Snipping Tool, Calculator files getting corrupted in 8.1

[WCarp]

After running sfc /scannow some time ago, it found file corruption and eventually I found that the corrupted files were Snipping Tool files and one Calculator file getting corrupted in 8.1 by viewing the sfcdetails.txt file (attached). When I run the sfc command every few days, I find that Snipping Tool files are corrupted again. This started after upgrading from Windows 8 to 8.1. This is very strange. What would cause only a Calculator file and usually Snipping Tool files to keep getting corrupted when there are so many other system files?

Thanks.

 

[popeye]

Try running DISM restore health: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/26512-dism-fixing-component-store-corruption-windows-8-a.html

 

[Brink]

Hello WCarp,

Luckily your SFC details show that it's only a shortcut of those programs that are corrupted and not the actual .exe file.

If you like, you could also just create a new shortcut directly from the .exe file to the location of the corrupted shortcut below. That location is what shows on your Apps screen.

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories (Windows Accessories)


.exe file locations:

• %windir%\system32\calc.exe
• %windir%\system32\SnippingTool.exe

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[popeye]

Thanks Brink, I neglected to read the file. Not that it means much to me.

Now I see it after looking, what a maroon.

 

[WCarp]

Thanks. Not all of the corrupted files are .lnk files, I see. The important thing is that I keep fixing the files with sfc and dism commands and when I run the sfc command a few days later, and dism if sfc can't fix the corruption, it finds corrupted files again and fixes them. So I would like to find out what is causing this continued file corruption. (A second level MS Support person did one refresh or repair in particular, just because of this problem I understand, and a third level MS Support person wanted to do another Windows repair and wipe out my apps to fix the file corruption issue! I said NO--I had spent enough hours trying to get my computer fixed.

I then did some research and after running the sfc and dism commands, the system corruption was fixed--for a while. The third level MS Support person thought the corruption was caused by hardware but how can hardware only affect one Calculator file and some Snipping Tool files and no other system files?

 

[Brink]

No worries Popeye. What you posted should repair the component store to then hopefully allow SFC to repair the files.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/3047-sfc-scannow-command-run-windows-8-a.html

 

[Brink]

Thanks. Not all of the corrupted files are .lnk files, I see. The important thing is that I keep fixing the files with sfc and dism commands and when I run the sfc command a few days later, and dism if sfc can't fix the corruption, it finds corrupted files again and fixes them. So I would like to find out what is causing this continued file corruption. (A second level MS Support person did one refresh or repair in particular, just because of this problem I understand, and a third level MS Support person wanted to do another Windows repair and wipe out my apps to fix the file corruption issue! I said NO--I had spent enough hours trying to get my computer fixed.

I then did some research and after running the sfc and dism commands, the system corruption was fixed--for a while. The third level MS Support person thought the corruption was caused by hardware but how can hardware only affect one Calculator file and some Snipping Tool files and no other system files?

Are you using any type of 3rd party registry or drive cleaning program by chance?

 

[WCarp]

No. This and other issues started with the upgrade from 8 to 8.1. I am using the same programs as before and haven't used any cleaning programs for maybe two months or more.

 

[Brink]

If the shortcuts still work, then I wouldn't worry about it. Otherwise, it may be best to start fresh with a clean install of Windows 8.1 when you have the time to do so.

 

[WCarp]

The shortcuts do not work at times and in addition, the Snipping Tool does not work right at times. Again Windows has been repaired/refreshed three times (everything has been wiped off the c: partition) by a second level MS Support person so another time won't help. No one has an answer as to why this is occurring.

 

[Brink]

Did you only reinstall Windows 8 and updated to 8.1 again when trying to fix this, or did you do a clean install with 8.1 directly?

Upgrades can sometimes have unknown causes for issues like this.

 

[WCarp]

Windows 8.1 was refreshed from downloads twice and then installed from a DVD directly last, again which wiped everything off the c: partition--there was only one upgrade initially from 8.0.

 

[Brink]

I must admit that I'm not sure why they keep getting corrupted in that case. Have you noticed any type of pattern for when this happens?

You might run chkdsk on the hard drive to test it for bad blocks to see if that may be part of the issue.

 

[popeye]

I must admit that I'm not sure why they keep getting corrupted in that case. Have you noticed any type of pattern for when this happens?

You might run chkdsk on the hard drive to test it for bad blocks to see if that may be part of the issue.

Yes, run chkdsk /f . I kept getting corrupt reports with sfc after it fixed things when running it again later. Haven't had the problem since. It will take awhile on a large drive.

 

[WCarp]

I ran chkdsk on the c: partition and it found no errors. I noticed when looking at the sfcdetails.txt document, that there were some instances where there is a reference to AMD, such as, "App, Version = 6.3.9600.16384, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_AMD64 (9), Culture neutral, VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, hash mismatch" as if it might have something to do with the processor.

On my second computer which has almost the same configuration but a different processor, I get less errors concerning the Snipping Tool and none refer to AMD. There was no Calculator error in the last log file and also I noticed that for some reason, the last sfc log wasn't appended to any previous ones. (I attached sfcdetails2.txt.)

 

[Brink]

This SFC log showed that it was able to repair the files.

What happens when you create your own shortcut for the affected one directly from the .exe file? Do they continue to work without issue?

 

[MV10]

I'm starting to suspect there is something wrong with the SFC tool itself. I have an Asus laptop which is unfortunately stuck on 8.1 (no Win7 drivers) and every so often it throws a Kernel In-Page Data error. I returned it for repair, they rather suspiciously noted it had a "bad track" (it's an SSD, it doesn't have tracks) -- after spending about 10 hours getting it ready for use, it immediately threw another Kernel In-Page Data error.

I ran SFC and just like every other time, it reports Calculator.lnk is bad.

Google searches show that a lot of people see SFC reporting Calculator.lnk and SnipTool.lnk errors.

The drive controller failure is troubling in itself, but these SFC results are looking pretty suspicious to me.

 

[popeye]

Sure are a lot of Asus problems here. Don't know if it is just because a lot of them out there. Anybody care to comment?

 

[MV10]

Sure are a lot of Asus problems here. Don't know if it is just because a lot of them out there. Anybody care to comment?

I'm pretty displeased with their non-standard form-factor SSDs, other than that I love the machines.

Had two Zenbook UX31A's, the first of their ultrabooks to work the kinks out. Light, fast, fantastic screens, amazing battery life. But mine had a bad SSD which failed literally a week after the warranty expired. I now use it as my surveillance camera DVR (which writes to a NAS, so the SSD isn't really an issue). My wife's UX31A has been rock-solid.

I upgraded to the Zenbook Inifinity (UX301L) which is even more amazing... but here again the drive controller seems to be junk.

It's a real shame, back before I went all-laptop and used to build my own machines, I came to rely on Asus motherboards pretty heavily. I don't know what their ultrabook engineers are thinking. They'd have a true world-beater lineup on their hands if they'd stop cutting corners on these basic things.