Cannot run most programs - profapi.dll error

photonman62

New member
Local time
9:55 PM
Messages
27
I am getting the following error message whenever I try to run most programs (in this example, Chrome).

C:\Windows\system32\profapi.dll is either not designed to run on Windows or it contains an error...
27125823.png


This started with me using Windows as normal, when suddenly I couldn't start any new programs - they just closed as soon as I opened them. I thought a simple restart would fix it, and boy, was I wrong. As soon as I restarted, the Windows (something) shell stopped responding, and so did Windows Explorer. My icons and taskbar were not appearing, and manually starting explorer.exe did not help at all, it just stopped responding as soon as I did so. I decided to run "sfc /scannow" to see if it would fix the problem. It found errors, but said it was not able to fix them. I decided to run "chkdsk /r" next, as it seemed the most logical option, and it found a TON of errors (literally hundreds or even thousands). It fixed them and I restarted Windows. Explorer.exe and the Windows (sth.) shell seemed to run fine, so I tried running a few programs. All of them started throwing up this error. I next booted my W7 CD and ran system repair, restoring my system to an earlier restore point (conveniently from 3 PM the previous day, right before this problem started appearing - I don't know how it got there). That fixed nothing. Thought the next logical thing would be to copy over profapi.dll from a computer that is working correctly. I did so, and the files seem to be identical - neither is damaged or corrupt or abnormal in any way - this means the problem is not with the files. I am having this problem still until now, and have run out of ideas. I decided to run "sfc /scannow" once again, so here's the log (it was too large to attach, and trying to paste it anywhere froze my PC or said it was too big, so here's a MF link):
CBS.log

tl;dr: Getting the error in the picture, even though the file itself is completely fine.
 

My Computer

OS
Windows 7 SP1 x64
CPU
Intel Core i5-750 2.66GHz
Motherboard
ASUS P7P55D
Memory
Corsair 2x2GB DDR3
Graphics Card(s)
Sapphire ATi Radeon HD 5870
Sound Card
Sound Blaster Audigy SE
Monitor(s) Displays
Dual monitor (BenQ G2420HD, BenQ G2420HDB)
Screen Resolution
1920x1080, 1920x1080
Hard Drives
Western Digital Caviar Blue 640GB (SATA)
SATA2 500GB 7200 32MB CACHE (SATA)
HP Pocket Media Drive 250GB (USB)
Western Digital My Book Mirror Edition 1TB (USB)
PSU
Cooler Master GX Series 750W ATX
Case
Advanced Case by Tracer
Cooling
Scythe MUGEN 2
Keyboard
Logitech Illuminated Keyboard
Mouse
Logitech MX518
Internet Speed
2Mbps :(
hi there :)

please run a sfc scan go to this tutorial How to Repair Windows 7 System Files with System File Checker link >>> http://goo.gl/M5Tvr
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
packard bell IXTREME M5722
OS
Operating System : Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 6.01.7600 SP1 (x64)
CPU
Processor : Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 @ 2500 MHz
Motherboard
Mainboard : Packard Bell (Acer EG43M )
Memory
Physical Memory :8GB Corsair4x 2GB 800MHz C5 DDR2
Graphics Card(s)
Video Card : XFX 6700 AMD
Monitor(s) Displays
Maestro 234DL - BenQ V2220 - BenQ VW2420H
Screen Resolution
Current Display :1920x1080p pixels at 60 Hz in HD LED
Hard Drives
Hard Disks : WDC (1000 GB)
Drive C: (Hard Disk) : 428 GB available on 491 GB
Drive D: (Hard Disk) : 426 GB available on 492 GB
SAMSUNG spinpoint HD103SJ 1000.2 GB
(X 2) KINGSTON SSD NOW V 30GB
PSU
XFX ProSeries 550W PSU
Case
PACKARD BELL IXTREME
Cooling
System Blower Current: 150mA Air Flow16CFM ;Akasa 90mm rear
Keyboard
Gigabyte Aivia K8100
Mouse
TRUST-Wireless Laser Mouse - Carbon edition MI-7770C
Internet Speed
TP-LINK > TL-WN951N / AV500 Gigabit Powerline Adapters
Browser
chrome dev
Other Info
EXTRA COOLING>(FAN CONTROLLER) PC Bay Cooler 3 x 40mm fans; Akasa AK-HD-BL Blue hard drive cooler 2 x 40 mm fan 4500 rpm 29.7 dBA
Bios> American Megatrends Inc.
Version : P01-A1
Date : 08/31/2009

My Computer

OS
Windows 7 SP1 x64
CPU
Intel Core i5-750 2.66GHz
Motherboard
ASUS P7P55D
Memory
Corsair 2x2GB DDR3
Graphics Card(s)
Sapphire ATi Radeon HD 5870
Sound Card
Sound Blaster Audigy SE
Monitor(s) Displays
Dual monitor (BenQ G2420HD, BenQ G2420HDB)
Screen Resolution
1920x1080, 1920x1080
Hard Drives
Western Digital Caviar Blue 640GB (SATA)
SATA2 500GB 7200 32MB CACHE (SATA)
HP Pocket Media Drive 250GB (USB)
Western Digital My Book Mirror Edition 1TB (USB)
PSU
Cooler Master GX Series 750W ATX
Case
Advanced Case by Tracer
Cooling
Scythe MUGEN 2
Keyboard
Logitech Illuminated Keyboard
Mouse
Logitech MX518
Internet Speed
2Mbps :(
have you tried uninstalling a program such as chrome and re-installing?
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
packard bell IXTREME M5722
OS
Operating System : Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 6.01.7600 SP1 (x64)
CPU
Processor : Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 @ 2500 MHz
Motherboard
Mainboard : Packard Bell (Acer EG43M )
Memory
Physical Memory :8GB Corsair4x 2GB 800MHz C5 DDR2
Graphics Card(s)
Video Card : XFX 6700 AMD
Monitor(s) Displays
Maestro 234DL - BenQ V2220 - BenQ VW2420H
Screen Resolution
Current Display :1920x1080p pixels at 60 Hz in HD LED
Hard Drives
Hard Disks : WDC (1000 GB)
Drive C: (Hard Disk) : 428 GB available on 491 GB
Drive D: (Hard Disk) : 426 GB available on 492 GB
SAMSUNG spinpoint HD103SJ 1000.2 GB
(X 2) KINGSTON SSD NOW V 30GB
PSU
XFX ProSeries 550W PSU
Case
PACKARD BELL IXTREME
Cooling
System Blower Current: 150mA Air Flow16CFM ;Akasa 90mm rear
Keyboard
Gigabyte Aivia K8100
Mouse
TRUST-Wireless Laser Mouse - Carbon edition MI-7770C
Internet Speed
TP-LINK > TL-WN951N / AV500 Gigabit Powerline Adapters
Browser
chrome dev
Other Info
EXTRA COOLING>(FAN CONTROLLER) PC Bay Cooler 3 x 40mm fans; Akasa AK-HD-BL Blue hard drive cooler 2 x 40 mm fan 4500 rpm 29.7 dBA
Bios> American Megatrends Inc.
Version : P01-A1
Date : 08/31/2009

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
packard bell IXTREME M5722
OS
Operating System : Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 6.01.7600 SP1 (x64)
CPU
Processor : Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 @ 2500 MHz
Motherboard
Mainboard : Packard Bell (Acer EG43M )
Memory
Physical Memory :8GB Corsair4x 2GB 800MHz C5 DDR2
Graphics Card(s)
Video Card : XFX 6700 AMD
Monitor(s) Displays
Maestro 234DL - BenQ V2220 - BenQ VW2420H
Screen Resolution
Current Display :1920x1080p pixels at 60 Hz in HD LED
Hard Drives
Hard Disks : WDC (1000 GB)
Drive C: (Hard Disk) : 428 GB available on 491 GB
Drive D: (Hard Disk) : 426 GB available on 492 GB
SAMSUNG spinpoint HD103SJ 1000.2 GB
(X 2) KINGSTON SSD NOW V 30GB
PSU
XFX ProSeries 550W PSU
Case
PACKARD BELL IXTREME
Cooling
System Blower Current: 150mA Air Flow16CFM ;Akasa 90mm rear
Keyboard
Gigabyte Aivia K8100
Mouse
TRUST-Wireless Laser Mouse - Carbon edition MI-7770C
Internet Speed
TP-LINK > TL-WN951N / AV500 Gigabit Powerline Adapters
Browser
chrome dev
Other Info
EXTRA COOLING>(FAN CONTROLLER) PC Bay Cooler 3 x 40mm fans; Akasa AK-HD-BL Blue hard drive cooler 2 x 40 mm fan 4500 rpm 29.7 dBA
Bios> American Megatrends Inc.
Version : P01-A1
Date : 08/31/2009
The .DLL error seems to have gone away (thanks brianzion), but now I've noticed a new one. I'm getting "side by side configuration" errors running various programs, most importantly Firefox. I've tracked it down with the event viewer and have found 88 different errors, all event ID 59. Here are all of them, able to be viewed:
events.zip

They all have the following format:

Code:
Activation context generation failed for "D:\Program Files (x86)\Nightly\firefox.exe".Error in manifest or policy file "C:\Windows\WinSxS\manifests\x86_policy.8.0.microsoft.vc80.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.6195_none_517205a10f4550e3.manifest" on line 0. Invalid Xml syntax.
 

My Computer

OS
Windows 7 SP1 x64
CPU
Intel Core i5-750 2.66GHz
Motherboard
ASUS P7P55D
Memory
Corsair 2x2GB DDR3
Graphics Card(s)
Sapphire ATi Radeon HD 5870
Sound Card
Sound Blaster Audigy SE
Monitor(s) Displays
Dual monitor (BenQ G2420HD, BenQ G2420HDB)
Screen Resolution
1920x1080, 1920x1080
Hard Drives
Western Digital Caviar Blue 640GB (SATA)
SATA2 500GB 7200 32MB CACHE (SATA)
HP Pocket Media Drive 250GB (USB)
Western Digital My Book Mirror Edition 1TB (USB)
PSU
Cooler Master GX Series 750W ATX
Case
Advanced Case by Tracer
Cooling
Scythe MUGEN 2
Keyboard
Logitech Illuminated Keyboard
Mouse
Logitech MX518
Internet Speed
2Mbps :(

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
packard bell IXTREME M5722
OS
Operating System : Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 6.01.7600 SP1 (x64)
CPU
Processor : Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 @ 2500 MHz
Motherboard
Mainboard : Packard Bell (Acer EG43M )
Memory
Physical Memory :8GB Corsair4x 2GB 800MHz C5 DDR2
Graphics Card(s)
Video Card : XFX 6700 AMD
Monitor(s) Displays
Maestro 234DL - BenQ V2220 - BenQ VW2420H
Screen Resolution
Current Display :1920x1080p pixels at 60 Hz in HD LED
Hard Drives
Hard Disks : WDC (1000 GB)
Drive C: (Hard Disk) : 428 GB available on 491 GB
Drive D: (Hard Disk) : 426 GB available on 492 GB
SAMSUNG spinpoint HD103SJ 1000.2 GB
(X 2) KINGSTON SSD NOW V 30GB
PSU
XFX ProSeries 550W PSU
Case
PACKARD BELL IXTREME
Cooling
System Blower Current: 150mA Air Flow16CFM ;Akasa 90mm rear
Keyboard
Gigabyte Aivia K8100
Mouse
TRUST-Wireless Laser Mouse - Carbon edition MI-7770C
Internet Speed
TP-LINK > TL-WN951N / AV500 Gigabit Powerline Adapters
Browser
chrome dev
Other Info
EXTRA COOLING>(FAN CONTROLLER) PC Bay Cooler 3 x 40mm fans; Akasa AK-HD-BL Blue hard drive cooler 2 x 40 mm fan 4500 rpm 29.7 dBA
Bios> American Megatrends Inc.
Version : P01-A1
Date : 08/31/2009
Just reinstalled all the Visual C++ redistributables, as well as the offending programs - didn't help at all. Damn, I don't want to format YET AGAIN...
 

My Computer

OS
Windows 7 SP1 x64
CPU
Intel Core i5-750 2.66GHz
Motherboard
ASUS P7P55D
Memory
Corsair 2x2GB DDR3
Graphics Card(s)
Sapphire ATi Radeon HD 5870
Sound Card
Sound Blaster Audigy SE
Monitor(s) Displays
Dual monitor (BenQ G2420HD, BenQ G2420HDB)
Screen Resolution
1920x1080, 1920x1080
Hard Drives
Western Digital Caviar Blue 640GB (SATA)
SATA2 500GB 7200 32MB CACHE (SATA)
HP Pocket Media Drive 250GB (USB)
Western Digital My Book Mirror Edition 1TB (USB)
PSU
Cooler Master GX Series 750W ATX
Case
Advanced Case by Tracer
Cooling
Scythe MUGEN 2
Keyboard
Logitech Illuminated Keyboard
Mouse
Logitech MX518
Internet Speed
2Mbps :(
What 'version' of Windows 7 are you running? All I see is Win 7 X64. Also what anti-virus and firewall is on your machine?
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Bruce ... somewhere in his 40's
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit SP1
CPU
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU @ 2.40GHz, 2400 MHz
Motherboard
INTEL/D975XBX2
Memory
4 GB
Graphics Card(s)
ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro
Monitor(s) Displays
Samsung SyncMaster 914v
Screen Resolution
1280 x 1024
Hard Drives
2/500GB each ... ST3500630AS ATA Device.
One is not connected
PSU
Rocketfish 700 W
Case
G.Skill Gigabyte Chassis
Keyboard
Standard PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse
Microsoft PS/2 Mouse
Internet Speed
DSL
Antivirus
Avira Internet Security
Browser
IE 11
Other Info
ATI HDMI Audio
Windows 7 Ultimate, Service Pack 1, 64-bit. All updates installed.
Just MSE and the default Windows Firewall.
 

My Computer

OS
Windows 7 SP1 x64
CPU
Intel Core i5-750 2.66GHz
Motherboard
ASUS P7P55D
Memory
Corsair 2x2GB DDR3
Graphics Card(s)
Sapphire ATi Radeon HD 5870
Sound Card
Sound Blaster Audigy SE
Monitor(s) Displays
Dual monitor (BenQ G2420HD, BenQ G2420HDB)
Screen Resolution
1920x1080, 1920x1080
Hard Drives
Western Digital Caviar Blue 640GB (SATA)
SATA2 500GB 7200 32MB CACHE (SATA)
HP Pocket Media Drive 250GB (USB)
Western Digital My Book Mirror Edition 1TB (USB)
PSU
Cooler Master GX Series 750W ATX
Case
Advanced Case by Tracer
Cooling
Scythe MUGEN 2
Keyboard
Logitech Illuminated Keyboard
Mouse
Logitech MX518
Internet Speed
2Mbps :(
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