Major Startup Problems

R

Ray K

Probably due to the win32.agent.cmn virus that got me earlier today, despite
using several programs to remove it, including SpyBot, I can't boot
properly, Once I get past the splash screen, I see the desktop and all the
icons. But once all the startup items are loaded, I see a series of newly
opening dialog boxes that say c:\WINNT\Syustem32\command.com. After dozens
open within about 45 seconds, I get an Program Error dialog box that says
"explorer.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You need
to restart the program." Hitting Cancel closes this box, but I'm left with
original dozens of boxes.

If I use Task Manager to try to close them, I eventually can (after about 5
minutes), but then I'm left with a blank, blue screen. No desktop icons and
nothing along the bottom (Start, clock, quick launch, etc.).

If I then press the Reset switch, after getting to a normal desktop the
screen goes blank, as above. I don't know why all those command.com boxes
don't open again.

If I try starting in the Safe Mode, I'll get to a point where the screen is
black, with the words Safe Mode in the four corners, and in the middle is a
box that says "Please wait, windows is starting up..." That message remains
for about four minutes, then disappears and just the black, blank screen
remains. (No start button or desktop icons.) If I wait long enough the icons
and task bar appear, along with a message that windows is in the safe mode.
If I do nothing the message disappears and I'm back to the black screen with
nothing along the bottom.

Task Manager show that explorer.exe is not running. If I go to File/New Task
(run) and type explorer.exe in the box, the desktop icon reappear for 8
seconds, then I get a Desktop dialog box saying that Windows is in the Safe
Mode. If I click on OK, I see the desktop icons for 8 seconds until the
Desktop dialog box reappears. This 8-second cycling back and forth will
continue as long as I keep clicking on OK. If I don't, explorer.exe shuts
down on its own and I'm again left with the blank screen.

I've probably aggrevated the condition by first trying to repair W2k with
the original installation disc. When that failed, out of desperation I tried
a fresh reinstall; obviously without success.

I'm about ready to take the drastic step of replacing the hard drive,
because the problems seem so overwhelming. I discuss my plan in the post
following this one. Thanks for any help you provide that will save me the
replacement effort.

Ray
 
D

Dave Patrick

The disk doesn't need to be replaced.

To do a clean install, either boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom or setup
disks. The set of four install disks can be created from your Windows 2000
CD-Rom; change to the \bootdisk directory on the CD-Rom and execute
makeboot.exe (from dos) or makebt32.exe (from 32 bit) and follow the
prompts.

(Note: If your drive controller is not natively supported then you'll want
to boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom. Then *F6* very early and very
important (at setup is inspecting your system) in the setup to prevent drive
controller detection, and select S to specify additional drivers. Then later
you'll be prompted to insert the manufacturer supplied Windows 2000 driver
for your drive controller in drive "A")

Setup inspects your computer's hardware configuration and then begins to
install the Setup and driver files. When the Windows 2000 Professional
screen appears, press ENTER to set up Windows 2000 Professional.

Read the license agreement, and then press the F8 key to accept the terms of
the license agreement and continue the installation.

When the Windows 2000 Professional Setup screen appears, all the existing
partitions and the unpartitioned spaces are listed for each physical hard
disk. Use the ARROW keys to select the partitions Press D to delete an
existing partition, If you press D to delete an existing partition, you must
then press L (or press ENTER, and then press L if it is the System
partition) to confirm that you want to delete the partition. Repeat this
step for each of the existing partitions When all the partitions are deleted
press F3 to exit setup, (to avoid unexpected drive letter assignments with
your new install) then restart the pc then when you get to this point in
setup again select the unpartitioned space, and then press C to create a new
partition and specify the size (if required). Windows will by default use
all available space.

Be sure to apply SP4 and these two below to your new install before
connecting to any network. Internet included. (sasser, msblast)
http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/6/A/E6A04295-D2A8-40D0-A0C5-241BFECD095E/W2KSP4_EN.EXE
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-043.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-049.mspx

Then

Rollup 1 for Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...CF-8850-4531-B52B-BF28B324C662&displaylang=en



--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
 
R

Ray K

Dave,

Thanks so much for the guidance. Things are becoming a comedy of errors.
When I stick the first of four setup disks (made two years ago) into the
problem computer, I get a Disk I/O error message. (No other words like
reinsert the disk and try again.) So I can't make a new set on that computer
because I can't boot properly.

So I figured I'd make a new set of setup disks using an old laptop (the one
I'm.using for these messages). Problem is, even though it has a floppy
drive, its CD-ROM doesn't work. No problem, I have two newer laptops.
Needless to say, neither has a floppy drive.

vWith the W2K Pro disk in one of the newer laptops, I can see makebt.32.exe
and four img files. Is there a way for me to use a USB flash drive by
copying the four files to it? The bios in the problem computer does allow me
to boot from USB-HDD.

While waiting for your reply, I'm investigating something called Ultimate
Boot Disk.

Again, many thanks.

Ray


Dave Patrick said:
The disk doesn't need to be replaced.

To do a clean install, either boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom or setup
disks. The set of four install disks can be created from your Windows 2000
CD-Rom; change to the \bootdisk directory on the CD-Rom and execute
makeboot.exe (from dos) or makebt32.exe (from 32 bit) and follow the
prompts.

(Note: If your drive controller is not natively supported then you'll want
to boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom. Then *F6* very early and very
important (at setup is inspecting your system) in the setup to prevent drive
controller detection, and select S to specify additional drivers. Then later
you'll be prompted to insert the manufacturer supplied Windows 2000 driver
for your drive controller in drive "A")

Setup inspects your computer's hardware configuration and then begins to
install the Setup and driver files. When the Windows 2000 Professional
screen appears, press ENTER to set up Windows 2000 Professional.

Read the license agreement, and then press the F8 key to accept the terms of
the license agreement and continue the installation.

When the Windows 2000 Professional Setup screen appears, all the existing
partitions and the unpartitioned spaces are listed for each physical hard
disk. Use the ARROW keys to select the partitions Press D to delete an
existing partition, If you press D to delete an existing partition, you must
then press L (or press ENTER, and then press L if it is the System
partition) to confirm that you want to delete the partition. Repeat this
step for each of the existing partitions When all the partitions are deleted
press F3 to exit setup, (to avoid unexpected drive letter assignments with
your new install) then restart the pc then when you get to this point in
setup again select the unpartitioned space, and then press C to create a new
partition and specify the size (if required). Windows will by default use
all available space.

Be sure to apply SP4 and these two below to your new install before
connecting to any network. Internet included. (sasser, msblast)
http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/6/A/E6A04295-D2A8-40D0-A0C5-241BFEC
D095E/W2KSP4_EN.EXE
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-043.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-049.mspx

Then

Rollup 1 for Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?amp;displaylang=en&familyid=
B54730CF-8850-4531-B52B-BF28B324C662&displaylang=en



--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
Click to expand...
 
R

Ray K

Dave,

Since the previous post, I've struck out on everything I could think of. I
tried making a new set of setup diskettes using my only laptop with a floppy
drive. No luck since that computer uses ME, which makebd32.exe refuses to
work with. Makebe32 appears like it will run under XP - I at least get to
the point where it asks me to insert a floppy - but that laptop doesn't have
a floppy drive. A second older laptop, over my girlfriend's house, uses XP
and may have a floppy. I'll see her this afternoon. Maybe I should buy an
external USB floppy. But even if I could make a set of diskettes, once I
boot I'm still faced with the problem of losing data as I reinstall W2K even
though I'm spared the expense of a replacement drive.

(For the record, I have four laptops, which I use for deejaying: 2 running
XP with working CD burners, but no floppy drives; one retired older one
running ME -I'm using it now - with a floppy drive, but a bad CD-ROM;
another older retired one running XP, CD burner OK, unknown if it has a
floppy drive. My workhorse W2K computer with the problems is a home made
desktop.)

I tried making a bootable CD from a downloaded ISO file
(http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html). It's a collection of
diagnostic programs. My two physical drives pass.

As I reread your post of 2/28, 10:40PM, at one point you mention that I will
have to delete partition(s). That means losing everything in that partition,
including unbacked up data, doesn't it? If so, then I'm forced to a new C
drive. Or maybe I could do something like this.

1. Remove the second drive, so the primary master's partitions will be
assigned C, D and E.
2. Create a new partition on that drive, and designate it as C. Now this
drive has four partitions, with the old C becoming D, D becoming E and E
bcoming F. All the data of importance that once was on C is now preserved on
D.
3. Do a fresh install of W2K, SP4 and the programs. Even with four
partitions, this 80 GB drive has plenty of unused space to do this.
4. Copy the important data from D back into C.
5. Delete the D partition, so the drive once again is back to three
partitions.
6. Reinstall the primary slave drive.

What a nightmare.

Ray
 
F

Frank Booth Snr

Ray said:
Probably due to the win32.agent.cmn virus that got me earlier today, despite
using several programs to remove it, including SpyBot, I can't boot
properly, Once I get past the splash screen, I see the desktop and all the
icons. But once all the startup items are loaded, I see a series of newly
opening dialog boxes that say c:\WINNT\Syustem32\command.com. After dozens
open within about 45 seconds, I get an Program Error dialog box that says
"explorer.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You need
to restart the program." Hitting Cancel closes this box, but I'm left with
original dozens of boxes.

If I use Task Manager to try to close them, I eventually can (after about 5
minutes), but then I'm left with a blank, blue screen. No desktop icons and
nothing along the bottom (Start, clock, quick launch, etc.).

If I then press the Reset switch, after getting to a normal desktop the
screen goes blank, as above. I don't know why all those command.com boxes
don't open again.

If I try starting in the Safe Mode, I'll get to a point where the screen is
black, with the words Safe Mode in the four corners, and in the middle is a
box that says "Please wait, windows is starting up..." That message remains
for about four minutes, then disappears and just the black, blank screen
remains. (No start button or desktop icons.) If I wait long enough the icons
and task bar appear, along with a message that windows is in the safe mode.
If I do nothing the message disappears and I'm back to the black screen with
nothing along the bottom.

Task Manager show that explorer.exe is not running. If I go to File/New Task
(run) and type explorer.exe in the box, the desktop icon reappear for 8
seconds, then I get a Desktop dialog box saying that Windows is in the Safe
Mode. If I click on OK, I see the desktop icons for 8 seconds until the
Desktop dialog box reappears. This 8-second cycling back and forth will
continue as long as I keep clicking on OK. If I don't, explorer.exe shuts
down on its own and I'm again left with the blank screen.

I've probably aggrevated the condition by first trying to repair W2k with
the original installation disc. When that failed, out of desperation I tried
a fresh reinstall; obviously without success.

I'm about ready to take the drastic step of replacing the hard drive,
because the problems seem so overwhelming. I discuss my plan in the post
following this one. Thanks for any help you provide that will save me the
replacement effort.
Click to expand...
Have you backed up all of your documents and personal files? If you have
done so, reformat your drive and start again with a fresh install. That
is the quickest means of getting yourself out of this mess. Before you
start make sure you have all the necessary drivers for your hardware,
particularly any chipset, graphics and audio drivers as well las your
Win2k system disk.
 

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