Failure of recovery from "corrupted config system file"

[Guest]

For the second time in a month my Dell Dimension 4400 WinXPHome machine has
experienced the problem. The first time, at the suggestion of MS Tech
support,I followed the repair procedure in Article ID 307545 despite the
warning about OEM installed Op Systems. After completing the procedure I
received a "Stop" error message, and the MS tech support person said it was a
hardware problem. I then retried the recovery console on my own, using the
"setup" rather than the "repair" option. After choosing "Setup" the console
presented a choice between the options of "repair" "installing a fresh copy"
I chose repair which succeeded in restarting Windows but in its original
configuration without updates. I then reupdated to SP2 and the system seemed
to be working until yesterday when it crashed again in the same way. After I
retried the recovery console repair option (per Article 307545), it seemed to
be booting up and did not give the "Stop" error as before, but then it began
a cycle of repeatedly rebooting after the Windows splash screen. Any
suggestions?

 

[Guest]

This kind of problem si notoriously difficult to solve.
I would recommend booting into Safe Mode with Networking, copying your data
to another PC (if you have one) and then re-installing XP.

 

[Guest]

Didn't make myself clear. I can access the startup options window, but no
matter what I choose, the machine goes into the repetitive reboot cycle.
Can't get into safe mode.

 

[Malke]

Didn't make myself clear. I can access the startup options window,
but no matter what I choose, the machine goes into the repetitive
reboot cycle. Can't get into safe mode.

I think it's time to do some hardware troubleshooting. This has happened
to you twice now, which is twice too much. Dell has its own hardware
diagnostic utilities (press F12 to access them on startup, I believe)
or use my general hardware troubleshooting steps:

1) Open the computer and run it open, cleaning out all dust bunnies and
observing all fans (overheating will cause system freezing). Obviously
you can't do this with a laptop, but you can hear if the fan is running
and feel if the laptop is getting too hot.

2) Test the RAM - I like Memtest86+ from www.memtest.org. Obviously, you
have to get the program from a working machine. You will either
download the precompiled Windows binary to make a bootable floppy or
the .iso to make a bootable cd. If you want to use the latter, you'll
need to have third-party burning software on the machine where you
download the file - XP's built-in burning capability won't do the job.
In either case, boot with the media you made. The test will run
immediately. Let the test run for an extended period of time - unless
errors are seen immediately. If you get any errors, replace the RAM.

3) Test the hard drive with a diagnostic utility from the mftr. Usually
you will download the file and make a bootable floppy with it. Boot
with the media and do a thorough test. If the drive has physical
errors, replace it.

4) The power supply may be going bad or be inadequate for the devices
you have in the system. The adequacy issue doesn't really apply to a
laptop, although of course the power
supply can be faulty.

5) Test the motherboard with something like TuffTest from
www.tufftest.com. Sometimes this is useful, and sometimes it isn't.

If the hardware tests bad, have Dell replace it.

Malke