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Windows Forum / Windows XP / Performance and Maintainance / April 2007Corrupt registry - can it be fixed?
In a previous post I mentioned a problem with a USB device error. The manufacturer tells me the problem is that the registry is corrupt. Are there any programs or tools (preferably free, but more importantly, effective) that can be used to fix it? There are no system restore points that exist before the problem, whatever it was, occurred. I have not personally done anything to the registry, and I have scanned with several free and commercial products for viruses, worms, etc, and all come up negative. This is XP Home SP2. > In a previous post I mentioned a problem with a USB device error. The > manufacturer tells me the problem is that the registry is corrupt. Are [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > for viruses, worms, etc, and all come up negative. > This is XP Home SP2. Refer to the article in Help & Support" "How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting" That isn't quite your problem, but it still might be helpful. The method described in the article may not fix this problem if your system has an OEM version of XP. Another method is to restore the backup of system state. A BartPE disk could do this operation. Another method is to create a BartPE disk and work on the registry in your system disk. However, from your question, you personally may lack the skills and knowledge for such a task. So, you are left with reinstall. Jim Hi Bruce: If the only thing that you were told is that you have 'a corrupt registry, that answer is - pardon me - bullsh**. Someone who knows what they're talking about will tell you which registry keys are corrupt and how to fix them. Registry problems - if they really exist - are addressed by editing registry keys. That means you need to know which keys need editing and how they should be edited. Someone who's really on the ball will offer you a .reg file that will do the job with one click. There is no such thing as a tool that can fix a corrupt registry, because there is no standard definition of what that means. 'Corrupt' is an adjective, not a technical term. If it's really true that one or more registry keys have problems, and if you don't know which keys are at fault or how to fix them, your next best hope is to restore the entire registry from a recent, known good backup. Otherwise, there ain't a thing you can do. Can't fix something when you don't know what's wrong. I suggest you find someone who really knows what they're talking about and get specific advice. --- Leonard Grey Errare humanum est > In a previous post I mentioned a problem with a USB device error. The > manufacturer tells me the problem is that the registry is corrupt. Are there [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > for viruses, worms, etc, and all come up negative. > This is XP Home SP2. > Hi Bruce: > [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] >> come up negative. >> This is XP Home SP2. Which is what I would have said if I had only thought about your particular problem a bit longer... If in fact the registry is corrupt, Windows would have told you as much (and most likely would refuse to boot), and it would have told you which hive is corrupt. Jim Thank You for your replies. BartPE is probably not workable here as this is an OEM XP. > Hi Bruce: > > If the only thing that you were told is that you have 'a corrupt > registry, that answer is - pardon me - bullsh**. Someone who knows what > they're talking about will tell you which registry keys are corrupt and > how to fix them. That is what I suspected. If the registry were hosed, the system would fail to boot. I think support people sometimes just say "reload windows" and shine it on. I was hoping that maybe someone had dealt with this by manually editing the registry and could offer advice. Or is there info somewhere on the net as to how to do this; at this point, I have little to lose by trying. > Thank You for your replies. > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > editing the registry and could offer advice. Or is there info somewhere on > the net as to how to do this; at this point, I have little to lose by trying. Hi Bruse, Adding to the Good advice you received try this: Explanation of error codes generated by Device Manager in Microsoft Windows XP Professional http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310123 MS::<Quote> Solution button: Check Registry This code means that the registry returned an unknown result. To resolve this issue, follow the recommended solution, which will run Scanreg.exe. If this does not resolve the issue, type "scanreg /restore" (without quotation marks) from a command prompt. Finally, remove the device from Device Manager, and then redetect it using the Add New Hardware tool in Control Panel. MS::</Quote> http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/documentIndex?lc=en&cc=us&product=298548&dlc= tr&printable=no&encodeUrl=true& You can no longer access the CD drive or the DVD drive, or you receive an error message after you remove a CD recording program or a DVD recording program in Windows XP: "error code 31" http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060/EN-US/ A computer that is running Windows XP cannot detect a USB thumb drive, an Apple iPod, or an external hard disk drive http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925196 Also Scan for malwares and Run this command: Open a run command and type in: sfc /scannow click [OK] If the above links didn't help try to uninstall the Scanner and get the latest driver for it from the Manufacture for your scanner specs and Run the System File Checker then Try to install the Software for the scanner and the scanner when prompted by the wizard. HTH. nass === www.nasstec.co.uk > Thank You for your replies. > > BartPE is probably not workable here as this is an OEM XP. Err no. The regedit in the BartPE disk can edit any kind of hive wherever it might be located. The OEM folks make quite a few customizations of the registry, and this might make understanding the registry a bit difficult. But, you can definitely edt the registry on your system with BartPE. You must import a hive from your hard disk, edit it, then export it back. And,it goes without saying, you really need to know what the contents of the values are supposed to be. There lies the problem with BartPE as well as any other editor. Careful people keep a systemstate backup handy for problems like this. Fortunately, you won't be able to export a hive back to the BartPE disk. Also, it is very unlikely that something is wrong in the registry anyway. Jim >> Hi Bruce: >> [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > the net as to how to do this; at this point, I have little to lose by > trying. Thanks to all for the replies and advice. I have tried most of the suggestions from the MS KBbase, without luck. In desperation, I did a system state restore from a couple of months ago. It fixed the device in question, but broke most everything else (Zen, joystick, etc.) I should have known... > > Thank You for your replies. > > [quoted text clipped - 31 lines] > > the net as to how to do this; at this point, I have little to lose by > > trying. Hi again Bruce: It's not surprising that your restore broke so many things if you restored to a system state from "a couple of months ago." Your system has undergone considerable change in that time - which is completely normal - and by suddenly plunging part of your system two months back into history you can almost expect problems. Restoring to a point that old is fine if you rarely use your computer. But if you use it almost every day you're sending yourself into the Twilight Zone by combining old and new. Sorry I can't offer you a fix, but once you get it all sorted out you really want to learn about backing up and particularly about disk imaging as a way of backing up. You'll save yourself a lot of grief. And in future, if tech support offers you a solution that sounds like a load of c**p - it probably is. ;-) --- Leonard Grey Errare humanum est > Thanks to all for the replies and advice. > I have tried most of the suggestions from the MS KBbase, without luck. [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] >>> the net as to how to do this; at this point, I have little to lose by >>> trying. |
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