need some advanced registry recovery tips...

[Mike]

Leave it to windows' automatic disk checking schemes to screw everything
up...

I just performed a routine restart, since it had been a few weeks, and
certain things were starting to become sluggish. Overall though, there was
really nothing wrong with the overall operation of my system.

As XP booted (i have XP pro SP1 btw), it went into the scandisk routine for
C: and I wasn't paying enough attention to stop it in time. It was
relatively uneventful, removing only one bad file and recovering one orphan
(allegedly). Thereafter XP booted again normally until I went to log in;
here I recieved a message claiming (and i need to paraphrase a bit), "your
registry has been recovered from a saved version". uh-oh.

It then did something i haven't seen before (at least, not exactly). The
login screen eventually disappeared to reveal my usual desktop, but stopped
there. It loaded no icons, no taskbar or systray. the HD grinding stopped
soon enough, and it just sat there. So far I've timed this behavior at 5
minutes. I was able to bring up task manager, which reported nothing
out-of-the-usual (other than very few programs running), except no
Explorer.exe -- I couldn't even launch it manually. I restarted with "last
good configuration" (but without high hopes), same result. The weirdest
part -- It even behaves this way now as i bring it up in safe mode. It's
currently just sitting there. I can bring up a command window fine, and if
i do "run" through task manager I can browse the whole computer, but i can't
"open" a folder.

My #1 theory at this point is that the "registry recovery" buggered it --
and I haven't had to deal with this kinda thing manually for a while.
Usually with clients, where all they have of value is some saved e-mail that
i can back up easily, i just wipe the HD and/or reinstall XP, but in my case
I'd prefer to save that for a last-ditch-scenario. Can someone step me
through doing some advanced registry recovery? I know what I'm doing, but
right now I just forget how to do it or where to look for
resources/instructions.

Thanks in advance for any help.
~Mike

..//x-posted

[Ron Martell]

"Mike" > wrote:

>Leave it to windows' automatic disk checking schemes to screw everything
>up...
>
>I just performed a routine restart, since it had been a few weeks, and
>certain things were starting to become sluggish. Overall though, there was
>really nothing wrong with the overall operation of my system.
>
>As XP booted (i have XP pro SP1 btw), it went into the scandisk routine for
>C: and I wasn't paying enough attention to stop it in time. It was
>relatively uneventful, removing only one bad file and recovering one orphan
>(allegedly). Thereafter XP booted again normally until I went to log in;
>here I recieved a message claiming (and i need to paraphrase a bit), "your
>registry has been recovered from a saved version". uh-oh.
>
>It then did something i haven't seen before (at least, not exactly). The
>login screen eventually disappeared to reveal my usual desktop, but stopped
>there. It loaded no icons, no taskbar or systray. the HD grinding stopped
>soon enough, and it just sat there. So far I've timed this behavior at 5
>minutes. I was able to bring up task manager, which reported nothing
>out-of-the-usual (other than very few programs running), except no
>Explorer.exe -- I couldn't even launch it manually. I restarted with "last
>good configuration" (but without high hopes), same result. The weirdest
>part -- It even behaves this way now as i bring it up in safe mode. It's
>currently just sitting there. I can bring up a command window fine, and if
>i do "run" through task manager I can browse the whole computer, but i can't
>"open" a folder.
>
>My #1 theory at this point is that the "registry recovery" buggered it --
>and I haven't had to deal with this kinda thing manually for a while.
>Usually with clients, where all they have of value is some saved e-mail that
>i can back up easily, i just wipe the HD and/or reinstall XP, but in my case
>I'd prefer to save that for a last-ditch-scenario. Can someone step me
>through doing some advanced registry recovery? I know what I'm doing, but
>right now I just forget how to do it or where to look for
>resources/instructions.
>

Try using System Restore first. If you can bring up Task Manager
then go to the Applications tab, click on New Task and enter:

c:\windows\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

in the dialog box. Choose the most recent restore point that is
prior to the registry incident.


If that doesn't work then see the following article in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:

How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from
starting
Article ID : 307545
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=307545


Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

[Rich Barry]

Mike, no Taskbar or Icons is a very common problem. I don't know of any
fix for it other than to do either a Repair Install or
Clean Install. Though somebody else may weigh in with another suggestion.
But take a look at this thread
http://www.computing.net/windowsxp/wwwboard/forum/132877.html

"Mike" > wrote in message
. ..
> Leave it to windows' automatic disk checking schemes to screw everything
> up...
>
> I just performed a routine restart, since it had been a few weeks, and
> certain things were starting to become sluggish. Overall though, there
> was really nothing wrong with the overall operation of my system.
>
> As XP booted (i have XP pro SP1 btw), it went into the scandisk routine
> for C: and I wasn't paying enough attention to stop it in time. It was
> relatively uneventful, removing only one bad file and recovering one
> orphan (allegedly). Thereafter XP booted again normally until I went to
> log in; here I recieved a message claiming (and i need to paraphrase a
> bit), "your registry has been recovered from a saved version". uh-oh.
>
> It then did something i haven't seen before (at least, not exactly). The
> login screen eventually disappeared to reveal my usual desktop, but
> stopped there. It loaded no icons, no taskbar or systray. the HD
> grinding stopped soon enough, and it just sat there. So far I've timed
> this behavior at 5 minutes. I was able to bring up task manager, which
> reported nothing out-of-the-usual (other than very few programs running),
> except no Explorer.exe -- I couldn't even launch it manually. I restarted
> with "last good configuration" (but without high hopes), same result. The
> weirdest part -- It even behaves this way now as i bring it up in safe
> mode. It's currently just sitting there. I can bring up a command window
> fine, and if i do "run" through task manager I can browse the whole
> computer, but i can't "open" a folder.
>
> My #1 theory at this point is that the "registry recovery" buggered it --
> and I haven't had to deal with this kinda thing manually for a while.
> Usually with clients, where all they have of value is some saved e-mail
> that i can back up easily, i just wipe the HD and/or reinstall XP, but in
> my case I'd prefer to save that for a last-ditch-scenario. Can someone
> step me through doing some advanced registry recovery? I know what I'm
> doing, but right now I just forget how to do it or where to look for
> resources/instructions.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help.
> ~Mike
>
> .//x-posted
>

[Mike]

Thanks for the link. Nothing incredibly solid yet, but that thread most
closely describes the problem i'm having. It has led me to another thread
http://tinyurl.com/qkbe3
which has in turn pointed me to a seemingly very-accurate microsoft
knowledgebase article about it:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q256194
(that one describes my symptoms nearly exactly.... except i'm running XP
instead of 2000). I'm about to try the proposed solution, and will let you
know what I find.
Thanks!
~Mike



"Rich Barry" > wrote in message
...
> Mike, no Taskbar or Icons is a very common problem. I don't know of any
> fix for it other than to do either a Repair Install or
> Clean Install. Though somebody else may weigh in with another suggestion.
> But take a look at this thread
> http://www.computing.net/windowsxp/wwwboard/forum/132877.html

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE]

"Mike" > wrote in message

> Leave it to windows' automatic disk checking schemes to screw
> everything up...
>
> I just performed a routine restart, since it had been a few weeks, and
> certain things were starting to become sluggish. Overall though,
> there was really nothing wrong with the overall operation of my
> system.
> As XP booted (i have XP pro SP1 btw), it went into the scandisk
> routine for C: and I wasn't paying enough attention to stop it in
> time. It was relatively uneventful, removing only one bad file and
> recovering one orphan (allegedly). Thereafter XP booted again
> normally until I went to log in; here I recieved a message claiming
> (and i need to paraphrase a bit), "your registry has been recovered
> from a saved version". uh-oh.
> It then did something i haven't seen before (at least, not exactly). The
> login screen eventually disappeared to reveal my usual desktop,
> but stopped there. It loaded no icons, no taskbar or systray. the
> HD grinding stopped soon enough, and it just sat there. So far I've
> timed this behavior at 5 minutes. I was able to bring up task
> manager, which reported nothing out-of-the-usual (other than very few
> programs running), except no Explorer.exe -- I couldn't even launch
> it manually. I restarted with "last good configuration" (but without
> high hopes), same result. The weirdest part -- It even behaves this
> way now as i bring it up in safe mode. It's currently just sitting
> there. I can bring up a command window fine, and if i do "run"
> through task manager I can browse the whole computer, but i can't
> "open" a folder.
> My #1 theory at this point is that the "registry recovery" buggered
> it -- and I haven't had to deal with this kinda thing manually for a
> while. Usually with clients, where all they have of value is some
> saved e-mail that i can back up easily, i just wipe the HD and/or
> reinstall XP, but in my case I'd prefer to save that for a
> last-ditch-scenario. Can someone step me through doing some advanced
> registry recovery? I know what I'm doing, but right now I just
> forget how to do it or where to look for resources/instructions.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help.
> ~Mike
>
> .//x-posted

Taskbar Repair Tool Plus!
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm
Programs Aren't Minimized in the Taskbar (Line 240)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
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