tools for windows xp failure

[Guest]

Is there any kind of tool to help you determine windows xp failures when it
will not go past the splash screen. I hoping there is something like the
config.sys or autoexec.bat even through I know windows xp is not dos based
anymore. Can someone tell me where to look.

Dee

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Is there any kind of tool to help you determine windows xp failures
when it will not go past the splash screen. I hoping there is
something like the config.sys or autoexec.bat even through I know
windows xp is not dos based anymore. Can someone tell me where to
look.

Tried Safe Mode?
Repair Installation?
Recovery Console?

 

[Guest]

Tried them all and I have been posting here for the last three weeks and
still can not get into windows xp. I have posted on the 11th and the 17th.

Dee

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Is there any kind of tool to help you determine windows xp
failures when it will not go past the splash screen. I hoping
there is something like the config.sys or autoexec.bat even
through I know windows xp is not dos based anymore. Can someone
tell me where to look.

Tried Safe Mode?
Repair Installation?
Recovery Console?

Tried them all and I have been posting here for the last three
weeks and still can not get into windows xp. I have posted on the
11th and the 17th.

Why would you not stick with the same thread?
By starting a new thread - you are less likely to solve your problem.

Looking (cursory glance) over the last two threads - your machine is toast.
It is beyond your ability - without first-person assistance - to diagnose
and remedy your situation without going to the most extreme measures.

What extreme measures could you take?

Write down all of your software installation product keys and copy all of
your installation media to a safe place OFF the machine. Whether you
can/cannot do that, do the following:

Obtain an imaging application and a place (network share, external drive,
etc) to image your system to.

Symantec/Norton Ghost
http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/

Acronis True Image
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage

BootItT NG
http://terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html

Make a backup image of your system - a complete image.

Run any hardware level tests (memory and hard disk drive) you can -
destructive is fine now - from the hardware manufacturer(s).

If no hardware issues are found...

Reinstall your system FROM scratch - update it with all critical updates,
patches and hardware drivers (from the infdividual manufacturers) and THEN
install your other applications and all of their available patches and
updates.

Using the imaging applications utilities - read and copy off your important
files OR restore them from your other backups.

You have been working on this nearly two weeks and made little to no headway
and may have even gone backwards in many ways. Stop wasting your time
trying to fix something you obviously cannot without personal assistance.
Get the one-on-one help you need or expect to have to go to the extreme.
You should be making backups anyway - given how you feel about the data.
$100 for an external hard drive to store everything really important to you
in case of - well - something like this is not much. $0.25/CD isn't much
either.

 

[Guest]

I made a back-up of this system after it was distroyed and placed it on
another partition that I created just for it. I guess I should just
reinstall windows xp and start over again. I was hoping that there was some
way I could fix this problem since I am able to still get into Windows 2003
server. I think because I downloaded IE7 is when my problem started.

Can I use the back up I made?

Dee

 

[Alec S.]

Is there any kind of tool to help you determine windows xp failures when it will not go past the splash screen.

Not likely. The main logging functionality of Windows is the Event Log which does not run until Windows starts up.

I hoping there is something like the config.sys or autoexec.bat even through I know windows xp is not dos based anymore.

How do config.sys or autoexec.bat log errors?

Can someone tell me where to look.

Did you try the last suggestions I made?

 

[Guest]

Yes I tried the last suggestions you made. In the autoexec.bat or config.sys
I think I remmember it telling you which drivers, etc were being loaded and
what the next was was. Itried to search drive c: for the acpitabl.dat and
could not find it. I did not do much of the unplugging because I am not a
hardware person. However I can see that both my cd/DVD drives are working,
my floppy/7 in 1 media drive is working, can not tell if the sound is working.

Dee

 

[Alec S.]

In the autoexec.bat or config.sys I think I remmember it telling you which drivers, etc were being loaded and what the next was

was.

Windows is a little more complicated than DOS, so that's not really going to work.

I tried to search drive c: for the acpitabl.dat and could not find it.

Maybe that's the problem. Try copying it from your CD to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers (you could also try using a copy from your
2003 partition as a last ditch resort). Did you rename update.sys?

However I can see that both my cd/DVD drives are working, my floppy/7 in 1 media drive is working, can not tell if the sound is

working.

There should be little LED lights on all the drives (floppy, optical, hard). Do any of them blink at all anymore when XP hangs?

 

[Guest]

I can not seem to find acpitable.dat on the c: drive, the cd or the windows
2003 drive which is J:.

Yes, I did rename update.sys to update.sy_ and that did not work.

Lights do still blink on the floppy drive when I am at the splash windows, I
can hear the hard drive.

Dee

 

[Alec S.]

Lights do still blink on the floppy drive when I am at the splash windows, I
can hear the hard drive.

Oh, so it's not actually hung then; it's doing SOMETHING. So when you boot up, XP gets to the splash screen then accesses the
floppy drive (how long?) and does not continue past that right? Is there a disk in the floppy drive? Does the hard drive light
(usually red) still blink? If so, then it's accessing the drive for some reason. I'm guessing that it never gets to the light blue
with dark blue bars at top and bottom screen which you see when the drive needs checking does it?

Hold on, if the drive is grinding away, maybe it is checking the drive for errors or something but is just not showing the status
screen for some reason. Have you tried waiting for the drive access to die down? If it is indeed trying to scan the drive for
corruption, then when you interrupt it by resetting, it will consider that to be bad and will try to scan again next time (thus
creating a loop!)

Boot into 2003 then do a scan of all of your drives. Use the tools option from the drive's context menu (properties dialog), as
well as CHKDSK (Run->cmd.exe->chkdsk c:\). Are there any errors? I'll also try to (finally, after all these years) find out where
Microsoft stores it's dirty bit so that you can clear it manually.

 

[Guest]

Oh, so it's not actually hung then; it's doing SOMETHING. So when you boot up, XP gets to the splash screen then accesses the
floppy drive (how long?) and does not continue past that right? Is there a disk in the floppy drive? Does the hard drive light
(usually red) still blink?

The red light stays on still blinking.

If so, then it's accessing the drive for some reason. I'm guessing that it
never gets to the light blue

with dark blue bars at top and bottom screen which you see when the drive needs checking does it?

Irt gets to the screen that has light blue in the middle with windows xp on
it, but never gets to the two logins I have.

Hold on, if the drive is grinding away, maybe it is checking the drive for errors or something but is just not showing the status
screen for some reason. Have you tried waiting for the drive access to die down? If it is indeed trying to scan the drive for
corruption, then when you interrupt it by resetting, it will consider that to be bad and will try to scan again next time (thus
creating a loop!)

Today after I tried the information you gavve me again. I went and took a
shower and left it booting. It was a long shower, put on clothes and it was
still sitting there at the splash screen.

Boot into 2003 then do a scan of all of your drives. Use the tools option from the drive's context menu (properties dialog),

I have done this one several times and what it does is when you boot up it
does a long check disk, like a 5 step process.

as

well as CHKDSK (Run->cmd.exe->chkdsk c:\).

When I ran this one a few minutes ago I had to take the \ off and it went
through the several steps and stated that I needed to use f: becuase it was
in read mode. This is what I got:

WARNING! F parameter not specified.
Running CHKDSK in read-only mode.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)...
File verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)...
Index verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 3)...
Security descriptor verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
Usn Journal verification completed.

30716248 KB total disk space.
15597236 KB in 106890 files.
43312 KB in 12041 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
200052 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
14875648 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
7679062 total allocation units on disk.
3718912 allocation units available on disk.

I tried it with the /f and got:

J:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.HOMETOWNUSA>chkdsk c
The type of the file system is NTFS.

Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another
process. Chkdsk may run if this volume is dismounted first.
ALL OPENED HANDLES TO THIS VOLUME WOULD THEN BE INVALID.
Would you like to force a dismount on this volume? (Y/N) y
Volume dismounted. All opened handles to this volume are no
Volume label is Win XP.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)...
File verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)...
Index verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 3)...
Security descriptor verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
Usn Journal verification completed.

30716248 KB total disk space.
15597236 KB in 106890 files.
43312 KB in 12041 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
200052 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
14875648 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
7679062 total allocation units on disk.
3718912 allocation units available on disk.

Thank you for continuing to try to help me.

Dee




Are there any errors? I'll also try to (finally, after all these years)
find out where

 

[Alec S.]

Oh, so it's not actually hung then; it's doing SOMETHING. So when you boot up, XP gets to the splash screen then accesses the

The red light stays on still blinking.

Yup, it's accessing the drive.

If so, then it's accessing the drive for some reason. I'm guessing that it
never gets to the light blue

It gets to the screen that has light blue in the middle with windows xp on

??? So it gets past the splash screen (the black one). The light-blue-with-dark-blue-bars-at-top-and-bottom screen is a pre-boot
screen where Windows performs tasks that cannot be done while booted (usually file operations that involve system or other files
that are in use). What does it say on that screen (in white text)? Does it change at all?


Okay, so going on the hunch that the problem is an infinite loop caused by drive scanning, here are some more options to try if the
ones above didn't work.

0 - Boot into 2003 and use fsutil on your drives: Run->cmd.exe->fsutil dirty query c:\, fsutil dirty query d:\, etc. Check them
all. Are any still dirty?
1 - Rename c:\windows\system32\autochk.exe to autochk.ex_ This way, Windows won't be able to run the drive scanning utility and
will bypass it. (Don't forget to rename it back if you get in.)
2 - Clear the bit manually (not pretty).

I don't suppose you could record a little video of the boot process to show what happens when it gets stuck could you?

 

[Guest]

Yup, it's accessing the drive.


??? So it gets past the splash screen (the black one). The light-blue-with-dark-blue-bars-at-top-and-bottom screen is a pre-boot
screen where Windows performs tasks that cannot be done while booted (usually file operations that involve system or other files
that are in use). What does it say on that screen (in white text)? Does it change at all?

In white it just says Microsoft Windows XP, just like it does on the box
with the colored squares.

Okay, so going on the hunch that the problem is an infinite loop caused by drive scanning, here are some more options to try if the
ones above didn't work.

0 - Boot into 2003 and use fsutil on your drives: Run->cmd.exe->fsutil dirty query c:\, fsutil dirty query d:\, etc. Check them
all. Are any still dirty?

I ran this on all partitions and none were dirty.

1 - Rename c:\windows\system32\autochk.exe to autochk.ex_ This way, Windows won't be able to run the drive scanning utility and
will bypass it. (Don't forget to rename it back if you get in.)

Stilll could not get in. I let sit site for 1/2 hour. When my system is
first booting up I can see the acpi controller is IRQ 9.

2 - Clear the bit manually (not pretty).

How can this been done.

I don't suppose you could record a little video of the boot process to show what happens when it gets stuck could you?

I could take a video of the process, but for some reason I have a hard time
trying to send anything to news via IE even on windows 2003. I think it may
be because I use yahoo as my email address and do not have it set up
correctly.

Dee

 

[Guest]

Hi have you been able to find out anything?

Dee

In white it just says Microsoft Windows XP, just like it does on the box
with the colored squares.



I ran this on all partitions and none were dirty.


Stilll could not get in. I let sit site for 1/2 hour. When my system is
first booting up I can see the acpi controller is IRQ 9.


How can this been done.


I could take a video of the process, but for some reason I have a hard time
trying to send anything to news via IE even on windows 2003. I think it may
be because I use yahoo as my email address and do not have it set up
correctly.

Dee

 

[Alec S.]

In white it just says Microsoft Windows XP, just like it does on the box
with the colored squares.

You mean this: http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/9104/autochk8yv.jpg right? That's where it hangs? What about this one:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/images/XP Pro Setup Graphic/OO.gif, it gets past this right? It also passes this one right?
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/1/10/300px-Windowsloadingdrivers.jpg

I ran this on all partitions and none were dirty.

That's normally a good thing, but in this case.

Stilll could not get in. I let sit site for 1/2 hour.

So it's not a scan disk problem.

When my system is first booting up I can see the acpi controller is IRQ 9.

That's normal. Why would you think otherwise? Is there a message or something?

How can this been done.

It doesn't matter. If it's not scandisk that's causing a loop, then it won't change anything (it's already clear.)

I could take a video of the process, but for some reason I have a hard time
trying to send anything to news via IE even on windows 2003. I think it may
be because I use yahoo as my email address and do not have it set up
correctly.

Don't post it to the newsgroup, post it to imageshack.us, photobucket, etc. then post the link.

 

[Guest]

Alec,

I get as far as the window that has 24. Login for the first time (see this
page)

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp

The only problem is there are no logins and there should be two, there is no
turn the system off, there in no writing in white at the bottom. Mine only
has the windows xp and the color boxes and never goes any further.

Dee

 

[Alec S.]

I get as far as the window that has 24. Login for the first time (see this
page)

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp

The only problem is there are no logins and there should be two, there is no
turn the system off, there in no writing in white at the bottom. Mine only
has the windows xp and the color boxes and never goes any further.

Ah, I see; very interesting.

Are you sure it's that same screen? Does the screen where you get stuck have the little highlight in the top left? What about the
white vertical line? "To begin, click your user name"? If so, then there's something messed up with a system file.

Try pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete two times to bring up the classic login screen. (That might not work though since it may have been
removed already, and even if it hasn't, it only works under certain circumstances which you cannot create right now.)

Have you used any mods/customizations? Have you changed the bootscreen or login screen with different graphics? You could try
restoring the files responsible for the login from CD. Let's see, you'll want to restore msgina.dll, logonui.exe, logoos.exe, (can
anyone think of any others?)

 

[Guest]

Ah, I see; very interesting.

Are you sure it's that same screen? Does the screen where you get stuck have the little highlight in the top left? What about the
white vertical line?

The answer is yes to both of the questions above, the problem is there are
no login, so I can not login. I can not click my name.

"To begin, click your user name"? If so, then there's something messed up
with a system file.

Try pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete two times to bring up the classic login screen. (That might not work though since it may have been
removed already, and even if it hasn't, it only works under certain circumstances which you cannot create right now.)

That did not work.

Have you used any mods/customizations? Have you changed the bootscreen or login screen with different graphics?

When I first set the system up last year about this time I made the two
logins different, one is a motocyle and mine is a butterfly. I never changed
them afterwards.

You could try

restoring the files responsible for the login from CD. Let's see, you'll want to restore msgina.dll, logonui.exe, logoos.exe, (can
anyone think of any others?)

Should I try this now?

Dee

 

[Alec S.]

When I first set the system up last year about this time I made the two
logins different, one is a motocyle and mine is a butterfly. I never changed
them afterwards.

I meant customizations to change the look of the bootscreen or login screen, not user accounts. Since you didn't know what I was
talking about, I'll assume you didn't.


Even if your accounts were wiped out somehow, then the shutdown options should still have been there, so the system files are messed
up, it's not just an account problem.

You could try restoring the files responsible for the login from CD. Let's see, you'll want to restore msgina.dll, logonui.exe, logoos.exe, (can

Should I try this now?

You may as well, it sounds like your integral system files (parts of the OS kernel!) have become damaged/corrupted/infected/etc.
somehow, so you're really close to having no choice but to reinstall.

Is your XP CD Gold, SP1, or SP2? What about the XP installation that you were running, what was that? You'll need to match the
versions of the files you restore to the version you are trying to fix. The easiest way is to just use cache, either
servicepackfiles\i386 or system32\dllcache depending on whether or not you had to upgrade to the service pack you are using; use the
ones in servicepackfiles if it exists, otherwise use dllcache:

Boot into 2003
Run->cmd.exe
Type:
c:
cd c:\windows\servicepackfiles\i386 ***OR*** cd c:\windows\system32\dllcache
expand msgina.dl_ c:\windows\system32\msgina.dll
expand logonui.ex_ c:\windows\system32\logonui.exe
exit
Reboot

 

[Guest]

I meant customizations to change the look of the bootscreen or login screen, not user accounts. Since you didn't know what I was
talking about, I'll assume you didn't.


Even if your accounts were wiped out somehow, then the shutdown options should still have been there, so the system files are messed
up, it's not just an account problem.

I did try it and the msgina.dll gave me an error, so I have to do a repair
install again and I am still getting to the same screen.

You may as well, it sounds like your integral system files (parts of the OS kernel!) have become damaged/corrupted/infected/etc.
somehow, so you're really close to having no choice but to reinstall.

Is your XP CD Gold, SP1, or SP2? What about the XP installation that you were running, what was that?

My CD is Windows XP SP2, I did not download the service packs. I have
Windows XP Pro, Windows XP Pro SP1 and Windows XP Pro SP2. My company buys
them.

You'll need to match the

versions of the files you restore to the version you are trying to fix. The easiest way is to just use cache, either
servicepackfiles\i386 or system32\dllcache depending on whether or not you had to upgrade to the service pack you are using; use the
ones in servicepackfiles if it exists, otherwise use dllcache:

Boot into 2003
Run->cmd.exe
Type:
c:
cd c:\windows\servicepackfiles\i386 ***OR*** cd c:\windows\system32\dllcache
expand msgina.dl_ c:\windows\system32\msgina.dll
expand logonui.ex_ c:\windows\system32\logonui.exe
exit
Reboot

On these I get a message that it can not open these files. I think one
reason is because they are not *.dl_ or *.exe, they are *.dll and *.exe

Dee