Help

Hi, I am new at this but I have a problem with my pc and I figured a younger person could help me. {I am not so young anymore} My system restore is not working like it should, seems none of my restore points will work, went to safe mode found 1 that worked, also I am getting an error at the point when windows is shutting down, I have never heard of getting an error at this time so there is nothing saved any where to follow up on this error, can any one help me???? I have Windows XP home SP2 and all the lasted updates. According to the help part of system restore this only happens when a virus has been removed, but to the best of my knowledge I have not had a virus removed I have Norton internet Sec. 2007 it has found nothing. Can any one help me

 

I would suggest you go to start, run, and type in sfc /scannow, and insert your XP disc in the dvd/cd rom.
Keep pressing retry - it can sometimes take a hour to run through depending on your system - you have to sit there with your finger ready, -tedious but replaces any damaged Windows files.
Let us know how you get on , or, if more help is needed.

 

If you have Norton IS 2007 do you also have Norton GoBack?

Studio T

 

No don't have Norton go back, just the internet secruity, I did make my own restore point and waited 24 hours and that one worked, some one told me maybe my restore points are corrupt, is that possible? Also did the disk repair in windows and that didn't help, I am going to try a recent system check point restore see if that works. Still can't figure why the other error just be fore windows shuts down, it comes after saveing my settings and after I hit shut down, then windows is shutting down and some times box pops up then it shuts off, I have no clue what the heck that is, I have never heard of a box popping up at that point.

 

Both System Restore problems and shutdown errors can occur for a variety of reasons. They may even be related. That is why we we need information.

What is the exact shut down error message?

These can occur simply because you have email waiting to be sent or documents to print or you saved a file to removable media and removed the media. In fact anything that is wainting to finish, so we need the message to identify the culprit.

System Restore can stop working because you are running out of space ON ANY OF YOUR DRIVES.

However the question arises. Why were you invoking SR in the first place?
Also what was the last thing you installed, either software or hardware and when did you install it?

Do you mean you ran sfc? and did it find any errors, even if it didn't solve your problem?
You should also run Check Disk.

in an explorer window right click on the hard drive
choose properties>tools
choose check now
tick automatically repair file system
tick automatically repair sectors
click start
If required click yes perform check at restart
click Ok,OK
restart



Studio T

 

Follow Studiots advice-- CHKDSK
Also if you are not sure of hard drive space, -start, accessaries, disc defragmenter is an easy way to see, as it will show inthe window, used, and free space.

 

Thanks for info. the reason I tried system restore was my clock would not update time with out error I thought it was because of update from windows for daylight saveings time, it wasn't I can use system restore in safe mode but not on normal boot, I did discover yesterday that spyware doc. blocks a reg. key for a messenger for my system.svcghost, I put in my white list and now my clock works at time.windows.com, will my system restore work I don't know yet. The error pops up right at system shut down and it doesnot show in event logg or any where so I can copy it, I have tried to write it down but it doesn't stay long enough and doesn't happen everytime, I think it is something that is not letting go even though I have a tool uph clean. This is my first pc it is about 3 years old, I have Pentium 4 multi processor and 1.5GB ram I don't think memory is the problem as I only use about 15% of my memory, 74.52GB 63.85GB free. I bought it new and it was a expensive learning tool, I have had to reformat my drive once and did a complete reinstall once, I had help from tech support where I bought it as I purchased extended warranty but now thats up. I am thinking it is a software problem if I can restore in safe mode. I am not ready for Vista I would rather wait as I see to many bugs in it. I am not the sharpest tool in the tool shed but I am trying.

 

Although you still have 10/11 gb free , that's a pretty full drive, and would need defragging regularly - it could also be part of your problem - if you were editing a film, it would probably freeze on you- I am sure Studiot might have similar feelings on that.

 

I will do another defrag see if that helps, also if something is saved and needs to finish how do I find it? I have to go to J O B will check back after I get home, which will be late I am a nite owl.

 

Press control. alt, del, and you will see a list of running programs.
Write them down, and if the problem persists, next time, end the top one, and try shutdown, and so on, until you find the one causing it to temporaily slow shutdown.
Studiot might remember better, but I seem to remember there being a shut down option which lets you shut down any non responding program , automatically, when you shut down.

 

I'm having this same problem. It goes through the restore process but in the end tells me that "no files or folders where restored" or something to that effect.

 

Ok did this and I am waiting for it to creat a system check point to see if it worked. Shut down problem is gone when I fixed the spyware doc. to unblock the messenger svcghost to correct Reg. key value, the syware doc. had it diabled, the error and slow shut down and clock seem to be corrected, I just wish I had a better time line on when system restore stopped working. As soon as it makes a system check point I will try to see if it worked. I did bothdisk check and repair{checking both boxes as you said and restarted my pc took awhile to go through every thing} The slow shut down and error box were corrected before disk check and the disk repair has not undone that correction.

 

I have this corrected, thank you!

 

Glad to hear you are running normally again.

be aware of rogue spyware doctors on the net

http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm

You are much safer at Major Geeks.

Remember also that System Restore preserves malware too.

Happy Geeking

Studio T

 

Spyware doctor I have is from pctools, I pay for this subscription and download from there web site. It was recommended by majorgeeks.com

 

well it did not work still can't restore at system check point, went to event viewer and to microsoft, there is info. there about High Point Drivers, which I think I have several, Navida Grafics card is one, also can be anything from Adobe reader to Macromeadia. There suggestion is to open in safe mode go to folder options uncheck anyfiles hidden and their extensions and protected oper.system files. Find the Hptpro.sys file and delete it. Then check to hide everything again and restart my pc. They claim this has not been tested by Microsoft but has proven to work by HighPoint Technologies. Do you think I should try this???????

 

I am surprised Microsoft have not tested a fix that they recommend:
But, as you say Highpoint Technologies have tested it, and proved it to work.
Normally, I would recommend backing up your data, before editing the Registry -
You have so much data on that disc, that saving it to dvd would be one almighty job- Unless you have a spare hard drive, to act as a slave, and save to that.
I would export a copy of your registry , to save it, in case of problems, before editing the Registry.

 

From Microsofts report,this occurs with
HighPoint RAID controller type HPT370, HPT370A, or HPT372 . This issue may occur with driver revisions 2.30 and 2.31, which are not digitally signed.

I would look to see if -
1/ You have a raid controller - as one disc does not need raid - If that is the case, it appears that it will not cause a problem, if deleted.
2/ Look to see if the driver versions are the ones quoted- 2.30/ 2.31.

 

If you continue to have problems with system restore, after deleting HptPro.sys,
I suggest that you have a look in at MajorAttitudes Malware detection/removal

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407

 

My reaction to all this would be to purge the current system restore, turn off system restore, shutdown the pc and restart several times, then restart system restore again.

First in the registry navigate to

HKLM\software\microsoft\windowsNT\currentversion\systemrestore\rplifeinterval

Note the current setting, which is normally 7776000 and change it to zero.

(If you like copy the entire settings of System restore to a text file and post it.)

Exit regedit and restart the pc.

Hit the windows key +break
choose properties>system restore tab
click the turn off system restore (on all drives)
Click OK
Click yes
Restart.
Restart
Restart

Turn SR back on by the reverse process and reset the registry key to 7776000 (90 days)

Restart

Studio T

 

Well I checked for this file in safe mode it is not there, still can only restore in safe mode not in normal boot can't even creat my own and restore to it, I checked through command prompt and it's running, I am really at a loss as to what to do next.

 

Studiot's suggestion would be your next move,(purge system Restore)- he is very good at these more advanced fixes, assuming you have not done that yet, as you answered my post, but not Studiot's.

 

Well I printed up your instructions and did as you wrote only thing was when I rechecked to turn on system restore it brought the Reg key back for me, is it supposed to do that?

 

Did what he said see his post

 

? Please explain further, did you mean SR reset the key, after you had set it back. Just set it again. This key represents the number of seconds that SR keeps the restore data before discard. The default is 90 days. you can set it to anything you like, the zero was to loose all th old data and start again. Copying the other registry SR settings into the post would enable us to check if you have any other unusual settings in there.

I will be away for most of next week.

Studio T

 

No , I did exactly as you said, but when I reversed , and checked the box to turn on system restore then and went back to reg. the key came back by it self, I checked it before doing this and it was still at 0.I put in attachment I hope I did it right View attachment 60630

 

disreguard this message

 

I think I did this right. I uploaded wrong file before and they won't let me change it.

 

disreguard this message can't upload this attachment, can't remove timed out

 

The text file show bog standard settings in the registry.

The two keys
Restore Status = 0 indicates the last SR under normal boot windows to have failed.

Restore Safe Mode Status = 1 indicates success.

A value of 2 would indicate that SR was interrupted.

There is nothing to change here. Perhaps another Geek might review your technique for using SR?

Studio T

 

I would try start, right click My Computer, click properties, system restore, and tick box to turn off system restore, click o.k.
shut down completely.
Restart go back to sytem restore, and untick that box. Then go to start, accessaries, system tools, system restore, and set /name this sytem restore point. Close window, Then use computer for an hour, and then check system restore to see if that restore point is in fact saves. If it is not, I would suggest download bit defender (root kit trojan/virus finder), and run that program.
If nothing found, I would then say go to

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407

If Studiot's method has not worked, and the simple way does not, then Norton is not infallable, and it would ensure a clean machine.

 

Bit defender

http://www.majorgeeks.com/BitDefender_RootkitUncover_d5157.html

 

Last thought before my holiday.
I wonder if you have some software installed that conflicts with SR. I know that Norton Goback does, hence my earlier question.
Are you running any backup, disk management or disk overlay software? The last would come with a larger hard drive than your bios is capable of recognising.

Studio T

 

What is disk overlay? The only new software was the latest version of spyware doc. which I did get the beginning of the month, It has a virus protection but it is diabled I was told not to run two at the same time. I have no disk management or anything else new, I did try to run malware dect tool from spyware doc. but it errored when I tried to send report. If you get this before you leave I hope you have a nice holiday.

 

A couple of references to look at.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304449

http://bertk.mvps.org/html/symantec_doc_1.html

Studio T

 

Thank you, The Microsoft page I have been all over from the begining of the problem, the only drive shown in system restore is C I don't get any warnings of why it doesn't work just that it can not restore pick another time, I know the space is there, I guess I am going to have to take it some where to get it checked out. Norton has never been a problem before, nor has my Grafics card. But something is a problem now, Thank you for your help.