Computer Crashed

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ted Smith
  • Start date Start date
T

Ted Smith

For about a week I had not been able to run old programs (ones that seemed
to depend on DOS) while all the newer programs worked great. Those
programs, and even SYSEDIT would return an error message that they were not
compatible with some DOS module that was trying to run them. I rebooted
several times during that week but the DOS dependent programs still wouldn't
work.

So I decided to do a system repair off of the original installation disk.
When it asked if I wanted a full XP install or just a repair overwrite I
chose the latter. Then it asked if I wanted to just use the programs on the
disk, or would I like it to check the web for the latest updates of the
system programs. I told it to get the latest updates - and that may have
been a mistake.

It worked for about 30 minutes and then said to put in some disk named
"sis......" (I failed to write it down), or click "cancel". I looked
through all my disks and couldn't find what it was looking for, so I clicked
cancel. Then it kept on working for a while until it gave another error
message that it couldn't find a certain file (again, I failed to write it
down). My only option was to click OK. Each time I clicked OK it would
throw the same message up again. After I clicked OK at least 100 times it
resumed working for another 10 minutes. Finally it gave the following
failure message:

"SOFTWARE INSTALLATION has not passed Windows Logo testing to verify its
compatibility with Windows XP. This software will not be installed.
Contact your system administrator."

Since it said it wasn't going to install the software I assumed that it just
left my system the same way it found it, so I rebooted, expecting everything
to work both normally and abnormally as before. But the bootup failed.
After trying to load for 2 minutes or so it stopped, and presented the
following error message:

"Stop: c00000218 {registry file failure} The registry cannot load the hive
(file): \systemroot\system32\config\software or its log or alternate. It
is corrupt, absent, or not writable. Beginning dump of physical memory.
Dumping physical memory to disk: [here the numbers rolled from 0 to 100]"

When the dump routine hit 100 the system would go into reboot mode and
eventually end up at the same "Stop: c0000218" error and routine, and it
would do that over and again regardless of whether I chose normal boot mode,
or safe boot mode.

I have my personal data files backed up, but I don't have my system backed
up externally. What are my options at this point?

Ted Smith
 
Hi Ted,

Have a look at this MSKB article, "How to recover from a corrupted registry
that prevents Windows XP from starting":
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q307545/



Regards,

--
Patti MacLeod
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

Ted Smith said:
For about a week I had not been able to run old programs (ones that seemed
to depend on DOS) while all the newer programs worked great. Those
programs, and even SYSEDIT would return an error message that they were not
compatible with some DOS module that was trying to run them. I rebooted
several times during that week but the DOS dependent programs still wouldn't
work.

So I decided to do a system repair off of the original installation disk.
When it asked if I wanted a full XP install or just a repair overwrite I
chose the latter. Then it asked if I wanted to just use the programs on the
disk, or would I like it to check the web for the latest updates of the
system programs. I told it to get the latest updates - and that may have
been a mistake.

It worked for about 30 minutes and then said to put in some disk named
"sis......" (I failed to write it down), or click "cancel". I looked
through all my disks and couldn't find what it was looking for, so I clicked
cancel. Then it kept on working for a while until it gave another error
message that it couldn't find a certain file (again, I failed to write it
down). My only option was to click OK. Each time I clicked OK it would
throw the same message up again. After I clicked OK at least 100 times it
resumed working for another 10 minutes. Finally it gave the following
failure message:

"SOFTWARE INSTALLATION has not passed Windows Logo testing to verify its
compatibility with Windows XP. This software will not be installed.
Contact your system administrator."

Since it said it wasn't going to install the software I assumed that it just
left my system the same way it found it, so I rebooted, expecting everything
to work both normally and abnormally as before. But the bootup failed.
After trying to load for 2 minutes or so it stopped, and presented the
following error message:

"Stop: c00000218 {registry file failure} The registry cannot load the hive
(file): \systemroot\system32\config\software or its log or alternate. It
is corrupt, absent, or not writable. Beginning dump of physical memory.
Dumping physical memory to disk: [here the numbers rolled from 0 to 100]"

When the dump routine hit 100 the system would go into reboot mode and
eventually end up at the same "Stop: c0000218" error and routine, and it
would do that over and again regardless of whether I chose normal boot mode,
or safe boot mode.

I have my personal data files backed up, but I don't have my system backed
up externally. What are my options at this point?

Ted Smith
Click to expand...
 
Thanks. But I checked my disk and it says it is an OEM product, and the
article warns against the procedure in that case. Any other suggestions.

Hi Ted,

Have a look at this MSKB article, "How to recover from a corrupted registry
that prevents Windows XP from starting":
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q307545/



Regards,

--
Patti MacLeod
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

Ted Smith said:
For about a week I had not been able to run old programs (ones that seemed
to depend on DOS) while all the newer programs worked great. Those
programs, and even SYSEDIT would return an error message that they were not
compatible with some DOS module that was trying to run them. I rebooted
several times during that week but the DOS dependent programs still wouldn't
work.

So I decided to do a system repair off of the original installation disk.
When it asked if I wanted a full XP install or just a repair overwrite I
chose the latter. Then it asked if I wanted to just use the programs on the
disk, or would I like it to check the web for the latest updates of the
system programs. I told it to get the latest updates - and that may have
been a mistake.

It worked for about 30 minutes and then said to put in some disk named
"sis......" (I failed to write it down), or click "cancel". I looked
through all my disks and couldn't find what it was looking for, so I clicked
cancel. Then it kept on working for a while until it gave another error
message that it couldn't find a certain file (again, I failed to write it
down). My only option was to click OK. Each time I clicked OK it would
throw the same message up again. After I clicked OK at least 100 times it
resumed working for another 10 minutes. Finally it gave the following
failure message:

"SOFTWARE INSTALLATION has not passed Windows Logo testing to verify its
compatibility with Windows XP. This software will not be installed.
Contact your system administrator."

Since it said it wasn't going to install the software I assumed that it just
left my system the same way it found it, so I rebooted, expecting everything
to work both normally and abnormally as before. But the bootup failed.
After trying to load for 2 minutes or so it stopped, and presented the
following error message:

"Stop: c00000218 {registry file failure} The registry cannot load the hive
(file): \systemroot\system32\config\software or its log or alternate. It
is corrupt, absent, or not writable. Beginning dump of physical memory.
Dumping physical memory to disk: [here the numbers rolled from 0 to 100]"

When the dump routine hit 100 the system would go into reboot mode and
eventually end up at the same "Stop: c0000218" error and routine, and it
would do that over and again regardless of whether I chose normal boot mode,
or safe boot mode.

I have my personal data files backed up, but I don't have my system backed
up externally. What are my options at this point?

Ted Smith
Click to expand...
 
P.S. I don't have an XP startup disk. I have one for Windows 95, and one
for win98. If were to try the procedure in the article you recommended
could I use one of those startup disks.
---AND
I have "owner" privileges, not "administrator" privileges. How does that
affect the equation?


Hi Ted,

Have a look at this MSKB article, "How to recover from a corrupted registry
that prevents Windows XP from starting":
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q307545/



Regards,

--
Patti MacLeod
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

Ted Smith said:
For about a week I had not been able to run old programs (ones that seemed
to depend on DOS) while all the newer programs worked great. Those
programs, and even SYSEDIT would return an error message that they were not
compatible with some DOS module that was trying to run them. I rebooted
several times during that week but the DOS dependent programs still wouldn't
work.

So I decided to do a system repair off of the original installation disk.
When it asked if I wanted a full XP install or just a repair overwrite I
chose the latter. Then it asked if I wanted to just use the programs on the
disk, or would I like it to check the web for the latest updates of the
system programs. I told it to get the latest updates - and that may have
been a mistake.

It worked for about 30 minutes and then said to put in some disk named
"sis......" (I failed to write it down), or click "cancel". I looked
through all my disks and couldn't find what it was looking for, so I clicked
cancel. Then it kept on working for a while until it gave another error
message that it couldn't find a certain file (again, I failed to write it
down). My only option was to click OK. Each time I clicked OK it would
throw the same message up again. After I clicked OK at least 100 times it
resumed working for another 10 minutes. Finally it gave the following
failure message:

"SOFTWARE INSTALLATION has not passed Windows Logo testing to verify its
compatibility with Windows XP. This software will not be installed.
Contact your system administrator."

Since it said it wasn't going to install the software I assumed that it just
left my system the same way it found it, so I rebooted, expecting everything
to work both normally and abnormally as before. But the bootup failed.
After trying to load for 2 minutes or so it stopped, and presented the
following error message:

"Stop: c00000218 {registry file failure} The registry cannot load the hive
(file): \systemroot\system32\config\software or its log or alternate. It
is corrupt, absent, or not writable. Beginning dump of physical memory.
Dumping physical memory to disk: [here the numbers rolled from 0 to 100]"

When the dump routine hit 100 the system would go into reboot mode and
eventually end up at the same "Stop: c0000218" error and routine, and it
would do that over and again regardless of whether I chose normal boot mode,
or safe boot mode.

I have my personal data files backed up, but I don't have my system backed
up externally. What are my options at this point?

Ted Smith
Click to expand...
 
If you still want to give the procedure a shot, you could create the set of
six setup disks for XP:
How to obtain Windows XP Setup boot disks
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=310994

If you want to use your WIN98 startup floppy disk, first copy the
smartdrv.exe file to the floppy disk. You can d/load the zipped file that
contains smartdrv.exe here:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html#steps (Step #2a)
Extract the smartdrv.exe file to the startup floppy disk.
Boot from the startup disk, choosing to start WITH CDROM SUPPORT, and when
at the A: prompt, key in:
smartdrv.exe <ENTER>
Put the XP install CD in the CD drive.
Back at the A: prompt, change to the prompt for the drive letter designation
for the CDROM drive, navigate to the i386 folder on the install CD, and run
WINNT.EXE

When you log into Recovery Console, you would be using the "built-in"
Administrator account, the one that is created during Setup.



Regards,

--
Patti MacLeod
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

Ted Smith said:
P.S. I don't have an XP startup disk. I have one for Windows 95, and one
for win98. If were to try the procedure in the article you recommended
could I use one of those startup disks.
---AND
I have "owner" privileges, not "administrator" privileges. How does that
affect the equation?


Hi Ted,

Have a look at this MSKB article, "How to recover from a corrupted registry
that prevents Windows XP from starting":
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q307545/



Regards,

--
Patti MacLeod
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

Ted Smith said:
For about a week I had not been able to run old programs (ones that seemed
to depend on DOS) while all the newer programs worked great. Those
programs, and even SYSEDIT would return an error message that they were not
compatible with some DOS module that was trying to run them. I rebooted
several times during that week but the DOS dependent programs still wouldn't
work.

So I decided to do a system repair off of the original installation disk.
When it asked if I wanted a full XP install or just a repair overwrite I
chose the latter. Then it asked if I wanted to just use the programs on the
disk, or would I like it to check the web for the latest updates of the
system programs. I told it to get the latest updates - and that may have
been a mistake.

It worked for about 30 minutes and then said to put in some disk named
"sis......" (I failed to write it down), or click "cancel". I looked
through all my disks and couldn't find what it was looking for, so I clicked
cancel. Then it kept on working for a while until it gave another error
message that it couldn't find a certain file (again, I failed to write it
down). My only option was to click OK. Each time I clicked OK it would
throw the same message up again. After I clicked OK at least 100 times it
resumed working for another 10 minutes. Finally it gave the following
failure message:

"SOFTWARE INSTALLATION has not passed Windows Logo testing to verify its
compatibility with Windows XP. This software will not be installed.
Contact your system administrator."

Since it said it wasn't going to install the software I assumed that it just
left my system the same way it found it, so I rebooted, expecting everything
to work both normally and abnormally as before. But the bootup failed.
After trying to load for 2 minutes or so it stopped, and presented the
following error message:

"Stop: c00000218 {registry file failure} The registry cannot load the hive
(file): \systemroot\system32\config\software or its log or alternate. It
is corrupt, absent, or not writable. Beginning dump of physical memory.
Dumping physical memory to disk: [here the numbers rolled from 0 to 100]"

When the dump routine hit 100 the system would go into reboot mode and
eventually end up at the same "Stop: c0000218" error and routine, and it
would do that over and again regardless of whether I chose normal boot mode,
or safe boot mode.

I have my personal data files backed up, but I don't have my system backed
up externally. What are my options at this point?

Ted Smith
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Thanks. I got in late yesterday or else I would have tried the procedure
then. Now I won't have time until Friday, but I do at least want to try.
I'll let you know how it turns out.
-Ted Smith

If you still want to give the procedure a shot, you could create the set of
six setup disks for XP:
How to obtain Windows XP Setup boot disks
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=310994

If you want to use your WIN98 startup floppy disk, first copy the
smartdrv.exe file to the floppy disk. You can d/load the zipped file that
contains smartdrv.exe here:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html#steps (Step #2a)
Extract the smartdrv.exe file to the startup floppy disk.
Boot from the startup disk, choosing to start WITH CDROM SUPPORT, and when
at the A: prompt, key in:
smartdrv.exe <ENTER>
Put the XP install CD in the CD drive.
Back at the A: prompt, change to the prompt for the drive letter designation
for the CDROM drive, navigate to the i386 folder on the install CD, and run
WINNT.EXE

When you log into Recovery Console, you would be using the "built-in"
Administrator account, the one that is created during Setup.



Regards,

--
Patti MacLeod
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

Ted Smith said:
P.S. I don't have an XP startup disk. I have one for Windows 95, and one
for win98. If were to try the procedure in the article you recommended
could I use one of those startup disks.
---AND
I have "owner" privileges, not "administrator" privileges. How does that
affect the equation?


Hi Ted,

Have a look at this MSKB article, "How to recover from a corrupted registry
that prevents Windows XP from starting":
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q307545/



Regards,

--
Patti MacLeod
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

Ted Smith said:
For about a week I had not been able to run old programs (ones that seemed
to depend on DOS) while all the newer programs worked great. Those
programs, and even SYSEDIT would return an error message that they were not
compatible with some DOS module that was trying to run them. I rebooted
several times during that week but the DOS dependent programs still wouldn't
work.

So I decided to do a system repair off of the original installation disk.
When it asked if I wanted a full XP install or just a repair overwrite I
chose the latter. Then it asked if I wanted to just use the programs on the
disk, or would I like it to check the web for the latest updates of the
system programs. I told it to get the latest updates - and that may have
been a mistake.

It worked for about 30 minutes and then said to put in some disk named
"sis......" (I failed to write it down), or click "cancel". I looked
through all my disks and couldn't find what it was looking for, so I clicked
cancel. Then it kept on working for a while until it gave another error
message that it couldn't find a certain file (again, I failed to write it
down). My only option was to click OK. Each time I clicked OK it would
throw the same message up again. After I clicked OK at least 100 times it
resumed working for another 10 minutes. Finally it gave the following
failure message:

"SOFTWARE INSTALLATION has not passed Windows Logo testing to verify its
compatibility with Windows XP. This software will not be installed.
Contact your system administrator."

Since it said it wasn't going to install the software I assumed that it just
left my system the same way it found it, so I rebooted, expecting everything
to work both normally and abnormally as before. But the bootup failed.
After trying to load for 2 minutes or so it stopped, and presented the
following error message:

"Stop: c00000218 {registry file failure} The registry cannot load the hive
(file): \systemroot\system32\config\software or its log or alternate. It
is corrupt, absent, or not writable. Beginning dump of physical memory.
Dumping physical memory to disk: [here the numbers rolled from 0 to 100]"

When the dump routine hit 100 the system would go into reboot mode and
eventually end up at the same "Stop: c0000218" error and routine, and it
would do that over and again regardless of whether I chose normal boot mode,
or safe boot mode.

I have my personal data files backed up, but I don't have my system backed
up externally. What are my options at this point?

Ted Smith
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
You're welcome :-)

Please do keep me posted!



Regards,

--
Patti MacLeod
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

Ted Smith said:
Thanks. I got in late yesterday or else I would have tried the procedure
then. Now I won't have time until Friday, but I do at least want to try.
I'll let you know how it turns out.
-Ted Smith

If you still want to give the procedure a shot, you could create the set of
six setup disks for XP:
How to obtain Windows XP Setup boot disks
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=310994

If you want to use your WIN98 startup floppy disk, first copy the
smartdrv.exe file to the floppy disk. You can d/load the zipped file that
contains smartdrv.exe here:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html#steps (Step #2a)
Extract the smartdrv.exe file to the startup floppy disk.
Boot from the startup disk, choosing to start WITH CDROM SUPPORT, and when
at the A: prompt, key in:
smartdrv.exe <ENTER>
Put the XP install CD in the CD drive.
Back at the A: prompt, change to the prompt for the drive letter designation
for the CDROM drive, navigate to the i386 folder on the install CD, and run
WINNT.EXE

When you log into Recovery Console, you would be using the "built-in"
Administrator account, the one that is created during Setup.



Regards,

--
Patti MacLeod
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

Ted Smith said:
P.S. I don't have an XP startup disk. I have one for Windows 95, and one
for win98. If were to try the procedure in the article you recommended
could I use one of those startup disks.
---AND
I have "owner" privileges, not "administrator" privileges. How does that
affect the equation?


Hi Ted,

Have a look at this MSKB article, "How to recover from a corrupted registry
that prevents Windows XP from starting":
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q307545/



Regards,

--
Patti MacLeod
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

were
not on
the
Click to expand...
times
it
resumed working for another 10 minutes. Finally it gave the following
failure message:

"SOFTWARE INSTALLATION has not passed Windows Logo testing to verify its
compatibility with Windows XP. This software will not be installed.
Contact your system administrator."

Since it said it wasn't going to install the software I assumed that
Click to expand...
it
just
left my system the same way it found it, so I rebooted, expecting everything
to work both normally and abnormally as before. But the bootup failed.
After trying to load for 2 minutes or so it stopped, and presented the
following error message:

"Stop: c00000218 {registry file failure} The registry cannot load the hive
(file): \systemroot\system32\config\software or its log or
Click to expand...
alternate.
It
is corrupt, absent, or not writable. Beginning dump of physical memory.
Dumping physical memory to disk: [here the numbers rolled from 0 to 100]"

When the dump routine hit 100 the system would go into reboot mode and
eventually end up at the same "Stop: c0000218" error and routine, and it
would do that over and again regardless of whether I chose normal boot mode,
or safe boot mode.

I have my personal data files backed up, but I don't have my system backed
up externally. What are my options at this point?

Ted Smith
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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