Bad 'software' Registry file makes PC endlessly reboot

[Fred]

My father's PC (W2K Pro, SP4) constantly reboots at startup. It gets to the
white "Starting up" screen, but when the blue progress bar hits the end, the
PC spontaneously reboots.

I checked out various Usenet posts about this, and they all say to restore
the 'c:\winnt\system32\config\software' file (which is the Registry, yes?)
from a backup, but we have none. Don't laugh -- our data isn't lost, as
we install all apps and docs on another drive. So we can still use this
data *if* we could just reboot.

I've successfully replaced the above file with the default file that Windows
created at install (from 'c:\winnt\repair\') but this obviously boots the PC
without any application Registry entries, meaning we have to re-install all
the apps to get them working again. But we're hoping to avoid that (there's
a LOT of apps) and somehow fix the bad 'software' file some other way (from
DOS, it would seem).

BTW, Windows doesn't report that the 'software' file is bad or corrupt -- the
PC simply reboots. We can't boot into Safe Mode (or any other mode) either.

Any ideas? Thanks!

 

[Sjoerd Kuilman]

If you could manage to disable the auto reboot function you would probably
get blue screens with error messages and know where you have to look to get
the problem fixed. But since you can't get into Windows... I think you have
to reinstall..

 

[°Mike°]

<Followup-To set to 24hoursupport.helpdesk>

Description of the Windows 2000 Recovery Console
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=229716

 

[Alien Zord]

My father's PC (W2K Pro, SP4) constantly reboots at startup. It gets to the
white "Starting up" screen, but when the blue progress bar hits the end, the
PC spontaneously reboots.

I checked out various Usenet posts about this, and they all say to restore
the 'c:\winnt\system32\config\software' file (which is the Registry, yes?)
from a backup, but we have none. Don't laugh -- our data isn't lost, as
we install all apps and docs on another drive. So we can still use this
data *if* we could just reboot.

I've successfully replaced the above file with the default file that Windows
created at install (from 'c:\winnt\repair\') but this obviously boots the PC
without any application Registry entries, meaning we have to re-install all
the apps to get them working again. But we're hoping to avoid that (there's
a LOT of apps) and somehow fix the bad 'software' file some other way (from
DOS, it would seem).

BTW, Windows doesn't report that the 'software' file is bad or corrupt -- the
PC simply reboots. We can't boot into Safe Mode (or any other mode) either.

Any ideas? Thanks!

Did you rename the 'software' registry hive before you "successfully"
replaced it? If not then its permanently lost, if yes then running "chkdsk
/r" from the repair console may be able to fix it.

For future ref: to backup registry hives in Win2k launch Backup, click
Emergency Repair diskette and tick "Also backup the registry".

 

[Geoffw]

boot from CD and run repair ?

Geoff

 

[Fred]

I'll answer all questions with this one post:

disable the auto reboot function

Can't boot into Windows (as stated), so not an option.

boot from CD and run repair ?

Didn't help.

the Windows 2000 Recovery Console

Sure, but then what? We're not PC experts.

Did you rename the 'software' registry hive before you "successfully"
replaced it?

I copied it as another name, so yes, it never got lost.

running "chkdsk /r" from the repair console may be able to fix it.

Didn't help, in fact chkdsk gave an error (can't recall what).

Now the good we fixed the problem by restoring the "system" hive instead
of the "software" hive. I read on Usenet that the "system" hive is usually the
one that goes bad, so we tried it, and it worked! We could now boot up, and all
his apps run, and the only minor annoyance was the need to reinstall the device
drivers for a few items (video card, audio card, modem). So... I hope our
experience and this info helps someone else in future!

Now, what app can we download to backup the system and software hives in future
on a daily basis? Seems to me that such an app would save this hassle in future!

 

[Enkidu]

I'll answer all questions with this one post:


Can't boot into Windows (as stated), so not an option.


Didn't help.


Sure, but then what? We're not PC experts.


I copied it as another name, so yes, it never got lost.


Didn't help, in fact chkdsk gave an error (can't recall what).

Now the good we fixed the problem by restoring the "system" hive instead
of the "software" hive. I read on Usenet that the "system" hive is usually the
one that goes bad, so we tried it, and it worked! We could now boot up, and all
his apps run, and the only minor annoyance was the need to reinstall the device
drivers for a few items (video card, audio card, modem). So... I hope our
experience and this info helps someone else in future!

Now, what app can we download to backup the system and software hives in future
on a daily basis? Seems to me that such an app would save this hassle in future!

NTBackup that comes with the OS will backup the registry hives etc as
"System State".

Cheers,

Cliff

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I'll answer all questions with this one post:


Can't boot into Windows (as stated), so not an option.


Didn't help.


Sure, but then what? We're not PC experts.


I copied it as another name, so yes, it never got lost.


Didn't help, in fact chkdsk gave an error (can't recall what).

Now the good we fixed the problem by restoring the "system" hive instead
of the "software" hive. I read on Usenet that the "system" hive is usually the
one that goes bad, so we tried it, and it worked! We could now boot up, and all
his apps run, and the only minor annoyance was the need to reinstall the device
drivers for a few items (video card, audio card, modem). So... I hope our
experience and this info helps someone else in future!

Now, what app can we download to backup the system and software hives in future
on a daily basis? Seems to me that such an app would save this hassle in

future!

I believe that you could have achieved the same effect by selecting
"Last good configuration" during boot-up.

 

[Fred]

NTBackup that comes with the OS will backup the registry hives etc as
"System State".

Is that Windows Backup, or some other thing? In any case, I'd prefer a
backup app that runs from DOS, because if the OS is hosed (as his was)
then a Windows backup app will be quite useless (how can one restore from
Windows if Windows can't boot?).

 

[Guest]

My father's PC (W2K Pro, SP4) constantly reboots at startup. It gets to the
white "Starting up" screen, but when the blue progress bar hits the end, the
PC spontaneously reboots.

I checked out various Usenet posts about this, and they all say to restore
the 'c:\winnt\system32\config\software' file (which is the Registry, yes?)
from a backup, but we have none. Don't laugh -- our data isn't lost, as
we install all apps and docs on another drive. So we can still use this
data *if* we could just reboot.

I've successfully replaced the above file with the default file that Windows
created at install (from 'c:\winnt\repair\') but this obviously boots the PC
without any application Registry entries, meaning we have to re-install all
the apps to get them working again. But we're hoping to avoid that (there's
a LOT of apps) and somehow fix the bad 'software' file some other way (from
DOS, it would seem).

BTW, Windows doesn't report that the 'software' file is bad or corrupt -- the
PC simply reboots. We can't boot into Safe Mode (or any other mode) either.

Any ideas? Thanks!

You could try this:

The Registry Repair Utility download for Windows 2000-based computers

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...01-2C68-4DE8-9229-CA494362419C&displaylang=en

HTH



Ha®®y

(e-mail address removed)

 

[Tricon]

(e-mail address removed) wrote in

You could try this:

The Registry Repair Utility download for Windows 2000-based computers

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=56D3C201- 2C68-
4DE8-9229-CA494362419C&displaylang=en

HTH



Ha®®y

(e-mail address removed)

There's also a registry cleaner and utility call Ace Utilities.
http;//www.acelogix.com

 

[Fred]

You could try this:
The Registry Repair Utility download for Windows 2000-based computers

We did try that, but it didn't help. My best guess is that his Registry
wasn't "damaged" as such, but simply had "bad" entries that a repair util
simply weren't aware of, and thus didn't "fix". Repair tools only fix
corrupted data etc, and a "bad" entry isn't corrupt, per se.