unable to boot laptop

[Terry]

I have an Emachine laptop running windows XP home edition. It was running
fine ... switched off normally but the next day I turned it on it started
booting (gets to the normal windows XP screen displayed during boot ) then
came up with message " autochk program not found - skipping autocheck " , it
then rebooted and repeated this action again and again .
I have tried all of the safe mode starts ( F8 ) and the same thing happens .
If I disable the reboot after system failure from the F8 menu it displays
this message after the autochk problem -
"STOP: c000021a Fatal System Error
The session manager initialization system process terminated unexpectedly
with a status of 0xc0000022 (0x00000000 0x00000000)
The system has been shut down"
I have tried using the system disk repair function and have run the chkdsk ,
fixboot , fixmbr from the disk .. all of which it said were completed
successfully , but it made no difference.
Is there anything else I can do before I spend money on professional help .
Any help appreciated

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I have an Emachine laptop running windows XP home edition. It was running
fine ... switched off normally but the next day I turned it on it started
booting (gets to the normal windows XP screen displayed during boot ) then
came up with message " autochk program not found - skipping autocheck " ,
it then rebooted and repeated this action again and again .
I have tried all of the safe mode starts ( F8 ) and the same thing happens
. If I disable the reboot after system failure from the F8 menu it
displays this message after the autochk problem -
"STOP: c000021a Fatal System Error
The session manager initialization system process terminated unexpectedly
with a status of 0xc0000022 (0x00000000 0x00000000)
The system has been shut down"
I have tried using the system disk repair function and have run the chkdsk
, fixboot , fixmbr from the disk .. all of which it said were completed
successfully , but it made no difference.
Is there anything else I can do before I spend money on professional help
.
Any help appreciated

Does the file c:\windows\system32\autochk.exe actually exist? You can find
out by booting he machine into the Recovery Console mode, using your WinXP
setup disk.

If the problem is caused by a damaged registry then you could perform a
manual System Restore as explained here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545. I've hade good success with this one
on several occasions.

There is no point in running fixboot and fixmbr. These tools will restore
the initial boot-up environment. In your case there is nothing wrong with
the initial boot process - the problem occurs much later, when Windows is
starting up.

 

[Terry]

Does the file c:\windows\system32\autochk.exe actually exist? You can find
out by booting he machine into the Recovery Console mode, using your WinXP
setup disk.

If the problem is caused by a damaged registry then you could perform a
manual System Restore as explained here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545. I've hade good success with this
one on several occasions.

There is no point in running fixboot and fixmbr. These tools will restore
the initial boot-up environment. In your case there is nothing wrong with
the initial boot process - the problem occurs much later, when Windows is
starting up.
Thanks for the advice ..... I have checked and the autochk and config
files

exist in the c:\windows\system32 directory. I would like to try the manual
recovery you suggested , but there is a warning stating not to use the
procedure on OEM installed operating systems . Being an amateur and the fact
my laptop came preloaded with the operating system I am a little worried
about attempting it and ending up in more trouble than I have now. In your
experience has manufacturer installed operating systems caused problems
using this recovery method ?
Thanks for sharing your time and experience.
Terry

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

exist in the c:\windows\system32 directory. I would like to try the manual
recovery you suggested , but there is a warning stating not to use the
procedure on OEM installed operating systems . Being an amateur and the
fact
my laptop came preloaded with the operating system I am a little worried
about attempting it and ending up in more trouble than I have now. In your
experience has manufacturer installed operating systems caused problems
using this recovery method ?
Thanks for sharing your time and experience.
Terry

If you read the instructions for the manual System Restore then you will see
that they include steps to create backup copies of your registry files
before replacing them. This means that whatever you do, it is fully
reversible - provided that you follow the instructions.

 

[Terry]

If you read the instructions for the manual System Restore then you will
see that they include steps to create backup copies of your registry files
before replacing them. This means that whatever you do, it is fully
reversible - provided that you follow the instructions.

Well I tried it ... with no success. As soon as I exited the recovery
console as instructed it rebooted and again said it could not find
autochk-skipping autocheck and rebooted as before .I double checked that the
autochk file existed in system32 and it does .
Would you advise copying the original system files back from the temp
directory or leaving the new ones ?
Thanks again for your help
Terry

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Well I tried it ... with no success. As soon as I exited the recovery
console as instructed it rebooted and again said it could not find
autochk-skipping autocheck and rebooted as before .I double checked that
the autochk file existed in system32 and it does .
Would you advise copying the original system files back from the temp
directory or leaving the new ones ?
Thanks again for your help
Terry

The name of the system registry file is "System" and it resides in
c:\Windows\System32. When following the manual restore procedure, did you
actually overwrite the pre-existing file "c:\Windows\System32\System" with
the one you found in the "System Volume Information" folder? Did you notice
that it exists there under a different name?

I'm asking because you report that you noticed no difference.

 

[Terry]

The name of the system registry file is "System" and it resides in
c:\Windows\System32. When following the manual restore procedure, did you
actually overwrite the pre-existing file "c:\Windows\System32\System" with
the one you found in the "System Volume Information" folder? Did you
notice that it exists there under a different name?

I'm asking because you report that you noticed no difference.

No I didn't overwrite system file as according to the instructions for the
manual recovery I would need to have the computer up and running so I can
use windows explorer or am I reading it wrong?
Part 1 - copy & del files
Part 2 -start computer in safe mode
I completed part 1 and it still did not start in safe mode .

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

No I didn't overwrite system file as according to the instructions for the
manual recovery I would need to have the computer up and running so I can
use windows explorer or am I reading it wrong?
Part 1 - copy & del files
Part 2 -start computer in safe mode
I completed part 1 and it still did not start in safe mode .

Step 5 required you to copy and delete a number of registry files. Did you
do this?

Step 11 required you to copy the file _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM to the
Windows\Tmp folder. Did you do this?

Step 12 required you to rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM to SYSTEM in the
Windows\Tmp folder. Did you do this?

Part 3 required you to copy the file c:\windows\tmp\system to
c:\windows\system32\config\system. Did you do this?

 

[Daave]

No I didn't overwrite system file as according to the instructions for
the manual recovery I would need to have the computer up and running
so I can use windows explorer or am I reading it wrong?
Part 1 - copy & del files
Part 2 -start computer in safe mode
I completed part 1 and it still did not start in safe mode .

Terry,

Please describe what happened exactly.

Presumably, you pressed the F8 key and got the menu of options. Once you
selected the Safe Mode option and pressed Enter, what happened?

And this part is for Pegasus:

Can you please parse the following:

<quote>
To complete the procedure described in this section, you must be logged
on as an administrator, or an administrative user (a user who has an
account in the Administrators group). If you are using Windows XP Home
Edition, you can log on as an administrative user. If you log on as an
administrator, you must first start Windows XP Home Edition in Safe
mode.
</quote>

I know that XP Pro has different shades of admin capability, but I'm
running XP Home and I see only two types of users: Computer
Administrator and Limited. Obviously if one logs on with the built-in
Capital-A Administrator account, one needs to use Safe Mode. But how
about using regular mode and a user account that is of the Computer
Administrator type? If that's doable, the above instructions should be
changed:

"Administrator" [with a Capital A!} should replace "an administrator".
The "an" confuses things!

Or is Safe Mode necessary for *all* users of XP Home in this situation?
If that's the case, then the instructions should read:

"If you are using Windows XP Home Edition, you can log on as an
administrative user, but you must first start Windows XP Home Edition in
Safe mode."

 

[Daave]

I have an Emachine laptop running windows XP home edition. It was
running fine ... switched off normally but the next day I turned it on
it started booting (gets to the normal windows XP screen displayed
during boot ) then came up with message " autochk program not found -
skipping autocheck " , it then rebooted and repeated this action again
and again .

Google turns up a lot of hits for this problem. It seems that
third-party software like BootIt NG or Norton GoBack is reponsible.
Here's one page:

http://pchell.com/support/autochknotfound.shtml

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

No I didn't overwrite system file as according to the instructions for
the manual recovery I would need to have the computer up and running so I
can use windows explorer or am I reading it wrong?
Part 1 - copy & del files
Part 2 -start computer in safe mode
I completed part 1 and it still did not start in safe mode .

Terry,

Please describe what happened exactly.

Presumably, you pressed the F8 key and got the menu of options. Once you
selected the Safe Mode option and pressed Enter, what happened?

And this part is for Pegasus:

Can you please parse the following:

<quote>
To complete the procedure described in this section, you must be logged on
as an administrator, or an administrative user (a user who has an account
in the Administrators group). If you are using Windows XP Home Edition,
you can log on as an administrative user. If you log on as an
administrator, you must first start Windows XP Home Edition in Safe mode.
</quote>

I know that XP Pro has different shades of admin capability, but I'm
running XP Home and I see only two types of users: Computer Administrator
and Limited. Obviously if one logs on with the built-in Capital-A
Administrator account, one needs to use Safe Mode. But how about using
regular mode and a user account that is of the Computer Administrator
type? If that's doable, the above instructions should be changed:

"Administrator" [with a Capital A!} should replace "an administrator". The
"an" confuses things!

Or is Safe Mode necessary for *all* users of XP Home in this situation? If
that's the case, then the instructions should read:

"If you are using Windows XP Home Edition, you can log on as an
administrative user, but you must first start Windows XP Home Edition in
Safe mode."

Sorry, my experience with WinXP Home is rather limited. I use WinXP
Professional and when I need full administrative privileges then I log on as
"Administrator".

 

[Terry]

Step 5 required you to copy and delete a number of registry files. Did you
do this?

Step 11 required you to copy the file _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM to the
Windows\Tmp folder. Did you do this?

Step 12 required you to rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM to SYSTEM in the
Windows\Tmp folder. Did you do this?

Part 3 required you to copy the file c:\windows\tmp\system to
c:\windows\system32\config\system. Did you do this?

Sorry for the delayed reply had to work today.
I completed part 1 of the procedure . Backed up the 5 files
c:\windows\system32\config\system, software, sam, security, default and then
deleted orig files and copied new files from c:\windows\repair\ . Exited
recovery console and allowed computer to reboot .... problem still the same
"can't find autochk skipping autocheck" then it reboots .(autochk definitely
exists)
Originally I could not access the system volume information from the system
disk .. access denied .. so I assumed I had to use the safe mode start as
described in the procedure , which I can't do .
Eventually I gained access using the system disk recovery console and
completed the entire procedure . I copied all 5 files .. sam, default,
security, software, system from a restore file dated 30 Jan 09 (which was
about 2 weeks before the problem) to the tmp directory .
Then as per the procedure renamed them, deleted the 5 orig.
c:\windows\system32\config\sam , system, etc and then copied the 5 new files
from the tmp folder to the c:\windows\system32\config\
I went to the system32 config folder to ensure they were there and they were
.... all 5 files dated 30 Jan 09 . Exited and rebooted and the same thing
happened no autochk etc and it rebooted.
I used the system disk recovery console again and when I checked the config
files only the default file was dated 30 Jan 09 the rest system, security,
software, and sam were all dated 12 Feb 09. I repeated the procedure again
and the same thing happened .
Do I have to delete the most recent restore points as it seems to update
these files from somewhere as it boots ?
Terry

 

[Terry]

Terry,

Please describe what happened exactly.

Presumably, you pressed the F8 key and got the menu of options. Once you
selected the Safe Mode option and pressed Enter, what happened?

Press F8... select Safe Mode ... press enter .... bar goes across bottom of
screen ...... computer boots .... message " can not find autochk program -
skipping autocheck " ...... laptop then reboots . Exactly the same as if I
let it boot normally . The only one that makes a difference is if I select
disable reboot after system failure , it then displays "stop Fatal error
message " I noted in an earlier posting
Thanks Terry

 

[Terry]

Google turns up a lot of hits for this problem. It seems that third-party
software like BootIt NG or Norton GoBack is reponsible. Here's one page:

http://pchell.com/support/autochknotfound.shtml

I have seen some of these ... they all require the making of a boot disk .
While my desktop has a 4 1/2" floppy drive my laptop doesn't ..... is there
a way to make a CD boot disk on my desktop that I can use . The only way I
know is using the floppy drive

 

[SC Tom]

I have seen some of these ... they all require the making of a boot disk .
While my desktop has a 4 1/2" floppy drive my laptop doesn't ..... is
there a way to make a CD boot disk on my desktop that I can use . The only
way I know is using the floppy drive

Here's one way:

http://www.onecomputerguy.com/install/winxp_bootable.htm

SC Tom

 

[Terry]

Went to site .... made a bootable CD with PTEDIT file on and checked
partition with the "partition table editor" and the partition values are
correct (reset the value and saved it just to make sure). Rebooted and still
the same prob .Also on the site it said a missing mountmgr.sys file in
system32 could cause this problem ... checked and it is there.
Thanks to everyone
Terry

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Sorry for the delayed reply had to work today.
I completed part 1 of the procedure . Backed up the 5 files
c:\windows\system32\config\system, software, sam, security, default and
then deleted orig files and copied new files from c:\windows\repair\ .
Exited recovery console and allowed computer to reboot .... problem still
the same "can't find autochk skipping autocheck" then it reboots .(autochk
definitely exists)
Originally I could not access the system volume information from the
system disk .. access denied .. so I assumed I had to use the safe mode
start as described in the procedure , which I can't do .
Eventually I gained access using the system disk recovery console and
completed the entire procedure . I copied all 5 files .. sam, default,
security, software, system from a restore file dated 30 Jan 09 (which was
about 2 weeks before the problem) to the tmp directory .
Then as per the procedure renamed them, deleted the 5 orig.
c:\windows\system32\config\sam , system, etc and then copied the 5 new
files from the tmp folder to the c:\windows\system32\config\
I went to the system32 config folder to ensure they were there and they
were ... all 5 files dated 30 Jan 09 . Exited and rebooted and the same
thing happened no autochk etc and it rebooted.
I used the system disk recovery console again and when I checked the
config files only the default file was dated 30 Jan 09 the rest system,
security, software, and sam were all dated 12 Feb 09. I repeated the
procedure again and the same thing happened .
Do I have to delete the most recent restore points as it seems to update
these files from somewhere as it boots ?
Terry

Your report suggests that you did the right thing:
1. Move the current registry files elsewhere.
2. Put "sound" registry files in their place.
3. Reboot.

However, I have a problem with your file dates. Here is how it goes. I am
assuming that your machine date is set correctly to today's date.

Step 1 above: The "flawed" registry files in c:\windows\system32\config
would have a date stamp of 12 February or thereabouts.

Step 2: When you copied the "sound" registry files from c:\windows\repair
then these files would have a date stamp reflecting the date when Windows
was installed. This could have been many months ago. The registry files in
c:\Windows\system32\config, in particular the file
c:\Windows\system32\config\system should now show this old date. You can see
this while in Recovery Console mode.

Step 3: When you reboot the machine then most files in
c:\Windows\system32\config, in particular the file
c:\Windows\system32\config\system would acquire today's date, not 12
February. Why?

At some stage you will need to decide if you want to persist with your
salvage efforts or if you prefer to perform a repair installation of Windows
XP (which may or may not be successful).

 

[Daave]

Went to site .... made a bootable CD with PTEDIT file on and checked
partition with the "partition table editor" and the partition values
are correct (reset the value and saved it just to make sure). Rebooted
and still the same prob .Also on the site it said a missing
mountmgr.sys file in system32 could cause this problem ... checked and
it is there.
Thanks to everyone

Well, it looks like you will need to perform either a repair or clean
install of XP (unless there's something else I'm missing). Make sure you
save all your data, e-mails, browser favorites, etc. If you wind up
doing a clean install, you will also need your drivers and installation
files/media for all your apps. But before you do that, check out the
file dates once more as Pegasus advised.

 

[Terry]

Your report suggests that you did the right thing:
1. Move the current registry files elsewhere.
2. Put "sound" registry files in their place.
3. Reboot.

However, I have a problem with your file dates. Here is how it goes. I am
assuming that your machine date is set correctly to today's date.

Step 1 above: The "flawed" registry files in c:\windows\system32\config
would have a date stamp of 12 February or thereabouts.

Step 2: When you copied the "sound" registry files from c:\windows\repair
then these files would have a date stamp reflecting the date when Windows
was installed. This could have been many months ago. The registry files in
c:\Windows\system32\config, in particular the file
c:\Windows\system32\config\system should now show this old date. You can
see this while in Recovery Console mode.

Step 3: When you reboot the machine then most files in
c:\Windows\system32\config, in particular the file
c:\Windows\system32\config\system would acquire today's date, not 12
February. Why?

At some stage you will need to decide if you want to persist with your
salvage efforts or if you prefer to perform a repair installation of
Windows XP (which may or may not be successful).

Well first of all I would like to thank everyone for their time , effort and
patience . You have all been very helpful and I know it can't be easy
dealing with an amateur on a long distance basis .
I feel we gave it a real good effort but as you say it's time to save as
much data as I can and reinstall windows.
I did try the procedure again as Pegasus suggested paying attention to the
dates .
Using the repair console I deleted all 5 of system32\config files (system,
sam, etc) and copied the files from the repair disk, after which I checked
the dates .... default was 6/10/03, the other 4 were 12/26/03 ... rebooted
to the usual autochk problem then went back in to check the dates again .
Default was still 6/10/03 but the other 4 had changed to 02/12/09 .
I then deleted the files again and copied the files I saved from the restore
point .. all files were dated 01/30/09 ... rebooted and checked them again
.... default was still 01/30/09 but the rest were 02/12/09 .
Using the repair disk it doesn't seem to recognize the command "date" or
"time" which is the only way I know to check the processor clock . So I
created a new directory and when I checked it said it was created 02/12/09
10:04pm .. about an hour later I created another and guess what ... that's
right ...it said it was created 02/12/09 10:04pm .
I believe this laptop is possessed and needs to be put out of its misery ,
perhaps an exorcism will help !
Thanks again
Terry

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Well first of all I would like to thank everyone for their time , effort
and patience . You have all been very helpful and I know it can't be easy
dealing with an amateur on a long distance basis .
I feel we gave it a real good effort but as you say it's time to save as
much data as I can and reinstall windows.
I did try the procedure again as Pegasus suggested paying attention to the
dates .
Using the repair console I deleted all 5 of system32\config files (system,
sam, etc) and copied the files from the repair disk, after which I checked
the dates .... default was 6/10/03, the other 4 were 12/26/03 ... rebooted
to the usual autochk problem then went back in to check the dates again .
Default was still 6/10/03 but the other 4 had changed to 02/12/09 .
I then deleted the files again and copied the files I saved from the
restore point .. all files were dated 01/30/09 ... rebooted and checked
them again ... default was still 01/30/09 but the rest were 02/12/09 .
Using the repair disk it doesn't seem to recognize the command "date" or
"time" which is the only way I know to check the processor clock . So I
created a new directory and when I checked it said it was created 02/12/09
10:04pm .. about an hour later I created another and guess what ... that's
right ...it said it was created 02/12/09 10:04pm .
I believe this laptop is possessed and needs to be put out of its misery ,
perhaps an exorcism will help !
Thanks again
Terry

Your most recent tests prove that your problem is not caused by a corrupted
registry. If it was then using the registry files from December 2003 would
have allowed you to boot up.

The date issue concerns me for two reasons:
- After you rebooted with the restored registry, the file date was 12
February, in spite of today's date being 17 February.
- When you created a test folder while in the Recovery Console (good idea!),
the computer time did not change. It should have - I tested it myself a
moment ago. This makes me wonder if you're dealing with a hardware problem.

I think you need to pull the plug and reload Windows onto a freshly
formatted disk. If you have a hardware problem then it will quickly become
apparent. I'd like to hear about the end result.

If you have the time and interest then I suggest that you create yourself a
tool that lets you deal with such situations more easily than the very basic
and very primitive Recovery Console. I'm thinking of a Bart PE boot CD. This
is a terrific tool that gives you the following facilities, even when you
can no longer start Windows:
- Full access to all files and folders on your hard disk.
- Access to external USB flash disks (great for copying otherwise
inaccessible files!)
- Full set of commands such as date, time, notepad etc. etc.
- Ability to perform the manual "System Restore" function.
- Boots much faster than the Recovery Console.
- Access to virus scanners
- Networking (depends on your network adapter)