Help, broken my PC again
Discussion
Have been having problems with trojans which my firewall and copy of Norton (sorry) have been dealing with. However, went to start it it up the other day and I get some problems.
First of all it offers to start in safe mode, last known good configuration etc. Try to do that (all options) but it brings up the following list:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(0)(1)\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
And then the same first part up to system32\ followed by:
hal.dll
KDCOM.DLL
BOOTVID.dll
\config\system
\config\system.log
And it then tells me it cannot find:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
but tells me to boot from the Windows disk to repair it.
On doing this it goes through all the motions and then eventually gives me the following registry error:
STOP: 0x00000051 (0x00000003, 0x00000003, 0x00000000, 0xE11D7000)
Any suggestions as to what is going wrong and how to fix it?
If not, how do I go about reformatting the hard disk and reinstalling Windows when I can't get into anything?
First of all it offers to start in safe mode, last known good configuration etc. Try to do that (all options) but it brings up the following list:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(0)(1)\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
And then the same first part up to system32\ followed by:
hal.dll
KDCOM.DLL
BOOTVID.dll
\config\system
\config\system.log
And it then tells me it cannot find:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
but tells me to boot from the Windows disk to repair it.
On doing this it goes through all the motions and then eventually gives me the following registry error:
STOP: 0x00000051 (0x00000003, 0x00000003, 0x00000000, 0xE11D7000)
Any suggestions as to what is going wrong and how to fix it?
If not, how do I go about reformatting the hard disk and reinstalling Windows when I can't get into anything?
Sounds like the FAT is seriously unhappy....
How important is the data and the settings on the machine? Formatting is easy enough, but you lose everything.
One trick that may work (without resorting to anything too technical) is to put the drive in as a slave on an XP machine and let it fix things for you automatically.
This is a 'non-technical' fix. There are better solutions for recovering from this sort of thing, but that's a pretty pain freefix. You should accept that you'll probably lose everything if you try this, but it often works.
Wait a while to see what other solutions are offered.
How important is the data and the settings on the machine? Formatting is easy enough, but you lose everything.
One trick that may work (without resorting to anything too technical) is to put the drive in as a slave on an XP machine and let it fix things for you automatically.
This is a 'non-technical' fix. There are better solutions for recovering from this sort of thing, but that's a pretty pain freefix. You should accept that you'll probably lose everything if you try this, but it often works.
Wait a while to see what other solutions are offered.
Cheers Blairout. It will be a pain but I can just about live with losing the stuff on there I haven't backed up, like my San Andreas save games!!
Assuming I can get someone at work to lend me their Windows XP (Full Install) disk (both of my original copies appear to have gone walkabout! Flatmate no doubt), what is the process for formatting and reinstalling from boot up?
Cheers
Nev
Assuming I can get someone at work to lend me their Windows XP (Full Install) disk (both of my original copies appear to have gone walkabout! Flatmate no doubt), what is the process for formatting and reinstalling from boot up?
Cheers
Nev
When you boot from XP select Install Windows.
The first prompt you get should give you the option of deleting and recreating the primary partition (C: )
If you do this you will wipe what is there entirely, you then need to create a new partition and Windows, once its formatted, will install itself there.
Hey presto, cleano installo.
Alternatively, boot from CD into the recovery console , select your windows install, enter the admin password and type chkdsk /p at the prompt, wait for that to finish and reboot.
If it works great, if not see flattening advice above.
The first prompt you get should give you the option of deleting and recreating the primary partition (C: )
If you do this you will wipe what is there entirely, you then need to create a new partition and Windows, once its formatted, will install itself there.
Hey presto, cleano installo.
Alternatively, boot from CD into the recovery console , select your windows install, enter the admin password and type chkdsk /p at the prompt, wait for that to finish and reboot.
If it works great, if not see flattening advice above.
Cheers guys. I cannot install or upgrade Windows using the boot from CD process unfortunately. I have tried this already and it creates a registry error which I can't get past, as detailed.
I will however try out the other options suggested.
Which prompt do you mean Plotloss? The one where it asks me which version of Windows I want to repair and the option is "1. CWINDOWS"?
>> Edited by Nevin on Monday 10th October 16:31
I will however try out the other options suggested.
Which prompt do you mean Plotloss? The one where it asks me which version of Windows I want to repair and the option is "1. CWINDOWS"?
>> Edited by Nevin on Monday 10th October 16:31
When I boot from CD it brings up the menu which aks whether I want to install, repair etc. If I select install it gives me the registry error. If I select repair it goes through the motions for a while, asks me which install of Windows I want to repair (there is only one option here) and then gives me the registry error.
However, I have also just remembered that I have another two hard drives lying around, so I might as well format and install one of them as the primary, then see if the suggestion of making the existing drive a slave and allowing the primary to fix it works.
I will fiddle around with it in general now I have a full install disk rather than my upgrade disk (I have lost two full install disks already) and see where I get to.
Cheers for the help.
Nev
>> Edited by Nevin on Tuesday 11th October 13:16
However, I have also just remembered that I have another two hard drives lying around, so I might as well format and install one of them as the primary, then see if the suggestion of making the existing drive a slave and allowing the primary to fix it works.
I will fiddle around with it in general now I have a full install disk rather than my upgrade disk (I have lost two full install disks already) and see where I get to.
Cheers for the help.
Nev
>> Edited by Nevin on Tuesday 11th October 13:16
Plotloss said:
That indicates to me that its not a disk issue but System.dat (the registry repository) being knackered.
Yup, but system.da0 is also kerput. Formatting a fresh drive and then recovering the data from the old drive seems the most straightforward non-technical method to me.
It sounds like if you build a fresh copy of XP and then put the old drive in you'll be able to transfer all your files across. If it needs to do anything to the disk, it'll happen automatically.
Seen this problem on many a machine.
It is indeed the registry that's gone for a toffee crisp but what you can do is manually access the backups used by System Restore to replace it.
(It helps being a DOS dinosaur at times!)
From my text file of handystuff...
- go to recovery console
- type cd then enter
- then cd system~1\_resto~1 then enter
- type dir then enter
when you hit <Enter> it will list all the restore points folders
like rp1,rp2........ we have to see the last restore point to copy
the file from a recent backup. if the restore points have more than
one page then u have keep on hitting the <Enter> key to view the
last restore point folder. You will have to choose the second to the
last option, if it has more than 2 RP's.
- type cd rp {the second to the last restore point no. } (Note :
Example : cd rp9, if rp9 is the second to the last restore point,
where last restore point no.=9 )
- then type cd snaphot
Now the command Prompt will look like this c:system~1\_resto~1 p9
snapshot>
- type: copy _registry_machine_system c:windowssystem32
configsystem OR:
copy _registry_machine_software c:windowssystem32configsoftware
- then type exit
access denied? type cd <Enter>
cd windowssystem32config <Enter>
ren system system.bak<Enter>
exit<Enter>
NOTE: if you get ACCESS DENIED on the system~1 folder, type the FULL name using quotes
cd "System Volume Information"
That's a bit poorly written (I copied it from a forum somewhere) but it should point you in the right direction.
Saved quite a few trashed systems using this. Once done, do a full drive check & you should be ok.
It is indeed the registry that's gone for a toffee crisp but what you can do is manually access the backups used by System Restore to replace it.
(It helps being a DOS dinosaur at times!)
From my text file of handystuff...
- go to recovery console
- type cd then enter
- then cd system~1\_resto~1 then enter
- type dir then enter
when you hit <Enter> it will list all the restore points folders
like rp1,rp2........ we have to see the last restore point to copy
the file from a recent backup. if the restore points have more than
one page then u have keep on hitting the <Enter> key to view the
last restore point folder. You will have to choose the second to the
last option, if it has more than 2 RP's.
- type cd rp {the second to the last restore point no. } (Note :
Example : cd rp9, if rp9 is the second to the last restore point,
where last restore point no.=9 )
- then type cd snaphot
Now the command Prompt will look like this c:system~1\_resto~1 p9
snapshot>
- type: copy _registry_machine_system c:windowssystem32
configsystem OR:
copy _registry_machine_software c:windowssystem32configsoftware
- then type exit
access denied? type cd <Enter>
cd windowssystem32config <Enter>
ren system system.bak<Enter>
exit<Enter>
NOTE: if you get ACCESS DENIED on the system~1 folder, type the FULL name using quotes
cd "System Volume Information"
That's a bit poorly written (I copied it from a forum somewhere) but it should point you in the right direction.
Saved quite a few trashed systems using this. Once done, do a full drive check & you should be ok.
Okay, got my second hard drive formatted and working nicely. Have tried to connect up my second drive as a slave to see if I can pull stuff off there (like the entire CD collection I can't be bothered sticking into iTunes again) but the PC just won't start with the two drives connected. I try to go into the boot menu and set the second drive as a slave, but it doesn't recognise either of them, yet still works fine when just the good one is plugged in.
Any thoughts? Could it be a cable problem?
Any thoughts? Could it be a cable problem?
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