Empty/damaged Recovery (PAR) files?

[desmo]

OK, the PAR viewer showed some (5) missing RARs, but more
than enough recovery files with status "OK".

D/L'ed 4+ gigs worth of files, including the recovery files,
but when running QuickPAR, all the recovery files show up as
"Damaged (0 blocks available)"!. What gives? All files were
posted about 10 days ago. I guess (hope) the missing files
will show up eventually (hey, 190+ days to go!) but is this
phenomenon related to the recent PAR problems?

[Uncle Jesse]

Post by desmo
OK, the PAR viewer showed some (5) missing RARs, but more
than enough recovery files with status "OK".
D/L'ed 4+ gigs worth of files, including the recovery files,
but when running QuickPAR, all the recovery files show up as
"Damaged (0 blocks available)"!. What gives? All files were
posted about 10 days ago. I guess (hope) the missing files
will show up eventually (hey, 190+ days to go!) but is this
phenomenon related to the recent PAR problems?

If you delete the par files from your folder and re-download them, are
you able to use them with Quickpar?

- Uncle Jesse -

Please let me know how I'm doing at
https://secure.members.easynews.com/feedback/?a=Uncle+Jesse

[desmo]

Well, no point in re-downloading *all* the par files, but I did get one
again (79 blocks), and QuickPar also shows that as "damaged (0 blocks
available)"...

So did the original poster post duds or did something get mangled in the
processing down at the (server) farm?

Post by Uncle Jesse

Post by desmo
OK, the PAR viewer showed some (5) missing RARs, but more
than enough recovery files with status "OK".
D/L'ed 4+ gigs worth of files, including the recovery files,
but when running QuickPAR, all the recovery files show up as
"Damaged (0 blocks available)"!. What gives? All files were
posted about 10 days ago. I guess (hope) the missing files
will show up eventually (hey, 190+ days to go!) but is this
phenomenon related to the recent PAR problems?

If you delete the par files from your folder and re-download them, are
you able to use them with Quickpar?
- Uncle Jesse -
Please let me know how I'm doing at
https://secure.members.easynews.com/feedback/?a=Uncle+Jesse

[lazarus0]

Post by desmo
Well, no point in re-downloading *all* the par files, but I did get one
again (79 blocks), and QuickPar also shows that as "damaged (0 blocks
available)"...
So did the original poster post duds or did something get mangled in the
processing down at the (server) farm?

It's very possible for the original poster to post 'duds' as you call them.
Bad or flaky memory can cause file corruption during up and downloads. So, if
this is the only set you're having problems with, the original posted might
have a problem on his system. However, if the problem occurs with other files
from other posters, then there could be an issue on your end. Memory problems
are the hardest to track down because they disguise themselves as other things.

Here's an idea that might help sort this out. Can you post a message ID for the
ones you had problems with (no titles please!)? I can check them on this end and
see if they're corrupted for me as well.

[desmo]

Post by lazarus0

Post by desmo
Well, no point in re-downloading *all* the par files, but I did get one
again (79 blocks), and QuickPar also shows that as "damaged (0 blocks
available)"...
So did the original poster post duds or did something get mangled in the
processing down at the (server) farm?

It's very possible for the original poster to post 'duds' as you call them.
Bad or flaky memory can cause file corruption during up and downloads. So, if
this is the only set you're having problems with, the original posted might
have a problem on his system. However, if the problem occurs with other files
from other posters, then there could be an issue on your end. Memory problems
are the hardest to track down because they disguise themselves as other things.
Here's an idea that might help sort this out. Can you post a message ID for the
ones you had problems with (no titles please!)? I can check them on this end and
see if they're corrupted for me as well.

Well, I've been using Easynews for 10+ years now, and this is the first time I've
encountered this particular problem. Not being an expert in any way as to the
finer points of Usenet, I'd usually just wait for the problem to "solve itself,"
i.e. wait until some "good" pars or rars are posted by someone out there. So far
this seems not to be the case.

Anyway, these are the message IDs contained in the header of the par2 file and one
of the damaged par files:

message-id: <***@JBinUp.local>

message-id: <***@JBinUp.local>

Hope this is what you asked for (I'd hate to be kicked out for violating the TOS,
after all), like I said I'm fairly clueless as to the finer points. Thanks for the
offer to help.

[lazarus0]

Post by desmo
Anyway, these are the message IDs contained in the header of the par2 file and one

This one is the main par2 file. It seems to be okay
This one is missing 132 of its 133 parts and cannot be saved. I got the same results on both
the us and the eu servers.

Post by desmo
Hope this is what you asked for (I'd hate to be kicked out for violating the TOS,
after all), like I said I'm fairly clueless as to the finer points. Thanks for the
offer to help.

Yup, message-ids are kosher, at least according to what we've been told over and over by the
admins and support people. Anyway, I found the rest of the pars and they're all corrupted.
It looks like the original poster screwed up big time. 385Mb of Par files with no blocks in
any of them so they cannot repair anything, so there's no way to rebuild the five files
missing from the set. In QuickPar, they all show up as "Damaged (0 blocks available)" I've
d/l'ed them from the website, but I can't even d/l them from the NNTP servers because
they're all incomplete.

The really strange part is that they all have the icons for complete files, yet there's only
one block available in each file. Even though saving it gives me the message that 132 of 133
parts are missing, I cannot split the file because it claims that it's not a multi-part
file. That's probably why the web interface even has them; something's wrong with the file
that also makes it look complete. I just remembered how to get Agent to let me look at the raw
message body; there's part of the first line, and just *'s for all the rest of the lines; no wonder
it appears empty. I wonder if this poster opened them up in a text editor and saved them, or if
"JBinUp 0.90 Beta 6 - Build: 2008082401" is causing problems when posting...

[desmo]

Post by lazarus0

Post by desmo
Anyway, these are the message IDs contained in the header of the par2 file and one

This one is the main par2 file. It seems to be okay
This one is missing 132 of its 133 parts and cannot be saved. I got the same results on both
the us and the eu servers.

Post by desmo
Hope this is what you asked for (I'd hate to be kicked out for violating the TOS,
after all), like I said I'm fairly clueless as to the finer points. Thanks for the
offer to help.

Yup, message-ids are kosher, at least according to what we've been told over and over by the
admins and support people. Anyway, I found the rest of the pars and they're all corrupted.
It looks like the original poster screwed up big time. 385Mb of Par files with no blocks in
any of them so they cannot repair anything, so there's no way to rebuild the five files
missing from the set. In QuickPar, they all show up as "Damaged (0 blocks available)" I've
d/l'ed them from the website, but I can't even d/l them from the NNTP servers because
they're all incomplete.
The really strange part is that they all have the icons for complete files, yet there's only
one block available in each file. Even though saving it gives me the message that 132 of 133
parts are missing, I cannot split the file because it claims that it's not a multi-part
file. That's probably why the web interface even has them; something's wrong with the file
that also makes it look complete. I just remembered how to get Agent to let me look at the raw
message body; there's part of the first line, and just *'s for all the rest of the lines; no wonder
it appears empty. I wonder if this poster opened them up in a text editor and saved them, or if
"JBinUp 0.90 Beta 6 - Build: 2008082401" is causing problems when posting...

Thanks for checking the files: So the problem is not at my end and also not at EN's. Nothing to do but wait for further rars or pars to turn up, then.

What surprises me is that the ParViewer shows the files as "OK" - thought that's exactly what it was there for to prevent. Live and learn.

[shawn]

Post by desmo

Post by lazarus0

Post by desmo
Anyway, these are the message IDs contained in the header of the par2 file and one

This one is the main par2 file. It seems to be okay
This one is missing 132 of its 133 parts and cannot be saved. I got the same results on both
the us and the eu servers.

Post by desmo
Hope this is what you asked for (I'd hate to be kicked out for violating the TOS,
after all), like I said I'm fairly clueless as to the finer points. Thanks for the
offer to help.

Yup, message-ids are kosher, at least according to what we've been told over and over by the
admins and support people. Anyway, I found the rest of the pars and they're all corrupted.
It looks like the original poster screwed up big time. 385Mb of Par files with no blocks in
any of them so they cannot repair anything, so there's no way to rebuild the five files
missing from the set. In QuickPar, they all show up as "Damaged (0 blocks available)" I've
d/l'ed them from the website, but I can't even d/l them from the NNTP servers because
they're all incomplete.
The really strange part is that they all have the icons for complete files, yet there's only
one block available in each file. Even though saving it gives me the message that 132 of 133
parts are missing, I cannot split the file because it claims that it's not a multi-part
file. That's probably why the web interface even has them; something's wrong with the file
that also makes it look complete. I just remembered how to get Agent to let me look at the raw
message body; there's part of the first line, and just *'s for all the rest of the lines; no wonder
it appears empty. I wonder if this poster opened them up in a text editor and saved them, or if
"JBinUp 0.90 Beta 6 - Build: 2008082401" is causing problems when posting...

Thanks for checking the files: So the problem is not at my end and also not at EN's. Nothing to do but wait for further rars or pars to turn up, then.
What surprises me is that the ParViewer shows the files as "OK" - thought that's exactly what it was there for to prevent. Live and learn.

You don't want to download those files. As far as I'm aware of there
is only one poster using that program, JbinUp 0.90. He's been posting
various files that are all password protected and I believe include
some sort of trojan keymaker or guides to a website that will provide
you with the password (and try to sell you something and infect your
ocmputer at the same time.) If I had a way to block all posts using
JBinUp in my news program I would, but it doesn't seem to filter on
that field.

[desmo]

Post by shawn
You don't want to download those files. As far as I'm aware of there
is only one poster using that program, JbinUp 0.90. He's been posting
various files that are all password protected and I believe include
some sort of trojan keymaker or guides to a website that will provide
you with the password (and try to sell you something and infect your
ocmputer at the same time.) If I had a way to block all posts using
JBinUp in my news program I would, but it doesn't seem to filter on
that field.

Hmmm, the reply I tried to post a few hours never showed up....

Anyway, this particular file seems to be a legit ISO image.
No PWs or viruses to be seen in the partial file
that I can extract from the first 11 RARs.

[DevilsPGD]

Post by desmo

Post by shawn
You don't want to download those files. As far as I'm aware of there
is only one poster using that program, JbinUp 0.90. He's been posting
various files that are all password protected and I believe include
some sort of trojan keymaker or guides to a website that will provide
you with the password (and try to sell you something and infect your
ocmputer at the same time.) If I had a way to block all posts using
JBinUp in my news program I would, but it doesn't seem to filter on
that field.

Hmmm, the reply I tried to post a few hours never showed up....
Anyway, this particular file seems to be a legit ISO image.
No PWs or viruses to be seen in the partial file
that I can extract from the first 11 RARs.

Normally the trojan appears only in the last file, done intentionally to
make it more difficult for people to identify.

Usually you can tell the difference by looking at the first RAR, if the
content is another RAR, it's infected.

However, if the inner content is an ISO, that could be encoded/encrypted
in RAR format as well (since ISOs can be opened by WinRAR)

[desmo]

Post by DevilsPGD
Normally the trojan appears only in the last file, done intentionally to
make it more difficult for people to identify.
Usually you can tell the difference by looking at the first RAR, if the
content is another RAR, it's infected.
However, if the inner content is an ISO, that could be encoded/encrypted
in RAR format as well (since ISOs can be opened by WinRAR)

I can open the partial ISO with e.g. PowerIso and it shows all the files you
would expect a video DVD to contain and nothing else - but extracting the first
VOB file does fail. Usually I have no problem extracting incomplete VOB files.

Guess I'll know for sure if/when the missing parts turn up.

[DevilsPGD]

Post by desmo

Post by DevilsPGD
Normally the trojan appears only in the last file, done intentionally to
make it more difficult for people to identify.
Usually you can tell the difference by looking at the first RAR, if the
content is another RAR, it's infected.
However, if the inner content is an ISO, that could be encoded/encrypted
in RAR format as well (since ISOs can be opened by WinRAR)

I can open the partial ISO with e.g. PowerIso and it shows all the files you
would expect a video DVD to contain and nothing else - but extracting the first
VOB file does fail. Usually I have no problem extracting incomplete VOB files.
Guess I'll know for sure if/when the missing parts turn up.

That definitely doesn't sound like the profile of this particular moron.

[lazarus0]

Post by DevilsPGD
That definitely doesn't sound like the profile of this particular moron.

Well, the software is readily available, so it could be anyone. I'm just
curious if the problems with this particular posting are because of some
peculiarity of the software, or something screwed up on the poster's system.
I'm reminded of that one version of Power Post which always left out the
last part of every binary part about 5 or 6 years back, yet, every piece
showed up as complete. However QuickPar always showed each file as missing
one block. The next version solved that problem, thank goodness. With all
the incompletes certain people are seeing now, I wonder if a new version
was released with a similar problem...