P2Plife Forums: WindowsXP stalls during repair - P2Plife Forums

Ive ran into a problem trying to fix a friends Gateway pc. Something has happened to make it bluescreen and go into a permanent boot loop. Ive tried to do a repair using the xp disc (not through the recovery console though), but it keeps stalling with one minute left while removing temporary files used. Ive tried this three times, and even used a different disc, but it still stalls at one minute remaining. Ive also ran HDD Regenerator and the scan came up clean, no bad sectors. Any advice or info would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks in advance!!

Frink, on Feb 22 2010, 09:54 AM, said:

Ok, first is to make sure you back-up your data. It's possible the HD is failing and the data backup is insurance against that possibility. You can use Hiren's Boot Disk (find via Google) to boot to XP off the CD, then dump whatever data you need to save to a thumb drive. Or you can install the HD as a second drive in another computer and do it that way.

Use both of these:

First, use HDD Regenerator (Google) to go over the drive and fix any areas that can be fixed. This is an amazing program, and it has recovered 4 out of the 5 drives (that I've been working on recently) that were "bad". Then run chkdsk via Recovery Console and make certain there are no hard drive errors. HD errors will cause a Repair Install (or a New Install) to fail.

Once you are certain the HD is good, then remove any extra hardware (printers, etc...) not necessary to the install. Malware onboard can also cause a Repair Install to fail. If this is the case your situation gets hairy, because you are going to need some malware removal skills in order to clean the drive in order to run a good Repair Install. Having it scanned by Trendmicro's Housecall while it is a second drive on another computer is a good way to get most of the gook. Delete ALL the Temporary Internet files; that will get most of the stuff that's left. Then focus on the \Windows\System32 folder and look for hidden .dll's that are also infections. Using MSCONFIG and the regedit in the HKLM & HKCU \...current version\run will help you to find the .dlls in the system32 folder. Autoruns is a good tool to use to find out what non-Microsoft applications (i.e. possibly malware) are starting. Note Autoruns has a "Hide Microsoft" option so that the list you see is limited to non-MS applications.

If you can get to Safe Mode, running ComboFix might get you some functionality. They have a lot of warnings and scary language etc... but I use it all the time as a general "cure all" and haven't (yet) had a problem. That day may come, however... lol...

I get e-mail notifications so if you have questions I can respond most evenings Central Daylight time.

Oh yeah, the main thing to NOT do is get impatient and do something drastic or blindly start hacking away at the registry or the \system32 files. Meaning, if you do not want to pay a professional and want to do this yourself, be willing to spend the time it's going to take to learn how to do your own malware removal.

This post has been edited by Johnny Quick: 23 February 2010 - 04:32 AM