Curse

Mutt Witch · Jan 15, 2007, 11:49 PM // 23:49

About 2 times a week I get this screen saying "Repairing Data Archive" and it takes about 10 minutes to run through the process. Does anyone else have this happen to them? and Does anyone know what specificly is going on?

Mutt Witch · Jan 17, 2007, 06:39 PM // 18:39

Since people have read this post, but chosen not to reply, does that mean I'm the only one having this difficulty? That is scarey.

Aerian_Skybane · Jan 17, 2007, 06:59 PM // 18:59

You either A) Need to defragment the Gw.dat file (try windows defrag, it probably wont work, go to GW support on guildwars.com. This is usually the case
B) have a corrupt .dat file and should reinstall
C) None of the above? Your RAM or harddrive is screwed, as was in my case. Try the other two first.

EinherjarMx · Jan 17, 2007, 07:01 PM // 19:01

if you have broadband, try renaming the .dat file, and then redownloading it, it'll take a lot of time if you do the -image thing but the everything should load faster

jcapulet · Jan 17, 2007, 07:51 PM // 19:51

You're not the only one who's having this problem. A while back, my husband's GW did this twice...and it took some 20 minutes each time. It hasn't happened since then.

sorry I can't be more helpful.

erfweiss · Jan 19, 2007, 09:02 AM // 09:02

The guildwars.com/support site has a link to a file that defrags the direct file (forget name of this). Windows Defrag defrags the entire drive.

I had this issue occur less than a month ago. I corrected my problem by:

Delete the GW.Dat file in the c:/program files/Guild wars directory
then, go to Start, Run,

"C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe" -image

This downloads a brand new copy of the dat file. Takes a bit of time (I did it when I came home from work, went to sleep...was ready when I woke up). Also, praying you don't have dialup, as it's about a 3 gig download.

Mutt Witch · Jan 20, 2007, 03:01 AM // 03:01

Will give these things a try. Only one question, will I loose my character data by deleting the GW.dat file? That would not be a good thing.

Burn Butt · Jan 20, 2007, 03:20 AM // 03:20

You won't lose your characters. That information is stored on ArenaNet's servers.

Just FYI-- Same thing here. I get the problem 2-3 times a week.

eggrolls · Jan 20, 2007, 03:32 AM // 03:32

I've only gotten that once. My computer had been on for a while and started to lag, so I impatiently hit the reset button while GW was running (and probably downloading something off Anet's servers in the background). Guess that screwed up the .dat file.

Neo Nugget · Mar 09, 2007, 08:42 PM // 20:42

yeah this has happened for the first time in about 4 months. Its nothing i cant wait for, although it is rather irritating.

tijo · Mar 09, 2007, 09:38 PM // 21:38

I also had a lot of repairing data archive for a while, what i did was burn a copy of a friend's GW.dat file and problem solved. This also provided me with a backup of the .dat file which proved useful when i got other file corruption problem. Also scan your computer for viruses, spyware etc. since these can cause file corruption.

EDIT: after burning my friend's Gw.dat file i replaced the one i had with the copy i just made, lol i actually forgot to mention this.

FlameoutAlchemist · Mar 14, 2007, 06:15 AM // 06:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by tijo

EDIT: after burning my friend's Gw.dat file i replaced the one i had with the copy i just made, lol i actually forgot to mention this.

Once a month I do an -image and burn a copy of it to a DVD as part of my usual disaster recovery plan. I haven't had to use it, but it's nice to know that this has worked for others.

Moranda Miller · Mar 14, 2007, 05:02 PM // 17:02

Thanks!! I have had data repair a few times in the last 6 mos.,but this time,after repair, 3/4 of my emotes don't work.Will try to download new data file. Hope this fixes problem.

Moranda Miller · Mar 15, 2007, 07:06 PM // 19:06

Defraging didn't work but deleting and downloading new data file,then defraging did!! but definitely wait for lightening bolt to vanish. Thanks!!

LiQuId StEeL · Mar 15, 2007, 08:09 PM // 20:09

I'd get it off and on, maybe once a month a while back. Ran memtest86, and it basicly told me my memory was shot... sent it back, got new, all good. I'd run that if defragging the .dat doesnt work.

A11Eur0 · Mar 23, 2008, 05:44 PM // 17:44

I'm getting this every time I start up the game....and I did the -image yesterday but it's still doing it. I didn't delete the old .dat file though.

UNOXani · Mar 23, 2008, 06:06 PM // 18:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by A11Eur0

I'm getting this every time I start up the game....and I did the -image yesterday but it's still doing it. I didn't delete the old .dat file though.

If you dont delete the old .dat the -image option will download whats missing, it will not fix the data already there (Corrupt or otherwise). Delete (Or rename) the .dat file and let it recreate it from scratch is your best bet, in my opinion.

Brianna · Mar 23, 2008, 06:07 PM // 18:07

Agree'd with the above, It's better to just delete it.

I used to get corrupt data archives and things like that, deleting the .dat file usually fixed such problems, but it was only very rare, happened maybe 3 times total.