Topic: Registry rebuild

[W Thomas]

For some reason after I done the M$ pushed update this evening my main PC crashed with a corrupted registry. Virus scan and Malware scan was ran last night and came back clean and it was not used today since I was not home.

For some reason using the repair console on the XP CD it cant find a system config file to copy and thats as far as I go for now.
Anybody got a better way of doing the rebuild?? Maybe under Linux can it be done more easily?   I just need to get this back running without a complete reinstall if possible. Currently my GR3 is running on my laptop which I seldom use but I don't suppose it is a good idea to be in 24/7 duty cycle of use.

Any help..enlightening greatly apreciated


 

[ncpilot]

Shouldn't you be able to do a restore to "last known stable version"?

I'm a bit rusty on it, but shouldn't installing updates create a restore point (to include the registry)?

You'd access the restore console during boot time by pressing something like F8 or F12--whatever the "secret" function key is...

[Anole]

Boot into the repair console and uninstall the last updates using the instructions here:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/spuninst.htm
and see if that does the trick. Works about 90% of the time in my experience.

[W Thomas]

Shouldn't you be able to do a restore to "last known stable version"?

I'm a bit rusty on it, but shouldn't installing updates create a restore point (to include the registry)?

You'd access the restore console during boot time by pressing something like F8 or F12--whatever the "secret" function key is...

I believe that would work if it could boot into Windows but it never gets that far.. Missing config.sys file.

What a mess!

[W Thomas]

Boot into the repair console and uninstall the last updates using the instructions here:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/spuninst.htm
and see if that does the trick. Works about 90% of the time in my experience.

Thanks!! I'll give that a try. Currently is cant find the config.sys file for some reason.
Not a pleasant mess 

[W Thomas]

Boot into the repair console and uninstall the last updates using the instructions here:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/spuninst.htm
and see if that does the trick. Works about 90% of the time in my experience.

I did the procedure outlined in the link and still a no go..

Error says that \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM is missing or corrupt.
I can't seem to rebuild this file so far

[Garth Bock]

Win Xp or Vista ?

If Win Xp then you can try a last ditch repair.

Insert your XP disk and boot from it.
When asked the first time if you want to Repair or Install .... choose install
 (the first repair asks if you have the system file backup floppy which most folks dont do)
Continue on to where it shows an existing installation of Windows and wants to know if you want to install a fresh copy or repair.
Select repair. IF your existing Windows is not too badly corrupt then an attempt to copy Windows over the top of the current installation will be attempted. This sometimes gets the computer up and running long enough to get important files off so a complete wipe and reinstall can be done.

If you get no prompt to repair...only to reinstall then windows is badly corrupt. It is best to put a different drive in place...load up windows and then connect the original drive as a secondary drive so you can copy the files across to save them.

[Anthony]

Glad this didn't happen to me on my last forced windows update. And let hope the next one doesn't nail me. Maybe by then MS will fix the problem. Talk about s$!#@&^% the pooch.

[Garth Bock]

I had a support call last fall here at work....user was running updates with me on the phone and the power went out in the middle. After the power came back on the computer would boot to the Win splash screen ... hang and then blue screen. Had to rebuild from scratch...that is why on shutdown it says that it will turn off after updates.

[mackbig]

My mac did that.... so its not just MS.  Luckily it was only 3 months, so I had my free 24/7 support.  Took about an hour on the phone, pressing and holding "apple keys" booting, and booting etc.   Then of course they tried to sell me an extended support plan for x hundred.

On the pc side, with drive space costing only 9-14 cents a GB, I am making "working" images all the time to avoid another start from scratch.

Andrew

I had a support call last fall here at work....user was running updates with me on the phone and the power went out in the middle. After the power came back on the computer would boot to the Win splash screen ... hang and then blue screen. Had to rebuild from scratch...that is why on shutdown it says that it will turn off after updates.

[Cienega32]

By any chance are you using a 1T Western Digital drive?

[W Thomas]

The pushed updates are normally ignored here but this once I did install it...BAD MOVE ...
I need to find my BART DVD and see if I can roll back to a previous restore point that worked and hopefully I can get there long enough to get off what I need before a clean install is required. 

I had thought about the install over existing install but IIRC I loose all my files I am trying to save....which is looking more dim ever day.

Most of the data is backed up on DVD incremental updates but some is not. If I dont find my DVD I an going to borrow one from another source or download and burn at work where I have a DVD writer and try that if no good there I guess install over existing is in order because at that point I am at the end of the rope anyway LOL!

Thanks for all the ideas!!!

[ALITTLEweird1]

Had something similar happen last week. Downloaded the updates M$ released and rebooted. Then I couldn't get online. I was connected. but couldn't do anything. I did a system restore to the day before and that fixed it. I wont download them again.

[Anthony]

My system downloaded so sort of update last night as it was waiting the log-in password this morning. So far everything seems fine.

[W Thomas]

I am back up and running here...but on a new 500gb drive

I was not able to rebuild the registry enough to get XP to boot in any fashion. I attempted a rollback to a better time and place
but my software wouldn't detect a Windows installation.... so I slaved the old drive and booted into it with software and recovered as much of my data as possible and done a clean install on the new drive. NO MORE updates for me unless they are a life and death requirement..and then I'll debate it     I remember reading somewhere about a M$ update in disguise that was actually a virus..can't remember where I read it but since this one came through as a normal update I considered it safe!...Guess Not!

I really did hate loosing my ETA program for GR3    Anybody have a copy they wouldn't mind sharing

Thanks to everybody for their help and suggestions!!! All was greatly appreciated!!

[Garth Bock]

When I get the new box up and running I putting Ghost on it with incremental to an external. That way I boot up on a Ghost restore CD and it reloads the image like nothing ever happened with only a slight loss of data. Small sacrifice.

[W Thomas]

Most definitely..already running with that and Cobian as a back up on the weather station side of things. Thankfully I was able to recover most all the important data..