Help Center May Display Invalid Dates for Device Drivers (317255)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional
This article was previously published under Q317255

SYMPTOMS

Help Center may display invalid dates for device drivers on computers that use the FAT or FAT32 file system.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because the file records on the disk for these device drivers are missing a creation date (the creation date is set to zero). Help Center uses WMI queries to retrieve the InstallDate entry for the device driver file. WMI equates the InstallDate entry with the file creation date. The FAT file system uses January 1, 1980, as the base file date. After Universal Time Coordinate (UTC) and daylight saving time offsets are applied, the date is within a few hours of 12:00 A.M., January 1, 1980.

File creation dates may be missing on computers on which you start Setup (Winnt.exe) from an MS-DOS environment. The MS-DOS FAT file system is unaware of creation or last-access dates, and does not preserve this information during the file-copy process from the source media to the hard disk. These dates are set to zero.

RESOLUTION

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Only apply it to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next Windows XP service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the fix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

NOTE: In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The typical support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later: 
   Date         Time   Version      Size    File name
   --------------------------------------------------
   28-Jan-2002  19:56  5.1.2600.17  39,936  Spuninst.exe
   25-Feb-2002  18:04  5.1.2600.28  27,910  Syscomponentinfo.js

WORKAROUND

If you format or convert the hard disk to use the NTFS file system, file creation dates are initialized.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:10/11/2005
Keywords:kbHotfixServer kbQFE kbbug kbfix kbQFE KB317255
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