> I guess my memory is bad? does using an external usb 2.0 HD make a difference?

Well...copy the set in question to a different HD (if available) and scan there. And/Or calculate the sha1 value for the set/rom in question. For example, drag'n drop the set into cmpro's about window. Compare it against the cmpro scan report. Winzip/Winrar don't calculate sha1 values and maybe you got a crc32 collision ( = different sha1, while crc32 is identical for 2 different files) here (however this should be a very rare effect and I doubt this happens for more than 1 neogeo file)

Of course there is a little chance that RAM is bad or the USB driver has some issues in timing....but maybe the file is simply bad.

If the error happens randomly (as mentioned before, sometimes the file is reported, then sometimes the same file isn't reported, then it is reported...), the chance is higher that maybe the USB HD has some timing issues or other system stuff got problems. I remember very old VIA boards had major issues...but that's was like 8 years ago ;)

And of course third party tools are bad, especially:
- virusscanner which hook in and try to scan the zip before the application does (I use AVG and got no problems, while antivir locked the archives too long sometimes)

- zip tools which also provide some system hook. One user reported an issue when he had 7zip installed (however I never was able to repeat that).


Roman Scherzer