[jayyoung]

I am mad at myself and my computer, and my lack of knowledge what to do to fix my problem.

I have 3DSmax 5.1 (Full Registered Version) and I am trying to install the program at home as my work has allowed me to take the portable license home with me on the weekends to work from there. (And why not? Let me do something that does not cost them anything so that I do work on my days off?) Just kidding, my bosses are great...er..but that is not why I am writing.

I am running WIN XP pro on an AMD Athelon 700Mhz machine with 256Mb RAM and a Geforce 2 video card. But that does not seem to be the problem. I attempted to install 3DSMAX yesterday, and for some stupid reason, I tried to launch a "My Computer" window to look at my files. This seemed to lock up the system, because the window never came up, and task manager said it was not responding, but the install was still working. I terminated the non-responsive :My Computer" window, and walked away from the system for a moment. I came back into the room to the computer rebooting itself (Which is not part of the MAX install) It also found some files in scandisk and this is what it logged...

Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is FAT32.


One of your disks needs to be checked for consistency. You
may cancel the disk check, but it is strongly recommended
that you continue.
Windows will now check the disk.
Volume Serial Number is 9423-C6B0
\WINDOWS\Prefetch\MSIEXEC.EXE-2F8A8CAE.pf first allocation unit is not valid. The entry will be truncated.
\WINDOWS\system32\wbem\Repository\FS\OBJECTS.MAP first allocation unit is not valid. The entry will be truncated.
The size of the \WINDOWS\system32\wbem\Repository\FS\INDEX.MAP entry is not valid.
\WINDOWS\system32\wbem\Repository\FS\INDEX.MAP is cross-linked on allocation unit 476915.
Cross link resolved by copying.
Convert lost chains to files (Y/N)? Yes
7864 KB in 14 recovered files.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.

since it did this, when I go to restart the MAX install process, it starts and asks me to accept the user agreement, when I click "I Agree" it closes the window, and then does nothing, the CD stopps spinning and the system does nothing. I am not sure why it does this. Any ideas frow anyone how I might fix this?

I have already lost the weekend for working, but I still need this fixxed for future work.

Thanks for your help.

Jay Young

[jbcalg]

either try uninstalling the program or try a system restore, hopefully there's a recent restore point

nb: you may find it useful to make a restore point before installing software in future

and NEVER walk away from a computer, that's when they play tricks on you

edit: and welcome to TSG - surprised no one made any suggestions all day - probably watching football

[jayyoung]

I actually just installed win XP lasty weekend. Does XP save a restore point upon startup? How would I access such a feature?

The program never did get installed enough to uninstall. It did however put lots of entries in my registry. I deleted as many as had the name "3dsmax" within it but it still does not work.

I don't know if I messed things up. Please let me know how to attempt the restore, and I will try it. Also, please let me know how to save one, and I will do that before installing, and never again will I turn my back on that crafty machine.

Jay Young

[jbcalg]

been a while since i did an install, but i assume that a restore point is created on the first go

and i'm pretty sure it's enabled as default

to find it:
-start
-help and support
-pick a task (find system restore) or if not listed, then use the search on that page to find it

if there is no restore point, then i'd try another install (try doing it in safe mode) and hope it loads completely, or completely enough to do an uninstall

[jayyoung]

I will try that when I get home, Thanks

I will let you know how I make out.

Jay Young

[jayyoung]

Ok, it worked, and I install 3DSMAX just fine, but it set my system back a week. I have to reinstall some things but it is good to have it working again.

This is about the 3rd time I have had a registry error, and it was suggested to me that the hard drive might be getting corroded in the spot of the disk that holds the regestry. I am going to do a surface scan to find out.

Thank You for your help.

Jay Young

PS, Feel free to check out my company's website at www.opd3d.com We produce OEM Holographic Projectors. Our site does not give you much of an idea of what the holograms look like, but they really are neat machines.

Thanks again