Registry Error on Reboot

[andielangley]

Has anyone seen this problem before, and have any idea how to fix it? Two of my friends running Windows 98 SE are experiencing this problem - we suspect a possible virus.

On start up I get a blue screen with messages on the bottom saying "Backing up registry" and "Restoring registry" It then gives a grey screen message that it has encountered an error accessing the registry. It says that it will fix the error and restart (or the other way around lol) so you have to Enter and let it restart otherwise you can't go any further with it. Windows then starts up without a problem. Only the next time I start up the same thing happens

 

[hewissa]

Does it give any further error messages, saying why it is backing up the registry...or that there are missing items in the registry check the sytem or system32 folder...stuff like that? Hewissa

MCSE, CCNA, CIW

 

[drcard]

Hi andielangley,

Since this appears to re-occur I suspect that your Registry is OK. On boot the scanreg will check the registry stored in memory (protected mode). I suspect that you have a bad module in your memory. It is easy to find out if this is the case. Reboot to Safe Mode. Bring up msconfig. On General tab select the Advanced button. Place a check next to "Limit memory to" and enter 16 (MB). Ok your way out and restart. If it boots ok, then your RAM has a bad memory module. Be sure to go back to msconfig and uncheck that limit memory to before using the PC.

If the above doesn't fix the problem: Boot to DOS (not Windows emanulation of DOS). At the C> prompt type "scanreg /fix" (without quotes and note space between g and /). Sometimes Windows autofix of the registry fails to reset the error flags and thus it might be detecting a repeat error flag that hasn't reset. The manual fix in DOS will reset these flags.

HTH, Dana)

 

[jmatt]

Registry Checker Continues to Detect Registry Damage .

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q186909

 

[Crustyoldbloke]

My son had this problem for quite a while. It eventually stopped after running SPYBOT and removing all of the spyware/scumware. There is a new feature on SPYBOT now which Immunizes IE so that the spyware/scumware doesn't get downloaded (or at least the more well known stuff doesn't). Regards
Phil
A friend will help you move.
A REAL friend will help you move a body!

 

[andielangley]

Thanks for all these ideas. We'll try them all and let you know if we have any success!

 

[andielangley]

Thanks everyone who responded, we have resolved the problem. No errors were found with the memory, but running the scanreg /fix worked. The system now scans the registry at boot without error.