Messed up my XP boot process

  • Thread starter Thread starter Motor T
  • Start date Start date
M

Motor T

I used Revo Uninstaller to remove an installation of Macrium program
from my Windows XP system. I foolishly had Revo uninstall more than I
should have and now I can't boot into my system. I can't boot into Safe
Mode, Last known good configuration, Windows normally, nothing! I just
get the BSOD.
If I could just get into Safe Mode I can access Revo again and restore
the system back to before I screwed it up. (I hope). Right now I am
using my original XP install disc to run chkdsk /r. I don't know if this
will help or further destroy the system. Can anyone send me some help
before my wife destroys me? Thanks a heap.
 
Motor said:
I used Revo Uninstaller to remove an installation of Macrium program
from my Windows XP system. I foolishly had Revo uninstall more than I
should have and now I can't boot into my system. I can't boot into Safe
Mode, Last known good configuration, Windows normally, nothing! I just
get the BSOD.
If I could just get into Safe Mode I can access Revo again and
restore the system back to before I screwed it up. (I hope). Right now I
am using my original XP install disc to run chkdsk /r. I don't know if
this will help or further destroy the system. Can anyone send me some
help before my wife destroys me? Thanks a heap.
Click to expand...

The fact you had Macrium on the system, implies you made
a backup.

Using the Macrium CD, you can restore from the last backup.

Or, you can backup the (currently busted) C: if you wish,
before doing any further "experiments".

Do you know whether Revo sets a System Restore point, before
it proceeds ? System Restore can restore certain things (Registry
included), but not everything. There is a detailed article which
discusses what it captures and can repair. For example, it's
not supposed to track what is inside My Documents (to avoid
accidentally erasing content in there). When you return to
a "previous state" using System Restore, the "previous state"
can have fewer files than the "current state". So returning
to a previous point in time, can have its "pluses and minuses".
I only discovered this by accident, when a couple downloaded
files went missing after a System Restore had been executed.
Now, I'm a lot more careful. I keep data files outside My Documents,
so I deserve what I get.

Also, in terms of disk state, files that are "erased" aren't
removed entirely. Their data clusters remain intact until
they are eventually overwritten. A scavenger program like Photorec,
could recover files. But I wouldn't be moving in that direction
at the moment, since you'd be buried alive by the sheer number
of files that would result. (Too many files to go through
by hand.) So I'm only mentioning the contents still being
there, for some future time when it makes sense to do that
kind of recovery (scavenging to find a single, known file).

You can do a Repair Install on WinXP, and at least that
works better than later OSes. But your wife is going to
notice the damage that does, and she won't be happy.
So again, that's a last last resort, after you've
apologized for making a mess. You may still have some
"bullet dodging" options left.

Too bad I don't know how Revo works, so I can't even
begin to guess what System file it's removed. Security updates
on your computer, when they install new files, they keep a
set of old files. And that's for "uninstall" from Add/Remove.
So the operating system, when you want to uninstall a security
update, the uninstallation procedure puts back the old file
set. Maybe Revo just erased the current set and didn't put the
old ones back ? Since I don't know what Revo uses as
a plan of attack, I'm at a loss to guess at what
it removed that is so damaging.

Paul
 
The fact you had Macrium on the system, implies you made
a backup.

Using the Macrium CD, you can restore from the last backup.

Or, you can backup the (currently busted) C: if you wish,
before doing any further "experiments".

Do you know whether Revo sets a System Restore point, before
it proceeds ? System Restore can restore certain things (Registry
included), but not everything. There is a detailed article which
discusses what it captures and can repair. For example, it's
not supposed to track what is inside My Documents (to avoid
accidentally erasing content in there). When you return to
a "previous state" using System Restore, the "previous state"
can have fewer files than the "current state". So returning
to a previous point in time, can have its "pluses and minuses".
I only discovered this by accident, when a couple downloaded
files went missing after a System Restore had been executed.
Now, I'm a lot more careful. I keep data files outside My Documents,
so I deserve what I get.

Also, in terms of disk state, files that are "erased" aren't
removed entirely. Their data clusters remain intact until
they are eventually overwritten. A scavenger program like Photorec,
could recover files. But I wouldn't be moving in that direction
at the moment, since you'd be buried alive by the sheer number
of files that would result. (Too many files to go through
by hand.) So I'm only mentioning the contents still being
there, for some future time when it makes sense to do that
kind of recovery (scavenging to find a single, known file).

You can do a Repair Install on WinXP, and at least that
works better than later OSes. But your wife is going to
notice the damage that does, and she won't be happy.
So again, that's a last last resort, after you've
apologized for making a mess. You may still have some
"bullet dodging" options left.

Too bad I don't know how Revo works, so I can't even
begin to guess what System file it's removed. Security updates
on your computer, when they install new files, they keep a
set of old files. And that's for "uninstall" from Add/Remove.
So the operating system, when you want to uninstall a security
update, the uninstallation procedure puts back the old file
set. Maybe Revo just erased the current set and didn't put the
old ones back ? Since I don't know what Revo uses as
a plan of attack, I'm at a loss to guess at what
it removed that is so damaging.

Paul
Click to expand...

Thanks Paul,
Revo makes a log and a Restore Point just before doing the deed. My
problem is I can't get to the program to reverse the action I did. I
never made a backup, Macrium was just downloaded so I could make a
Rescue disc. I do have a very old Acronis backup but I would really like
to restore my much more recent system.
Is there any emergency type utility I could get to help me access Revo
and get it to run? I suppose as a last resort, I could put the drive
into a hard drive caddy and re-install XP and then transfer/copy the files.
Come to think of it.... can I put the hard disk into the caddy, plug
it into a USB port, and run it from there? Would the Restore point know
to keep the host and 'caddy' C: volumes apart? I REALLY should have
known better. Thanks again.
 
Motor said:
Thanks Paul,
Revo makes a log and a Restore Point just before doing the deed. My
problem is I can't get to the program to reverse the action I did. I
never made a backup, Macrium was just downloaded so I could make a
Rescue disc. I do have a very old Acronis backup but I would really like
to restore my much more recent system.
Is there any emergency type utility I could get to help me access
Revo and get it to run? I suppose as a last resort, I could put the
drive into a hard drive caddy and re-install XP and then transfer/copy
the files.
Come to think of it.... can I put the hard disk into the caddy, plug it
into a USB port, and run it from there? Would the Restore point know to
keep the host and 'caddy' C: volumes apart? I REALLY should have known
better. Thanks again.
Click to expand...

You can run the restore point from Safe Mode.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304449

If you can't get to Safe Mode, then, that's a problem.

Nothing else comes to mind at the moment.

*******

If the Revo log is explicit about which file went where,
then that's certainly material to work with. All you need
then, is a way to slave the disk to a working computer, so
you can move the files around as needed. This assumes Revo
didn't discard them, but put them in a safe place.

*******

Other than doing a Repair Install, I don't see installation
as a panacea. The Repair Install preserved your programs
and settings, but you lose the Service Packs and Security
Updates that were installed. If you installed an advanced
version of Internet Explorer, that will need to be reinstalled
as well. I've read that simply reinstalling the same version
of IE as you had before, is sufficient to repair it in that
case. They didn't make the newer versions of IE that you
could install on WinXP, properly disappear on a Repair Install.
And it seems reinstalling the same version again, fixes it back
up.

If I've got myself in a mess, I like to backup in case I
make it worse :-) I recently purchased another 3TB drive,
just for this purpose.

Paul
 
If you can't get the files off of it you might try
looking up the error code from the bluescreen. Those
are often very specific and you may find information
posted in forums.

Also, if you have any sort of boot disk for
partition work, you might just boot to that to
make sure that you have the basics right. I
haven't used Macrium, but I wonder if it could
have done something like changing the active
partition and/or boot.ini as part of its install.
Possibly something that Revo didn't pick up on.
(Often that will manifest as an error saying that
hal.dll or some other critical file is missing because
Windows is trying to boot from a non-system partition.)


| On 8/21/2014 3:32 PM, Paul wrote:
| > Motor T wrote:
| >> I used Revo Uninstaller to remove an installation of Macrium program
| >> from my Windows XP system. I foolishly had Revo uninstall more than I
| >> should have and now I can't boot into my system. I can't boot into
| >> Safe Mode, Last known good configuration, Windows normally, nothing! I
| >> just get the BSOD.
| >> If I could just get into Safe Mode I can access Revo again and restore
| >> the system back to before I screwed it up. (I hope). Right now I am
| >> using my original XP install disc to run chkdsk /r. I don't know if
| >> this will help or further destroy the system. Can anyone send me some
| >> help before my wife destroys me? Thanks a heap.
| >
| > The fact you had Macrium on the system, implies you made
| > a backup.
| >
| > Using the Macrium CD, you can restore from the last backup.
| >
| > Or, you can backup the (currently busted) C: if you wish,
| > before doing any further "experiments".
| >
| > Do you know whether Revo sets a System Restore point, before
| > it proceeds ? System Restore can restore certain things (Registry
| > included), but not everything. There is a detailed article which
| > discusses what it captures and can repair. For example, it's
| > not supposed to track what is inside My Documents (to avoid
| > accidentally erasing content in there). When you return to
| > a "previous state" using System Restore, the "previous state"
| > can have fewer files than the "current state". So returning
| > to a previous point in time, can have its "pluses and minuses".
| > I only discovered this by accident, when a couple downloaded
| > files went missing after a System Restore had been executed.
| > Now, I'm a lot more careful. I keep data files outside My Documents,
| > so I deserve what I get.
| >
| > Also, in terms of disk state, files that are "erased" aren't
| > removed entirely. Their data clusters remain intact until
| > they are eventually overwritten. A scavenger program like Photorec,
| > could recover files. But I wouldn't be moving in that direction
| > at the moment, since you'd be buried alive by the sheer number
| > of files that would result. (Too many files to go through
| > by hand.) So I'm only mentioning the contents still being
| > there, for some future time when it makes sense to do that
| > kind of recovery (scavenging to find a single, known file).
| >
| > You can do a Repair Install on WinXP, and at least that
| > works better than later OSes. But your wife is going to
| > notice the damage that does, and she won't be happy.
| > So again, that's a last last resort, after you've
| > apologized for making a mess. You may still have some
| > "bullet dodging" options left.
| >
| > Too bad I don't know how Revo works, so I can't even
| > begin to guess what System file it's removed. Security updates
| > on your computer, when they install new files, they keep a
| > set of old files. And that's for "uninstall" from Add/Remove.
| > So the operating system, when you want to uninstall a security
| > update, the uninstallation procedure puts back the old file
| > set. Maybe Revo just erased the current set and didn't put the
| > old ones back ? Since I don't know what Revo uses as
| > a plan of attack, I'm at a loss to guess at what
| > it removed that is so damaging.
| >
| > Paul
|
| Thanks Paul,
| Revo makes a log and a Restore Point just before doing the deed. My
| problem is I can't get to the program to reverse the action I did. I
| never made a backup, Macrium was just downloaded so I could make a
| Rescue disc. I do have a very old Acronis backup but I would really like
| to restore my much more recent system.
| Is there any emergency type utility I could get to help me access Revo
| and get it to run? I suppose as a last resort, I could put the drive
| into a hard drive caddy and re-install XP and then transfer/copy the
files.
| Come to think of it.... can I put the hard disk into the caddy, plug
| it into a USB port, and run it from there? Would the Restore point know
| to keep the host and 'caddy' C: volumes apart? I REALLY should have
| known better. Thanks again.
 
Motor said:
...........

Thanks Paul,
Revo makes a log and a Restore Point just before doing the deed. My
problem is I can't get to the program to reverse the action I did. I
never made a backup, Macrium was just downloaded so I could make a
Rescue disc.
Click to expand...

Does Revo have a bootable recovery disk?

The repair install option, followed by a few passes of windows update should get
you back to good. It's time consumming, but it works. If you put do an image
backup of the whole drive first (from a bootable backup CD), your risk is low.
 
I used Revo Uninstaller to remove an installation of Macrium program
from my Windows XP system. I foolishly had Revo uninstall more than I
should have and now I can't boot into my system. I can't boot into Safe
Mode, Last known good configuration, Windows normally, nothing! I just
get the BSOD.
If I could just get into Safe Mode I can access Revo again and restore
the system back to before I screwed it up. (I hope). Right now I am
using my original XP install disc to run chkdsk /r. I don't know if this
will help or further destroy the system. Can anyone send me some help
before my wife destroys me? Thanks a heap.
Click to expand...

I plugged my hosed XP disc into my Win7 machine and viewed the files. I
transfered a bunch. When I clicked the C: for the XP disc there is a
folder: 'Boot'. This folder is empty. The BSOD error I get when trying
to boot is:0x0000007b (0xf789e524, 0xc0000034).
Will the fixmbr, or fixboot help me get to safe mode? Thanks
 
Motor said:
I plugged my hosed XP disc into my Win7 machine and viewed the files. I
transfered a bunch. When I clicked the C: for the XP disc there is a
folder: 'Boot'. This folder is empty. The BSOD error I get when trying
to boot is:0x0000007b (0xf789e524, 0xc0000034).
Will the fixmbr, or fixboot help me get to safe mode? Thanks
Click to expand...

That WinXP C:\Boot was put there by Macrium :-) I have
Macrium Reflect Free still installed, and there are
Macrium-related files in there.

So those are not a part of WinXP as far as I know.
Windows 7 can have a C:\Boot, because Windows 7 is
a BCD based OS. WinXP is boot.ini based and files
are arranged differently.

The 0x7B is "INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE". It can happen
when the BIOS is flipped to AHCI instead of IDE, and the
WinXP driver is not present for AHCI operation. It's a
driver mismatch. That's one way it happens.

http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm

Fixmbr and Fixboot would be effective at fixing
a problem occurring before this point in time.
Your machine has decided what partition it wants to
boot off of, but because the driver is mismatched,
it now can't read the disk using the driver it's got.
Changing the BIOS setting might fix it. On an
Asus motherboard, where the BIOS thinks the machine
"crashed due to overclocking", the BIOS can reset
the disk interface to defaults, causing this kind of
boot failure to occur.

Windows 7 has more built-in drivers, and with a
little "startup repair magic", may be able to
grok whatever the BIOS throws at it. That could be
why Windows 7 is doing better at the moment.
WinXP is missing AHCI, and needs a separate
driver for it.

*******

I hope when you tell me you're getting the 0x7B, it's
when that hard drive is connected to the original machine...
Not the results from booting on the slaved setup on
the known-good machine. Don't try booting the WinXP
disk on a foreign machine. That won't help matters.

Paul
 
That WinXP C:\Boot was put there by Macrium :-) I have
Macrium Reflect Free still installed, and there are
Macrium-related files in there.

So those are not a part of WinXP as far as I know.
Windows 7 can have a C:\Boot, because Windows 7 is
a BCD based OS. WinXP is boot.ini based and files
are arranged differently.

The 0x7B is "INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE". It can happen
when the BIOS is flipped to AHCI instead of IDE, and the
WinXP driver is not present for AHCI operation. It's a
driver mismatch. That's one way it happens.

http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm

Fixmbr and Fixboot would be effective at fixing
a problem occurring before this point in time.
Your machine has decided what partition it wants to
boot off of, but because the driver is mismatched,
it now can't read the disk using the driver it's got.
Changing the BIOS setting might fix it. On an
Asus motherboard, where the BIOS thinks the machine
"crashed due to overclocking", the BIOS can reset
the disk interface to defaults, causing this kind of
boot failure to occur.

Windows 7 has more built-in drivers, and with a
little "startup repair magic", may be able to
grok whatever the BIOS throws at it. That could be
why Windows 7 is doing better at the moment.
WinXP is missing AHCI, and needs a separate
driver for it.

*******

I hope when you tell me you're getting the 0x7B, it's
when that hard drive is connected to the original machine...
Not the results from booting on the slaved setup on
the known-good machine. Don't try booting the WinXP
disk on a foreign machine. That won't help matters.

Paul
Click to expand...

Thanks Paul, Yes the error I get is when the disc is in the original
PC. The 'Starting Windows XP' screen flashes for just a second and then
comes the 'STOP' BSOD. I am not booting the Windows7 machine with the XP
disc caddy plugged in. I plug it in after win7 is up and running so as
to copy personal files, (pictures,videos etc.), to the working machine.
I guess I'll just try my year old Acronis backup of XP and then see
where that leaves me. At least our semi priceless photo's etc. are safe
on Win7.
I'll go into BIOS and see where and what the ACHI/IDE thing is set at.
Thanks.
 
Motor T said:
I used Revo Uninstaller to remove an installation of Macrium
program from my Windows XP system. I foolishly had Revo uninstall more
than I should have and now I can't boot into my system. I can't boot
into Safe Mode, Last known good configuration, Windows normally,
nothing! I just get the BSOD.
If I could just get into Safe Mode I can access Revo again and
restore the system back to before I screwed it up. (I hope). Right now
I am using my original XP install disc to run chkdsk /r. I don't know
if this will help or further destroy the system. Can anyone send me
some help before my wife destroys me? Thanks a heap.
Click to expand...

Is there any way he can use the restore console (from the XP CD for
example) to use a restore point simply? (Revo has made one.)

I know there is a long-winded way, starting from the command line in
restore console, but it involves creating a minimal system, and manually
unhiding and unpacking the files from the restore point (_why_ do they
hide a restore point's files?), so I was wondering if there's a simpler
way.
 
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