Server bootup problems

M

Mujahid Iqbal

I'm facing severe problems with my Win2k professional
computer. There were lots of application, servers
installed in that. The server got crashed and couldn't
boot up now.

Upon startup it displays the message like:
"System couldn't start because the following file is
missing or corrupt:

\winnt\system32\config\system

Please insert windows installation disk and press 'r'
during setup."

I've tried to recover the server but failed through
recovery procedure. There seems to be problems with
system file which size has increased upto 17mb. Please
help me to restore my server back.

Thanks, MI
 
D

Dave Patrick

This article may help.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];269075

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| I'm facing severe problems with my Win2k professional
| computer. There were lots of application, servers
| installed in that. The server got crashed and couldn't
| boot up now.
|
| Upon startup it displays the message like:
| "System couldn't start because the following file is
| missing or corrupt:
|
| \winnt\system32\config\system
|
| Please insert windows installation disk and press 'r'
| during setup."
|
| I've tried to recover the server but failed through
| recovery procedure. There seems to be problems with
| system file which size has increased upto 17mb. Please
| help me to restore my server back.
|
| Thanks, MI
 
M

Mujahid Iqbal

Will it restore all of my computer applicaitons, server
registration, keys etc. so that I'm sure of trying this
without further damaging my computer.

Regards,
MI
 
D

Dave Patrick

Applications are generally part of the software hive. There's no guarantee
of anything. Make a backup of the system hive before you do anything and you
should be fine.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Will it restore all of my computer applicaitons, server
| registration, keys etc. so that I'm sure of trying this
| without further damaging my computer.
|
| Regards,
| MI
 
M

Mujahid Iqbal

I couldnt find the menus detailed in this article. E.g.
it says to start with regedit32 whereas only regedit is
available in win2k pro. similarly I couldn't find
anything like "Save Key", "Load Hive" options. Is there
anything that I'm missing? Or any alternate?
 
M

Mujahid Iqbal

Is there a way that I can increase the startup memory size
so that the same regestry can be loaded during bootup? As
mentioned in the following article, the size is what
stoping the server from botting.
 
M

Mark V

In said:
I couldnt find the menus detailed in this article. E.g.
it says to start with regedit32 whereas only regedit is
available in win2k pro. similarly I couldn't find
anything like "Save Key", "Load Hive" options. Is there
anything that I'm missing? Or any alternate?
REGEDT32.EXE
Click to expand...
 
D

Dave Patrick

No

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Is there a way that I can increase the startup memory size
| so that the same regestry can be loaded during bootup? As
| mentioned in the following article, the size is what
| stoping the server from botting.
 
M

Mujahid Iqbal

I'm desparate now ...

I couldn't follow the procedure detailed in article.
Don't know what to do man ...

Very pitty, nobody can help me out here?

Regards,
MI
 
D

Dave Patrick

You didn't tell us why you can't follow but; if the system hive is corrupt,
and assuming you already tried LKG, It may be possible to rename the system
hive found in
%windir%\system32\config\system
to system.old
then rename
%windir%\system32\config\system.alt
to
%windir%\system32\config\system

You can also try using the most recent backup found in
%windir%\repair\regback

If that fails you haven't much choice but to copy/ use the
original-as-installed system hive from
%windir%\repair\system
to
%windir%\system32\config\system
You'll need to reinstall the device drivers for any hardware added since the
original OS install.

To start the Recovery Console, start the computer from the Windows 2000
Setup CD or the Windows 2000 Setup floppy disks. If you do not have Setup
floppy disks and your computer cannot start from the Windows 2000 Setup CD,
use another Windows 2000-based computer to create the Setup floppy disks.
Press ENTER at the "Setup Notification" screen. Press R to repair a Windows
2000 installation, and then press C to use the Recovery Console. The
Recovery Console then prompts you for the administrator password. If you do
not have the correct password, Recovery Console does not allow access to the
computer. If an incorrect password is entered three times, the Recovery
Console quits and restarts the computer. Note If the registry is corrupted
or missing or no valid installations are found, the Recovery Console starts
in the root of the startup volume without requiring a password. You cannot
access any folders, but you can carry out commands such as chkdsk, fixboot,
and fixmbr for limited disk repairs. Once the password has been validated,
you have full access to the Recovery Console, but limited access to the hard
disk. You can only access the following folders on your computer:
%systemroot% and %windir%


--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| I'm desparate now ...
|
| I couldn't follow the procedure detailed in article.
| Don't know what to do man ...
|
| Very pitty, nobody can help me out here?
|
| Regards,
| MI
 
G

Guest

I am facing the same problem as Mujahid Iqbal. This has become a recurrent
nightmare for me. I have yet to satisfactorily recover from this problem and
I am looking for the cause of the C:\winnt\system32\config\system file
growing to an abnormally large size. I suspect that the source of the
problem is related to one of three hardware components: the motherboard, the
processor or the video card and/or the software and drivers associated with
those components.

I recently rebuilt my system and replaced all three components and then did
a clean install starting with a repartitioned and formatted hard drive with
all data files stored on a second hard drive. Before installing any
applications software, I downloaded and installed all windows 2k and IE 6
updates and patches along with updating all the drivers for all hardware
componenets and peripherals.

When I finished installing my applications software library, I checked the
problem "system" file and it was about 4 MB in size. From that point, the
size of the system file steadily grows and within two to three weeks on
average, it reaches sufficient size to overload the 16 MB memory limit in the
text phase of the boot.

This process has repeated four times and the current size of the "system"
file is 17.9 MB. I am going to try to follow the instructions in the
knowlege base to reduce the size of the system hive before I have to resart
but I consider that to only be a make do solution because it does not address
the cause of the obese system file.

My hardware configuration includes a Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro 2 motherboard
with an AMD Athalon XP 2600+ processor and a Raedon 9200 SE Graphics Card
plus two 512 MB sticks of Geil DDR PC-3200 memory. Other hardare and entire
software suite are same as before computer upgrade.

Win 2K had run almost flawlessly for 3 years on the old computer before
hardware upgrade. I even had MS Visual Studio.net installed before upgrade
and that is a massive software package when you add the MSDN library and
still no problems. Since the upgrade, the longest period without a boot
failure has been three weeks. Each time before, I have ended up having to do
a clean install rather than a reinstall because each time I did a reinstall,
I had frequent freeze-up problems requiring a hard shutdown and powerup.

I have even tried a different hard drive as my boot drive in a futile quest
for a solution to the problem.

If anyone has an idea what is causing the system file to balloon in size or
if anyone is having similar problems that they can associate with one of the
hardware components I listed, please respond on this board or via email to my
hotmail.com account user id gdonklein.

Thanks,
Gary
 
D

Dave Patrick

This may help.

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/regmon.shtml

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
|I am facing the same problem as Mujahid Iqbal. This has become a recurrent
| nightmare for me. I have yet to satisfactorily recover from this problem
and
| I am looking for the cause of the C:\winnt\system32\config\system file
| growing to an abnormally large size. I suspect that the source of the
| problem is related to one of three hardware components: the motherboard,
the
| processor or the video card and/or the software and drivers associated
with
| those components.
|
| I recently rebuilt my system and replaced all three components and then
did
| a clean install starting with a repartitioned and formatted hard drive
with
| all data files stored on a second hard drive. Before installing any
| applications software, I downloaded and installed all windows 2k and IE 6
| updates and patches along with updating all the drivers for all hardware
| componenets and peripherals.
|
| When I finished installing my applications software library, I checked the
| problem "system" file and it was about 4 MB in size. From that point, the
| size of the system file steadily grows and within two to three weeks on
| average, it reaches sufficient size to overload the 16 MB memory limit in
the
| text phase of the boot.
|
| This process has repeated four times and the current size of the "system"
| file is 17.9 MB. I am going to try to follow the instructions in the
| knowlege base to reduce the size of the system hive before I have to
resart
| but I consider that to only be a make do solution because it does not
address
| the cause of the obese system file.
|
| My hardware configuration includes a Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro 2 motherboard
| with an AMD Athalon XP 2600+ processor and a Raedon 9200 SE Graphics Card
| plus two 512 MB sticks of Geil DDR PC-3200 memory. Other hardare and
entire
| software suite are same as before computer upgrade.
|
| Win 2K had run almost flawlessly for 3 years on the old computer before
| hardware upgrade. I even had MS Visual Studio.net installed before
upgrade
| and that is a massive software package when you add the MSDN library and
| still no problems. Since the upgrade, the longest period without a boot
| failure has been three weeks. Each time before, I have ended up having to
do
| a clean install rather than a reinstall because each time I did a
reinstall,
| I had frequent freeze-up problems requiring a hard shutdown and powerup.
|
| I have even tried a different hard drive as my boot drive in a futile
quest
| for a solution to the problem.
|
| If anyone has an idea what is causing the system file to balloon in size
or
| if anyone is having similar problems that they can associate with one of
the
| hardware components I listed, please respond on this board or via email to
my
| hotmail.com account user id gdonklein.
|
| Thanks,
| Gary
 
G

Guest

Thanks for the suggestion. I will try it.

Dave Patrick said:
This may help.

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/regmon.shtml

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
|I am facing the same problem as Mujahid Iqbal. This has become a recurrent
| nightmare for me. I have yet to satisfactorily recover from this problem
and
| I am looking for the cause of the C:\winnt\system32\config\system file
| growing to an abnormally large size. I suspect that the source of the
| problem is related to one of three hardware components: the motherboard,
the
| processor or the video card and/or the software and drivers associated
with
| those components.
|
| I recently rebuilt my system and replaced all three components and then
did
| a clean install starting with a repartitioned and formatted hard drive
with
| all data files stored on a second hard drive. Before installing any
| applications software, I downloaded and installed all windows 2k and IE 6
| updates and patches along with updating all the drivers for all hardware
| componenets and peripherals.
|
| When I finished installing my applications software library, I checked the
| problem "system" file and it was about 4 MB in size. From that point, the
| size of the system file steadily grows and within two to three weeks on
| average, it reaches sufficient size to overload the 16 MB memory limit in
the
| text phase of the boot.
|
| This process has repeated four times and the current size of the "system"
| file is 17.9 MB. I am going to try to follow the instructions in the
| knowlege base to reduce the size of the system hive before I have to
resart
| but I consider that to only be a make do solution because it does not
address
| the cause of the obese system file.
|
| My hardware configuration includes a Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro 2 motherboard
| with an AMD Athalon XP 2600+ processor and a Raedon 9200 SE Graphics Card
| plus two 512 MB sticks of Geil DDR PC-3200 memory. Other hardare and
entire
| software suite are same as before computer upgrade.
|
| Win 2K had run almost flawlessly for 3 years on the old computer before
| hardware upgrade. I even had MS Visual Studio.net installed before
upgrade
| and that is a massive software package when you add the MSDN library and
| still no problems. Since the upgrade, the longest period without a boot
| failure has been three weeks. Each time before, I have ended up having to
do
| a clean install rather than a reinstall because each time I did a
reinstall,
| I had frequent freeze-up problems requiring a hard shutdown and powerup.
|
| I have even tried a different hard drive as my boot drive in a futile
quest
| for a solution to the problem.
|
| If anyone has an idea what is causing the system file to balloon in size
or
| if anyone is having similar problems that they can associate with one of
the
| hardware components I listed, please respond on this board or via email to
my
| hotmail.com account user id gdonklein.
|
| Thanks,
| Gary
Click to expand...
 
L

Leonard Severt [MSFT]

I am facing the same problem as Mujahid Iqbal. This has become a
recurrent nightmare for me. I have yet to satisfactorily recover from
this problem and I am looking for the cause of the
C:\winnt\system32\config\system file growing to an abnormally large
size. I suspect that the source of the problem is related to one of
three hardware components: the motherboard, the processor or the video
card and/or the software and drivers associated with those components.


I recently rebuilt my system and replaced all three components and
then did a clean install starting with a repartitioned and formatted
hard drive with all data files stored on a second hard drive. Before
installing any applications software, I downloaded and installed all
windows 2k and IE 6 updates and patches along with updating all the
drivers for all hardware componenets and peripherals.

When I finished installing my applications software library, I checked
the problem "system" file and it was about 4 MB in size. From that
point, the size of the system file steadily grows and within two to
three weeks on average, it reaches sufficient size to overload the 16
MB memory limit in the text phase of the boot.

This process has repeated four times and the current size of the
"system" file is 17.9 MB. I am going to try to follow the
instructions in the knowlege base to reduce the size of the system
hive before I have to resart but I consider that to only be a make do
solution because it does not address the cause of the obese system
file.

My hardware configuration includes a Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro 2
motherboard with an AMD Athalon XP 2600+ processor and a Raedon 9200
SE Graphics Card plus two 512 MB sticks of Geil DDR PC-3200 memory.
Other hardare and entire software suite are same as before computer
upgrade.

Win 2K had run almost flawlessly for 3 years on the old computer
before hardware upgrade. I even had MS Visual Studio.net installed
before upgrade and that is a massive software package when you add the
MSDN library and still no problems. Since the upgrade, the longest
period without a boot failure has been three weeks. Each time before,
I have ended up having to do a clean install rather than a reinstall
because each time I did a reinstall, I had frequent freeze-up problems
requiring a hard shutdown and powerup.

I have even tried a different hard drive as my boot drive in a futile
quest for a solution to the problem.

If anyone has an idea what is causing the system file to balloon in
size or if anyone is having similar problems that they can associate
with one of the hardware components I listed, please respond on this
board or via email to my hotmail.com account user id gdonklein.

Thanks,
Gary
Click to expand...

Gary,

I doubt it is related directly to the new hardware. There are only a few
areas of the system hive that usually grow. It could be that something
on the system is causing "white space" and causing the large size of the
hive. As you have found out the system will not boot is the system hive
is larger than ~10.3 meg. If you want you can compress and email me your
system hive and I should be able to determine what part of it is growing
and maybe even why. The easiest way to get it is to use NTBackup to
either create an ERD or system state backup. Either one will save a copy
of the registry files to windows\repair\regback. Go ahead and zip it and
send it to me.

(e-mail address removed)

Leonard Severt

Microsoft Enterprise Support
 

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