settings not retained after restart

[Silverhill]

After a crash and reinstall of Win2K Pro (SP4), none of my personal settings
(keyboard, display effects, folder views, Internet Explorer's home page &
Internet options, desktop arrangement, etc.) are retained after any system
restart.

(I had a similar problem with my WinXP machine and was advised to reduce the
amount of security software, since some of them can interfere with writing to
the Registry. I followed the recommendations, and it works fine now.)

However, the same problem is occurring in the Win2K machine both before and
after the security stuff is installed. (All I have is ZoneAlarm 7,
MalwareBytes's Anti-Malware, and avast! antivirus, per recommendation. It
was recommended that I dispense with ZoneAlarm on the WinXP machine, relying
instead on the built-in firewall, but I can't do that with the Win2K box.)

I've used ZoneAlarm for several years now with no trouble that was obviously
its fault, so I'm hesitant to blame it now. If I should abandon it, what
would be a good replacement? I do need a firewall, of course.

The only hardware change I've had is the installation of a (PCI-type)
network card after the mobo network chip failed.

Help, please?!

 

[Dave Patrick]

What's in the system event log?



--

Regards,

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

 

[Silverhill]

What's in the system event log?

Mostly informational messages about updates being successfully applied.
The only odd-looking things are these, which have shown up occasionally over
the past few days:

type: warning (event #51; source: disk):
"An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk1\DR3 during a paging
operation."

type: error (event #7000; source: Service Control Manager):
"The MSICPL service failed to start due to the following error: The system
cannot find the file specified."

 

[Dave Patrick]

These articles may help.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/244780/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/159865/

Do you have an MSI mobo? May need to reinstall the chipset.



--

Regards,

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

 

[Silverhill]

Do you have an MSI mobo? May need to reinstall the chipset.

Yes, it's an MSI M848A.
With each of the reinstalls I've done (3 or 4 by now), I've waited until the
OS install finished before applying the various setup apps (including the
chipset update) on the MSI CD. This is, IIRC, because at least some of them
require the presence of SP4, which is not on my install CD.

Should I start over and install the chipset update first, then go on to
install the OS, then the remaining MSI drivers (audio, video, LAN)?

 

[Olof Lagerkvist]

Yes, it's an MSI M848A.
With each of the reinstalls I've done (3 or 4 by now), I've waited until the
OS install finished before applying the various setup apps (including the
chipset update) on the MSI CD. This is, IIRC, because at least some of them
require the presence of SP4, which is not on my install CD.

Should I start over and install the chipset update first, then go on to
install the OS, then the remaining MSI drivers (audio, video, LAN)?

You could try to first install Windows 2000 with a setup CD with Service
Pack 4 integrated. Here is an article with instructions how to create one:
http://www.petri.co.il/windows_2000_sp_slipstreaming.htm

 

[Silverhill]

You could try to first install Windows 2000 with a setup CD with Service
Pack 4 integrated.

OK, I'll try that next; I'll post an update here when I see what results I
get. Thanx!

 

[Dave Patrick]

The OS would have to be installed first but as soon as possible you should
install the chipset. My standard boilerplate.

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
and
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS08-067.mspx




--

Regards,

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