XP Reboot loop AGP440.SYS hang point

[internaughtfull]

Hi,

I have XP SP3 that has been running more than a few years
on a desktop. The only thing I have installed recently was Chrome.
Recently it ceased to bootup, going to the XP splash screen, then
turning off, then rebooting, getting locked into a reboot cycle.

I have so far:

-disabled reboot after failure and attempting safe mode-doesnt work.
-tried going into safe mode and list the drivers- the last line lists
agp440.sys, then it clicks off and reboots.

I have looked at the web and noted the following:

-boot from XP CDROM and use 'repair' or chkdsk/r
or 'recovery console'
-disable agp440.sys in the registry and reboot
-complete reinstall of XP

I noticed that some techs recommended you reinstall
all updates manually,[the big ones, SP1, SP2, SP3]
and others said you just added them via the net. Does this matter
which method?


I have a drive switcher and have booted up to another drive
[one that has win98s on it] and so I know the computer
has not melted down and that it is probably software related.


What I am asking is, since this error has been documented
for some time now, is there a best method to use for this?
I would like to fix it rather than slash and burn and reinstall
everything.
I have ATT virus/spyware software and it has done successful
scans and never found a virus, only cookies, some spyware.

Thanks for any insight on this,

itchy

 

[philo]

Hi,

I have XP SP3 that has been running more than a few years
on a desktop. The only thing I have installed recently was Chrome.
Recently it ceased to bootup, going to the XP splash screen, then
turning off, then rebooting, getting locked into a reboot cycle.

I have so far:

-disabled reboot after failure and attempting safe mode-doesnt work.
-tried going into safe mode and list the drivers- the last line lists
agp440.sys, then it clicks off and reboots.

I have looked at the web and noted the following:

-boot from XP CDROM and use 'repair' or chkdsk/r
or 'recovery console'
-disable agp440.sys in the registry and reboot
-complete reinstall of XP

I noticed that some techs recommended you reinstall
all updates manually,[the big ones, SP1, SP2, SP3]
and others said you just added them via the net. Does this matter
which method?


I have a drive switcher and have booted up to another drive
[one that has win98s on it] and so I know the computer
has not melted down and that it is probably software related.


What I am asking is, since this error has been documented
for some time now, is there a best method to use for this?
I would like to fix it rather than slash and burn and reinstall
everything.
I have ATT virus/spyware software and it has done successful
scans and never found a virus, only cookies, some spyware.

Thanks for any insight on this,

itchy

Run a ram test and the manufacturer's hard drive diagnostic

If all checks out ok

I'd start with a chkdsk /r from the repair console

 

[internaughtfull]

Run a ram test and the manufacturer's hard drive diagnostic

If all checks out ok

I'd start with a chkdsk /r from the repair console- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Btw, I did disable 'reboot upon failure' and got the
following message:

Stop Message: C0000218
Registry File
The registry cannot locate the hive(file).
SystemRoot/System32/Config/Software

Or its log or alternate. It is corrupt, absent, or
not writable. Begin dump of physical memory.
Physical memory dump complete.

--------------

Do you think, given this message, that it could still
be the Ram or the harddrive?
I'm pretty sure Western Digital has a drive fitness
test somewhere, I will check for it.

Thanks,

itchy

 

[John John MVP]

Btw, I did disable 'reboot upon failure' and got the
following message:

Stop Message: C0000218
Registry File
The registry cannot locate the hive(file).
SystemRoot/System32/Config/Software

Or its log or alternate. It is corrupt, absent, or
not writable. Begin dump of physical memory.
Physical memory dump complete.

--------------

Do you think, given this message, that it could still
be the Ram or the harddrive?
I'm pretty sure Western Digital has a drive fitness
test somewhere, I will check for it.

Boot to the Recovery Console and run a chkdsk /r on the drive and see if
things improve. If no joy you can manually recover the Software hive as
explained here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

Please be advised that there is always a risk of data loss when chkdsk
is run on a disk, if you have important files on the disk you should
back them up before you proceed with chkdsk.

John

 

[philo]

Boot to the Recovery Console and run a chkdsk /r on the drive and see if
things improve. If no joy you can manually recover the Software hive as
explained here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

Please be advised that there is always a risk of data loss when chkdsk
is run on a disk, if you have important files on the disk you should
back them up before you proceed with chkdsk.

John

Before you do anything test the RAM first!

If the RAM is bad and a repair to the system is attempted...it will make
things worse. I've seen systems hosed by attempted repairs when all that
was wrong was the RAM.

chkdsk /r should only be done once it's confirmed the RAM is good and
the hard drive is good.

If the hardware is OK, then chkdsk /r may very well repair any logical
errors

 

[internaughtfull]

Boot to the Recovery Console and run a chkdsk /r on the drive and see if
things improve.  If no joy you can manually recover the Software hive as
explained here:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

Please be advised that there is always a risk of data loss when chkdsk
is run on a disk, if you have important files on the disk you should
back them up before you proceed with chkdsk.

John

the 'change to boot to cdrom', choose R from XP setup disk, and
run chkdsk /r fixed the problem. thanks for your advice. chkdisk
said 'one or more problems were detected and fixed'. upon booting
to xp, i got a message saying 'registry was restored from copy-
successful'.

rehilo-I have a multi disk system and the other disks booted
ok so from that i assumed the ram was ok.

btw, for future ref, do you have a software rec for memory checking?
i looked and there are a bunch, but they all seemed like they
were for windows. i guess one that would run from a floppy is
what i am looking for.

or, is there a decent registry fixer diagnostic type program out now?
i used to have the norton suite, but it bogged everything down so
much it was counterproductive.

itchy

 

[John John MVP]

the 'change to boot to cdrom', choose R from XP setup disk, and
run chkdsk /r fixed the problem. thanks for your advice. chkdisk
said 'one or more problems were detected and fixed'. upon booting
to xp, i got a message saying 'registry was restored from copy-
successful'.

You're welcome, glad to see that you got things fixed.

John

 

[philo]

the 'change to boot to cdrom', choose R from XP setup disk, and
run chkdsk /r fixed the problem. thanks for your advice. chkdisk
said 'one or more problems were detected and fixed'. upon booting
to xp, i got a message saying 'registry was restored from copy-
successful'.

rehilo-I have a multi disk system and the other disks booted
ok so from that i assumed the ram was ok.

btw, for future ref, do you have a software rec for memory checking?
i looked and there are a bunch, but they all seemed like they
were for windows. i guess one that would run from a floppy is
what i am looking for.

or, is there a decent registry fixer diagnostic type program out now?
i used to have the norton suite, but it bogged everything down so
much it was counterproductive.

itchy

Bad assumption...
there could still be a RAM problem or a hard drive problem.
Not trying to give you a lecture but///
It is rather foolish (in my opinion) to attempt operating system repairs
not having a clue if the hardware is OK or not

memtest86 should do the job and it can run from a bootable cd or floppy


Stay away from registry repair software

 

[internaughtfull]

On Oct 12, 3:06 pm, philo >

memtest86 should do the job and it can run from a bootable cd or floppy

Stay away from registry repair software- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Ok, so a drive fitness test and memtest86, will check
them out, thx.

itchy

 

[philo]

On Oct 12, 3:06 pm, philo>

Ok, so a drive fitness test and memtest86, will check
them out, thx.

itchy

I really suggest that.

If a RAM test finds *any* problems at all, you can stop the test and
assume the RAM to be bad.

Ditto for the hard drive diagnostic.


Considering the price of such hardware, it's not worth the risk of using
anything that's less than 100%


Note: the diagnostics are not infallible in that on some very rare
occasions I've had proven-to-be-bad hardware pass a test...
however I've never had a diagnostic find a problem unless the hardware
was actually bad.

Hopefully all is OK though