win2k won't boot - message dlls for kernel

[visualuser]

One of our laptops will not boot. It has windows 2000.
I believe maybe something was uninstalled and it went bad or the person install a 98 printer driver instead of 2000.

Here is the bootup messeag:

Win 2k could not start because error in software, could not load dlls kernal for windows, contact support.

Any suggestions?

Person does not have access to 2000 disc not bootup floppy.
Is there anything I can do until this person gets back from the trip that he is on?

 

[mapleleaf]

visualuser,

One thing you could try is booting into the Last Known Good
configuration.

Just after Power Up, start hitting F8. A menu will appear and Last Known Good should be the fifth option.

If this does not work then :-

Do you have the WIN2K CD and an Emergency Repair Disk ??

Do you have any idea what was added / removed / updated just before this problem appeared ??

Good luck,

Ian

 

[visualuser]

Believe person uninstalled money 2001 and tried reinstalling it. Also, person may have tried installing a 98 hp laserjet 1200 driver instead of the 2000 driver.

The machine was shipped somewhere, so maybe could it be hard drive damage too?

 

[mapleleaf]

Visualuser,

Have you tried Last Known Good ??

There is an article in the MS KB that describes your problem in detail.

"Windows could not start because of an error in the software
Load needed DLL's for Kernel"

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;812450

To paraphrase it. "Reload Windows using In-Place Upgrade"

So, at the very least you will need a copy of WIN2K on CD

Once you have that you can try booting from it and running a Manual Repair.

--------------------------------------------------------
Windows includes two repair choices: Manual Repair or Fast Repair.

To see these choices, boot from the Windows installation media, press R to repair, and then press R to use the Emergency Repair process. When you do this, you see the following options:
Manual Repair: To choose from a list of repair options, press M.

The Manual Repair option provides the following choices:

[X] Inspect startup environment
[X] Verify Windows system files
[X] Inspect Boot Sector
Continue <perform selected tasks>
--------------------------------------------------------

Good luck,

Ian

 

[visualuser]

Mapleleaf,

Thanks friend. I searched Microsoft's website but could not find this article. If I had the system here it would be no problem. I'll have to walk the person through it over the phone.

Thanks again.......

 

[visualuser]

Does anyone know how &quot;much&quot; is replace during an repair or in place upgrade. I'm talking like network settings, other program settings.

Thanks...!!!!

 

[mapleleaf]

visualuser,

Here is what it changes :-

What an In-Place Windows 2000 Upgrade Changes and What It Does Not Change

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;306952

Ian

 

[gyrome]

Wish I would have read this thread BEFORE I installed 2000 again.

My situation -
- dual boot Win2000 and Win98.
- encountered problem(s)
- tried using ERD, process &quot;hung&quot; (for hours)
- re-installed Win2000 in a different folder on the same partition that the other (broken) Win2000 resides in.
- boot.ini now has two entries , both for Win2000

Is it too late to try teh procedures outlined in this thread ? I ereally don't want to have to re-install all the software I had.

 

[mapleleaf]

Gyrome,

You should be able to by booting from the Win2K CD and following the article.

When you're happy that things are fine, you will be able to delete the directory that you installed the second copy into and remove the duplicate entry from c:\boot.ini.

Don't forget that you will have to unhide boot.ini before you will be able to edit it. Go to Start>Run and type CMD. CD c:\ and type 'attrib -s -h -r boot.ini'. Then use notepad to remove the entry containing the directory that you just deleted.

Ian

Everyday the Computer Gods pick one person to be &quot;it&quot;. Maybe, today is your day !!

 

[gyrome]

mapleleaf -

Thanks for the reply.

I did a dry run last night (following the article's directions), and when I got to the part about &quot;...repairing an existing Win2K...&quot;, the only Win2K that was offered in the pick-list was the new one (sigh...).

I was expecting to see both win2K installations (the one that was broken, and the new one that I installed in another folder on the same partition), but I only saw the new one.

Any other ideas ?

Thanks.

Gyrome--

 

[mapleleaf]

Gyrome,

When your Win2K first went bad was the error message the same as Visualuser's ??.

I would have expected Win2K to have picked up both installations. You may want to look at your boot.ini file and make sure that the first entry points to your OLD directory and the second to NEW. While you're in there edit the text description so that you know which one is which.

Retry the repair process. If that doesn't work, then try the following with the idea to do the minimum to get the OLD install working or at least to a point where the repair process sees it.

Update the NEW install to the same SP level as OLD. Next, take a look at OLD_DIR\System32\Config. Are System and System.alt about the same size ?? Compare the sizes to NEW_DIR\System32\Config. They should all be about the same size, since the hardware hasn't changed.

If there is a Major difference, then you have likely found the problem. Rename the OLD system to system.bad and copy system.alt to system. Try booting into OLD. If that fails, then boot into NEW and try copying system to the OLD directory. Try booting into the OLD install.

If it still doesn't work, what error messages do you get ??

Good luck,





Ian

Everyday the Computer Gods pick one person to be &quot;it&quot;. Maybe, today is your day !!

 

[visualuser]

My problem...finally figure out was hard drive failure...never could get the diags to run but finally found a way to test ( alt ctrl d on bootup ). That ran a drive diag and failed. All is well. Thanks for the replies... :O)

 

[mapleleaf]

visualuser,

Interesting that it was able to start to load Windows. Hope the user had backed up recently !!.



Ian

Everyday the Computer Gods pick one person to be &quot;it&quot;. Maybe, today is your day !!

 

[visualuser]

I know, weird....

Yeap, well I was able to get on the network after one install and copy all his data out before the drive got really bad.

 

[gyrome]

Need more help Mapleleaf, please !

Finally got back to trying to recover my older (broken) installation of Win2K (I'm not lazy, it's just sooooo depressing to think about). Was following your directions (from 7/29/03 eMail), and have run into the following:

- In trying to copy the system32/config/system file from the new (working Win2K) to the old (broken Win2k), I am unable to perform the copy because Windows has the file open and is giving me a sharing/access violation.

Have tried many things including trying to perform the copy from the Repair Console facility, etc...

Do you have any other tricks up your sleeve to help me ?

Thanks.

Gyrome...........

 

[mapleleaf]

gyrome,

The easiest way is to run the Backup utility that's in Accessories-System Tools. Run the ERD option, checking the box to backup to the repair directory. On my system, this drops the files into %systemroot%\repair\RegBack.

Ian

Everyday the Computer Gods pick one person to be &quot;it&quot;. Maybe, today is your day !!

 

[gyrome]

mapleleaf,

Many thanks for all your help. Was able to copy the files, but, alas, the Windows2000 install did not recongnize my broken Win2000 system.

Am I at the end of the road, or are there any other options that you know of ?


Thanks again,

Gyrome..........

 

[mapleleaf]

gyrome,

Well, you could try doing a fresh install into the OLD location. You will need to backup the software file from OLD\System32\config directory since it contains the keys from your installed software.

You will have to boot into the Recovery Console to copy it back when you're done

Good luck,

Ian

Everyday the Computer Gods pick one person to be &quot;it&quot;. Maybe, today is your day !!