WindowsXP Service Pack 3: Has completely crashed my system

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esgwat - 16 May 2008 14:32 GMT

I have a two year old Dell Inspiron E1505 Media Center Edition Windows XP
laptop. My daughter uses it for school, so I try to stay current on
maintenance issues. A couple of days ago, I ran Windows Update, and it said I
needed the Service Pack 3, so I downloaded it. Ever since then, I have had
major problems and yesterday finally received the following error message:
c0000218 registry file failure
The registry cannot load hive file:
\systemroot\system32\config\system
or its log or alternate.
It is corrupt, absent, or not writable.

Beginning dump of physical memory
physical memory dump complete
contact system administrator or technical support group for further assistance

I am now unable to reboot my laptop at all, and am sending this question on
another computer. I do have the "Reinstallation CD Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition Including Service Pack 2" CD that came with my laptop, but when
rebooting with the CD in place, it is not even recognized. Please help!!

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Nepatsfan - 16 May 2008 15:14 GMT

>I have a two year old Dell Inspiron E1505 Media Center Edition Windows XP
> laptop. My daughter uses it for school, so I try to stay current on
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> Edition Including Service Pack 2" CD that came with my laptop, but when
> rebooting with the CD in place, it is not even recognized. Please help!!

Did you configure the laptop to boot from the CD? I believe you have to hit the
F2 key while the computer is starting. Check the manual for the laptop to see
how this is done. You can download the manual from this web site.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins6400/en/om/MD4024MR.pdf

Here's an article from Microsoft on how to deal with the registry issue.

How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

You should be able to run the Recovery Console on the Media Center Edition
laptop with your XP Home Edition CD. Be careful not to start an actual
installation. The Home Edition CD cannot be used to run a repair installation on
an XP MCE system.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

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esgwat - 16 May 2008 16:11 GMT

OK, I figured out how to boot from the CD, and am now at the Microsoft
Windows XP(TM) Recovery Console.

It is asking for an administrator password. When I just hit enter, it
prompts again:
C:\WINDOWS>

I read in the manual that this process does not work if the Windows XP is an
OEM version. Please advise...

Thank you!

> >I have a two year old Dell Inspiron E1505 Media Center Edition Windows XP
> > laptop. My daughter uses it for school, so I try to stay current on
[quoted text clipped - 35 lines]
>
> Nepatsfan

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Patrick Keenan - 16 May 2008 18:08 GMT

> OK, I figured out how to boot from the CD, and am now at the Microsoft
> Windows XP(TM) Recovery Console.
>
> It is asking for an administrator password. When I just hit enter, it
> prompts again:
> C:\WINDOWS>

So, you've established that the password is blank: if you see that prompt,
you *are in the recovery console*. It isn't exactly an overly friendly
interface.

From here, you can follow the directions.

HTH
-pk

> I read in the manual that this process does not work if the Windows XP is
> an
[quoted text clipped - 54 lines]
>>
>> Nepatsfan

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Nepatsfan - 16 May 2008 18:10 GMT

Answered inline.

> OK, I figured out how to boot from the CD, and am now at the Microsoft
> Windows XP(TM) Recovery Console.
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> Thank you!

In light of that warning, you might not want to run the procedure outlined in
that MS article. Sorry about that. The few times I've taken those steps it's
been on systems running an upgrade version of XP.

I'm guessing that you didn't get a Media Center Edition installation CD with
your daughter's laptop. My next suggestion would have been to run a repair
installation but for that you'd need the correct CD.

If the only installation option Dell supplied with this laptop is a restore
process, you would lose any files that are stored on the computer. The restore
process takes the computer back to the state it was in when it left the factory.
Any programs installed since then would have to be reinstalled. If you have
important files on the laptop that haven't been backed up they can be retrieved.
The simplest method would be to take the hard drive out and connect it to
another computer. Dealing with a laptop complicates the problem. An alternative
is to boot the laptop with a Linux live CD and see if you can burn the files to
CD. Here are a couple of options.

Ubuntu Live CD
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

Knoppix
http://www.knoppix.org/

Nepatsfan

>> >I have a two year old Dell Inspiron E1505 Media Center Edition Windows XP
>> > laptop. My daughter uses it for school, so I try to stay current on
[quoted text clipped - 41 lines]
>>
>> Nepatsfan

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TaurArian - 17 May 2008 07:34 GMT

Is it too late for this ?

How to remove Windows XP Service Pack 3 from your computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950249

Signature

TaurArian [MVP] 2005-2008 - Update Services
http://taurarian.mvps.org
======================================
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
Computer Maintenance: Acronis / Diskeeper / Paragon / Raxco

| Answered inline.
|
[quoted text clipped - 81 lines]
| >>
| >> Nepatsfan

Reply to this Message

Patrick Keenan - 19 May 2008 02:28 GMT

> Is it too late for this ?
>
> How to remove Windows XP Service Pack 3 from your computer
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950249

I'm not at all sure that that would restore the damaged registry. The
procedures to copy the backup hives and run System Restore would likely
still be required.

HTH
-pk

> | Answered inline.
> |
[quoted text clipped - 109 lines]
> | >>
> | >> Nepatsfan

Reply to this Message

Patrick Keenan - 19 May 2008 02:26 GMT

> Answered inline.
>
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> in that MS article. Sorry about that. The few times I've taken those steps
> it's been on systems running an upgrade version of XP.

All it takes is the bootable install CD, just not a "system recovery" disk,
as those typically don't have the Recovery Console.

> I'm guessing that you didn't get a Media Center Edition installation CD
> with your daughter's laptop. My next suggestion would have been to run a
> repair installation but for that you'd need the correct CD.

Sorry, but if you see the C:\WINDOWS prompt after booting from the CD,
specifying the recovery console and entering the (blank) password, the
correct CD is at hand and the process should most definitely work.

The registry is not stored in a different place for OEM versions. You just
need access to the drive.

The OP is actually in the Recovery Console and ready to go, and just doesn't
recognise it. Which is hardly surprising, since the RC does not exactly
have a friendly UI.

> If the only installation option Dell supplied with this laptop is a
> restore process,

Yes, this is most likely the point of the "warning". It can't work with
System Recovery disks because they can't boot to anything but the reinstall.
The Recovery Console is not available. If you keep pressing the enter key,
you're likely to wipe the system.

I've gotten into the Recovery Console using any bootable XP disk at hand
regardless of the installed XP edition, Home or Pro disks on Pro or Home
installations. And yes, as you note, you can use Ubuntu Live CDs to do
this as well.

HTH
-pk

<snippage>

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Nepatsfan - 19 May 2008 20:42 GMT

>> Answered inline.
>>
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
> specifying the recovery console and entering the (blank) password, the
> correct CD is at hand and the process should most definitely work.

What are you basing this last statement on? Have you successfully restored a
registry on an OEM installation using this procedure? The MS article warns that
you may not be able to complete the procedure due to the system hive on OEM
installations.

After the OP reminded my of the warning contained in the Microsoft article, I
did a Google search to see if I could find any references to ignoring the
warning and successfully restoring the registry on an OEM installation of XP.
All I could find were newsgroup posts that said it didn't work or advice to
ignore the warning if running the procedure was an option of last resort.

> The registry is not stored in a different place for OEM versions. You just
> need access to the drive.
>
> The OP is actually in the Recovery Console and ready to go, and just doesn't
> recognise it. Which is hardly surprising, since the RC does not exactly have
> a friendly UI.

We're all agreed on that fact. The OP was able to use the Windows HE CD to boot
into the Recovery Console even though the laptop in question is running XP Media
Center Edition. That's not the problem here.

>> If the only installation option Dell supplied with this laptop is a restore
>> process,
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> The Recovery Console is not available. If you keep pressing the enter key,
> you're likely to wipe the system.

The warning in the Microsoft article has nothing to do with what type of CD is
used to start the Recovery Console.

> I've gotten into the Recovery Console using any bootable XP disk at hand
> regardless of the installed XP edition, Home or Pro disks on Pro or Home
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> <snippage>

The bottom line is that I shouldn't have offered that Microsoft article as a
solution for the OP's problem due to the warning about running the procedure on
an OEM installation. Windows Media Center is only available as an OEM version.
My mistake.

That said, the situation is compounded by the fact that the OP probably didn't
get an actual XP MCE installation CD from Dell. That rules out a repair
installation. My gut feeling is that unless the OP can obtain that CD, the only
solution will be to try to recover any important files and run the Dell Restore
procedure which will wipe out the current installation and take the laptop back
to the state it was in when it left the factory.

Nepatsfan

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