e-Machine stuck in continual loop

[kyle]

I copied the dcpromo.log onto Disk 6 as you advised. I booted up wit
the disks and got to the Recovery Console. I typed the commands as yo
advised. Unfortunately, the computer said it couldn't find the file.
double-checked the disk using the other computer. The file dcpromo.lo
definitely exists. I exited, and as before my computer went into it
loop. And it won't boot up Windows in Safe Mode, either. Oh well. .
. Looking forward to your reply.
Kyle

 

[Chelsea]

I copied the dcpromo.log onto Disk 6 as you advised. I booted up with
the disks and got to the Recovery Console. I typed the commands as you
advised. Unfortunately, the computer said it couldn't find the file. I
double-checked the disk using the other computer. The file dcpromo.log
definitely exists. I exited, and as before my computer went into its
loop. And it won't boot up Windows in Safe Mode, either. Oh well. . .
Looking forward to your reply.
Kyle

Hello Kyle,
I am foxed as to why that doesn't work. The dcpromo.log file is normally
installed from within Windows, but as you are unable to get into Windows, I
modified things to use the Recovery Console. If you would be prepared to
persevere with this a little and can face another 10 minutes of tedium with
the recovery console try this. Incidently I just tried this on a laptop
using a USB A drive and can assure you it does work.

In the Recovery Console type the following at the c:\windows prompt

With diskette 6 in the drive type
a:
then type dir-can you see dcpromo.log on the diskette?
Now type
copy dcpromo.log c:\windows\debug

Type c: and return -that takes you back to c:\windows prompt

Finally type
attrib +r c:\windows\debug\dcpromo.log

Type exit

Remove the diskette from the 3.5 inch drive and see what happens when
Windows restarts.

What I am trying to do is plug a vulnerability in the lsass service, which I
think may be crashing everytime you start Windows. This is well known and
causes the infinite loop that you are experiencing. So lets see how it goes.

Chelsea

 

[ultra_classic]

I typed Y to write a new MBR. Suddenly I got a blue screen with a
message "A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to
prevent damage to your computer." Then it listed "Technical
Information:
*** STOP: 0x0000008E (0xC0000005, 0x80882211, 0xF93DEEBC,
0x00000000)".
I restarted the computer, and it went into the endless loop of trying
to boot Windows, failing, and restarting. I restarted with the Boot
Disks again and got to the Recovery Console and went through all the
steps of fixmbr and hit Y again. This time it said that a new Boot
Record was successfully written. I typed "Exit" at the C:\windows\
prompt, and the computer restarted, but unfortunately it went back
into
the endless loop again. I tried restarting in Safe Mode, but it still
won’t boot up Windows. If you have any other advice, it would
be
greatly appreciated. By the way, my computer had up-to-date active
anti-virus software running prior to all the trouble.
-Kyle

Greetings Kyle,
Boy, this problem seems to be an epidemic lately. Here is MS
explanation of the latest error. I hope it helps somewhat.
:arrow: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315335&sd=RMVP
also
:arrow: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d..._12795dee-19a9-4461-a135-bbb882b81455.xml.asp

Let us know how you are progressing. We are getting ready for a
hurricane here so I’ll be in and out.
Best of luck,
ultra_classic

 

[Greg Ro]

I had all the problems on my emachine.

I fixed it by getting windows 98se bootdisk with fdisk on it.
www.bootdisk.com

(Note-you may need to change the bios to boot to the floppy first)
Does not matter if you disk is formated as NTFS-Still works.

Let it boot up.

Type fdisk /mbr

Remove floppy. Restart.

Greg R

 

[Chelsea]

I had all the problems on my emachine.

I fixed it by getting windows 98se bootdisk with fdisk on it.
www.bootdisk.com

(Note-you may need to change the bios to boot to the floppy first)
Does not matter if you disk is formated as NTFS-Still works.

Let it boot up.

Type fdisk /mbr

Remove floppy. Restart.

Hi Greg thanks for the suggestion but fdisk/mbr is really the same as using
the Recovery Console and the command FixMbr which doesn't work. This is
really a difficult one to repair I'm afraid.

Chelsea

 

[Greg Ro]

Hi Greg thanks for the suggestion but fdisk/mbr is really the same as using
the Recovery Console and the command FixMbr which doesn't work. This is
really a difficult one to repair I'm afraid.

Chelsea

Actual it is different. The fixmbr on my windows xp repair console
didn't work. When I use fdisk from windows 98se and typed fdisk /mbr
it worked. Which kind of surprised me, since at the time my machine
was formatted as ntfs. It at least got me in through safe mode
another time it fixed it right up.


Greg RO

 

[Guest]

Hello everyone,

Well, I spent the entire weekend trying to get into my hard drive--with no
success. Since I was planning on upgrading my memory anyway, rather than
trying to find a place around here to test the memory stick originally
installed, I bought a new one and installed it. Still the same problem.

I downloaded the installation disks from the MS site and tried to rewrite
the MBR, got a success message. I do not have a full win xp installation
disk so when after installing the setup files, it asked for the win xp
cd....I was out of luck.

I dug around and found an old pc of mine, but it had win me os on it, so
though the system bios recognised the "sick" HDD slaved to the good HDD in
the bios, I could not see it in the Win ME. So I went out and bought the Win
xp home edition upgrade disk and upgraded the HDD from the old pc I had and
slaved the "sick" HDD to the upgraded HDD and installed them both in the
emachine, thinking I could get my files ( I also ran Norton 2005 anti
virus.... it sound nothing).

The emachine boots just fine from the upgraded HDD and I was able to see
the "sick" HDD. BUT I cannot find any files. I went to the prompt and typed
the drive letter to the sick drive and typed DIR. When I type DIR, there are
no windows files, no program files, no doc file names. I ran a search in in
Windows in the sick HDD using file names and it does not find anything. I
think whatever attacked it corrupted everything and wiped out windows. The
funny thing is, this is a 40GB HDD and Windows XP is reading it as a 10 GB.

It doesn't look like I am going to be able to recover my documents...at
least I am more at a loss at this point. I still have not reformatted the
sick drive, so if by some chance someone has any last ditch magic to recover
the data, I am still open to sugggestions.

I do want to thank everyone for the great suggestions and the help. I will
be coming back and posting.

 

[Guest]

Hi Greg Ro,

I have been having similar problems to Kyle's. I went to the
www.bootdisk.com site you posted, and I saw a utility called Active NTFS
Reader. Would this possibly let me read and access the files on the HDD I am
having trouble finding my documents on? I have slaved it to another HDD, but
the files are not accessable or readable. Thnaks.

 

[Chelsea]

Hi Nlee
Check that the PC Bios is recognising your hard disk correctly? ie as 40GB

Chelsea

 

[Greg Ro]

Hi Greg Ro,

I have been having similar problems to Kyle's. I went to the
www.bootdisk.com site you posted, and I saw a utility called Active NTFS
Reader. Would this possibly let me read and access the files on the HDD I am
having trouble finding my documents on? I have slaved it to another HDD, but
the files are not accessable or readable. Thnaks.

Not sure on that.

Greg Ro

 

[kyle]

After typing "dir" at the A: prompt, I see dcpromo.log.txt listed as one
of the files. I typed "copy dcpromo.log c:\windows\debug", but once
again it said it can't locate the file. I'm wondering if this is
because on the drive it's being listed as dcpromo.log.txt. I took the
disk and put it in the other computer. I checked the file name, which
is dcpromo.log. Then I checked its properties. It's attribute is
Archive. And its msdos name is dcpromo.log.txt. Should I change my
command line to "copy dcpromo.log.txt c:\windows\debug"? I tried
renaming the file with no success.
-Kyle

 

[Chelsea]

After typing "dir" at the A: prompt, I see dcpromo.log.txt listed as one
of the files. I typed "copy dcpromo.log c:\windows\debug", but once
again it said it can't locate the file. I'm wondering if this is
because on the drive it's being listed as dcpromo.log.txt. I took the
disk and put it in the other computer. I checked the file name, which
is dcpromo.log. Then I checked its properties. It's attribute is
Archive. And its msdos name is dcpromo.log.txt. Should I change my
command line to "copy dcpromo.log.txt c:\windows\debug"? I tried
renaming the file with no success.
-Kyle

Hi Kyle,
that is really weird Kyle. The msdos name, dcpromo.log.txt, is the reason
why the copy command is not working in the Recovery Console and it would
almost certainly copy if you used

copy dcpromo.log.txt c:\windows\debug

But that is not any good because its the presence of a file with the name
dcpromo.log that blocks the vulnerability in the Lsass process. I will see
if I can find out why this name issue is occuring. Trouble is Kyle this was
intended as a test and Lsass may not be your problem, particularly as you
have SP2 installed. I'm conscious of the time this is taking you so maybe a
different approach is needed here.Consider this
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm

and select how to run a repair install from the list. Might be worth a go.
Remember to disconnect your machine from the Internet if you do this and
after the repair-if Windows starts reapply SP2 before reconnecting to the
Internet. Also reapply all hotfixes released after SP2. Good luck Kyle

Chelsea

 

[Guest]

Hi Kyle,

I was wondering if any of these suggestions solved your computer problem. I
am still trying to resolve mine.

 

[kyle]

Sorry for the delay getting back to you. I've been having an
existential crisis with this computer thing. I need to ask you one
thing before attempting the Repair Install of Windows XP. I don't have
the Windows XP installation CD. All I have are the 6 boot disks that
I'm using to access the Recovery Console. Can I still proceed with the
Repair Install with only my boot disks? The link
http://tinyurl.com/1h7d
seems to make use of the CD.
Still hanging in there,
Kyle

 

[Chelsea]

Hi Kyle,
Sorry if you don't have an installation CD you cannot do the repair I
directed you towards. All is not lost however, particularly if you have
System Restore switched on. If you have never touched it then it will be on
by default. What you can try is putting a different registry in place and
doing a system restore. This might get your system back ? Wish I could say
this will get it back, but there is not very much to be lost by trying. If
you want to try look at this http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545#kb1
I know you are not getting the error messages mentioned, but this technique
will give you access to a recent system restore point and a newish registry
Best of luck and keep us informed.

Chelsea