Can't Repair XP

[AbidingDude]

So, I had just updated AVG. It was apparently a major update requiring me to reboot. Upon reboot I got the BSOD. I rebooted with command prompt to see which files were causing the blue-screen. It seemed to be AVG related ones:
avgidshx.sys,
avgmfx86.sys,
avglogx.sys,
avgrkx86.sys
(I found these by booting with command prompt, quickly writing the file name down before BSOD, removing and hooking up the drive to my wife's computer, and renaming the extension... One file at a time .)

This actually happened to me a couple years ago, I was able to rename the AVG-related files and reboot with no problems. This time is different though, several other 'sys' files are causing a blue-screen, including important ones like ndis.sys and ntfs.sys.

Renaming those led to the command-prompt-boot to suggest I do a repair. I tried that. I boot from CD. It loads the necessary files, and before it gets to the setup screen, it crashes again . It does the exact same thing if I rename "ntfs.old" back to "ntfs.sys". I can't even do a Windows install! I can't figure out how to see if fixing the MBR will work. Any ideas short of formatting my hard drive?

TIA

 

[ANFPS26]

This may be futile, but can you get into safe mode? If you can, try to restore to a previous restore point.

Jim

 

[AbidingDude]

'fraid not Even in Safe mode it crashes.

 

[goombawaho]

Last Known Good Configuration boot option works?

Here is a procedure that may work for you. Boot to BartPE or Windows PE CD or Recovery Console or slave the hard drive.
into the Recovery Console/Bart PE or keep drive slaved and go to the next step.
• Navigate to the C:\Windows\System32\config folder. You can use the command cd C:\Windows\System32\config
• You can use the dir command to see a listing of the files in the directory.
• Rename your corrupted registry files. I would rename all of them and replace all of them.
rename SYSTEM SYSTEM.bak
rename SAM SAM.bak
rename SECURITY SECURITY.bak
rename DEFAULT DEFAULT.bak
rename SOFTWARE SOFTWARE.bak

Inside the C:\System Volume Information folder you will see another hidden folder named something like: _restore{C6E9847C-AEF5-4523-BE1B-5E7A365553E6). Open it and view everything by date modified. Each of the folders (Labeled RP followed by a number) are different restore points in which to restore from. Choose a folder you would like to restore from and open it. Each RP* folder is different, except for a snapshot folder. Open the Snapshot folder and you will see several registry files.

Copy the following files from the folder:

_REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM

Browse to \\Windows\\System32\\config in the corrupted HDD. Paste the files in this folder. Now rename the files to:

DEFAULT
SECURITY
SOFTWARE
SYSTEM
SAM

Some of the above cribbed from: Link

If that doesn't work, try this, but this may put the registry too far back and remove some devices and/or software.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[AbidingDude]

I just tried all of that. No luck Thanks for the idea though. I replaced the registry files with ones from a restore point from a couple days ago, but it still crashes.

The thing really confusing me is how I can't even boot from CD! (And therefore can't even enter the Recovery Console!) Like I mentioned before, after that initial setup screen, with the blue background and gray-bar-with-black-text on the bottom, it says "Starting Windows", and then the BSOD. Why would it care what files are on the drive if it's going to potentially plow over them anyway?

 

[AbidingDude]

Okay, so this is interesting... I disconnected all four of my hard drives. (Two of them for media storage, one with Windows XP, one with Ubuntu). So the only drives hooked up were my two DVD burners. Just for kicks, with all the hard drives disconnected, I put the Windows install DVD in. It went through all the steps I've described above. And when it got to "Setup is starting Windows" it crashed. I'm surprised I didn't get any kind of "No hard drive detected" message or something.

 

[AbidingDude]

Okay, so here I am writing from the recovered drive. Although the drive never really needed recovering. The fact that it crashed with no drives present led me to think maybe my BIOS was corrupted. I cleared the CMOS and rebooted. I put my BIOS settings to where they were originally. Everything came back up fine.

 

[goombawaho]

Lucky that you checked that. Strange that it was corrupted. I've never seen a corrupted BIOS UNLESS someone was flashing it.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[AbidingDude]

Yeah it was a first for me as well! I did flash the BIOS months ago, but as far as I could tell, everything went smoothly.

 

[goombawaho]

Normally THAT is when you have a near death experience, not months later. Probably unrelated. Do yo have power protection? Bad power can cause all kinds of flaky problems.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[terrytype]

Inability to boot up from a CD sounds familiar to a problem which I had.
This might crazy but try removing your RAM [with system switched off of course!] and gently but firmly run a school rubber eraser over the contacts.

Old Man Delphi