Running the m/f test suite (as I think you have) might only do a non-destructive read-write test. It might not check the drive for NTFS consistency, although I would have thought it should.

Always run any tests available to you. Better safe than sorry.

 

[steeve]

i have run chkdsk (a few times). and the manuf. test suite produced a clean record.

the only problems are that the My Computer list takes a looooong time to populate, and I can't access disk management. i can live like that for a while

i will probably try a repair at some point, followed by a reinstall at some later point.

it takes quite a long time to re-install all my software and retune all the windows settings to the way i like it....