MAJOR problem starting services - error 193?

[hoinvip]

Please can anyone help me? This afternoon my server had to be restarted and since then, some of my services (Goldfax and some MS Exchange 2000 components) refuse to start stating an "Error 193: %1 is not a valid Win32 application" We've not made any changes to settings on this server and I cannot diagnose why this is happening. The users are going crazy and I can't find any references in Technet or on this site for anything related.

Right now I'm pretty much prepared to try anything short of a rebuild.... any ideas please????

 

[sumaya]

haven you tried starting the services your self throught the command prompt or can you tell us what your error logs is saying

 

[hoinvip]

Everytime I try to start the services, either manually in service manager, or via a command prompt I get the error message at the top "Error 193: %1 is not a valid Win32 application". Event log doesn't appear to be logging anything relevant either.

I suspect that something is corrupted but I'm not an expert on this element of Win2k.

 

[sumaya]

what i have found is that you do have some corrupt programs and that you need to re-install them
go to this link it may help

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/support/search/default.asp

 

[hoinvip]

I've just been checking something out and I don't know if it has any bearing on this but apparently some changes were made to the user rights assignments on this server - to allow certain user groups (i.e. administrators) to log on as a service.... Apparently this was necessary to facilitate the set-up of Norton Antivirus for Exchange???? Does anyone have any knowledge of this?

Thanks in advance

 

[hoinvip]

Having checked into this some more, I am certain that the problem is related to the "act as part of the operating system" user permission that was amended when the NAV software was installed. Has any had any dealings with this permission and if so, can you shed any light on why this
may be causing a problem now?

Thanks in advance

 

[Guest_imported]

If you get ERROR 193: %1 is not a valid WIN32 application, look for a FOLDER or FILE named Program or Progra~1 in the root directory. Move, rename or delete this file. Be Careful that you do not delete the Program Files folder.

I discovered that an app had installed a 16 bit ftp program along with it and set a path in the WIN.INI file without quotes, ie, path=c:\program files\etc. WIN2000 gave a warning message on boot that there was a "Program" folder that would cause problems, do you want to rename it. If you answer No, it creates a FILE called Program and then you DO have problems as programs that try to call "Program Files" without the quotes end up with "Program" (which is NOT a valid WIN32 application).

Don't forget to fix the WIN.INI file!