.e00 files in ArcMap 9.2?

Bringing in .e00 (Arc interchange format) files into ArcMap 9.2 seems straightforward enough. I followed directions I found online and used the Import71 application that is hiding away in the ArcGIS bin folder to convert the files to coverages. I was then able to bring the coverages into my ArcMap project and see them listed on the display tab, but I could not view the data or zoom to the layer. I realized that part of the problem was that none of the spatial referencing information was preserved; no units, no extents, nada. I tried reassigning the extents by going through the properties tab on the coverages, but every time I clicked apply, the southern and eastern extents kept reverting back to their original (and seemingly random) values. Grrrrr. I know I must be missing something simple, but I have no idea what it is. If anybody has any experience with .e00 files in ArcMap 9.x I would love to hear from you.

Update - I just noticed that some folks happening upon this post are not finding the solution post. My issue was that I had a space in my pathname, so while the tool appeared to work and even generated a coverage with the right name, the coverage itself was empty. I moved the files to a folder on the C drive so that the pathname had no spaces and the import71 tool worked great. Any files on the desktop or in the "My Documents" folder will therefore not work because of the spaces.