ESENT error: wuaueng.dll corrupted bit

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Hi. I recently had a couple of blue-screen events and a few Windows Services stopping, so I decided to have a look at the Event Viewer, and found a number of ESENT Warnings as follows:

Source: ESENT
Event ID: 399
Task Category: Database Page Cache

wuaueng.dll (368) SUS20ClientDataStore: The database page read from the file "C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Datastore.edb" at offset 98304 (0x0000000000018000) (database page 2 (0x2)) for 32768 (0x00008000) bytes failed verification. Bit 25161 was corrupted and has been corrected. The problem is likely due to faulty hardware and may continue. Transient failures such as these can be a precursor to a catastrophic failure in the storage subsystem containing this file.


There are 10 of these warnings (so far), all of which appeared this morning after recovering from a BSOD for SERVICE_SYSTEM_EXCEPTION (0x0000003b; faulting application: ntoskrnl.exe). Five of them are repeated for one specific bit number, while the others are for different bit numbers. All occur in that file and at the same offset (98304).

I did a full shutdown and startup and the warning has not returned as yet, but then again I really haven't done anything on the PC (I am writing from another PC).

Note that upon initial startup I was advised that there were Windows Updates, and there was also a Steam update.

My system:
AMD Phenom II x4 965 Black Edition Quad Core Processor
ASUS M4A79XTD Evo Motherboard
G-SKILL F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL Ripjaws PC3-12800 2x2GB DDR3-1600
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
WD Digital Caviar Black 640GB

This system is three years old; however because of some problems over the years I have needed to do a full reformat and fresh Windows installation three times. The first two were in 2010 and were due to hardware issues that were fixed. The most recent was in July 2013, and involved an inability to enter Windows beyond the welcome screen. The system has been running fine since then (a few Services stop and start now and then, and a couple of blue screens, but mostly fine).

There are no SMART errors for the system hard drive, according to HD Sentinel.

My questions:
1. What does that DataStore file do and how is it being affected by this error?
2. What diagnostic should I run and how do I do them?
3. Are there any immediate corrective measure I should be taking, independent of any diagnostics?

Thanks for any assistance.
Sam
 

TrainableMan

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1. It keeps track of your Windows Updates
2. Open windows explorer. Right-click on C:. Choose Properties. Select the Tools Tab. Click Check Now. Check the box next to "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors". It will tell you "the disk is in use, should I schedule it?". Say yes and then do a Shut-down>Reboot. When it runs report back here how many sectors it has & how many bad sectors it found.
3. Most likely your hard drive has many bad sectors and is getting worse in which case your corrective measure is to replace your hard drive.

It is always a good idea to keep regular back-ups on an external hard drive or flash drive but in your case I recommend it urgently because from the sounds of your warning messages your C: drive may crash at any time.
 
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Thanks for this reply. I gather that what you are recommending is a chkdsk scan and I understand that it can be hard on a drive. Would it be better to back-up (which will take some time) before running a check?

EDITED to add: I have not seen any more warning of this type since my original post. Is it reasonable to assume that the problem is limited to the area of the hard drive that stores the DataStore file?
 
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TrainableMan

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As long as you are backing up to a separate physical drive, such as an external device, then sure, backup first. But backing up to C: or any partition on the same physical hard drive would be worthless if this hard drive is going bad so in that case the answer would be no.

"Is it reasonable to assume"? Not really. Not until you run the scan and see how many bad sectors you have.
 
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Yeah, thought so. Can't blame me for having some hope, though, huh? I have a fairly new secondary drive in the case so I'll probably use that for back-up.
 

TrainableMan

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Well compared to printer ink and graphic cards, the price of a new hard drive isn't bad and at this point it's possible you haven't lost any of your personal data. So make your external back-up and then run the check for bad sectors and at that point a better determination can be made.
 

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