registry repair

  • Thread starter Thread starter markww
  • Start date Start date
M

markww

Hi,

My registry is apparently damaged and I'd like to do a clean wipe of
it. I inserted my win XP cd and rebooted from the CD drive. I
read that booting from the winXP cd gives you the option to rewrite a
clean registry. Going through the boot from CD operation tries to load
a bunch of files from the CD, and the operation always fails to find
some file from the CD (different one everytime I try it).

Anyways, any ideas how I can clear the damaged registry if my CD
efforts will not work? I am most sad as this is the 3rd hardware
shennanigan my dell laptop has thrown at me.

Thanks
 
From: "markww" <[email protected]>

| Hi,
|
| My registry is apparently damaged and I'd like to do a clean wipe of
| it. I inserted my win XP cd and rebooted from the CD drive. I
| read that booting from the winXP cd gives you the option to rewrite a
| clean registry. Going through the boot from CD operation tries to load
| a bunch of files from the CD, and the operation always fails to find
| some file from the CD (different one everytime I try it).
|
| Anyways, any ideas how I can clear the damaged registry if my CD
| efforts will not work? I am most sad as this is the 3rd hardware
| shennanigan my dell laptop has thrown at me.
|
| Thanks

Restore a point from the System Restore cache from a period prior to the Registry
corruption.

Run Dell Diagnostics on the laptop. Especially test the hard disk as a problem with the
hard disk where the Registry is located will surely corrupt the Registry.
 
Read kb307545,although it states "Prevents xp from starting" it also fixes
the registry,the cmds are basically the same to "fix it"...
 
Hi Dave,

Thanks for replying. If I login in 'normal' mode my machine will lock
up about 10 seconds after getting to the desktop. If I start in safe
mode, all interactions are fine, except if I try a system restore -
then the machine locks up there too even in safe mode!

How can I run the dell diagnostics on it? Is it part of a cd or
something already preinstalled?

Thanks
 
Hi Andrew,

I read that article but when I boot from my winXP professional CD, I
never get a 'welcome' screen where I can press 'r' to get to a recovery
console to carry out the article suggestions.

The cd boot will just ask if I want to do automated recovery system
(ARS) which I tried but apparently I don't have the floppy disks for it
(my laptop does not have a floppy drive) otherwise if you skip the ARS
thing it just tried automatically loading some drivers and other files
to the machine in preparation for something but always fails
complaining of a missing file (and the missing file is a different one
everytime I try this).

My agony is glorious.

Thanks
 
From: "markww" <[email protected]>

| Hi Dave,
|
| Thanks for replying. If I login in 'normal' mode my machine will lock
| up about 10 seconds after getting to the desktop. If I start in safe
| mode, all interactions are fine, except if I try a system restore -
| then the machine locks up there too even in safe mode!
|
| How can I run the dell diagnostics on it? Is it part of a cd or
| something already preinstalled?
|
| Thanks
|

Yes. Boot off a CDROM which will access a Del ceated FAT partition on the hard disk which
has the Dell Diagnostics.
 
OK i booted from the dell operating system CD and finally got to the
recovery console.

It prompts me with the following two lines:

"1: C:\WINDOWS"
"Which Windows installation would you like to log onto (to cancel,
press ENTER)?"

Ok, so I type "1" to choose the only windows installation offered, then
it just sits there. I believe I must hit ENTER in order for it to
continue using 1 as my selection, however this just makes the console
sit there. I see no hard drive or CD activity, and about half an hour
has passed. Besides, the instructions said hitting ENTER would
cancel...

Is there some other magical key I must hit after choosing "1" in order
to tell the console that indeed 1 is my selection?

Thanks
 
If I login in 'normal' mode my machine will lock
up about 10 seconds after getting to the desktop. If I start in safe
mode, all interactions are fine, except if I try a system restore -
then the machine locks up there too even in safe mode!
Click to expand...

Im not 100% sure this will help you fix your problem, but I had a
similar problem a while back. The way I found what was causing it was:

I booted in safe mode
Once Windows was loaded I selected STARTUP --- RUN --- Then I typed in
MSCONFIG.

The MSCONFIG Screen came up & The System Configuration Utility came
up.

I then chose the STARTUP Tab & Unchecked ALL the boxes via the DISABLE
ALL Button. Then I clicked on APPLY & rebooted my computer.

If you try this & you boot on normally then you can redo the previous
steps & while on the STARTUP Tab sellect a few items, Apply & reboot.
Do this until you get a boot failure. Once you do get one uncheck one
item (starting with the last checked one) and reboot until you get a
good boot, The very last Item you unchecked will be the culprit. This
is using the process of elimination. It may take a while until you get
this process finished, but you eventually will. Then once you know the
culprit you can do a reinstall of that program.

Hope that helps.

PS...Another way is to use a program like REGISTRY FIX or REGISTRY
SCRUBXP which should usually fix most registry problems quite smartly.
I believe that they both can be run in Safe Mode.

PSS...If you fix your proble one way or another you should, for future
needs, do a daily Registry backup that you can restore to. I used to
rely on System Restore, but that failed me in a pinch so a Registry
backup & restore program like 'REGISTRY FIX'
(http://www.registryfix.com/) works best for me.

Bobby :cool:
 
markww said:
Hi,

My registry is apparently damaged .....
Click to expand...


What makes you think so? How, specifically, is it damaged? What
specific troubleshooting steps did you follow (and what were the precise
results of each) that led you to such a conclusion.

.... and I'd like to do a clean wipe of
it.
Click to expand...


The *ONLY* way to do that would be to format the hard drive and
reinstall the entire operating system.

I inserted my win XP cd and rebooted from the CD drive. I
read that booting from the winXP cd gives you the option to rewrite a
clean registry.
Click to expand...


I don't know where you could have possibly read such a thing, but
never, ever, follow any more technical advice from that source.

Going through the boot from CD operation tries to load
a bunch of files from the CD,
Click to expand...


Correct. It's starting to reinstall the operating system, as it's
designed to do.

and the operation always fails to find
some file from the CD (different one everytime I try it).
Click to expand...

Problems copying files or corrupted files during installation are
most often caused by defective, incompatible, or sub-standard hardware;
in order of likelihood, either RAM, the hard drive, or the motherboard.
On very rare occasions the CD drive or installation CD is the problem.

Anyways, any ideas how I can clear the damaged registry if my CD
efforts will not work?
Click to expand...


The first thing to do would be to determine what's really wrong with
the computer. Based upon what little detail you've provided, I'd
suspect defective RAM, to start with. Try testing it with MemTest86:

http://www.memtest86.com/


I am most sad as this is the 3rd hardware
shennanigan my dell laptop has thrown at me.
Click to expand...

If you know you have a hardware problem, why are you trying to wipe out
the registry? That makes no sense, to me.




--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrum Russell
 
Bruce, I am sorry if my windows XP repair ignorance has offended you! I
have been told from a few different postings around the net that my
problem has to do with the registry, maybe corrupted because my hard
drive was damaged? That was my best guess with my limited XP knowledge.
Please accept my apology.

While I was using my laptop a few days ago, all of a sudden I got a
blue screen saying something about the hard drive then the machine just
shut off before I could read the full message. I have not been able to
reproduce that blue screen to get the exact text it displayed.

Now everytime I start my computer in 'normal' mode and get to the
desktop I get a message box with the following text:

"One of the files containing the system's Registry had to be recovered
by use of a log or alternate copy. The recovery was successful."

after about 5 seconds the machine locks up, whether I dismiss the
message box or not.

I can startup in safe mode and most everything works fine, EXCEPT if I
try a system restore, that just hangs the machine as well. I have tried
to install some 3rd party applications that do a check of the registry
/ hard drive but trying to install those hangs the system as well.

I have now booted from the dell operating system CD that came with my
laptop, and at the windows recovery console I try to select an
installed version of windows to recover and after making my selection
the system just hangs yet again.

I'm not sure what else I can do at this point, I will try your memory
test suggestion while running in safe mode.

Thanks
 
markww said:
Bruce, I am sorry if my windows XP repair ignorance has offended you! I
have been told from a few different postings around the net that my
problem has to do with the registry, maybe corrupted because my hard
drive was damaged? That was my best guess with my limited XP knowledge.
Please accept my apology.
Click to expand...


It's not a matter of my being offended, but rather one of trying to
offer solutions without any sort of description of the problems. Your
comment about having read somewhere that you should wipe your registry
was a clear warning sign that you'd been fed some very bad information.

While I was using my laptop a few days ago, all of a sudden I got a
blue screen saying something about the hard drive then the machine just
shut off before I could read the full message. I have not been able to
reproduce that blue screen to get the exact text it displayed.

Now everytime I start my computer in 'normal' mode and get to the
desktop I get a message box with the following text:

"One of the files containing the system's Registry had to be recovered
by use of a log or alternate copy. The recovery was successful."

after about 5 seconds the machine locks up, whether I dismiss the
message box or not.
Click to expand...


Such symptoms can be caused by either defective RAM or a defective hard
drive. Nothing that you do to the registry could possibly affect the
condition of your hardware, but defective hardware, especially RAM, can
wreak havoc on the registry. And fixing the registry without first
having isolated and repaired the cause of the corruption would be
pointless; the problem would only return.

I can startup in safe mode and most everything works fine, EXCEPT if I
try a system restore, that just hangs the machine as well. I have tried
to install some 3rd party applications that do a check of the registry
/ hard drive but trying to install those hangs the system as well.
Click to expand...


Most registry "cleaners" are worthless snake oil remedies, anyway. The
problems accessing system restore points could point to a bad hard
drive, or even a bad IDE controller or cabling.

I have now booted from the dell operating system CD that came with my
laptop, and at the windows recovery console I try to select an
installed version of windows to recover and after making my selection
the system just hangs yet again.

I'm not sure what else I can do at this point, I will try your memory
test suggestion while running in safe mode.
Click to expand...

Test the RAM using MemTest86, as already suggested, and also test the
hard drive using the diagnostic tool(s) available on the hard drive
mamufacturer's web site. Forget the Dell diagnostics, for now.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrum Russell
 
Mark,

I would have to agree with Bruce here!

What you seem to have goes way beyond just a problem with your
registry!

You can try all the things that you want, but in the long run I think
you will eventually be waltzing to your local computer repair shop, or
back to your manufacturer/vendor if you are still in warranty.

Good luck! Hope everything works out for you!

Bobby
 
I will try to run the diagnostics but I am afraid I'll have to have the
hardware checked out. Everyone else at my company with dell laptops
seems to be experiencing the same problem with hardware failure after 2
- 3 years. My sadness is unparalleled.

Thanks all for your help
 
if you think that the registry is the problem, then microsoft.com has a kb on
how to repair/restore the registry via recovery console.

You said you were able to access the recovery console because you selected
"1" and got the dos prompt. This is "good a thing". What you didn't know
was how to use it.

The kb is 307545 but here is the part that might help you.

Part Three
In part three, you delete the existing registry files, and then copy the
System Restore Registry files to the
C:\Windows\System32\Config folder:
1. Start Recovery Console.
Note This procedure assumes that Windows XP is installed to the C:\Windows
folder. Make sure to change
C:\Windows to the appropriate windows_folder if it is a different location.
2. At the command prompt, type the following lines, pressing ENTER after you
type each line:
del c:\windows\system32\config\sam
del c:\windows\system32\config\security
del c:\windows\system32\config\software
del c:\windows\system32\config\default
del c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\tmp\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy c:\windows\tmp\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\tmp\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy c:\windows\tmp\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy c:\windows\tmp\default c:\windows\system32\config\default
Note Some of these command lines may be wrapped for readability.
3. Type exit to quit Recovery Console. Your computer restarts.

If you have access to another computer, to save time, you can copy the text
in step two, and then create a text file
called "Regcopy2.txt" (for example). To use this file, run the following
command when you start in Recovery Console:
batch regcopy2.txt

GL
 
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