WinXP Home SP3 - System File Checker

WinXP Home SP3 - I have a PC that would not boot to the desktop. I ran a full SeaTools diagnostic and it passed 100%, I ran chkdsk /r on it to no avail; it still crashes to BSOD 0x0000007E almost immediately after the Windows logo with the scrolling blue bar appears. The logo shows up for less than a second, just a quick flash, then it crashes. No file name is listed in the error. It also crashes in Safe Mode; Last Known Good Config didn't help. So I hooked up the HD on the 2nd SATA port, connected a known good drive to SATA1, and installed clean WinXP SP3. It installed fine. I can access the crashing drive (it's Drive E: in "My Computer"). I ran a full malware scan on it and only found some minor things in the System Restore cache, and one item in a Temp folder. Removing these things made no difference. Now I'd like to try a sfc /scannow on it, but it does not appear that you can run the System File Checker on a drive that isn't drive C:. If there's a way to do it, I'd be forever grateful if someone could post the info.... THANKS!

 

:confused Anyone??? Anything??? Any ideas on how to get this working at all?

I'm going to try a repair install later today, but they rarely fix problems like this....

 

Evey BSoD creates a a dump file, and reading them requires a free download from MS call Windbg. It's a pain, but usually identifies the problem. Loads more HERE.

 

I suggest you save what you can using the connected second sata drive, as there also appears to be a bug/virus around, as I had to look at one this week. If it is not a virus, using the repair option could well fix it, and keep your data.
I am not the best on virus problems - but there is a good malware section on majorgeeks.
I have, in the past tried copying and pasting the i386 folder, as a last resort, and on occasion this worked, but not everytime- the disc must be the same as the original ( sp1/sp2, or, sp3.
Microsoft did giv e a method, that I never got around to , and , if I can find the paper that I put it on , I will post that shortly.

 

I found the note that I made, but it , unfortunately relies on you getting past safe mode, and into windows, as it involves the registry.
However , if you can - accessing from the second hard drive , they suggested a command prompt- c:/windows/system32

Then type
copy userinit.exe.wsaupdater.exe
then startup
then regedit
then look for
HKEY_LOCAL MACHINE\MICROSOFTWINDOWS\CURRENT VERSION\LOGON\
AND MODIFY C:WINDOWS32\WSAUTUPDATER.EXE
TO
C:WINDOWS32\USERINIT.EXE
Sorry I have not tried that one, but if you can get into it that way.

 

It is not a virus. Thanks anyway. I consider myself pretty freekin' good at virus repair/removal, and I'm very adept at recognizing infections. While it is true that a strain of malware is out there infecting the atapi.sys driver, and one infecting the userinit.exe file, and this is neither of those.... in the interest of saving time, I skipped the minidump debugging and I ended up backing up over 45GB of music, formatting, and installing clean Windows....

(BTW- the WSAUPDATER fix is fairly old, but the concept is very much the same for repairing the newer strains of userinit hijackers)

 

Ouch- To be honest, I also did the clean install- its quicker in the end, just the bother of reinstalling other programs.
If it had been my own, I could have replaced it all, after copying any data, as I have full copies of all my partitions with hyperOs- and it does it all in around 10-15 minutes.