How do I find a missing start up file

[Opusita]

I'm running XP 5.01.2600. On an upon a recent start up XP opened fine to the
welcome screen, then I selected the user and XP loaded my settings. During
this process I heard the dreaded Critical Stop.wav and when XP opened there
was a message box indicating that a file "C:\Documents" could not be found
and I should perform a search and correct the file name. Everything seems to
be running properly but I'm guessing chkdsk found and deleted something.

Anyway since all seems to be OK except for the annoying start up......but I
would like to remove or correct the problem. I did a complete "search" of
the HD and the registry for "C:\Documents" without results. Somewhere during
the start up XP has instructions to open this file and cannot find it with
the resulant sound and message. At this point I'm reluctant to perform a
periodical cloning of the HD as I don't want to duplicate a corrupt file.

I have had two hard drives messed up by chkdsk in the past....one was my
master which I fortunately had cloned and the second was a slave most of
which I had backed up. I only mention this to explain my paranoia regarding
the start up promlem.

Any comments and help will be appreciated.

Dave

 

[Larry Gardner]

What happens when you open Windows Explorer. Does it place you in My
Documents folder like it should?
I would check your User Shells Folders in the registry and see if one of the
entries is corrupted.

 

[Davy]

Have you tried a system restore first

Then try a scan for system error's. Clicking the hard drive//loca
disc, open properties, clickin
Tools in the first pane clic
[color=blue:dceab1f858]Check Now[/color:dceab1f858], tick the tw
box's that say's [color=blue:dceab1f858]Fix file system errors
Check for bad sectors[/color:dceab1f858], click start and the
reboot... it appears at some stage that nothing is happening jus
wait and it'll let you know when its done

Ticking the 2nd box will scan the entire disc and will tak
considerably longer, so if you like try just ticking the first bo
this will repair any damaged or corrupt file, where the second bo
checks and repairs any bad sectors on the hard drive

Sometimes, if you lose power or switch off while shutting down whe
the computer is 'saving your settings' like it does when you ar
shutting down could be just one of many causes

Dav

 

[Roberto le Corneille]

I'm running XP 5.01.2600. On an upon a recent start up XP opened fine to the
welcome screen, then I selected the user and XP loaded my settings. During
this process I heard the dreaded Critical Stop.wav and when XP opened there
was a message box indicating that a file "C:\Documents" could not be found
and I should perform a search and correct the file name. Everything seems to
be running properly but I'm guessing chkdsk found and deleted something.

Anyway since all seems to be OK except for the annoying start up......but I
would like to remove or correct the problem. I did a complete "search" of
the HD and the registry for "C:\Documents" without results. Somewhere during
the start up XP has instructions to open this file and cannot find it with
the resulant sound and message. At this point I'm reluctant to perform a
periodical cloning of the HD as I don't want to duplicate a corrupt file.

I have had two hard drives messed up by chkdsk in the past....one was my
master which I fortunately had cloned and the second was a slave most of
which I had backed up. I only mention this to explain my paranoia regarding
the start up promlem.

Any comments and help will be appreciated.

Dave

Run msconfig to the startup tab, see if there is a reference there if
so uncheck it.
I would also make sure you are virus/malware free, run uptodate AV
tools in safe mode.
I like sysclean from Trend and Ad-Aware

rgds
Roberto

 

[Opusita]

Thanks Larry,

Yes to Windows Explorer.

More info re: "User Shells Folders" please.

Dave

 

[Opusita]

Thanks Davy,

Past experiences with system restore have had horrendous results. Will live
with annoyance before going to system restore.

Dave

 

[Opusita]

Sorry for the direct reply...meant to reply to group. Too quick on the send.

Thanks for the response. Do all the security checks daily. As for msconfig
the problem file does not show.

General question. Msconfig shows a lot of programs I don't use. Would
unchecking those programs risk other problems?

Dave