WinRar and WinAce freezes system

[craig1104]

All of a sudden, everytime I try to extract a .rar file, my system freezes. My os is winxp and I have a dual Zeon 2.4 processor system with 1.5 gig of memmory and almost a Tb of space.

 

[bcastner]

Do an extended test of system RAM:

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

 

[craig1104]

Oh, I forgot to mention that it happens when I try to extract a .rar file. This also happens when I use Winace to extract a file.

TIA
Craig

 

[craig1104]

did the memory test. passed ... no errors. so that's not the problem. thanks for the input

 

[micker377]

What program is used to extract .rar files?

 

[craig1104]

Winrar

 

[bcastner]

What version of WinRAR?

My concern is that the .rar archive may be corrupted to the extent that it sends WinRAR south. There have been changes made to WinRAR over time to prevent this from happening, but a corrupted .rar archive could still make this possible.

 

[craig1104]

Thats what I thought at first, but I downloaded 2 other diferent rar files and it did the same. I did download just 1 rar file from a large group and it worked. Winrar extracted the 1 file and was asking for the rest of the group. Also, WinAce is doing the same thing. I think I will have to run the XP disk to repair windows. History, I installed SP2 and it screwed up my system. It had a problem with drives over 200 gig on a promise card. I lost over 400 gig of data. I reimaged the drive with a backup image I made a while ago. (forgot to update my backup) They system is running ok, but I do run into a problem now and then.

 

[bcastner]

This still might be a Promise driver issue.
I used several different versions (fortunately I never lost anything).

I have been using for a year and a half:

ultra.sys
Promise Technology
Version 2.00.0.43

ulcoins.sys
Promise Technology
Version 2.0.0.1


Both were downloaded from Promise. I do not like the Intel versions, or the OEM (Maxtor in my case).

 

[markso]

craig1104,

I've just been testing a free alternative to WinZip - totally free and it extracts rar files. Might be worth a look. Am impressed so far

http://www.zipgenius.it/

The website seems down at the moment though !

If sunflower oil comes from sunflowers, and vegetable oil comes from vegetables, where does baby oil come from?

 

[craig1104]

Thanks becastner it was the promise tech driver supplied by XP. I downloaded the one from promise and now Winrar works. Thanks again craig1105

 

[bcastner]

Your are very welcome.

It is a decent controller as long as you do not let Windows Update update the darn thing.

Best regards,
Bill Castner

 

[bcastner]

Note to all:

My personal experience that has become a personal rule:

I do not let Windows Update do Device Drive updates on my systems.

When I see a notification of a Device Driver update from Windows Update, I decline the update, ask Windows Update to Hide the update from future scans, and visit the web site of the device manufacturer.

I then Google the update. Far too often there are horror stories, and I happily go along with my old driver. When things appear calm, and the user community actually likes Version X.XX.X of whatever, I will upgrade.

Remember though that one of the attractive features of XP is Driver Rollback through Device Manager.

Best wishes,
Bill Castner