My XP install is semi-dead...

[Sobek]

And I could really use some help 'troubleshooting' it.

Where to start...about 4 days ago I came in to find my server had partially died (dead motherboard, but that was for valid reasons), and after spending hours fixing that and rebuilding it with new parts, I was looking forward to just sitting down at my system and enjoying a night of gaming, but no. I powered on my system, and just as Windows was about to finish booting, I got a BSOD...bane of my existence. So, I swallowed my agression, and gave safemode a shot, nadda, same problem. I tried everything on the list, until all that was left was Directory Services Restore Mode..tried that, it boots!

So here I am, 4 days later, my internet is finally back on and i've been scouring the web for potential help for my peculiar situation, all the time being forced to reside to using Directory Services Repair Mode just to use my damn PC. The BSOD I get when Windows tries to boot normally is 0x0000050 PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA, and the BSOD I get when attemtping to enter Safe Mode is 0x0000007B with no additional information.

The postings of a lot of other people who've encountered these particular issues pretty much all point to it being faulty ram (checked, double checked, and triple checked, clean), having moved the hdd to another system (negative), or faulty USB devices (again, negative). I can't seem to find a working solution...and it's pissing me right off. How can Windows trying to boot normally with all my device drivers and whatnot BSOD, yet DSRM, still loading all of the same drivers, load fine? And Safe Mode? That's not loading anything at all! But it still kills itself...i've checked countless times for Rootkits, viruses and spyware, and it's clean every time. I have no intention of reinstalling Windows any time soon, so that's out of the question. I've tried the usual Fixboot and FixMBR commands via the XP recovery console in the hopes they'd magically fix things, but alas, no.

Anyone have ANY suggestions?! I've cleaned off every trace of every driver, uninstalled all recently installed applications (which, before this started, was a simple demo from ages back for Adventure Pinball : Forgotten Island - great game by the way). But every time it's the same errors. I'm at a loss...I don't want to have to use DSRM from now on, with its lack of themes, wallpapers, and inability to save window positions/sizes/thumbnail modes. Surely there's something i'm missing...something that gets loaded both with normal windows and Safe Mode, but not in DSRM?

Help...much...appreciated!

 

[Skrying]

Have you tried a repair?

 

[Sobek]

Was hoping not to, had bad experiences with repairs on my system in the past... (seriously, just my system. I've tried repairs previously that have for no forseeable reason failed and left me with a completely deranged XP install, and required throwing the drive into another machine to backup data).

I'd really just prefer to isolate what the problem is. I must know

 

[Rainbow Man]

Someone posted a console command to make windows verify its system files. I wish I remembered whixh thread I saw that one in. Might be worth trying to track tghat one down in case some important DLL or such is broken.

Also you should preferably run a disk check I think to make sure you haven't any filesystem errors sneaking around that could trip your OS up..

Good luck to you. Know how frustrating these kind of porblems are.
Peace.

 

[Sobek]

SFC, what a great idea!

Now if only I could get it to work. Son of a bitch is complaining that the RPC is Unavailable. A quick google suggests this is an extremely common problem, though i'm more or less inclined to believe it's related to me running in Directory Services Repair Mode...I distinctly remember actually running this about a month ago, and it worked fine then. I'm just running through some of the suggested fixes I found online...fingers crossed :smile:

 

[PeterAce]

So you swapped motherboard on WinXP, was the replacement an identical replacement (including PCB revision?)

Sounds just like when WinXP has tied it's self very tightly to your previous motherboard's SATA miniport boot driver, and there is a large enough difference with you new motherboard to cause a BSOD.

I surgest, Backup (your settings/data), format your HDD and then reinstall Windows, for some problems there is no other solution than this (e.g when a console repair, and a over-the-top windows repair have both failed to fix the problem).

Good luck.

 

[Sobek]

Hahah, sorry I probably wasn't as clear as I could've been with that. My servers' motherboard was replaced, but it is infact my machine that's having this problem. I was pretty much explaining my annoyance at first having a server die, then for no reason my most stable, reliable and 24/7 available machine go shit itself.

Everything was basically hunky dory without so much as a single bluescreen in a good 6 months at LEAST, and then for no reason, with no driver changes or any installed apps bar a single game demo that didn't even have to be installed (extract-n-play), it just started this.

What I really want to find out is what in particular is being loaded with Safe Mode / Normal boot that isn't being loaded with DSRM... It seems that in DSRM i've got practically every device driver and such I could ever want, video, sound, all of my chipset devices are functioning and things such as Daemon Tools' SPTD bus driver are all loaded and functioning. I did a BOOTLOG boot into Safe Mode to try and see what the last file it stopped on was in the hopes it would indicate a culprit, but it showed up nothing...it stopped on kmixer.sys, so I went ahead and uninstalled my X-Fi, cleaned the drivers off thoroughly, powered down, removed the card itself, powered on and attempted to boot normally, but still nothing.

Don't get me wrong, i've still got a repair as a last ditch resolve, but i'm going to spend whatever time it takes to try and find the little bastard that's causing this. Two different BSOD's for two different types of boot, but where is the link? aye..giving me a headache. And I miss my theme/background

 

[Frank]

Now that is why you want to partition your disk, or use multiple ones, put everything you want to keep on a different one than C: and make a disk image.

See it like this: is spending a week trying to fix it time better spend than simply reinstalling?

 

[Zaphod]

and the BSOD I get when attemtping to enter Safe Mode is 0x0000007B with no additional information.

That one is INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE.

Coupled with the other stop-error I'd guess the most likely culprit is a corrupted NTFS volume. Other potential disk related causes are corrupted (disk) drivers or registry entries related to said drivers, a bad cable, or even a dying disk.

It might work to run chkdsk /f /r from the recovery console and then copy the system registry hive from a recent restore point (under C:\System Volume Information\_restore...) to %windir%\system32\config\system

Then again, messing with those things might also just crew it up worse than it already is, so handle with care.

 

[Sobek]

See it like this: is spending a week trying to fix it time better spend than simply reinstalling?

It sure is. I'm in no rush... Basically, this kind of thing happens once, perhaps if i've broken a few thousand mirrors, then twice a year, and so when it does, i'm on a crusade to find out why it happened and how to fix it. If it absolutely cannot be fixed, then sure, I just might reinstall Windows, but that's a last resort. And I don't do multiple partitions, no particular reasons, it just doesn't interest me. I can handle one or two reinstalls if it means a clean, organised file system

Zaphod, i've read that same description and it would seem to contradict the fact that I can boot into Directory Services Repair Mode (and use every facet of my system) just fine, wouldn't it? I've now also done a CHKDSK /R from the Recovery Console off the XP cd (for the sake of it, I was in there for other reasons, figured i'd do it) and it came up clear. I've switched Virus scanners between a few name brand apps, and they're also all clear. What I find strange is that if it is indeed a registry issue or something with a miniport/sata driver, then why doesn't it crash when I boot into Directory Services Repair Mode? All those types of drivers are being loaded here just the same as in Normal Mode...but what's even stranger is that if that is actually the problem and somehow DSRM magically bypasses it, what about Safe Mode? It skips those drivers altogether and shouldn't have any problems.

It's a conundrum and I want to find out what's caused it and what I might be able to do to rectify it :smile: