On my Win98 OS I've been having the problem that past week with multiple .exe files becoming corrupt, and some of them won't load, strangly there have been no problems with .dll, or .ocx files.

I've scanned for viruses with AVG Anti-Virus System, F-PROT Antivirus for DOS, and used the online HouseCall scan. I've ran MemTest86 v3.0 separately on each of my three 128MB sticks for three hours a piece and it has not found any errors in the memory. I've ran ScanDisk and let it do a thorough surface scan, and no errors were found. The System File Checker will bark about files being corrupt each day.

I'm at a lost and really don't know what is going on, I somewhat suspect a virus however a virus isn't high on my list of probabilities. I realise it could be hardware related such as bad memory, etc. Does anyone have any other ideals of where to look for a solution.

What mainboard do you have?

Install a program that will tell you exactly what is running on the computer, check for suspicious programs in start >> run:

regedit

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
\RunOnce
\RunOnceEx

viruses tend to hide there.

CiTay:
What mainboard do you have?"

I have no ideal. Would opening the case allow me to find out? I've dug about inside the case before and have never seen anything listed.
I do know it is a Phoenix BIOS flashed updated to A13, which is installed in a Dell Dimension XPS R400 with a Pentium II 400Mhz chip.


spoon:
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
\RunOnce
\RunOnceEx"

I don't think its a virus, or trojan that auto-starts with the system, or system files such as AutoExec.bat, System.ini, Win.ini, etc., since I use jv16 PowerTools everyday which will immediately have a "NEW" listing on some new registry items. I'm also checking the registry using RegEdit, and I'm always looking in other system files (AutoExec.bat, Dosstart.bat, System.ini, Win.ini) regularly.

I am assuming mainboard = Motherboard, MOBO.

All I could find on the inside of the system was a sticker which reads: Dell Rev. 00

Experience tells me that this is hardware-related. Possible factors: Mainboard, RAM, CPU, CPU cooling, hard disk, or hard disk cables. It's gonna be quite hard to track down.

I'd start off by checking the fan of your CPU. Is it really free of dust? Does it rotate easily? Next, check all the cables. Do they sit on firmly? Then start the PC and enter the BIOS (you usually have to press DEL shortly after turning the PC on). Check the RAM timings, set them all to "Normal", "Safe" etc. (not "Fast"). Then you should check your hard disk for bad sectors: Use the Scandisk tool in "thorough" mode, so that it will scan the drive surface.

You mean I can get rid of my data corruption problems just putting back the fan of the CPU (w00t) (I've got data corruption too, but not that much) I'll try this tonight...

Taking everything apart, literally I mean I took the whole PC apart and cleaning every little piece, and making sure all connections were cleaned and securely fitted the problem has disappeared.

Thank you CiTay

Hey, i'm glad it's fixed! In the meantime, i was installing a new PC myself... i did a lot stability tests, and it all looks like this machine is rock stable. It's always advisable to do some thorough testing right after you installed new hardware.

For me, it was not the cooling. It was not the CPU ether, nor the mobo, nor the RAM, nor the cables...
I'll try another hard disc. Time to upgrade from Win98 to Win2k, anyway...

I agree with CiTay, overclocked systems may cause data corruption.
I saw an overclocked computer that produced CRC errors when unpackin large compressed archives.