System restore - WONT

[Richard]

It's my own fault. I messed up my DVD writing somewhere. Re-installing
the DVD software hasn't helped. It'll read back from drives but refuses
to write because the drive is in use already. No it isn't.

Having set a restore point before the installation of this software I
tried to restore.

Windows cannot restore to this set point. That's it. No clues, no
error codes, nothing.

I've gone back two weeks and each one failed.

I'll sort out the DVD problem later - it's this issue of system restore
I'm concerned about - so could someone tell me please, what next?

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

Aren't there any error message at all?

One or more of the System Restore files could have been corrupted - try
turning SR off/on - but I'm afraid that you will lose any existing
checkpoints:

Right click My Computer, select Properties and then the System Restore tab.
Enable 'Turn off System Restore on all drives' and reboot your PC. After
that 1st reboot go back into SR and disable 'Turn off System Restore on all
drives' and reboot your PC again. After that 2nd reboot you should have one
new SR checkpoint.

 

[S.Sengupta]

You disable System Restore and reboot your machine.Then after restart
enable System Restore.
Right Click on My Computer>Properties>System Restore>Turn Off System
Restore>Ok>Restart
Follow the same procedure but now Turn On System Restore.

regards,
ssg MS-MVP
pronetworks.org

 

[Richard]

Some people said things, and then:-
Will Denny added

Hi

Aren't there any error message at all?

Nope. Simply the statement that restore wasn't carried out.

One or more of the System Restore files could have been corrupted - try
turning SR off/on - but I'm afraid that you will lose any existing
checkpoints:

ALL of them? I don't see why. Everything has been perfectly ok until
now.

Right click My Computer, select Properties and then the System Restore tab.
Enable 'Turn off System Restore on all drives' and reboot your PC. After
that 1st reboot go back into SR and disable 'Turn off System Restore on all
drives' and reboot your PC again. After that 2nd reboot you should have one
new SR checkpoint.

If I lose all my restore points prior to this installation - what's the
point? The only way I'm going to clear whatever this problem is, if I
follow that routine, is to do a full recovery or re-install.

I *want* to _restore_, not recover. If I recover I don't need to
restore - I'll just get stuck with re-installing and setting up every
bit of darn software I've spent the past three weeks getting just right.
Except for this DVD cock up, that is.

 

[Richard]

Some people said things, and then:-
S.Sengupta added

You disable System Restore and reboot your machine.Then after restart
enable System Restore.
Right Click on My Computer>Properties>System Restore>Turn Off System
Restore>Ok>Restart
Follow the same procedure but now Turn On System Restore.

And that will then let me restore from *before* my last installation?

 

[PA Bear]

Copy/paste the following line into an IE Addressbar, click on GO, then
copy/paste the results into your reply:

javascript:navigator.appMinorVersion
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE), AH-VSOP

Are You Ready for WinXP SP2?
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=windowsxpsp2

What You Should Know About Spyware
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/devioussoftware.mspx

AumHa Forums
http://forum.aumha.org

 

[Richard]

Some people said things, and then:-
Will Denny added

Right click My Computer, select Properties and then the System Restore
tab. Enable 'Turn off System Restore on all drives' and reboot your PC.
After that 1st reboot go back into SR and disable 'Turn off System
Restore on all drives' and reboot your PC again. After that 2nd reboot
you should have one new SR checkpoint.

Having solved my DVD problems by unshipping drives, uninstalling all
software that has anything at all to do with them, re-booting and then
putting it all back <phew>...

..I have done as you both suggested and now have a working restore
point.

Thank you both.

 

[Richard]

Some people said things, and then:-
PA Bear added

Copy/paste the following line into an IE Addressbar, click on GO, then
copy/paste the results into your reply:

javascript:navigator.appMinorVersion

;SP1;Q867801;

I've mostly solved the DVD problem and then I did as advised to get
restore point cleared and re-enabled because I *really* was not happy
having no restore points.

Does that ^^^ look ok to you?

 

[Richard]

Some people said things, and then:-
Richard added

Some people said things, and then:-
PA Bear added


;SP1;Q867801;

I did a restore from that first created point last night and it was
fine.

Tried again today and it will not work. I still have that same response
from the javascript. What can I do now?


--

 

[PA Bear]

I did a restore from that first created point last night and it was
fine.

Tried again today and it will not work. I still have that same response
from the javascript. What can I do now?

Please include all of the previous message in your replies, Richard.

Your last replies tell me that you have a fairly new machine but that it's
probably not as up-to-date at Windows Update as it should be. That,
combined with your System Restore problem is worrisome. Please confirm that
you've taken care of *all* items listed here:

Before You Connect a New Computer to the Internet
http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/before_you_plug_in.html

and here:

Protect Your PC
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/default.asp
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE), AH-VSOP

Are You Ready for WinXP SP2?
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=windowsxpsp2

What You Should Know About Spyware
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/devioussoftware.mspx

AumHa Forums
http://forum.aumha.org

 

[Richard]

Some people said things, and then:-
PA Bear added

Please include all of the previous message in your replies, Richard.

The rest of the message was below the sig separator. But yes guv, will
do.

Your last replies tell me that you have a fairly new machine but that
it's probably not as up-to-date at Windows Update as it should be.
That, combined with your System Restore problem is worrisome. Please
confirm that you've taken care of *all* items listed here:

Before You Connect a New Computer to the Internet
http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/before_you_plug_in.html

I've been on line one way or another since '82...

I have zone alarm with anti virus, ad aware plus with ad watch, spybot,
hijack, cw, and so on... I *don't* piss about on sharing sites or dodgy
download places and I check regularly and everything is up to date.

As are my Automatic Updates and my service pack two.

SP2 arrived rather quickly after I shifted from dial up to ADSL
yesterday. So I've created a restore point and will create one or two
more and then see if I can step back since this upgrade.

One thought that occurred to me was perhaps I shouldn't have tried
restoring from the same restore point having changed nothing in the
interim?

I was directed to the events log in system info[?] before SP2 and found
a system restore error logged. Clicked on it and it pointed my browser
at a microsoft.asp with all the various details. The site came up with
no information on such a fault. No help available.


Sorry about not remembering quite where I was for the event log but the
shift from dial up and the SP2 install have been rather er, trying.

 

[PA Bear]

Your last reply includes your very first mention of SP2 in this entire
thread (http://snipurl.com/8t40). Are you running WinXP SP2 now? You
weren't when you posted

to this thread on 2004-08-30 12:34:52 PST.

Did the problem only start after installing SP2? Did you uninstall WinXP
SP2 via Add/Remove Programs to return to WinXP SP1a (which is what
"SP1;Q867801;" tells us)? IIRC, Restore Points created in WinXP SP1 will
*not* work after WinXP SP2 has been installed, Richard.
--
~PA Bear

Some people said things, and then:-
PA Bear added

Please include all of the previous message in your replies, Richard.

The rest of the message was below the sig separator. But yes guv, will
do.

Your last replies tell me that you have a fairly new machine but that
it's probably not as up-to-date at Windows Update as it should be.
That, combined with your System Restore problem is worrisome. Please
confirm that you've taken care of *all* items listed here:

Before You Connect a New Computer to the Internet
http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/before_you_plug_in.html

I've been on line one way or another since '82...

I have zone alarm with anti virus, ad aware plus with ad watch, spybot,
hijack, cw, and so on... I *don't* piss about on sharing sites or dodgy
download places and I check regularly and everything is up to date.

As are my Automatic Updates and my service pack two.

SP2 arrived rather quickly after I shifted from dial up to ADSL
yesterday. So I've created a restore point and will create one or two
more and then see if I can step back since this upgrade.

One thought that occurred to me was perhaps I shouldn't have tried
restoring from the same restore point having changed nothing in the
interim?

I was directed to the events log in system info[?] before SP2 and found
a system restore error logged. Clicked on it and it pointed my browser
at a microsoft.asp with all the various details. The site came up with
no information on such a fault. No help available.


Sorry about not remembering quite where I was for the event log but the
shift from dial up and the SP2 install have been rather er, trying.

 

[Richard]

Some people said things, and then:-
PA Bear added

Your last reply includes your very first mention of SP2 in this entire
thread (http://snipurl.com/8t40). Are you running WinXP SP2 now? You
weren't when you posted

That's correct. I was originally on SP1, shifted from dial-up to ADSL,
and SP2 arrived at almost the speed of light. I figured I might as well
install it because although I had no previous recovery points I _could_
still uninstall SP2 [if I had to] via add / install programs.

Once the dust settled I created a restore point yesterday, deliberately
modified a few bits that are easy to put back and checked the restore
today. And it all worked. But then it did last time too. So now I'm
about to create a second restore point, and tomorrow will check that I
can restore *both* of them. This should leave me reasonably confident
that SP2 has straightened out the misbehaving file.

to this thread on 2004-08-30 12:34:52 PST.

Did the problem only start after installing SP2? Did you uninstall
WinXP SP2 via Add/Remove Programs to return to WinXP SP1a (which is
what "SP1;Q867801;" tells us)? IIRC, Restore Points created in WinXP
SP1 will *not* work after WinXP SP2 has been installed, Richard.

No! The problem was ON SP1. It left we with no operable restore
points, and yes, I'm aware that SP2 has cleared all the old ones.

I saved the javascript so I'll re-use it and this will then be the
result from a system that has been restored successfully. *Once*.
Then I'll follow up with tomorrow's results, good or bad, to either
clear this thread up or ask for more help.

The javascript result is:-

;SP2;

Elsewhere in thread I have mentioned that the Microsoft .asp that is
pointed to by the event log entry had no help to offer. So I'm hoping
that SP2 has overwritten the fault.

Rgds.