OMLAGIRL said:
Windows XP home won't start. I receive the We're sorry error message with the
options to restart in safe mode etc. I tried restarting to the last known
good config but that didn't work. I was able to start in safe mode and then
I did a system restore. That worked, I was able to start XP and work on the
computer but once I shut the computer down and tried to start XP again I get
the orginal error message and I have to do the restore all over again.
I've tried going into system recovery (F10) when the computer starts up but
then I received the error message The registry cannot load the hive file
\systemroot\system32\config\security or its log or alternate. So once again
I did the system restore, it worked, I shut the computer down tried to start
XP again and received the original error again.
Any ideas what is going on? Anyway I can repair this when I have XP up and
running?
Thanks for any and all help!
First, use your CD to boot from the CD into the Recovery Console. At the
prompt type:
chkdsk C: /R
and press the Enter key. This will really take quite a while to complete;
and one of the 5 things this test does is try to recover data from and to
then lockout from any further usage any bad HDD drive sectors that it finds.
If you are not using the NTFS file system then after you do this you should
convert to NTFS and then use that chkdsk command again. The old FAT file
system is almost guaranteed to suffer damage if an improper shutdown occurs,
and the damage easily increases over time. The NTFS file system is not
foolproof either, but it is MUCH more tolerant of bad shutdowns. Only 3
tests are performed if you are using FAT.
Second, make sure the Windows "protected files" are not corrupted on the
HDD. Boot normally, and have your installation CD available to use if
prompted for it. Then click Start and then Run and then enter these
commands, pressing the Enter key after each one:
sfc /purgecache
sfc /scannow (this will take many minutes to complete)
exit
Be sure to manually check for Microsoft Updates (in IE, click on Tools and
you'll see the option to do so) after you've done a "SFC /scannow"
operation. Make sure your firewall is activated before being physically
connected to the internet, some virus can attack even if all you do is
physically connect to the internet.
Watch your Event Viewer for any indications of a failing HDD or other IDE
device. In BIOS, if the option is available, make sure that S.M.A.R.T. is
enabled so that Windows can get reports that the HDD is failing and show it
in the Event Viewer (newer computers do not have the option since it is
always enabled).
Try manually closing ALL programs before telling Windows to shut down. This
includes all those icons showing over by the clock display, those are
running programs. Alternately, you can use MSCONFIG (Start|Run|Msconfig) and
configure it not to load startup items on the next boot (you can set it back
to normal later). Does this eliminate the problem? If so, then Windows might
be trying to terminate a program during shutdown but some program that uses
the registry is not shutting down fast enough, before Windows forces it to
shut down anyway, and your registry settings can not get saved (there should
be some notice message about this in the Event Viewer in this case). But if
not then the registry is probably badly corrupted, which is probably best
addressed by doing a repair reinstallation of XP (and then doing all the
updates again, making sure that at least the built-in XP firewall is
activated for all connections before you are physically connected to the
internet).
You must have the exact same CD to use (not a "recovery CD") as was used to
install Windows in the first place in order to do a repair reinstallation;
if you do not have it then you might want to take it to a shop for
diagnostics and potential repair at this point, buy the full version of XP
Pro (you can not use a borrowed CD for an installation, it would probably
result in complete lockout from using XP at all' you can only use a borrowed
one for the SFC command usage or to use the Recovery Console), or use your
recovery CD's (which will probably result in complete loss of what currently
exists on the HDD) -- you might want to contact your OEM before doing this,
they might have an upgrade to XP Pro available at a much cheaper price than
the retail version).
