Windows needs to replace files.

[Cleopatra]

After running sfc /scannow, windows said that files in the dll cache have been replaced with unknown versions, and I need to use my disc to fix them. Problem is, I have no disc, and my computer has no disc drive. Is there some way I could find the dll files I'm missing, and somehow get them online?

Also, windows has malfunctioned once since this error appeared.

[exile360]

Greetings

Please take a look at the information here, it provides several options, one of which will hopefully work to resolve the issue.

[Cleopatra]

Greetings

Please take a look at the information here, it provides several options, one of which will hopefully work to resolve the issue.

I could not locate I386, except within the drive cache.

[exile360]

Did your PC come with a recovery partition? If so, you should be able to burn the discs yourself with an external CD burner, or you can take the PC to your local PC repair shop and they can do it for you (they generally do keep external CD-ROM drives around for such scenarios).

If you don't have one, you can purchase one. Here is a list of some, sorted by lowest price. They aren't too expensive, and it would be good to have an external drive anyway as they have a multitude of uses, especially when you own a PC that has no internal drive.

[Cleopatra]

If my PC came with a recovery partition, where would I locate it?

[Cleopatra]

Nevermind, it didn't come with one. I'll just have to deal with this problem, I guess.

[exile360]

What's the manufacturer and model # of your PC? I can find out if it has a recovery partition or not (it should, because otherwise there would be no way for you to do a factory restore on the machine, especially without a CD-ROM).

[Cleopatra]

Manufacturer is Lenovo, model is X61s.

[exile360]

OK, thanks

I found some info. It looks like your system did come with a recovery partition, which is accessible by pressing F11 or the ThinkVantage button if your PC has one when the PC first starts up (before Windows loads) and that you can in fact burn recovery discs using a program that shipped with the PC, which should be available under START>All Programs somewhere.

Unfortunately, if you do use the recovery partition to restore your system, you lose all data that isn't backed up, so I would still recommend burning the recovery CD's and using SFC to repair the system.

There may be a way around all of this though, assuming it is only Internet Explorer that is messed up. I see from your completed topic in the Malware Removal forum that you are running Internet Explorer 8. Since Internet Explorer 6 is the version that ships with Windows XP, you can actually uninstall Internet Explorer 8 and reinstall it, which should restore any IE files that were missing. To do so, follow the below instructions:

• Click on Start and select Control Panel
  
• Open Add/Remove Programs
  
• Uninstall Windows Internet Explorer 8 and allow the uninstall process to complete and restart your computer when prompted
  
• Once that is complete, visit Microsoft Update and install any available updates, including Internet Explorer and reboot if prompted once that is complete. Repeat this process after reboot to verify that there are no additional necessary updates, repeating as necessary until no further required updates are found.
  

[Cleopatra]

Thanks!

I'll try it later today/tommorow and see if it works, sleep time now.

[exile360]

OK, rest well and please let me know how it goes.

Thanks

[Cleopatra]

Windows thinks every file is messed up, and when I click more information, it says that I may have inserted the wrong windows disc, or my CD-ROM is not working.

[Cleopatra]

Sorry, meant to say I did what you said, uninstalled IE then installed it along with all the updates I could find.

[exile360]

So the problem is still there? Unfortunately it is sounding like you do need to get those recovery discs created and a drive so that you can use them .

[Cleopatra]

I discovered the root of the problem. It's because I do not have the I386 folder, making windows believe that I am missing nearly every file for windows. So I was thinking, if I downloaded SP3 from microsoft's site, could I extract it to a folder in c:\ named I386 so windows would look there?

[exile360]

You could try that, but I honestly don't know if that would work or not. A safer option would probably be to just try uninstalling Service Pack 3 and then reboot when prompted, then try reinstalling it again, reboot again when prompted, then install all available Windows Updates. Hopefully that will replace the system files and should replace the i386 folder for you.