PC Win: GP Fault with Corrupt .XTN Files

 Last reviewed: October 17, 1995
Article ID: Q128243
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Mail for Windows, version 3.0

SYMPTOMS

Version 3.0 of Mail for Windows will general protection (GP) fault when you check for new mail or view new messages.

CAUSE

This can be caused by irregular .XTN file sizes. If you check the .XTN files to see if they are divide into 698 evenly, you can tell if that is the problem.

RESOLUTION

This problem is fixed by version 3.06 of IMPORT.EXE and MSSFS.DLL with a date of 5/9/93 or later.

MORE INFORMATION

All .XTN files should be divisible by 698 into even number. Older versions of IMPORT.EXE will add extra bytes to end of file. You can use the RCX command in debug to remove the extra few bytes and make it a number that divides into 698 evenly. Here are the steps to debug the file:

  1. Identify the problem .XTN. The size of a valid .XTN file should be a multiple of 698 bytes.

  2. TYPE NETWORK.GLB in the GLB subdirectory. To the left of the 8 digit .XTN file number you will see the Network Name for this file.

NOTE: At this point you could ignore the rest of the steps and use ADMIN.EXE to delete and redefine the network that the problem .XTN belongs to. This means you will also have to redefine all of the external Postoffices defined on that network.

  1. Using Admin, count the number of external postoffices defined for this network name. This will give us a rough approximation of what the file size should be. #Postoffices * 698 approximately equals the size of the .XTN file.

NOTE: The actual size of the file may be larger by a multiple of 698 since there may be deleted records in the .XTN file. The only accurate way to determine the contents of the XTN is to edit the .XTN file with debug and reset the file size to include all records up to and including the last record that is not marked as deleted.

  1. Using Debug, reset the file size of the problem .XTN file. The
cases that have been seen thus far where additional information has been appended to the file were calculated by the following formula to get the actual .XTN file size:

(Current Size div by 698) example: (3015 div 698) 

 = 4.3194842 (Where it should divide out to 4)
Take 4 x 698=2792 This number has to be converted to HEX

Debug ????????.XTN -RCX :BC7 <-This is the current file size -AE8 <-This is the number that you calculated as the correct size -W -Q

Additional reference words: 3.00
KBCategory: kbenv
KBSubcategory: MailPCWin

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Last reviewed: October 17, 1995
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