Windows XP Recovery Issues..........

[WickedIntoAngel]

Well it started when the kids computer started having problems after dl Limewire. This completely screwed everything up. The last thing I recall after getting rid of the bugs was trying to remove a program called "ThinkAdz". At that point the computer crashed and I was left with the dreaded boot loop. The blue Windows is starting up screen will come up, followed by the welcome screen but then it just hangs there for a few seconds before rebooting. On the rare occasion that it does load the desktop after a few seconds it will start rebooting again. The task manager was disabled and it would not let me get into safe mode or run recovery. We are making progress now. The cdrom is not functioning but I dl the boot disks from bootdisk.com. When I put the first disk in after it starts I am getting the following error message:

File\ info.inf could not be loaded. The error code is 4096. setup cannot continue. Press any key to exit.

Also now I am able to utilize the recovery function on the desktop however once it begins I get the following error message:

C0000218 (reg file failure)
The reg cannnot load the hive (file):
systemroot\system32\config\SECURITY or its log or alternate.
It is corrupt, absent or not writable.

If anyone could help I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,
Melody

 

[Helenp1983]

Sounds messy,

i personnaly would install windows on a new hardrive. (& install anti virus)

Boot into the new hardrive,

plug the orignal hardrive in as a slave and copy the data across.

 

[goombawaho]

Before you go reloading completely or onto a new hard drive, try this procedure from Microsoft which will replace bad registry files with backed up (and hopefully good) files from the system restore folder. Pick source files from a folder dated BEFORE the new software installation/problems began.

This has worked for me many times. It doesn't take long and you find out immediately whether things are okay or not.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

If you have access to a Bart PE boot disk (or can make one on a different PC) it would be even easier, just renaming and copying the files from the system restore point folder to the C:\windows\system32\config folder

The source folder is something like this:
C:\System Volume Information\_restore{D86480E3-73EF-47BC-A0EB-A81BE6EE3ED8}\RP1\Snapshot

 

[WickedIntoAngel]

yeah see here is the thing, i can't get into it at all right now. no matter what i do after it lets me on for like 5 seconds it reboots so there is no time to do anything. Also, forgive my ignorance but what is a Bart PE Boot Disk? and how do I go about making one on another pc? i appreciate all of your help, this thing has really got me crazy............

Melody

 

[goombawaho]

Ok - you don't need anything but a windows XP disk to perform the procedure that I mentioned from Microsoft.

If you want to make a BART PE boot disk, go to this site and do it on a different (working) computer. You don't need any other programs (plugins) to be added to it, just the A43 file management utility that is on the disk "out of the box" and this will allow you to copy and replace backup the registry files once you boot up from the BART CD.

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

Don't let it frighten you - it's really easy.

 

[linney]

The cdrom is not functioning but I dl the boot disks from bootdisk.com"

Any computer repairer would be able to install a CD-ROM drive in a few minutes for you, and they are very cheap nowadays. With a working CD-ROM your recovery options increase a thousandfold.

Cannot logon to winxp...losing lots of valuable documents
thread779-975236

 

[goombawaho]

Ooops - I forgot about the CD-ROM issue. I'd create the boot disk and then transplant a working CD-ROM into the one with the non-working CD-ROM to get you going again.

Yeah - A CD-ROM drive is just about mandatory for any type of reloading/recovery.